My Wife's Hip Replacement Surgery Part 3

10/22/2009 Day2 Thursday

First night for Mary went well as could be, lost the IV in the left hand due to bad veins, we hope the one on the right hand holds up. Sleep was hit & miss but actually she looked pretty good this morning when I got there with black coffee from home.

Physical Therapist came in and got her working on movement and got her standing up. Later in the day while I was away she walked with a walker 5 or 6 steps to the room door. She so dearly wants to get out of that bed as it gets tough laying just on her back. Some of our discussion now turns to what vehicle to go home in as there will be things to watch for as she gets in and out of the car, of course that is still 3 or4 days away. We are learning the limitations and what to do and what not to do while in recovery and rehabilitation.

10/23/09 Day 3 Friday

Low grade fever running about 100.1 or so, climbed last night to 101.2 but had backed down by morning. Lab took blood culture but that takes about 4 days, looks like the Internist will keep her in over the week-end or until this low grade temp goes away.

Progress made with walking, (had to get to the potty), the Therapists have been really good and Mary will do anything to get out of bed because the butt is starting to be awful sore. It is a lot of effort to move her from a laying down position, to sitting, then standing, but we get it done and it is good for her to be moving around as much as she can handle.

Sleeping is a challenge as she is hooked up to an O 2 sat. (saturation) machine because of the pain meds she is on, whenever she drifts off to sleep and her respiration (O 2 sat.) goes down to a certain point the alarm goes off, playing this cat and mouse game of trying to get some sleep and monitor her breathing.....more later

10/24/09   Day 4 Saturday

Making good progress, All the "connections" to the body have been removed, it offers more freedom of movement but lacks a bit in convenience for pain meds. and waste management, if you know what I mean. Without the IV pain meds. it is a bit more challenging to stay on top of the pain with the hospital staff bringing the oral meds. or shots on their schedule, this is frustrating to say the least as we had a good start to stay on top of the pain and now it is more difficult, yet with other benefits, mainly more freedom to move about. Of course the goal is to get off these things as soon as possible.

We are still trying to figure out why her temp is bouncing 99.8 and 101.4 Our Orthopedist says she is clear to come home but we know that won't happen until the temp. goes away, which is standard hospital practice.The Internist said that he sees low grade temps. at times with hip replacements, but they also need to make sure there is nothing else brewing.  We don't want to get her home too soon, as we want her to take advantage of the extra time to heal, have assistance and gain a little more mobility. Once she comes home we're a little more on our own.

10/25/09   Day 5 Sunday

I was hoping after they removed the O 2 sat. alarm on Friday night, that she would be able to have a better nights sleep, it didn't turn out that way on Saturday night, as her nurse and the charge nurse together decided that she had to much pain meds. and withheld them even though her Ortho. approved those amounts. It made for a very stressful and painful night for Mary when what she needed was a good nights sleep. Our Ortho. came by in the morning and after relating to him what had happened that night, things for pain control seem to change for the better, it is just a shame it is at the expense of the patient with a bad night. We weren't happy with that at all.

On a more encouraging note, Mary is able to get in and out of the bed unassisted, I don't have to help lift her leg, has taken long walks down the hallway maybe 4 or 5 time today, the movement has improved dramatically since yesterday and temperature is showing normal. All her movement has been with a walker except for just standing briefly. The Physical and Respiratory Therapists have been great and we have really appreciated their help. Looks like tomorrow is time to come home....we'll see.....

10/26/09  Day 6 Monday

Well, that persistent low grade she has been running most of the time, the internist finally tracked it down, we won't be going home today, it looks like we have a bit of pneumonia. He had ordered a chest XRay on Sunday, one of those things where we're just sitting in the room and in comes one of those portable machines on wheels, of course I have to leave the room for a few minutes, that's all it took and off they went. Good thing we found the pneumonia, It  would not have been good to have that get worse at home.

10/27/09  Day 7 Tuesday

One week in the hospital complete, yes, should have been home by now but it was a good thing to find the pneumonia when we did. If she left with this undetected or untreated she most likely would have to be re-admitted in a few days (start from beginning again) or end up in the emergency room in the middle of the night. As it was, they started with IV treatment of  Vancomycin (antibiotic) to kick it hard and then another blood draw to see if we need more or not. This will be determined  early Wed. morning and we will know if it is OK to head home Wed. or Thurs. She will be able to continue with oral antibiotics after she gets home.

Even though it is a delay, the extra time benefits the hip healing and being stronger by the time she gets home,  She continues to walk and exercise with the walker and the physical therapists come by twice a day to help keep it all going. It is starting to get old laying in that bed, which is part of the motivation for walking. It is good to get moving after a surgery like this, and so essential to move about, especially for muscle strengthening and circulation. It also gives the hind end a break.

10/28/09  Wednesday   Day 8

An early morning trip downstairs to X-Ray brings good news of clear lungs and good results on another blood draw says were clear to go home. The word comes at about 9 am but it takes all day before we get into the car to actually leave. It pretty much takes as much paperwork and time to get out of the hospital as it does to get in. We finally leave the parking lot at about 3:30. We knew getting her into the Ford Escape would be a challenge, trying not to bend the hip more than a 90 degree angle and not twist the hip. Glad to say we made it home OK. I get her settled at home, then it was off to the Pharmacy and the grocery store.

Coming up, rehab and therapy at home.