Thursday, November 19, 2009

Extra Hardware

I forgot to mention this in my last posts...

It seems that I have a little bit of extra hardware in the PAO hip. When I went in to Mayo's office in July, I got to see the x-rays of my hip post-surgery for the first time. Sara stuck the x-rays on the light up board thingy (I'm sure there's a medical term for that thing) and she pointed out each of the 5 screws that were now holding my bones together. That in itself is a weird thing to see but while we were counting the screws, I noticed that there looked like there was a tiny, one inch screw toward the top of my pelvis that seemed a bit out of place. I asked Sara what that was and her response was "Oh, that? That's a drill bit." Gulp. "A drill bit?!?!", I ask. "Yes", she said nonchalantly, "It must have broken off during surgery."

Yipes. It wasn't funny at the time because I was a little freaked out but after the appointment my husband and I were talking about it and we were both picturing Dr. Mayo drilling into my pelvis, cursing because he broke a drill bit and then saying something like, "That's the third one this week! Cheap medical equipment..."

OK, this may not be funny to you but you've not met Dr. Mayo. I'm not sure he's one to show a lot of emotion. He's pretty even keeled and consistent - not to say that he's not kind, because he is. Anywho, my fellow Dr. Mayo hip chicks probably know what I'm talking about.

So now I'm walking around with 5 stainless steel screws and a broken drill bit in my hip. I know what's going to happen when I go through airport security in March - it's not going to be the screws in my hip that set off the metal detector, it's going to be that bloody drill bit!!

I'm healing!!

OK, so it has taken me awhile to post my results of my last follow up with Dr. Mayo. :/ I saw Sara, Dr. Mayo's PA, because Mayo was on vacation (or something like that) and she looked at my x-rays and said my joints looked awesome. I'm so glad I seem to be healing just like I'm supposed to. I'm officially 5 1/2 months post op and I still have a little bit of pain when I lift my leg/knee up while I'm standing but I can definitely tell that things are getting better.

During my appointment I begrudgingly told Sara that I've been playing volleyball for the past couple of weeks and she kind of gave me a look. I told her that I was being very careful and wasn't doing too much jumping around. She said that as long as I limited my jumping, I should be OK. I wonder if Mayo would have said the same thing? Fortunately, she gave me the OK to play softball in the summer. Hurray!! It still feels like I have a hitch in my giddy-up when I run so I hope to hit the gym within the next few weeks and try to work out the kinks.

I don't have to go back see Dr. Mayo until my 1 year post-PAO anniversary in June unless my right hip starts giving me troubles but so far, so good.

I plan on traveling to South Carolina in March for a friends wedding and I'm wondering if I'm going to set off any alarms with all the hardware in my hip? I should probably ask Mayo's office about that prior to my vacation, right? :)

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Stinking flu bug

I was supposed to go down to Tacoma for my 5 month post-op appointment but had to cancel because I got the flu. :( I had to reschedule for next week. I'll try to let you know how the appointment goes. Things are going fine so far. I still feel some pain but I've played volleyball the past 2 Tuesdays and it's gone pretty well. Just don't tell Dr. Mayo because I technically haven't been cleared to play yet. :)

Friday, September 11, 2009

3 months post-op and physical therapy

I've officially hit the 3 month post-op mark and I've been going to physical therapy for the past month. I believe things are going well but I still have pain frequently throughout the day. I know that I've improved my range of motion and my limp is just about gone.
I go to physical therapy twice a week and I have to admit, it's not as painful as I thought it would be. I pictured myself being in a lot of pain during and after PT but that's not the case. I can definitely tell when my PT increases my exercises a bit (she did that this week) but I don't hurt as much as I thought I would. The thing I have the most trouble with is the balance training I have to do. It's amazing how much your balance suffers after surgery! When I first start PT, I had to see how long I could stand on one foot. When standing on my surgical leg, I could only stand for 12 seconds! I have since improved that to over 1 minute but it still doesn't come as easy as standing on my non-surgical leg. I still have 2 1/2 months of PT left so I'm sure I will get better and better.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty good considering it's only been 3 months since surgery and I'm told a total recovery could take between 6 - 12 months. I've been asked if I'm glad I had the surgery but I honestly don't know yet. I'm still in pain quite a bit of the time but it's a different kind of pain I was having before surgery. I think I made the right decision when I chose to have the surgery but I think it will take me awhile to be completely healed. I missed playing softball this summer and I'm going to miss volleyball this fall but hopefully I'll be ready to go by the spring. Hopefully Mayo will give me the ok!

My next appt. with Mayo is October 22nd so I'll know more about how I'm healing after that.

On a completely different note, fall is here! School started a couple of weeks ago and it's now football and soccer season! The leaves haven't quite started changing yet but fall is definitely in the air. It's my favorite season!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

2 months!

It's been two months since surgery. Can you believe it?!? Actually, I can. I've been on crutches for TWO MONTHS!!! I'm so tired of them!
The good news is I see Dr. Mayo tomorrow for my 8 week check up. It's going to be the first time I've seen him since surgery.
Tomorrow they will take x-rays and I'll get to see my screws for the first time. Ewww. I'm optimistic that they will tell me that I'm healing well because I feel pretty good. I only take Tylenol once a day and have been gradually putting more weight on my surgical leg (even though I'm not supposed to).
My new trick for Dustin is walking. Well, I don't really walk, I gimp. I've not technically been cleared to start walking but I figured that since it's been eight weeks, I could try it out and see how it feels. It only hurts a little. :) I don't think I'm going to bend my screws because it has been 8 weeks and they are made out of titanium, aren't they?
Anyway, please pray that I hear good news tomorrow!!
K

Thursday, July 9, 2009

I'm in a rut

Sorry for the delay in posting. As of two days ago, I'm officially at the 5 week mark. Whew! Only 3 more weeks until I see Mayo again. I'm hoping he tells me that I can ditch the crutches. Keep your fingers crossed!!

As I mentioned in the title, I feel like I'm in a healing rut. I don't have any new "tricks" to show Dustin anymore. Deep down I know that I'm improving. Even though I still have pain, it is decreasing - it better be because I'm almost out of prescription pain killers and I'm told I can only take 4,000mg of Tylenol per day. When each pill is 500mg, 4,000 doesn't seem like very much.
I can roll over easier in bed now but since I'm feeling a bit better, I long to sleep on my surgical side because that's the side I slept on prior to surgery.

