Hip replacement surgery. Duane has needed one almost since I met him in 2002. At first, it was just something that he knew was coming but then in 2008 it became a little more real. After seeing a doctor who told him "it isn't a matter of if, it is a matter of when" he decided that he needed to lose weight. So we went on the Optimist diet and Duane did a super job of losing weight. He lost over 100 pounds and was in the best physical shape he had been in for a long time. i urged him to get the surgery then but he declined. So fast forward to 2015 and he is now bone on bone in his hip. He can't even walk a supermarket without being in agony so sitting is his activity of choice. And even sitting could sometime be uncomfortable. So, he starts to research the surgery.
I find the surgeon based on a friend's husband's surgery. We both like the surgeon but he indicates that Duane is eligible for out patient surgery...they would do the surgery, send him home with an IV and a drain in the hip. A nurse would come every 8 hours to administer pain meds and check on his progress. Duane was all for that but I was nervous and so talked to Kate. She strongly recommended that we not do this route. I talked to Duane about it and we changed our minds. Thank God we did!
Surgery was on June 10th. The surgery went well and we were kind of impressed with how well he was doing. Suddenly, though, on post surgery day 1 at 6 p.m. Duane is sitting in the chair and the pain comes rolling in so hard and so fast that he almost cries before me. The nurses can't get pain meds in him fast enough. On top of the pain comes the nausea. Luckily he did not vomit but he couldn't get on top of that either. So between fighting pain and nausea he was one sick puppy. I was so glad he wasn't at home with me trying to help him, because there was nothing I could have done.
When he came home on Saturday, he was in a lot of pain. He was also still nauseous. I thought all of that would pass but it didn't. He was in so much pain that he was sick to his stomach and the only way he could handle that was to not move. Not moving was going to impeded his healing but everytime he moved he got sick. Finally I was able to get medication for the nausea and that made all of the difference. Once he got on top of that he could start to eat and move. Since then it has been all good. Now, I am ready to see what comes next. I am hoping it is all good.
