On January 6th I hopped on the table at Orthopedic Physicians Alaska eager for my second cortisone shot and the pain relief it would give to my osteoarthritic right hip.
A week passed and no relief. I continued hiking in the frigid minus 10 degrees with Alaska Happy Hikers. Should I start thinking about scheduling a replacement for October or November, to allow healing before going to Anchorage for Christmas 2020?
On January 27th I wrote on my prayer slip for Ladies Fellowship in Virginia - Please pray that God will give me direction as to when to schedule a replacement of my deteriorating right hip. Within 2 weeks I had decided on Dr. Akhtar in Leesburg and had an appointment.
On February 25th I went to Rob for PT and he basically said ‘Let me see you with your new hip!’ When I mentioned I had chosen Dr. Akhtar, he said ‘The best”
I have a better understanding of ELECTIVE and NON ELECTIVE surgery, now that I have experienced both in 5 days. By May 19th I was so ready for the hip replacement surgery because I could barely walk. It did not seem very ‘ELECTIVE’ to me. But now I know the difference.
The hip replacement surgery went well, although no family member is allowed to enter the hospital. I spent two nights in our beautiful new ‘state of the art’ hospital that seemed like a 5 Star Hotel in contrast to the hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado where Peter had his 2015 spinal fusion. That hospital reminded me of a Jiffy Lube waiting room - stained cement floor and chewing gum stuck to all the arm rests. When Jim picked me up on Thursday I was able, with a walker, to walk our winding front walk and up 3 steps to the front porch and into the house.
Jim dutifully opened the pill containers and read all instructions to figure out what must be taken and when. Morphine was non-optional for the first night home.
I went to bed for the night and Jim went to the next room to his desk, all doors open. He checked and I was sound asleep. Later he heard a loud thump, rushed to our room and the door was closed. I was on the floor against the door and unresponsive. I don’t remember getting out of bed or falling. I awoke in undescribable pain and remember dropping into the bed so Jim could open the door.
The nurse walked in at 9am Friday morning. My position in bed had not changed. She discovered my oxygen was dangerously low and called for an ambulance. As they hooked up my IV’s in the back of the ambulance, they explained “Because of your low oxygen level we are mandated to take you to the Covid Wing of the hospital.” Thankfully, the EMT made a few extra calls and learned that a negative Covid Test might allow them to deliver me to the regular ER. They administered the test and it was negative. Okay, I could avoid the Covid wing.
At the ER they discovered I had broken my femur bone in the fall. The new hip is attached to the femur so a second surgery was necessary - NON ELECTIVE!
I got to lie in the ER on a stretcher from noon Friday until 5 pm Saturday when my doctor was available for the repair surgery - No food or drink because they never knew when surgery would take place and many questions from Trauma Team to find out what caused the initial fall. Before the second surgery they wanted to determine the cause of fainting and low oxygen…. Did I have a concussion from the fall, etc. Was there a heart issue? Most of the time my answers made no sense. I was so loopy. I kept talking about a vacation to Alaska in 1918. Of course I meant 2018. When they asked what drugs I had taken I answered ‘Hippy Drugs’. I especially appreciated the ‘new’ External Female Catheter Device available for every stretcher and bed in the new hospital.
When it was time to come home the second time I knew I could not do the winding walk and steps. Paul Ritsema offered to help Jim get me in the house … but I asked the case worker to find a company that moved wheel chair patients from hospital to home. For only $80 dollars a young man put me in his wheel chair from my hospital bed, wheeled the chair in the back of his van, then literally carried the chair up the 3 porch steps. I am home and Jim is watching me 24/7…I am seeing tiny signs of progress daily.
So on my 70th birthday Jim is building a Plastic Tub Transfer Bench and putting on my Depends!