I've now been back to work for one week and it's so good to be back! I never thought I would miss coming to work but I do! I eagerly await the days that I get to go to work and get bored on the days that I have to stay home. I started out working 4 hours per day, 3 days per week but I feel so good that I think I'm going to increase to 5 hours per day. Hurray!

Please remember me in your prayers on July 28 - the day I see Mayo. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high but I'm ready to stop using these stinking crutches!!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Bath Time

I thought I'd revive the Sesame Street's one hit wonder, Ernie whatever his last name is, once again for a post on bathing.

I have exciting news! I was able to take a bath today!!! It's been four long weeks since my last bath. Yes, I've been taking showers during those four weeks so I don't smell like my husband does after a long day at the farm. :)

It's very exciting that I'm finally able to take a bath because I'm a bath person. I don't really like to take showers. They just aren't as relaxing as baths.

I've been known to take some long baths in my time but because I decided to take one close to dinner time, I wasn't able to soak as long as I would have liked to. Oh well, I'm sure today's bath will be just one of many I will take in the future. :)

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Hospital stay post

I posted the bit about my hospital stay but since I started it a couple of days ago and just finished it today, it's dated Monday's date. You'll have to scroll down past the last couple of posts to read it.

Work has been delayed

Looks like I won't be going back to work on Monday. :(
I have a short-term disability policy through work and will get benefits once I'm off work for 30 days. Since the first day I was off was June 1, I have to wait until after July 1 to go back or I'll lose my benefits. Instead of working on Monday, I think I'll work on Thursday and Friday.
Oh well, what's a couple more days, right?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

I'm a working woman...almost

I promised a post about my time in the hospital and I will post one sometime soon. I started it last night and it's a little longer than I thought it would be.

Anyhoo, as you can see from the title of this post, I'm going back to work! Well, I'm going back to work next week very part time. I'm starting out working 2 - 3 days per week, up to 4 hours per day. It's not a lot, but I don't think I could handle more than that right now. Surprisingly, I'm kind of glad to be going back to work so early. Actually, it's only 2 weeks early because I'll be 4 weeks post-op next week Tuesday and I had planned on returning at 6 weeks.

I have come so far in the past 3 weeks. I keep showing Dustin the new tricks I can do. Sometimes he is impressed; other times I think he's worried I'm going to hurt myself.
Here are the things I can do that I couldn't right after surgery:

1. I can finally take a shower by myself and I can stand in the shower to wash my hair.
2. I can stand up from the couch, bed and almost all chairs without the assistance of my crutches.
3. I can get dressed by myself.
4. I can get in and out of the car by myself.
5. I can sit in a recliner - believe it or not, it was very uncomfortable for the first couple of weeks, I could only sit in a bed.
6. I can get rid of the TED hose I had to wear 23 hours each day.
7. I'm only taking my medication once every 8 hours or so.
8. I can stand with my surgical leg straight and it looks like nothing has ever happened to me - Dustin gets mad when I do this.

Here are the things I still can't do:
1. I can't take a bath - I tried getting in and out with my clothes on but I'm not quite as steady as I would like to be.
2. I can lift the heel of my surgical leg off the ground but I can't lift my entire foot off the ground quite yet.
3. I can't - well, I'm not supposed to drive.
4. I can't sleep on my surgical side.
5. I can't completely get rid of my medication quite yet.
6. I can't sleep in very long because I get too sore laying bed. :(
7. I can't quite bend over all the way in order to pick things off the floor.

I know there's more things I can/can't do but I'm thankful for the progress I've made so far. Thank you to all of you that have emailed me encouraging notes this past week; I needed them.

I saw this wonderful quote on another hip dysplasia patient's blog and I love it!
"PAO: the mother of all hip surgeries. No, this is NOT your grandmother's hip replacement."
So true!

Kari

Monday, June 22, 2009

My hospital stay in a nut shell (hopefully)

I promised you a post about my hospital stay, so here it is. Remember, my brain may be a bit foggy because of all the medication I was on at the time so this is what I remember. Dustin may remember things a bit differently. :)

I think I'll start with the day of surgery. We (my mom and I) decided it would be a good idea to drive down to Tacoma the morning of surgery instead of staying in a hotel because we didn't think anyone would sleep very much anyway, so that's what we did. I believe we left our house around 2:30 a.m. because I had to check in at the hospital at 5:30 a.m.

My state of mind at this point in time was pretty good. I was nervous but not so nervous that I couldn't function. I did the driving to Tacoma because Dustin was doing field work until about 2 a.m. so he needed to sleep.

We checked in about 5 minutes late because a) I got us lost 2 times :) and b) the hospital was under construction and we couldn't figure out where we had to get in. Turns out I was supposed to be in J wing, floor 5. (Whatever that means. The hospital is HUGE!) Anyway, once I got to J wing, floor 5, I was instructed to don a highly fashionable gown and a lovely pair of socks. Then the waiting began. I was originally supposed to have surgery at 8 a.m. but because Dr. Mayo was tied up with another patient until 11 p.m. (or was it 1 a.m.? I don't remember) the night before, he bumped my surgery to 10 a.m. While we were waiting for Mayo to arrive, there are a whole lot of other things you need to go through. They have to prep you for surgery. I had a nurse come in and ask me if I knew why I was here and what I was going to have done. I, of course, said yes, I know why I'm here. I'm here to have hip surgery. That got me thinking, do other people show up to a hospital, check into the surgery ward and not know what's going to happen to them? Weird.

Anyway, once I was in my gown, I have my IV port in my arm (I think that's what you call it), the anesthesiologist came in and talked to me for awhile as well a continuous trail of nurses doing various things like asking me what hip I was having surgery on, my families medical history, etc. Mayo finally came in around 9:30 (I think), marked my hip with his initials and asked if I had any final questions. I didn't, so we were good to go. They just had to finish prepping the OR.

My state of mind during this whole pre-surgery ordeal was pretty good only because I had my family there. Both of my parents were there, as well as Dustin and my sister, Christie. I think the only thing that kept me from going off the deep end was the fact that we tried making a joke out of everything. Dustin and Christie tried to lighten the mood even more by unlocking my bed and shoving it across the room with their feet and then pulling it back again. This went on for, I don't know, a good 15 - 20 minutes until I got fed up. Then, Dustin decided to raise up my bed, and then lower it down again. So up and down I went for another 5 min. I didn't think this was a really fun game.

