Back from Hospital with a newly shaped pelvis!

I escaped from hospital (the Duchy in Truro) on wednesday, after 8 nights in. Mr Fern did both operations in one go, which I was very very pleased about, and found a new technique to use as well. He started with the open debridement as the scrub nurse he needed for the PAO was stuck in Hayle. Once he had everything opened up and dislocated my hip, he found he could see the whole of my acetabulum really well, so did the PAO cuts under direct vision, instead of the usual method of xray guidance and blind cuts. This meant it took an hour and a half less than normal and saved me some blood loss. Overall 4.5 hours, for both ops. He found a CAM bump on my femoral head and sorted it's rugby ball shape out, and a small anterior labral tear. He thinks the tear went through some nerves, hence the very much increased pain recently. He thinks my acetabulum were pointing at least 30 degrees the wrong way and has now corrected both sides of "the weirdest pelvis he has ever seen". Yay for me!

The first 3 nights were in the High Dependency Unit. I had an epidural and spinal block, but unfortunately once the spinal wore off it became evident that the epidural was great for pain relief, but for the wrong side! I could move my operated side completely and had full feeling, but nothing on the right. They turned it up to full, which didnt help much, and at one point after changing the bags, it broke so I was left without pain relief for 45 minutes of absolute hell. It was truely hideous as it was sheer agony until they could get the epidural working and give me a bolus again. They then tried boluses directly into the line, which did help, so i had quite a few of those over the 2nd and 3rd nights. I was then changed onto a patient controlled analgesia morphine pump, which brought my pain down to around 4/10 constantly, so wasnt brilliant, but it wasnt spiking up to 10/10 like when the bolus ran out. Pain relief continued to be a problem throughout the hospital stay, as i moved on oramorph and then codeine, but each nurse had their own ideas as to whether I was supposed to be on oramorph or not. Now it is under better control. The anaesthetist was absolutely fantastic throughout it all, and really kept a close eye on me during my stay.

I also spiked a fever which stayed over 38 degrees for 24 hours, and I was tachycardic, so they started me on IV antibiotics just in case of any infection for 5 days. I had gentamicin and teicoplanin, although this meant I needed some cannulas. 7 attempts and 4 cannulas later, my arms look like I have been in the wars. I also had a long line in my neck when I woke up, but that was removed (unfortunately) before I needed the IV ABX, otherwise we could have just put it all down that.

Bowels were another big issue, I think they decided to go to sleep, but with the help of an enema and a suppository we had explosive action... lets just say, hobbling around on crutches and getting shattered everytime you go to the loo, combined with suppositories is not a fun expereince.

Home now, gradually feeling more myself and better, though still exhausted. My swelling has increased in the past couple of days, not really sure why, but keeping an eye out for any temperatures. I removed the steristrips and dressings from the wounds yesterday, they both look really neat and clean. I ahve a 8 inch one in a C shape around my groin from my ASIS and another on my bum/lateral thigh of around 8 inches long too. I am touch toe weight bearing for the next 6 weeks until my follow up appointment and xrays.

xxx