Had my resurfacing done by Dr. Mont at Sinai in Baltimore on
Feb. 13, and am progressing slowly. The arthritis pain is gone, as is
the lower back pain I used to wake up with on the side of my
(old) bum hip. I think the staff and facilities at Sinai were
top-notch (with a few relatively minor exceptions). Also, I have read others
describe Dr. Mont as not being very "touchy-feely," but my
experience was different -- even on surgery days, he popped in to see
me twice daily, and even tried to crack a few jokes. Nice guy. Since I read messages from this board almost every day in
the months before surgery, I'd like to share some info I think might be
helpful to others:
Pre-Op - I regretted not strengthening my abs more. Getting
in & out of bed, especially at home, takes good abdominal muscles, at
least for the first week or 2. The leg lifter tool does help,
though.
General Anasthesia - While I cannot imagine going through
this procedure without it (i.e., epidural only), it really hit me
hard. The nurse told my wife that the anasthesiologist appeared to
have "stepped on the gas" pretty hard that day for all his
patients. I was knocked out around 12:30 PM., surgery lasted around 3
hours, and I didn't open my eyes until around 7:30 PM.
Before surgery, the anasthesiologist (for whom English is
not his first language) asked me, "Do you drink?" I thought it was a
broad question, and tried to narrow it down for him, but he then
seemed dismissive. Not sure why he asked this, or the relevance.
Maybe he was trying to tell me I'd need a stiff drink afterwards!
I also had awful nightmares for the first few nights after
surgery -- a side effect? I don't know, maybe.
Autologous Blood Donation - I gave 1 unit pre-op, and was
given a transfusion 2 days post-op because of a fever. Takes 10
minutes to donate, and 6 hours to put back in! I was under the
impression that if I needed a transfusion, it would be during surgery. FYI.
Night Sweats - What's up with these? Finally subsiding after
around 2.5 weeks post-op. I have heard it is a reaction to the
general anasthesia, but no one has told me definitively what caused
it. First few nights home, woke up shivering in a pool of sweat.
Started sleeping on layers of bath towels - much easier to peel them
back than to change bedding in the middle of the night.
Constipation - Read that this is a side effect of narcotic
pain killers, but couldn't fathom how uncomfortable it would be.
Load up on water, fruit, juice, and laxatives. My surgery was on a
Monday, and I was completely off the Codeine by Saturday, though.
Physical Therapy - The PTs at the hospital are young,
athletic, and very upbeat. However, almost universally, their attitude
seemed to be, what did I do to myself to require hip surgery at only
41, like my poor athletic form was somehow responsible? As far as I
know, I didn't do anything. Slightly annoying, but I didn't let it
get to me.
Home Nursing - My insurance co. paid for a "nurse" to come
to my house every other day to change the dressing, and to remove
the staples. Long story short, this service is a joke. I should
have done the dressing myself, and gone to a hospital or my doc
to get the staples taken out.
Showering - Finally got to take one 15 days post-op, after
the staples were removed. (I did not try the Ziploc bag
maneuver, but was tempted). Definitely one of the top 5 showers of my
life, even though I have to use a shower chair. Man, it felt good.
Cabin Fever & Patience - From what I've read here, Dr. Mont
seems to have conservative post-op limitations, relative to some of
the other surgeons, e.g., no more than 20% weight bearing on the new
hip for 5 weeks (2 crutches), and then 50% for the next 5 weeks (cane
or 1 crutch). This means he wants his patients to take it easy.
I'm getting a little antsy to do more, but am not going to push
it. Also, I did not have a feel for how much longer it takes to
do everyday things, e.g., getting dressed, shaving, etc. Can't
rush these things.
I know that it won't be long before this is behind me & that
I made a good decision, but it is (for me, anyway) slow going in the
initial post-op recovery period.
Thanks to everyone who posts here for all your good info,
and please feel free to email me if you have questions about any of
this.
Eric 2/13/06 Dr. Mont C+