Finally the nurse came in and said it was time for surgery. Up until this time, I was fine but when it was time to say good-bye to my family, I lost it. I started crying, so did my sister and mom. It was hard for me to say good-bye. I was so nervous!! The nurse wheeled me into the OR and had me move from my bed onto the operating bed. The nurse that prepped me for surgery was really, really nice. I can't for the life of me remember her name but she was really good. She gave me warm blankets when I was cold and reassured me that everything was going to be ok while I cried. It kind of freaked me out when the other nurses came in the OR and started setting up some of the equipment Mayo would be using. You could kind of hear them clinking together as they set them out. I didn't see the array of tools he had but I could almost imagine what they looked like.
Then the anesthesiologist came in and gave me some medication to calm my nerves. I wish he would've given me a bigger dose because it seemed like it made me sleepy for a couple of minutes until they started to put in my epidural, then I was back to normal. The anesthesiologist tried to get the epidural needle (or whatever they are sticking in) into my back the first time but couldn't get it in. Boy, did that hurt. It felt like he was jabbing something into my back and poking at my bones. Evey time I expressed my discomfort, he told me that I had to lay still and then he would try again. Meanwhile, the nice nurse once again reassured me that everything was going to me ok and tried to hold me super still so the anesthesiologist could do his job. After trying and failing 3 times, he decided to use a different route in my back and got it in right away.

The part I feared the most about this surgery was the part when they put the mask on your face and tell you to count backwards from 100 right before you go to sleep. The whole thing scared me. I didn't want to know when I was going to go to sleep, I just wanted to sleep and get it over with. After my epidural was in and they were sure it was working, the anesthesiologist put a mask on my face and told me that he had some oxygen and he needed me to take a couple of deep breaths. The next thing I remember, I was in the recovery room. That's it; the deed was done. I'm so glad he didn't say, OK Kari, you are now going to go to sleep. I think I would have said, "You know what? I think I'm healed and I don't need this surgery after all. I'm out of here." Maybe that's why they give you the epidural beforehand. :)

All in all the actual surgery took about 6 1/2 hours. Mayo said that once he got in there, the dysplasia was worse that what was shown on the x-ray but he was able to fix everything. I think I was in the recovery room for another hour or so after that so my poor family had to wait around for almost 8 hours.

The first few days after surgery are pretty much a blur but I do know that I did a lot of sleeping. I think around day 2 or 3, the nursing staff noticed that my epidural wasn't actually numbing the part of my leg it was supposed to. My right, non-surgical leg was completely numb and my left leg was only numb from the knee down. Since it wasn't working right, Mayo decided to remove the epidural a day early and switch me to oral pain medication. Since I couldn't switch immediately from an epidural to oral meds, they put me on a self administering pain pump for awhile. It took awhile to get my pain under control once the epidural was removed but once it was under control, I was golden. My pain was managed with my oral meds very well.

Once my epidural was removed, I was able to start physical therapy. My PT explained that I would be started very slowly. During my first session, I was told the only thing I needed to do was to sit on the edge of the bed. Easy, right? It turned out to be harder than I thought. It started out pretty well but after a half minute or so, I got really, really dizzy so I had to lay back down again.
Through the next couple of days, I learned how to first walk with a walker and then I graduated to crutches. PT really wasn't all the difficult, it was just really tiring. My PT was great. She never made me feel like I wasn't doing well. She was constantly telling me how well I was doing which was a great pick me up.
I also had an occupational therapist come in and show me how to take a shower, put on pants, etc.

I believe I finally got to take a shower for the first time on Friday. (I was receiving bed baths before that.) It was so nice to be clean! My incision was constantly bandaged so Friday was also the day that I got my first peek at my incision. It's approxametly a 6 - 7 inch incision that starts just above my pubic bone and extends upwards towards my waist. The scarring should be minimal because Mayo used internal sutures and then used glue to close the incision. It's kind of unnerving to think that the only thing holding me together is a bit of super glue.

By Saturday, I was ready to go home. I missed my kids and was tired of not being able to sleep without nurses interrupting me. Mayo came in Saturday morning and said that since I was able to start physical therapy a day earlier than most patients, I would be able to go home on Sunday; just 5 days after surgery. The minimum hospital stay is 5 days, so I was very fortunate to be able to go home at that time.

I was finally discharged late Sunday afternoon and got home that evening.

So that's it; my hospital stay in a nutshell. I know there is so much more that Dustin could tell you but like I said, I was kind of in a fog for those 5 days.

On a side note, I just found out that one of my uncle's has hip dysplasia. I've not talked to him but from what I've heard, he is way worse off than I was before my surgery. Perhaps we'll have another PAO survivor in the family in the near future.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Funked up

All of my prior posts have been pretty cheerful but I have to admit that not everything has been going very well the past couple of days this week. To put it simply, I have been in a funk. Actually, I'm not sure funk is the right word. It's more like I felt like a dark cloud had descended over my house. I'm usually a pretty emotional person but the past couple weeks I have been over-the-top emotional. Apparently, according to Dustin, someone at the hospital said this was a side effect of the medication I'm taking. I have no recollection of this but I guess I'll believe him anyway.


It started on Wednesday, I would start crying for no apparent reason. Dustin would come home from work and I would be sobbing. I have to give Dustin so much credit for dealing with me these past couple of days. When I sobbed that I was sick of sleeping in the living room on a hospital bed, he graciously removed the box spring from our bed in our bedroom so it wasn't so high which made it easier for me to get into. When I sobbed for no reason, he would just tell me it would be OK and let me sob.

I emailed my Dr. office and told them about my current state of mind and they said that it's not from my meds, it's because I'm not getting out of the house enough and I'm not used to having to rely on others all the time. Now that I know this, I packed my weekend full of activity in hopes to keep my blues away. It's now Sunday evening and so far, it's worked. I think it's easier to keep busy during the weekend so I hope I can keep the blues away this coming week.

I have to admit, during my recovery I am craving normalcy. I'm constantly reminded that things are not normal. For one thing, there's a hospital bed in my living room and a shower chair in my bathroom. My bed isn't normal because Dustin took the box spring off and I'm constantly being followed by a pair of crutches. As much as I've loved the meals the people from my church have been bringing over for the past two weeks, I'm glad that we're done with that. Please don't think I'm not appreciative because I am. I'm not sure how we would have managed without them but it's going to be nice to be able to have a choice when it comes to mealtime once again.

So, as I approach the coming week, I ask that you pray that I don't fall back into my funk. I'm not sure my kids and husband can handle another week of uncontrollable crying.

I just remembered I haven't posted anything about my time in the hospital. I'll have to post something within the next couple of days.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The not so itsy bitsy spider

For those of you that know me, you know that I am deathly afraid of spiders. So imagine my fear when I saw a giant spider crawling across the carpet a few nights back. This is not like a fish story where the size of the fish in the story is way bigger than the actual fish. This spider was actually huge and brown.

