Last month Sean, Addison, My Mom (Monka) and I packed up and headed to Rochester, Minnesota for a month. When we got there I had two days to settle Addison in, meet with my doctors and to get used to our new temporary home: a little two bedroom, two bath suite with a tiny kitchen.
The day of my surgery Sean went with me to the Mayo Clinic's Rochester Methodist Hospital. Sean got to stay with me for the first twenty minutes of my two hour wait for surgery. After the nurse & I dropped Sean off in the Family Waiting Room I went off and met with the surgical teams: My Orthopedic Surgeon (My Hip Doc), the Orthopedic Oncologist (Tumor Doc), and the Anesthesiologists (I had FOUR!). Each Doc had their own nurses and staff - so needless to say the OR was packed!
Throughout the two hour wait the Mayo Staff kept me busy with plenty of preparations. Everyone was so wonderful and made me feel at ease. The only part that concerned me was participating in the decision of which anesthesia to use. I just laid on my comfy hospital bed and let them wheel me to and from several rooms and never once got scared or stressed. They are so good! And that fancy pill cocktail they gave me during the last half hour probably didn't hurt either!
The surgery itself lasted about 1 hour and 45 minutes - and it went great! The doctors are fairly certain all of the PVNS has been removed. I will have many follow up appointments in the future to check on my recovery and to ensure that the PVNS has not returned.
Now, if medical stuff gets you queasy skip the nex paragraph. :)
They cut an eight inch incision down the side of my hip. From there the Hip Doc cut my greater trochanter which gave the access into my hip joint without cutting major muscles. The Hip Doc dislocated my hip and then the Tumor Doc did his magic. The Tumor Doc was "aggressive" in the tumor removal. He removed a golf ball sized tumor from the (ball and socket) joint and more tumors from the surrounding muscle, ligaments and other tissue. Once the Tumor Doc was through the Hip Doc came back and repaired as much of the damage he could with my cartilage, a labral tear and reshaped the ball and socket. The Hip Doc used three screws to put my greater trochanter back together.
I was in recovery for two hours before they wheeled me up to my room where, Sean, my Mom and a sleeping Addison were waiting for me. I spent the first twenty four hours after surgery taking pain killers and sleeping and Sean and my Mom each took turns visiting. I could hardly sit up, I basically I just used the bed controls to lift and lower my shoulders. The second day I gave up my painkillers as my beloved Nerve Block was doing it's job. The third day I finally got to eat!! That's three and a half days without food (just clear liquids) - I was SOOO hungry! The forth day I got the clearance from my Hip Doc and the Physical Therapist to go back to the hotel.
I was so excited to leave and be back with Addison, Sean & my Mom; but I was also very nervous about leaving the security of the hospital. My confidence was a bit shaken as my first experience out of bed was a rough one and also because all of the people on my wing (who all had surgery the same day I did) went home at least one day earlier than I.
The return to the hotel went relatively well. Addison had a bit of adjustment my first night back and that had to be the roughest part up to that point. Overall, my recovery seemed to go slow but I was steadily regaining my strength. The lack of mobility was (and still is) the hardest part to deal with. Even on the rough days my wonderful support system was there lifting my spirits. The phone calls, gifts, emails, texts and flowers were and are more appreciated than you can imagine.
After our long stay in the hotel we finally got cleared to head home. It was a LONG trip: an hour and a half drive to Minneapolis, a 6 hour flight to Anchorage, overnight in Anchorage (which involved two car rides) and another flight home. I list all of these details out because it's probably important to note since I only had started sitting up three days before - and not in a real up-right position. BUT we all survived and lucked out with smooth flights.
I've been home for a bit now and I think it's actually harder to be home. Being home I'm constantly faced with all of the things I feel need to be done and the things I want to do. For Addison, coming home has been difficult. Her entire routine is off and it's affecting her. She doesn't understand why I can't get down on the floor and play with her, or why I can't pick her up (oh, it just kills me to tell her that I can't lift her up when she asks) - but I keep telling myself that I'll be back to normal soon. I have to because it's KILLING me not to be there for her in the way I want. Okay, enough of that because I could write about this for days.
I've started Physical Therapy and now spend part of the day on one crutch. Most of my time is still spent laying around with my ice pack. My hip is still swollen enough that I can't even wear my jeans; but I'm seeing improvement in the healing and in my mobility with each passing day. I just need a little extra patience to get me through the next few weeks so I can get back to normal. I love normal.
