Preparing for Hip Revision Surgery

 I am still waiting for Hip Revision surgery, and it looks like it is going to be a long wait after all. 

The city has a massive number of Covid cases, and our ICUs are beyond capacity, so non-emergency surgery is on hold yet again. I find it hard to deal with the uncertainty of the situation, but with the extremely high risk of covid in our community, I believe it is just what needs to happen. I have been struggling to move forward with anything, and I am very much in a holding pattern; I can't exercise much, I risk falling, I can't work, volunteer, or do much work around the house, and with Covid, there is no chance of going shopping or visiting with friends right now. I have had a hard time focussing on all the things I can do and tend to slip into thinking about the things I can't do. 

Hip Reversion surgery is what it is called when there is a problem with a hip replacement, and they do a second surgery to try and fix damage around the hip and its parts. Basically, the name says it all. They are revising the surgery that was done before. In my case, since I have had a serious dislocation and now it is still unstable, they intend to change the lining section in the hip socket to a different type that fits differently and restrains the amount of movement of the hip a little more. They will also check for things like damaged ligaments etc. In the meantime, I am at significant risk of it dislocating again, and I have some pain and mobility issues.

When I had the original hip replacement, I didn't really know what I should expect with surgery and the rehab part, and I was pretty scared. I learned a lot from Facebook groups, and internet sites and friends and the hospitals did have prehab classes where I spoke with their dietician, a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist who tried to prepare me for surgery and recovery and teach me ways to cope while living with arthritis and explain what they can.

I wound up needing a different car to come home in than when we had at the time and a different bed because we were sleeping in a low bed with a raised wood frame around it. I needed a bath seat, raised toilet seat and a handle around the toilet. I needed a walker and crutches to deal with stairs into our house. It was highly suggested that I get a recliner chair to sit and probably sleep in.

This will be my third time in hospital dealing with this hip, and I am starting to feel like quite the expert. At least this time, we don't have to buy any of the furniture or medical supplies! Been there, done that! I might not know "when," but I do have a better idea about the "what" and "how."

Packing lists

 

The last time was an ambulance ride with no jacket, no shoes, no phone, no nothing. My husband followed the ambulance to the hospital, and of course, they wouldn't let him in because of Covid 19, but they did take my phone from him and got it to me sometime the next morning. It was good to get in touch and tell him what was happening and eventually to Facetime on Christmas with my family. This time I plan on being prepared. I won't be having any company allowed, so no one to bring supplies.

Items I will Need to Pack

In the Hospital

• iPhone and earphones. Save some podcasts and music to my phone to keep me distracted.
• Charging cable and wall plug connector.
• glasses and a labelled case to put them in
• pen and notepad, maybe some activity book like colouring or crossword
• Slippers with good grips that you can easily step into.
• housecoat
• moisturizer and lip balm
• Hairbrush, elastics, hair clips.
• toothbrush and toothpaste in a case
• They do provide soap but if you have a particular kind, pack it along too.
• mini nail kit
• Pillow, comfort items or a small blanket if you want to. Things to keep you more comfortable.
• important papers your hospital might require like a list of medications and your health care numbers,
• Hard candies to suck on, or maybe breath mints
• Money is tricky. Loose change is usually a good idea, but with covid, nothing is open anyway.
• I would bring a garbage bag for dirty laundry.

Going HomeTime

• fresh underwear
• skirt and shirt or easy pull-on dress. (pants just don't work out well)
• I'm thinking about other slip-on shoes rather than my slippers for getting into the car.

Pickup Time

• Husband Bob is to bring a jacket or sweater if needed
• walker to get to the car
• crutches to get up a couple of stairs into our house.

When I get dropped off at home, Bob will go to the pharmacy to fill prescriptions from the hospital for pain killers and assorted other items.

I will update this post if I think of anything I forgot!

💚

I will stop whining about my hip for now and, like a good recreation person, move on to all the things that I can do until I actually have surgery. 

There are lots of things that don't involve much bending or stretching. And don't including all the things you can't do because your city is under severe constraints and risk due to Covid 19. 

💚

Spring Gardening

 I am distracting myself with the different plants in our yard. Our daughter, Alicia, really enjoys gardening with all of its successes and a few disappointments. She plans a few extra plants most years and finds gardening to be a real stress reducer. I am hoping that our outdoor spaces will prove to be relaxing to me too during this really difficult year.