My mom had recently told me an awful story about a brown recluse spider bite that sent the victim to the hospital so that's all I could think about when I saw that spider. She said they were brown, big and they were super fast. The spider that was walking across my carpet was big and brown but it wasn't super fast. I came to the conclusion that it wasn't a brown recluse but it was still gross and scary.

It was around 11 p.m. and I was about to go to bed but there was no way I was going to be able to sleep with a gigantic crawling around the house. Not just in the house but in the living room where I have taken up residency since my surgery. I couldn't leave him wandering around my house all night and since no one else was awake, I took matters into my own hands.

When I first saw the culprit crawling across the floor, I tried to whap it with one of my crutches a couple of times and missed each time. This gave him the ability to crawl under my coffee table which is right next to my bed. Ewww. I carefully hoisted myself out of bed with my crutches and started looking for my eight-legged nemesis. I looked under the table as good as I could with my limited bending ability and didn't see him. I pulled the coffee table away from the wall and saw nothing. Our heater vent is right next to the coffee table so I was hoping maybe, just maybe I had scared him into the vent. There was a newspaper on the table so I covered the vent in hopes that if the bugger did climb in, he wouldn't be able to climb back out.

Just after I had finished covering the vent, I saw the spider sitting on the trim at the base of our wall. I again tried to smash him with my crutch but again, I failed and he ran towards our exercise bike.

Remember...I had just returned home from the hospital about 3 days prior to this incident. I can't bend, lift or bear weight on my surgical leg and I'm basically one legged. So all in all, this whole thing is a bad idea but I'm on medication and there is no such thing as a bad idea, especially when it comes to spiders.

I can't possible sleep knowing there is a disgusting creature crawling around. Someone told me once that we swallow like, 10 spiders in our sleep per year. It's probably an urban legend or an old wives tale but I've seen this ugly thing I was not about to have this puppy crawl down my throat. I still get creeped out just thing about it.

Anyway, so the spider crawled under the exercise bike and I needed to get it out of there and the only way to find it was to move the bike. The exercise bike is heavy for someone with 2 good hips. Imagine how heavy it is for a person with one good hip and one recently operated hip but, being the strong woman that I am, I was able to move it. I only almost fell about 4 times. :)

Once I was able to move the bike far enough to see the spider, I decided to try to squish him with my crutch but since I didn't have very good luck with that the past couple of tries, I had to come up with a new tactic. The spider was just sitting there, not moving, so I grabbed the nearest movie case, (which just so happened to be one we are borrowing from the church library - oops!) dropped it on the spider and banged my crutch on the case until I thought he was dead. I carefully lifted the case to make sure and saw that he was still alive so I dropped the case back on him. This time not only did I put my crutch back on the case with all of my weight, I put my good leg on the case and bounced up and down a couple of times for good measure.

I picked up the case once again and the bugger was still alive...a little. I wasn't going to take any chances so I managed to bend far enough over to smash the edge of the case on him a couple of times until I knew he was good and dead.

Some of you may feel bad for the poor spider, but I don't. I think spiders are important for insect control but once a spider enters my house, he's on his own. I have no problem smashing, squishing, or sucking them up in the vacuum cleaner although, I prefer that my strong, brave husband take care of them. :) Thanks Hun!

Please remember, just because I killed this spider on my own, I will not make a habit out of it unless my life depends on it. :)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Some good news

Hey, did I tell you I didn't get the femoral osteotomy done? I asked about it during my pre-op and they said that if it needed to be done, they would do it in a second surgery six months from now. Mayo was going to take a look during the hip surgery and see if it needed to be corrected but I didn't hear anything either way. I guess no news is good news, right?

I also found out in my pre-op that my right hip has the same dysplasia but would only have to be fixed if it became symptomatic. I guess we'll wait and see.

One more thing, Mayo said that the dysplasia in my left surgical hip turned out to be worse than what was shown on the x-ray but he was able to correct everything. See? Rock star.
By the way, my sister and my husband met Mayo on surgery day are are not convinced of his rock star status. Apparently, it's only clear to the select few.

Miss Independent...kind of

I took a shower yesterday by myself. It seemed like a really good idea at the time. Dustin had helped me in and out of the shower last time and it didn't look that difficult so I decided I could do it alone.

I first tried to get in and out of the shower with my clothes on. I didn't want to get all undressed, get stuck half way through and then have to quit and get redressed. The trial run seemed to go alright so I decided to go for it.

I believe it started to go downhill right away. I felt quite a few aches just trying to get undressed. The upper body is easy but once you go below the waist, it's nothing but trouble. The hardest part is trying to get my TED hose off (my doctor insists I wear them). If you're not familiar with TED hose, they are a tight sock that you wear - I have to wear mine all day with the exception of my one hour of free time. Yippee. Mine go to my knee but there are thigh high ones. I think they are supposed to ward off any blood clots. I can get them down to my ankles but it's hard to get them off from there. One reason is they are really, really tight. The other reason is my left leg is practically dead weight and I can hardly lift it up at all. If I even try to lift it up a little, I'm met with some resistance and a whole lot of pain so I have to bend all the way over to try to get these puppies off my foot. I can't bend very far so I have to try to remove them with the toes of my other foot. I'm sure the scene is quite comical.

Once I was ready, I attempted to get into the shower. I have to put my bad leg in first because of the position of the shower head. I got my left leg in about halfway and then felt a sharp pain in my hip because apparently, my hip didn't like to go in that particular direction at that particular angle. I didn't yelp out loud but I did inside. After some deep breathing to try and ward off the pain, and a couple more tries, my leg was finally in the tub. If I ever build a house in the future, I think one of the bathrooms is going to have a walk-in shower; both of ours right now are tub showers. You never know when you will need it.

Once I got my left leg in, it was easy to get my right one in. Once I manage to get myself comfortably seated on the shower chair, which is a task in its self, I began to shower. Do you know how much bending there is involved in a shower? First off, you have to bend just to remove your clothes. Then, I had to bend a bit to get my shampoo, conditioner and body wash. I had to bend to wash my both of my legs and feet and then I had to bend to reach my washcloth when I dropped it - I suppose that's my own fault. That's a lot of bending for a person that just had 4 screws in her hip.

