Parents Love and Roast Dinners, The healer of all wounds!!

Sunday afternoon I went to my Parents house for a roast dinner and a chill, Just what the doctor ordered!

There is something all together soothing about going home and being looked after by your Mum and Dad like you are 12 again! I spent most of the afternoon, in front of the TV with my feet up, eating my first lot of “get well soon” grapes, watching the Grand Prix highlights and drinking Pomegranate Spritzers!

The wonderful smells of my Mum cooking the 3 bird roast with all the trimmings and having my dad sat with me keeping me company, life was good!

Considering how tired I was, I thought I would be really bad company and would doze through most of the afternoon, but I managed to stay awake and enjoy some quality time with my parents. Dinner was served at around 19:00 and considering my appetite has been pretty much none existent, as soon as I saw the food, I was ravenous!

Turkey, Chicken and Duck with Stuffing, Cheesy Leeks and Broccoli, carrots, Peas and Roast potatoes with lashings of gravy! I served myself a reasonably small portion and by the time I was half way through, I was stuffed! I carried on though and forced myself to finish the plate as it was just that good!

Pippa turned up shortly after (she had been seeing her Parents and Sister) and we all chilled in the lounge with some lovely Strudel and Custard for desert.

Pippa and Dad changed my dressing later on in the evening (mum didn’t help as she is an ickle bit squeamish!!) and we spent the rest of the night chatting and chilling. I started to fall asleep on the sofa so Pippa took me home.

I don’t know if it was the food, the company or just being sooo shattered but I had a much better nights sleep last night,  still woke up a few times and had to take my meds but a much improved sleep!

This morning I have been to the doctors. I’ve had my wound checked and the infection seems to be getting better! got prescribed some more Oramorph, made my appointment for physio and to have my staples removed next Monday!

with the friends and family I have around me all I can see is positives for the future and I look forward to the challenges it brings!

Another not so good night….

I have to admit that this recovery isn’t going quite as well as I had hoped…..

Last night, I hardly got any sleep at all and when I did it was disrupted by very vivid nightmares…. I also had repeated stabbing pains in my hip. By 04:30am, I couldn’t hack it any more so I turned the light on to have a look. The wound was looking red and puffy – I instantly thought “infection”.

Just as a side line, I think I might have been overdosing on morphine for the past two days!! It wasn’t until I was taking it last night, that I saw that the label on the bottle of Oramorph says to take it once every four hours. I’ve been taking it hourly, as that’s what they were giving me in the hospital and they didn’t tell me any different when I was discharged. I don’t think that once every four hours would be enough to control the pain at the moment though – So I’m going to try dropping it to once every 2 hours and see how I go from there…

Luckily, it wasn’t long until I heard movement from Pippa, who had been sleeping in the spare room so that I didn’t wake her every time i needed to take a pill or a pee! I called her in and asked her to take a look, as I couldn’t really see properly. Pippa told me that there was a small amount of leakage coming from the dressing, so we called NHS Direct, (a free number where you can get advice and directions from on-call nurses and doctors).

NHS Direct were very good and talked Pippa through inspecting the wound and replacing the dressing. They then asked a few more questions, to make sure everything else was okay and recommended that we go to our local A&E.

On arrival at the A&E department, we were seen quite quickly by the triage nurse, but then had an hour wait to see a doctor. The doctor wasn’t all that great. He ummed and arred his way through the diagnosis of infection, (which we already knew) gave us some antibiotics and sent us on our way….

I’m home again now and have to go and see my GP tomorrow. Hoping she’ll be better! Until then, I think I might try again to get some shut-eye!!

Finally… The blessed relief of a bowel movement!!

So I can get back on the pain relief now as I finally managed to do a No. 2!!

 

I ended up having to go for a suppository which was my first, and like the Catheter… not a nice feeling… the relief the other side though was well worth the discomfort!

I am going to keep taking the laxatives for now… just to be on the safe side. Just thought you’d all like to know!!

Have they Prescribed me LSD??

Well…. that was a strange night to say the least!

I had some of the strangest dreams of my life list night.. I’m not sure if it’s the change in meds that has done, or it’s just my head trying to work this stuff out. I was hoping that I would get quite a restful night, being back in my own bed and all, but no… it wasn’t to be.

I had also forgotten that this was the first night since the op without a catheter in place, and I have been drinking a LOT of fluids… its something they don’t mention, and again I’m not sure if it is the meds or that my body needs it but I constantly feel dehydrated. so needless to say I was up and down to the toilet like a YOYO. (still no freaking No. 2 though!! Grrr)

because I Still haven’t done a doo doo, I have decided to try to stay off the morphine and codeine based pain killers for as long as I can today. This should give the laxatives a real chance… I’m worried that if I don’t go today, I’m going to have to have something unpleasant done to yet another orifice…….

Even with the threat of an Enema looming though…. I am glad to be home!!

Happy at Home

Ahhh its good to be home!!!

It only took the nurses 4 hours to get my medication together before I could leave, and once they knew you were leaving, you seemed to drop down their priorities list… Never mind though, home now and time for the real healing to begin!

The journey home wasn’t as unpleasant as I expected it to be thanks to Pippa’s great driving. Getting in and out of the car however is definitely harder than getting in and out of bed or on and off the toilet (speaking of which, I still haven’t managed to go No 2…..) there are places for your feet to get caught, bits to bump your head on, etc., etc…. Its going to take some practice to get that right!

