HI all. I just had surgery at Wake Forest Medical Center with Dr. Jinnah. Here is my story. Since I live in Virginia there were a few logistics about how I would get to and from the hospital. I have many friends who are pilots and one volunteered to take me to Wake Forrest and also provide the return trip. I was not worried about getting down there but getting back would pose some challenges. I went down with a companion and we stayed at the Hawthorne the night before. Not a bad place and they do have a shuttle.

If I had to do it again though I would check out the Wingate. The morning of surgery we went over at 6:30 AM and waited for 2 hours. I was called into prep and that lasted about 30 minutes. My companion was allowed to wait until it was time to take me in. When I was ready they gave me a "cocktail" to make me sleepy. The next thing I remember was waking up in Post op. I had a spinal block. There was no ill affects and it was much better than full anesthesia. I felt nothing.

The first day I was pretty groggy but my pain was managed well. I never got above 3 on a 1-10 scale. Slept fine the first night. They took the catetheter out ( it was put in when I was asleep in surg) and I was hoping I would be able to urinate. That turned out not to be the case and by 6 that night I was uncomfortable. They had to reinsert the catheter but because of my swelling it was difficult and took 4 attempts. That was very uncomfortable. When they were about to go for number 5 (the fourth one failed) I said "enough" and was somehow able to make it happen. From there on ..no problems. My recommendations here is to see if you can take Flowmax before surgery. They put me on it after that point and I have had no problems.

In the hospital you get training from PT and OT which is not much as you don't need much. Its all about learning how to do certain things without breaking hip restrictions. It was easy and fun. I was walking the day after surgery, not fast but fine. Wake forrest likes to use walkers that work very well.

I was discharged on Wednesday and made the flight home. I basically had to back into the back section of our small plane ( a bonanza). It was very similar to getting in or out of a car. As advised I have been staying ahead on my pain meds which has helped.

Thursday ( first day home) I slept fine last night, no issues. In the morning I got up and was able to go the bathroom and had my first bowel movement since surgery. No big deal. I have been taking Fibercon which seems to work fine. There has been much talk about drugs causing constipation and it is a concern but not a huge one. First , take the pain pills, whatever you're concerns are about constipation they are minor compared to effect of pain on your recovery. If you hurt you don't move as much, drink as much and so everything is slower. From my experience I would say drink as much as you can and take a stool softener (they will prescribe one probably) Then something like Fiberone.

I am in less pain today and was able to go down the stairs (12 of them) without any issues. The swelling in my leg is starting to go down so walking is easier. It is easy to overdue so I would suggest taking many small walks and resting as well for the first couple weeks. At this point I would say that the surgery and recovery is much less problematic than I imagined.