Meanwhile, outside the bathroom, World War 3 began in my living room. Why is it that as soon as a parent jumps in the shower, the children start to fight like cats and dogs. I heard so much yelling and screaming! One was standing in front of the TV while the other was trying to play the X-Box. The one playing the X-Box gently removed the one in front of the TV (or so I'm told later on), and then the one that used to be in front of the TV attacked the X-Box player. The X-Box player then decided to end everything with a pillow shot to the head of the TV blocker. This caused the TV blocker to scream and cry.

Then, the youngest Heeringa decided to get dressed but couldn't button her capris. Helpful middle sister tried to help but what she got in return was a scream in the ear. The middle sister had just gotten the snot beaten out of her with a shot to the head with a pillow so she started to cry again. The oldest then tried to help the youngest but of course, the youngest wanted to do it by herself so she squawked at the oldest. Since no one was able to help her, (in actuality, she's four and didn't want help) and she couldn't do it herself, she decided to squawk, scream and cry until she was able to button her capris. (I'm not sure why I didn't use names, it's not like you don't know who I'm talking about. ) During this entire debacle all of our windows in the house were wide open, so you know the neighbor's heard exactly what was going on. Why does that always happen?

I think the phrase, "I'm going to take a shower, please behave" is the international phrase for "Ignore what Mom said about being good and fight like wild banshees." Next time I think I'll go in unannounced.

Back to my shower...
I managed to get washed up and out of the bath with some pain but then had to get dressed. You don't know how much independence you have until it's taken away. I'm not able to get my clothes out of my drawers because they are too low so I have to call Kaitlyn to do it. She has to lay them on my bed where I can reach and pick anything up that I drop. I have a cedar chest at the end of my bed so I'm able to sit there and get dressed. There's a lot of up and down movement while trying to get on underwear & pants. The whole ordeal is quite a task. I think it probably takes me 15 min. just to get dressed and these are easy clothes - underwear, yoga pants with no buttons or zippers and a t-shirt.

When everything was said and done and I issued the order for a cease fire and sent everyone to their appropriate rooms to think about what they had done, I finally sat down to assess the bodily damage I had done. I ached, I throbbed and I paid for my shower for the next hour or so until my pain medicine took over. I've learned that I'm not quite independent enough to take a shower without the aide of my husband.

Oh well, baby steps, right?

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I'm regressing back to my childhood...

My doctor sent me home with a few exercises to do post-surgery. The first few are normal; glut sets, quad sets and ankle sets. It's the fourth one on the list that I think is silly: lie on your stomach for about 30 minutes 2 times/day. As a parent, you are told to do the same thing to your infant when they are learning how to roll. When an infant has to spend time on their stomachs it's called "tummy time". I guess I have to make sure I get some tummy time in now, too.

Dustin called me from work Tuesday and says, "You forgot to do something yesterday. Well, we both forgot but you need my help in order to do it."
I wracked my brain trying to figure out what I would have forgotten...I paid the house payment and all of the other necessary bills before surgery, the kids didn't have any dentist/doctor appts. that we missed and I didn't think we had missed and important school or family functions. I could not figure out what I had forgotten.
"Tummy time!!" he said. I was expecting to hear that we had missed something important but no, we missed tummy time. I'm glad he finds this humorous.

When Dustin came home for his lunch break yesterday he says, "Are you ready for tummy time?" I was kind of hoping he had forgotten but he didn't so I had to spend 30 min. on my stomach. We are technically supposed to do this twice a day but we could only squeeze in one session. Maybe we'll do both today. Hurray. And no, I won't post a picture of myself during tummy time.

I tried to find a song to go along with tummy time and all I could find was one called, Party in my Tummy. Apparently, this is a remix. I think the original has a little less funk. Oh well, it will have to do.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The hospital version of the 12th man

One of the instructions my surgeon gave me after surgery was that I had to use a CPM machine. CPM stands for continuous passive motion. The CPM encourages blood circulation to prevent blood clots, maintain/increase hip motion and decrease pain. While in the CPM, your hip/leg move back and forth and at a slight angle. Here's a picture that Kaitlyn took of me using my CPM this morning.
While I was in the hospital, I was in the CPM at all times, even while sleeping. I sometimes wonder how in the world I was able to sleep those 5 days. The CPM isn't noisy, but it's not super quiet either. I had my IV machine making noise as well. Another thing Dr. Mayo had me using was a machine that hooked up to a pretty snazzy pair of "booties" (I know there is a technical name for these but I don't remember what their called). I would place my foot on the bootie and one strap would go over my foot and another along the back. Each bootie had it's own little air pocket at the arch of each foot that would alternately inflate with air and then deflate after a couple of seconds. I was told the purpose of this high fashion foot ware was to make the blood flow in my feet better. I was told flow tends to slow after surgery and this would encourage the blood to move quicker.


When you turn all of these different pieces of equipment on at the same time and then add a nurse or two checking vitals or taking a blood sample every hour, you get a sound that is equivalent to the 12th man during a Seahawks game at Quest field. OK, so that may be a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point. I'm so glad to be home!

Shots and Cats

I left something out when I showed the amount of medication I take in a 24-hour period

This is a Fragmin injection that I have to give myself once a day, for the next two weeks.


Fragmin is a type of medicine called low–molecular-weight heparin (LMWH). It can help keep the blood from forming clots or keep a clot from getting larger.

I thought I would have trouble with actually giving myself a shot but I don't. I just have to remove the cap and stick it in my stomach as far as it will go it. Then I just push the plunger down, remove it from my skin and that's it, shot given! The needle itself is only about an inch or so long so that makes it easier.
On a side note, look who's taken up residency in my bed during recovery?
It's our cat. Her "legal" name at the vet is Boo Boo but she has so many nicknames. Currently, when asked, our children will tell you her name is Ooba. I think names in our house just keep evolving into different ones as time goes by. Her name started out as Kitty. It then changed to Itty Bitty Kitty. Then Bitty. Then Bitty Boo Boo, then Boo Boo, then...well, you get the point.
I hope she doesn't get too used to sleeping on a bed, indoors very much longer! :)

Monday, June 8, 2009

Pills, pills and more pills


It seems as if all I do is take medication lately. Dustin and I thought it would be interesting to see how many pills I am currently taking in a 24-hour period. Yipes! No wonder it seems like I'm in a fog!

I'm home!!

Yes, it's true. I'm finally home. After a long day of waiting, we arrived home around 8:00 p.m. My parents had set up the hospital bed in the living room earlier in the week so I'll had to do was get in and start resting.

