I did it again and I have hurt myself. My artificial hip dislocated!
It is hard to keep Leading a Healthy Life when I am always getting in trouble.
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| Free google image- not of me! |
I do want to share what happened. This is actually hard to write because I am still feeling quite traumatized by this experience but I also know that writing is like therapy for me when I am trying to process events. This is going to be a bit longer and but I feel a real need to record what happened to me. I have not come across a lot of stories about a dislocation like this. It is a 4% risk you are warned about and it usually happens in the first six months after a hip replacement and not two and a half years later!
I wrote a lot of posts in 2018 about my recovery from a hip replacement and about life with Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a chronic disorder and something I try to just live with and take whatever steps I need to alieve pain and keep functioning.
My left knee has been bad for a long long time and I was finally scheduled for knee replacement next week but it was put on hold due to Covid restrictions in our area. I had let the knee go on so long that I am now having trouble with the left ankle and have some bowing in my left lower leg because of how my knee has collapsed inward. My other knee is not doing that well either. The result is that I bend from the waist a lot instead of trying to squat or "lift with your knees".
After you have a hip replacement you have quite a few restrictions on your movements, especially during the first months, such as not crossing your legs and not doing high-impact movements. I kind of forgot that I should also be careful with bending over.
On December 22nd, at about 11 pm, I was in a storage area in my basement and I was reaching down at an angle trying to lift a small box off the bottom shelf of a cabinet and I think that as I straightened up I twisted a little. I felt and heard a kind of thunk and felt excruciating pain and realized my right leg was not able to move. I instantly realized that my hip was dislocated. I screamed and screamed with the pain, still standing there on one leg. I was briefly thinking it would clunk back into place any second but that was not a real possibility. My husband and daughters came running down the stairs. They brought a rolling chair over to me and with a huge amount of pain I wound up sitting on the left check... with a lot more screaming. I was convinced to sit because I was terrified my "good" leg was going to give out because I was shaking violently by this point. I thought how much damage could I do if I hit the floor?
The family called 911 and the emergency response team arrived quickly but there was nothing easy about getting me out of the basement. They warned me that it was going to be horribly painful but there was no choice, They set up an IV, kept checking my vitals and getting a history then gave me a shot of a pain killer. They got me in a metal transport chair because of the turns at the top of the stairs and with my foot and leg kind of turned out funny and me screaming some more. Going up the stair was something else, then there was a transfer to the stretcher and they gave me another shot of the painkiller and took me out to the ambulance.
Did I mention there was a blizzard going on? They were concerned about the roads and the best route to the hospital. The ride was not uneventful - there were concerns about me going into shock and my blood pressure becoming unstable and respiration dropping but they got me to the hospital really quick considering the weather.
At the hospital, it was another agonizing stretcher move and I laid in the hall for what felt like the longest time. Next was the x-ray. They should have given me another shot of the pain killer because transferring me onto the x-ray table and then putting me into position was so bad I couldn't believe it.
An hour or so later a doctor came into the spot they parked me in Emergency and told me they would be taking me into a procedure room and try to pop get the hip back into position. A doctor came and got more of my history and then after another wait, they took me in a room and gave me a sedative and other medications so that I was not completely knocked out but would not remember anything or move.
I woke up back in the emergency and did not feel good about things and then the doctor came in and told me that they tried 4 or 5 times and were not successful. He told me my own surgeon, who had done the hip in the first place was the on-call doctor that day and that they were scheduling surgery for me later in the day. It felt long but this time at least I didn't have to move at all and they had a painkiller going in the IV so the pain was a little more manageable.
I had a very long chat with one of the surgeons pre-surgery. I have so many medication intolerances and very complicated history. He explained that they would most likely have to open me up to get the hip back together and that there was a possibility that the whole artificial joint would need to be replaced. He told me that the first thing would be to try under anesthesia and with greater muscle relaxants and monitoring to give one more try and manipulating the joint into place. I was just grateful something was going to happen.
I woke up in the surgical theatre with them telling me that they were able to reduce it and the actual surgery was not necessary. I was taken to a room in the orthopedic ward and found myself flat on my back and my legs were firmly strapped to either side of a large triangular wedge so that I could not move my leg and hip at all. The rest of the day and a lot of the next day was a bit of a blur but the drugs kind of kept me asleep or at least out of it. I had a massive headache and was feeling like vomiting every time I moved or they brought food into the room.
I felt a little less out of it on Christmas Eve and was trying to find a position while flat on my back that didn't hurt my neck and lower back. I had a nice lady sharing the room with me who just had her second hip replacement within the year. It was a relief to have a pleasant person sharing the room with me.
Late afternoon I was visited by a person who fits braces and prosthetics. The nurse called and begged to have someone come out that afternoon. It seems the company closes Christmas Eve and then doesn't open again until January 2nd! I would have been stuck there flat on my back e all that time if he hadn't come. The man worked on bending pieces, lengthening others and adjusting velcro straps to make it fit me. There is a kind of hinge at the hip that he set to only let my hip flex up to 75 degrees according to the surgeon's prescription.
I still couldn't move that leg but at least my left leg could shift and I could reposition myself slightly.
Christmas Day was hard physically and emotionally.
The Physiotherapist came to see me and we got me up and walking as far as the bathroom and practiced how the heck to sit down on a toilet or on anything else. I spent a while sitting in a reclining chair in the late afternoon and I actually managed to eat something for the first time. Christmas Turkey dinner but not like any I had ever experienced before.
I felt so bad about not being at my work doing all the things I had promised to do but at least I know that the rest of the staff would somehow make things good for the residents that were in my care. I was supposed to help people visit with their families for Christmas using Facetime and Zoom and here I was being the one sick in bed with my family face timing me for short Christmas visits. It kind of broke my heart not being with my family in person.
I asked my roommate if she would like to listen to a Stuart Mclean's Christmas Special. Stuart Mclean was a Canadian radio show host and an icon to many of us until his death a few years ago. He told wonderful, warm humorous stories about a family and their adventure. My roommate said "Yes, that would be nice." so we were distracted for an hour or so by listening to a couple of his stories.
Boxing Day was more physiotherapy in the morning and I almost flunked stairs and was told we would try again the next day but I was so heartbroken the guy said we could try again in the later afternoon. I also got to have a good talk with the occupational therapist. She also had to approve that I was fit to go home but she also answered a few basic questions I had about managing everyday life wearing this brace. In the afternoon the nurses timed painkillers for when the physiotherapist was coming back and this time I managed the 5 steps using crutches and proved that I could get all the way into my house,
Things moved quickly and I had my discharge papers in my hands, directions about pain killers and when to book a follow-up appointment with my surgeon.
Bob was phoned to come and get me and they wheeled me to the door where Bob had a coat and slippers waiting. Somehow we got me into the car and safely home.
PS
This post took me a very very long time to write and is probably full of editing errors but I am sure you will forgive me. I am still pretty shaken up and exhausted from the whole experience, but starting to do better.