Bob and Alicia got a few plants from the store, and Alicia started a few seeds, and a few plants volunteered and came back this year.

We have barely started working on our yard. I don't think it is a week since we had nights with temperatures falling below zero. In Manitoba, it is understood that you really shouldn't be putting out your plants before Victoria Day, which will come this weekend.  Winnipeg's average first frost-free day is May 25th, and we expect the first frost of the winter around September 22nd. 

We have to start plants inside or consider using plants with very short growing periods and plan how to protect them if there is an early frost. Trees and perennial plants have to survive extremely cold winters.  I am sure its year will be different in the garden, but it will still be a retreat for us. With all the Covid issues in our city, I don't think we will be wandering around shopping for our regular annual plants, so we will try and be creative this year.

I will miss being out in nature at our cottage. I don't think I will get to our lovely island Lake Cottage for months, and when I do get there, it is going to be hard moving around and even just getting from the dock up to the cottage. I am planning on creating a few restful places to enjoy and relax in our city yard. The family is doing most of the work, but I will put real thought into how to make more of our yard more accessible for me this year and for the future. 

Let's call these "before " pictures, so hopefully, you will be much more impressed when I share more photos over the next couple of months. Bob put in a lot of work today, and it already looks a lot better than you see here.

Planters of Coleus hanging off our front porch railing.

One of 3 hanging Begonias from Costco

Two new Clematis vines for our backyard

Chives divided and shared by the neighbour.

A new little plum tree going to the cottage.

Tulips at the front of our house are just opening up.

A single red tulip among the yellow.

What happens to tulips when rabbits visit your yard.

Wave Petunias from Costco

Looking up under my 50-year-old apple tree.

A planter for a picnic table

Lilies planted last year & a couple of Dust Millers that self-seeded.

A sad Ivy that doesn't look like it will survive.

The little tree we brought home from the lake last fall to use at Xmas 

Some garlic cloves from the kitchen.

The change from storm and winter to serene and mild weather, from dark and sluggish hours to bright and elastic ones, is a memorable crisis which all things proclaim. 

                                                        ~Henry David Thoreau

Hospitals and Surgery Delays

Just a little hip update.

Like many other places, Manitoba is experiencing the third wave of Covid 19, and with it, the hospitals are being overwhelmed. There aren't enough ICU beds or staff to manage all the extra patients coming to the hospital in serious shape due to Covid. 

The government announced that the hospital I was supposed to go to was reduced to 50% capacity for elective surgeries. 

Last Monday, my orthopedic surgeon's office called informing me that my hip revision surgery on May 19th is cancelled and will eventually be rebooked. The doctor's assistant told me that my surgeon can have a few urgent surgeries and that he has put in an appeal that I be placed on the shortlist because he believes that I am at serious risk of reinjury. I asked if that meant I would have the surgery sometime after the 19th, and she said that if it is okayed, the surgery could be anytime.. the next day or a month away. No idea. Basically, I guess it depends on the number of emergency orthopedic surgeries.  In the news quoted below, I fall into the day-by-day case-by-case decisions. 

I am really very thrown by having an unknown date that I should be ready for. My plan for today is to actually pack a bag with anything I might need in the hospital. Just in case.

In actuality, I am feeling a bit better physically this week, and some of the hip pain is easing up. I am probably finally healing a bit since the last dislocation. Some part of my brain is saying to me, "Maybe we can wait for surgery until Covid is gone?" or " Maybe we don't really need surgery after all?. The more practical part of my brain is saying, "Do you really want to spend the rest of your life anticipating another catastrophic event that you can prevent by going through with the surgery?" My daughters say I am blocking out and forgetting how bad the experience really was or I wouldn't think avoiding surgery sounds good. They are probably right. 

Maybe I am just wanting to chicken out with this draggin' on for so long.

Siragusa said surgical units will continue to prioritize urgent surgeries, such as trauma, cancer and life-threatening conditions, but they’ll have to look at all surgical activity closely.

“We’re going to need to be prioritizing on a day-by-day and case-by-case basis,” she said, adding that some surgeries may have to occur outside of Winnipeg.

“The impact on surgery in the coming weeks is likely to once again be significant,” Siragusa said.

“As we reduce surgical volumes to allow for an increase in critical care capacity, and patients whose appointments are affected, we'll hear directly from their care team, if there is a change in their appointment or their care plan.”

Coronavirus: Manitoba scaling back on elective surgeries due to rising ICU needs | CTV News