Dustin is home with me today doing "house stuff". You know, the pesky little tasks around the house that need to be done but never seem to. So far he has hung new blinds in the living room and gotten a replacement battery for our telephone. He also came back with some screen stuff from True-Value so I'm going to assume he's going to replace the holey screen in the front window (that the cat has now found and uses as a cat door) and the sliding screen door on the patio.
Emily offered to take the girls for the day so they could have a play-date with Aleks. I'm so thankful! I love my girls to bits but it sure is nice to be able to settle into things when they're not around.

Thank you for all of your prayers and words of encouragement!

I think I'm going to take a nap. :)

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Squeaky clean

Yes, I know I still have a lot to post regarding my surgery but I'll have time to catch up after I get home and get settled. The plan is for me to go home sometime tomorrow! I can't wait! I'm not looking forward to the long drive home but it will be worth it in the end.

If you have speakers and can hear the song I added, you will know that today was the first day I was allowed to take a shower. The aides washed my hair with no-water shampoo on Thursday and I was able to wash myself up with disposable wipes everyday but because my wound drain hadn't been removed, I couldn't take an actual shower. The nurse took out the wound drain early this afternoon and I went right in the shower after that. Dustin had to help me because I couldn't do a whole lot but it was nice to get my hair and body washed with real shampoo.

I probably could have fallen asleep on the way from the shower room back to my room because the shower was a work out! I couldn't believe how much physical strength I had to use to wash up!

At any rate, sometime tomorrow I'll be home! I miss my kids so much and I know that although it was fun staying at Grandpa/Grandma Heeringa's and Grandpa/Grandma Van's, they are ready to come home, too.

Hopefully, the next post will be from my living room. Thank you so much for all of the prayers you have sent up on my behalf. I can feel God's healing hands working through my body.

Friday, June 5, 2009

It's done!!

My surgery was a success!! I feel like I have so much to tell but I don't know how much I'll get out today. Sorry it's taken me so long to post something, but today is the first day I can actually stay awake long enough to do anything.

My day started out really early Tuesday morning. Since we decided not to spend the night in Tacoma, Mom and Dad met up with us at our house and we left about 2:30 a.m. The drive down was pretty uneventful except I got us lost 2 times. The first time it wasn't my fault but the second time was (I took a wrong turn).

I have so much more to post but I'm nodding off while I type so I'll end here and write more tomorrow. I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm doing well. Feel free to email me at kanddheeringa@yahoo.com if you want.

Kari

Monday, June 1, 2009

I think I'm ready

The sheets are washed, the beds are made, the laundry is washed, dried, folded and put away, the lawn is mowed, the weeds are pulled, the flowers are watered. What else is there to do? The only thing I can do now is wait (and try to sleep).

I have to check into Tacoma General no later that 5:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. At first, we were going to spend the night at a hotel with my parents but then my mom and I decided that we probably won't get any sleep anyway so we may as well drive early in the morning. My parents are meeting us at our house at 2:15 a.m. so we can be on the road by 2:30. We should arrive in Tacoma around 5 or so. Yipes.

Say a prayer for me tomorrow! I'm taking my laptop with me but probably won't post anything until Wednesday or Thursday.

Good night!!

I think I have a little bit of Rocky in me...

For those of you with speakers...turn 'em up!!! This is the song I'm going to be rocking all day long. Why, you may ask? SURGERY DAY IS TOMORROW!! For those of you that don't have speakers (or those that are reading this after the song has been changed), the song that is playing right now is called "The Final Count Down".

For some reason this song makes me want to jump up and down and run up steps like Rocky Balboa. Was this song in one of the Rocky movies? At any rate, you won't see me jumping or running at all today unless it's listed on my to-do-list. I have a crazy, busy day and a to-do-list that seems to be a mile long.

I'll try to post again later but only if I get everything on my list checked off. :)

Friday, May 29, 2009

Pre-op appt.

Yesterday Dustin and I drove down to Tacoma for my pre-op appointment. Actually, I should rephrase that. I drove to Tacoma and back and Dustin slept. It was a quite a long day. We left Lynden at about 8:15 a.m. and by the time I got back from picking up the girls from Mom and Dad's it was 8:20.

We seemed to just "hurry up and wait" the entire day. First, more x-rays, then talk to this person, then this person, then sign here, here and here, then go back to where you came from earlier and give a blood sample, etc. My appt. was at 11:30 a.m. and we didn't walk out of there until 3:30.

Although it was a long day, it was very beneficial. I felt better and more at ease with the surgery after my appointment then when I had arrived. Everyone was very nice and answered any questions I had. I found out that Dr. Mayo isn't going to fix my femur on Tuesday like I thought. He said he's going to look at it while he's in there and then decide. If it needs to be fixed, he would do it six months from now. I was glad to hear that because I figured one incision at a time was enough for me.

Since my pre-op I have come to the conclusion that Dr. Mayo is a rock star. I'm not joking. During my pre-op ordeal, the nurses, x-ray techs, and admission people would ask me who my doctor was. When I told them they all would say, Oh, Dr. Mayo...he's so good or he's the best or did you know that people come from all over the country to see him?
Then, I was told that Dr. Mayo's patients get private rooms after surgery. Another added bonus, right?
And lastly, this is the thing that solidified Dr. Mayo's rock star status in my eyes. I was in the waiting room waiting to get my x-ray when a woman told the receptionist that she was going to step out a minute and use the restroom outside the office down the hall. The receptionist asked her if she was a patient of Dr. Mayo and the woman said that she was. The receptionist told her that since she was a patient of Dr. Mayo's she didn't have to use the one in the hall, she could use the one right in the office. It's a small perk but I'll take it. Bathroom privileges are not something I take lightly. If I can toss Dr. Mayo's name around and can get a closer bathroom, you can bet I'm going to take advantage of it.

See? Rock star. Absolute rock star.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Five more days!!!

I only have 5 more days until my surgery and tomorrow is my pre-op appointment. Wait, what time is it? Correction. Today is my pre-op and instead of sleeping at 1:18 a.m. I am blogging. Sigh. I was sleeping. I was sleeping quite well actually, that is until Dustin came home from doing field work at 12:30 a.m. and woke me up. I decided sleep is out of the question for the next while so I thought I'd blog, read my book and then try to go back to sleep.

Since I'll be in Tacoma most of the day today, I took the entire day off at work. This means I only have one more work day left before D-day. My poor co-workers. I have a wonderful group of women that are going to fill in and do my job (not to mention their own jobs) for me while I'm gone and frankly, they are petrified. At least that's the impression they are giving me. I keep assuring them that things will be fine and they will do an amazing job but I think they still have their doubts. Do you hear that ladies (you know who you are)...you will be fine. My 6 - 8 week leave will fly by and I'll be back before you know it. :) It's so much easier to be positive when you're the one at home recovering and you're not the one stressing out. I appreciate each one of you! I'm so glad you are willing to help me out while I go through this.