My bedside cabinet now looks like the local pharmacist (although possibly better stocked) and I am more than looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, next to my beautiful lady…. speaking of which…. I’m off there now!! Night Night

Home Pippa! and don’t Spare the Horses!!!!

Holy Mackerel Batman!! I’ve just been told I can go home!!!

After the redressing of the wound, I was taken to the X-ray department. This was a wicked experience, not for the x-ray, but because I was driven there on a remote control bed!! I want one! In fact, I want two, so that Pippa and I can race through the streets of Norwich!

The X-ray ladies were lovely and seemed quite surprised at how easily I swapped from bed to bed. After the x-ray, I was taken back to the ward, but the porter wouldn’t let me drive… Git!!

Have a look at the x-ray (when I manage to upload it!)…

That’s my new Hip!

Out of the blue, the nurse suggested that I might be able to go home today. Pippa’s panicking that it’s too soon, (bearing in mind that I was grey yesterday!) but I just want a good night’s sleep!!

After a brief meeting with the OT, she recommended that I bought a ‘grabber’ (‘Helping hand’), so that I can reach things from the floor. I asked how much I should be exercising and she said as often as I can, but not to overdo it.

From my going home today being just a suggestion, the next nurse to come in said that she’d just sort out my medication and then I can be discharged!! It’s all happened rather rapidly

What a Difference a Day Makes

Well, the sleep that I was so hopeful for didn’t come, but the change in me this morning is astounding!!!

Last night, at around 9pm, a guy called Mark was brought into the ward. He’d had surgery, gone home, but had had complications and had to be readmitted. The poor guy was in so much pain I felt bad for asking for more Oramorph for myself!

Sleep didn’t come easy for either of us in the night and, again, I’d say I probably got only 3 hours of intermittent sleep. However, this did allow me to keep my pain-killers topped up and do some exercises each time that I woke up, to stop the stiffness setting in. At around 6am, the doctor came to remove my catheter. I didn’t know that the tube went all the way down to my toes!! I thought it was uncomfortable going in, but it was considerably

worse coming out!!

Shortly after this, I decided to try to get out of bed by myself. Compared to yesterday, this was remarkably easy – Well, not EASY, but much better! I made my way to the toilet, for yet another attempt at getting rid of that doo-doo…

Still no joy!! I’ve been given another laxative, but it still hasn’t taken effect…

I walked around for a while, on my zimmer, and the more I walked, the easier it became as the muscles started to loosen. Headed back to my room, sat in my chair and dozed for a while.

The physiotherapists turned up at about 8am. They asked me to get back in bed and out again, which I was able to do without any help. They then asked if I felt like I could cope with crutches. Of course, I said yes – I wanted to get rid of that granny frame as soon as possible! It wasn’t doing anything for my street cred!

The physiotherapists then took me to the stairwell and showed me the best way to get up and down the stairs, both with and without the aid of the banisters. I was told that with Mr Treacy’s BHR (Birmingham Hip Re-surfacing) there aren’t the restrictions that there are with a regular THR (Total Hip Replacement), such as not bending your hip-joint any more than 90 degrees, not carrying heavy loads, etc.

I went back to bed and had my dressing changed. I got to have a look at the wound and didn’t realise quite how many staples there would be, (Have a look at the picture – I counted 40!).

“that looks nice and neat”

These socks are beautiful!!

All the rage next season!

These Socks are so Beautiful!!!

So it’s the morning of the big day! I woke up at 05:30 (not sure if that was due to the sunlight coming through the world’s thinnest curtains or the excitement/worry of things to come today…). The nurse came in at 06:00 and took away my water… no more fluids before the op! I lay here for a while catching up on my Facebook and Draw Something.

The nurse came round and gave me my gown and a towel, asked me to take a shower and not use any deodorant or aftershave. I’ve just realised that was my last shower for about 2 weeks…. Sponge baths for me then! When I got back to my bed there was a pair of compression socks waiting for me. These are things of beauty, and a fashion accessory everyone should have this season!!

I should be heading into surgery in half an hour (11:00)… I have a big arrow on my left hip… I hope this guides them to the right place!

See you all on the other side!!!

Arthritis at 28…..

Hi, I’m Matt, and at 28 I was told I needed a Total Hip Replacement as I had OsteoAthritis in my Left Hip.

As you can probably imagine, this was a real blow! As an extremely active sportsman (I Snowboard regularly, Play Golf, Cycle to work every day, Run, etc etc) I thought my life would be over….

As soon as I got home the research began, but it soon became apparent that there was very little information on the Internet about people younger than 50 having this procedure, so that’s why I have started this Blog.

After a lot of research and reading I decided to make an appointment to see Mr Treacy of the Royal Orthopedic Hospital, Birmingham. Mr Treacy is one of the inventors of the Birmingham Hip Ressurfacing procedure – a metal on metal prosthesis which takes away a lot less bone that a normal Total Hip Replacement.

Mr Treacy was great, and although I had to make the 4 hour trip from Norwich to Birmingham to see him I left feeling very positive about the operation and full of hope that I would be able to return to ALL of my beloved sports!

Then the waiting began………

I chose to go on the NHS rather than private as the private Op would have set me back a tidy £12,000. My appointment was with Mr Treacy in November 2011, my second was in Feb 2012 and today (8th May 2012) I am finally off to Birmingham.

I will be updating this blog as often as I can during my stay at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, and during my recovery. Please if you have any questions or comments, ask away and I will answer them as best I can!

Untill Next time!!