I should probably wrap things up so I can try to get some more sleep. I'm sure I will have a lot more information to post regarding my surgery after my appointment today. Until then...

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Eleven more days!

Only 11 more days until surgery. Yikes! I still fell as if I have so much stuff to do yet! I don't even have the hospital bed Dr. Mayo requires yet. Oh well, I'm sure everything will fall into place when it's supposed to.

Cripes! I still have to make the hotel reservation so Dustin and my parents have somewhere to stay the first couple of days after surgery. I guess I'll just add one more thing to the To Do list... It is a 3 day weekend after all.

Happy Memorial Day weekend. I'm grateful for those who gave their life for our country. Thank you to those that are currently serving and those that have served in the past.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Thwack!!

Thwack!! That's the sound of me figuratively getting hit on the head with a 2x4. Do you ever feel that way? I know I've recently felt it. Let me explain.

I'm sitting in church this morning and here's the scripture passage from this mornings sermon.

Matthew 6:25-34

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather in to barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (ESV)

Could this sermon come at a better time for me? Probably not. One of the things Pastor Robert said was that God uses the things that give us anxiety to draw us closer to Him. I've seen that happen in my life; not only with the anxiety of impending surgery but in other situations I've struggled with in the past.

So if you see me nursing a knot on my head, now you know why. God has once again used His Word to show me that he's in control and I shouldn't worry. Thank goodness. I think that if I were in control I would have messed things up a long time ago.

One more thing...
Thank you to all of my friends and family that have been praying for me recently. I asked that you pray because I was feeling rather nervous about the surgery, etc. and I've noticed that I'm not nearly as anxious as before. I'm sleeping better and I don't burst into tears when I have to talk about it. :)

That's all for now,
Kari

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

This could totally happen...

OK, so I've figured out one benefit to this whole hip surgery thing. After surgery, I shall become...wait for it...Bionic Woman. Think about it. I will have dropped one hundred grand in parts and labor into my precious hip so I think it's only fair that I get some sort of super hero skill in return. I think I will become like Superman. Wasn't he the one that was able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? That will totally be me. Jealous? You should be. I will be one happening unit.

God thing, cont.

When we last left our hero (that's me) I had just received news that my surgery was approved by the blasted insurance company. I shall pick up the story from there.

So, Keri, from Dr. Mayo's office called me exactly one week ago and confirms what I had suspected the insurance company was trying to tell me in the letter they sent. My surgery was, in fact, approved. She went on to say that she was surprised that it was approved. Apparently, they have been submitting other patients surgeries to the insurance companies and they have all been denied. Keri told me of one patient that's flying in from Michigan to have Dr. Mayo do her surgery this month. Keri said this woman is practically crippled because of her condition but her insurance company has still denied her claim. What a sad society we live in. It's a shame that an insurance company can decided what is and isn't medically necessary for a patient.

Anyway, Keri went on to say that the fact that my surgery was approved was the good news. She had some bad news as well. She said that Dr. Mayo was putting all of his surgeries on hold for awhile because he's been having back problems for a couple of years which makes it hard for him to stand during surgery. He was supposed to have back surgery a couple of different times within the past couple of years but had backed out. A surgeon backing out of surgery? Who would have thought? I guess his wife was pushing him to take action once and for all.
Keri said that they would pencil me in for August or September but didn't really know what Dr. Mayo was going to do. I asked if it was possible for him to stop operating because of his condition. Keri said it was possible but she didn't know for sure. My next question was, if he decides to stop operating, where is the closest surgeon that performs this type of surgery. Keri replied, Reno. That would be quite the quest. I can't imagine getting home from Reno after surgery. Ouch. Keri said that I shouldn't worry about that. She would talk to Dr. Mayo and see what he says and maybe, if I'm willing, he can get me in sooner. She promised to contact me by Friday with his decision.

Around 2:30 that same afternoon Keri called me back. She had talked to Dr. Mayo and was wondering if I would be available for surgery on June 2. June 2?!?! As in June 2, 2009? Yes, Keri confirmed. June 2, 2009. I weakly said that would be fine and she started rattling off information like the date of my pre-op, what vitamins I should be taking, etc. Thankfully, all of this information came in a letter in the mail a couple of days later because she kind of lost me after June 2.

So her I am now, scheduled for a surgery that I never thought was going to happen, with a surgeon that is one of 12 in the U.S., who is also squeezing me in with less than one months notice. Seriously? I don't think it has ever been more obvious to me, than with this whole surgery thing that God really does have my back. I'm so glad. Who better to have in your corner?

Friday, May 8, 2009

It's a God thing...

Some people contribute good things to luck. Others say that the stars aligned just right. Me? I say, it's a God thing. I love to look back at my life and see God doing his thing.

Take for instance, this whole surgery business. The way I've gotten from where I started back in October 2008 to where I am now has definitely been a God thing. Here's my story...

It all started back in June 2008 at Relay for Life (Go Team Lawnscaping!). It was my responsibility to walk for my team for an hour at a time a couple of times during the night. I'm not sure how many miles I ended up walking that night but around 4 a.m. I began to have hip pain. It gradually got worse and worse until I had to stop walking due to the pain. I thought this was pretty weird because I had never felt this type of pain before and certainly not in my hip. I was a bit tender for a few days following Relay but I didn't think a whole lot of it.

In August we decided to take the girls to the NWW Fair. After walking around the fairgrounds all day, the sharp pain in my hip came back and by the time we walked home, I could hardly lift my leg high enough to step up to the curb on the sidewalk. This pain lingered for a few days as well, but never really went away. It would flair up while I was sitting on the couch, laying in bed and just sitting in chair. If I changed positions it would ease for awhile. I wasn't in agonizing pain, mind you, but on a scale of 1 to 10, I was constantly at a 4 or 5.

My dear husband got tired of me complaining of my pain all the time so he suggested I see a doctor and get it looked at. At this point I was sure that there was nothing really wrong with me and that perhaps my spine was out of line and it was throwing my hips out of whack. So I decided to see a chiropractor. My chiropractor was very nice and helpful but didn't hesitate to tell me that if my pain didn't decrease after a couple of visits, he probably couldn't do anything for me and I should go to a specialist.

Sure enough, my pain did not subside so my chiropractor referred me to a muscular-skeletal specialist - we'll call him Dr. X. Dr. X said that he didn't think my pain was joint pain, he was sure it was muscular but he sent me for an x-ray anyway. The x-ray came back and Dr. X said the x-ray tech didn't see anything really abnormal in the x-ray but did think that I may have pelvic scoliosis. I'm not even sure if Dr. X even looked at my x-ray. Dr. X then referred me on to physical therapy because, as he said before, my pain was muscular. Right.

So off to PT I went. I was evaluated by a wonderful physical therapist that did an entire hip evaluation and came to the same conclusion I had. It's not muscular. She then told me that Dr. X had ordered 8 sessions of PT but since my pain was not muscular, there was no reason for me to return to her. At this point I'm feeling just a tad bit frustrated with Dr. X. Fortunately for me, God was doing his thing. I received a voicemail from the lovely physical therapist later that day. She said that she spoke with an experienced PT in her office and he subtly suggested I seek a second opinion and referred me to Dr. Thorpe.

My insurance does not require that I have a referral from a MD to see Dr. Thorpe so I was able to get into see him fairly quickly due to a cancellation. Dr. Thorpe pretty much did the exact same evaluation as Dr. X and then retreated to his office to look at the very same x-ray Dr. X had supposedly looked at. I waited patiently in the exam room until Dr. Thorpe's nurse came in and said that he would like me to come into his office because he would like me to see my x-ray.

I walked into his office and there on his computer screen was an x-ray of some poor sap. This poor sap's x-ray looked as if there were some hip issues going on. The name on the x-ray was one I was very familiar with. The poor sap's name was my own. I took one look at the x-ray and said, is that normal? It certainly did not look like what I thought a normal pelvis should look like. This pelvis looked a little bit crooked. Dr. Thorpe said that he knew right away what was wrong with me. He said it was hip dysplasia. My childhood ailment had reared it's ugly head once again. He said that any x-ray tech should have been able to see the problem and Dr. X should have caught it, too. Sigh.

Dr. Thorpe then explained the options I mentioned in my previous post. Surgery or live in pain and slowly wear away the cartilage in my hip and need a total hip replacement by age 50. He explained that this was a specialized surgery and a surgery that he did not perform. He said that there are only about 12 surgeons in the U.S. that will do this surgery and my heart sank. 12? You mean one dozen? In the entire U.S.? Oye vey. Then Dr. Thorpe told me that he knew of someone that performed the surgery. In fact, they used to be colleagues and as another added bonus, the surgeon works in Tacoma! His name was Dr. Mayo and I decided right then and there that he was my new best friend. I couldn't believe it! God and his things. :)

This is turning into a very long post and I'm not even to the good part yet! Oh well, if you've been able to stay with me this far, you can make it to the end. Go eat a quick snack or something. I'll wait.

It took me awhile to get into see Dr. Mayo because in my opinion, Dr. Mayo has an awesome schedule. Well, it's awesome as long as you aren't a patient trying to get an appointment. He only works on Tues., Wed. and Thurs. Maybe I'll pitch that schedule to my boss when I return after surgery. Anyway, I went in for an evaluation and a whole slew of new x-rays and he confirmed what Dr. Thorpe had said. I would need surgery. Keri, Dr. Mayo's medical assistant and right-hand gal, explained that she would pencil me in for March 2009. Unfortunately, Keri had some bad news for me. My insurance most likely would not approve my surgery. To make matters worse, the approximate cost of this surgery is $100,000. Gulp. Keri said that she had recently submitted two other requests for this surgery for two different patients and they were both denied right away. They had appealed both of them but only one of them was approved. So my chances were 50/50.

It took awhile for my claim to be submitted to the insurance company due to the holidays but not long after it was submitted, I received notice that it was denied. Keri had already prepared me for this so I knew that the plan was to appeal the decision if and when it this happened. The appeal process took a little longer than I had expected but late last week I received two letters in the mail from the insurance company that were post marked within a couple of days of each other. I opened the older of the two first and it was a letter stating that my original claim had been denied but they had received an appeal from Dr. Mayo. I was expecting this letter. I then opened the second envelope and inside was a letter that stated that benefits had been extended for my POA. I think I read this letter over about 10 times before it started to sink in. We won the appeal! I was shocked!

Really, this post is getting too long! I think I'll close on that high note because there still are a couple more low notes until we end on the final high note.

Until tomorrow,
Kari

Jumping on the bandwagon

Well, I've done it. I've caved. I have jumped on the blogging bandwagon and there's no turning back. I've been heard recently saying, "Why would anyone blog about a surgery? What's the point?"
That was then and this is now.
I've done a lot of research for my upcoming surgery and have found many blogs that tell the tale of ones journey through the above mentioned hip surgery and have found that many people blog in order to keep their family/friends informed of what's going on. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that was a good idea. What better way for family/friends to find out how you are doing than to read your blog?
So, here we are at my first attempt at blogging.
This entire blog will be devoted to my preparation of surgery, my surgery and my recovery. First things first, let me give you a little background as to why I have to have surgery.

Let's go back...way back to 1980 (think big hair and acid wash jeans). Within the first year of my life (I'd have to ask my mom exactly when) I was diagnosed with Hip Dysplasia. I'm not sure what my symptoms were but all I know is my hips were messed up and needed to be fixed. So I was outfitted with some very stylish braces that I wore for quite some time (again, I'd have to ask my mom for the details) until my condition improved. (I have a picture, I'll see if I can figure out how to post it within the next couple of days.) Fast forward to the year 2008 and you have me, a fairly active 28 year old that is all of the sudden feeling very much like an 80 year old due to hip pain.

To make a long story short, I was again diagnosed with Hip Dysplasia (apparently, it never really went away) and was told that I could do one of 2 things. I could go about my business just as I had been, in pain and probably need a total hip replacement by the age of 50 or I could have surgery to fix my ailment and thus postponing the inevitable hip surgery for another 30 - 35 years and be generally, pain free during that time.

It wasn't really a choice for me. I had gotten to the point to where I had chronic hip pain. It hurt to walk, sit, drive, lie in bed, etc. I felt old. I couldn't walk more than one mile without starting to limp because of the pain. I couldn't sit in one position very long. If I did something active like play softball (Go 1st CRC!!!) I would pay for it the next few days. I knew right away that I needed to have surgery.

So after a 5 month journey, I'm finally scheduled to go under the knife on June 2nd. More on that story to come.

This post has turned into quite a lengthy introduction and I have so much more to tell but I'll slowly tell my story over the next 25 days so I don't lull you into a deep sleep.

Until then...

Kari