Well I am home from hip surgery as of last Friday.

[CatEyes]

Well I had my left hip surgery Oct. 29th. I was bleeding more than anticipated by the doctors. I had a total of 3 blood transfusions with THIS surgery. I got home Friday and very happy to be home right now. I spent two and a half weeks in the rehab hospital with my first hip surgery. The good thing about spending a week in the rehab hospital this time is that I got off of Hydromorphone. But now I am an Percacet (sp) which is Oxycodone with tylenol. I am just glad to be off of one narcotic pain pill. I am drinking now so the pain won't be so bad from the surgery and the pain from my SI joints as well.
The surgeon said that my left hip was alot worse than my right hip. Which probably explains why I woke up in SOOO MUCH FUCKING pain, pain I have never experienced in my life after surgery. I am in constant chronic pain every day. Now that my hips are fixed for the next five years. (I will end up having hip replacement surgery in both hips in the future the surgeon said) I need to find a surgeon that does SI joint surgery. That is what is giving me the most pain.
I have to hop on my right leg because I am nonwieght bearing on my left hip for the next 5 weeks. So I have my walker, wheelchair, comode that is taller than our very short toilet, a shower seat, crutches and a hand held shower spray.

Last time I had surgery I had staples and stitches. But this time there were only a few stitches and alot of those butterfly tapes and disolvable stitches. I had a visiting nurse that came out today and checked out my wounds and it looked fine for the most part. I have an incision where my groin/panty line is that have nothing but butterfly tape clear down the incision but the top tape came off and the wound had a worm hole exposed and it is red and swollen. The nurse cleansed it and she said something about not wanting the would ending up having the wormhole travel deep down into my flesh. I asked her about that and she really didn't give me any info about what the wormhole is and how bad it can get from an incision from surgery. My heart rate was up a little bit. The first hip surgery I had my heart rate was up to 150 and I had 2 blood transfusions and it got back to normal. I am supposed to get a CBC and some other blood test one week after discharge from the physical rehab hospital. Another visiting nurse will be here on Monday and I will ask her about the "wormhole thing".

I have to give myself Lovenox shots again. I never thought I would give myself shots in my life until I had my first hip surgery. I HATE needles. But I did it for my first surgery for 30 days so my blood thins out and won't develop blood clots. Now it is 2nd nature to me now this go around.

Is there a nurse on this board that knows about a wormhole when an incision gets infected??? I will deeply apreciate the info about it.TIA

[jessiehannan]

I'm glad you are home, and I bet you are glad to be home as well. :hug:

[CatEyes]

I'm glad you are home, and I bet you are glad to be home as well. :hug:


Thanks! I am glad that I didn't stay in the physical rehab hospital for 2 1/2 weeks like with the first hip surgery. It was rough on my DH getting our 2 year old and 3 1/2 year old ready and put them both in the car to take our 3 1/2 year old to her bus stop. I stayed at the physical rehap hospital for 10 days this time. He had to take both girls to K's bustop just for one week this go around. I am here now to stay with B so he can get K to her bustop. DH is amazing. He does alot for me these days. I appreciate that alot to.

I missed my family sooo much. They missed me as well they told me and shown me.

[Teresa64]

I am glad you are recovering well!!! (hugs)

[CatEyes]

I am glad you are recovering well!!! (hugs)
Thanks. The pain and walking is difficult to deal with at times.

[JudyJudyJudy]

I'm so sorry you've had such a rough time and are in so much pain. :( I hope you're better soon.

This really concerns me:

But now I am an Percacet (sp) which is Oxycodone with tylenol. I am just glad to be off of one narcotic pain pill. I am drinking now so the pain won't be so bad from the surgery and the pain from my SI joints as well.
You should not be drinking while taking that med. Have you discussed this with your doctor?

[3girls2luv]

I am so glad you are home with your family now I hope you recover quickly. As for the "wormhole" I have never heard of that but when I used to do wound care we would watch for "tunneling" in a wound that was open or not healing well. It can become infected and create a deeper wound that travels like a tunnel. Maybe that is what they are talking about. Are you taking any antibiotics? You really should not be drinking while on pain meds.

[Bellaelle]

I am glad it went well. I hope you continue to heal. I agree with Judy and 3girls about not drinking while on pain meds. That is not a good combination.

[3girls2luv]

I am glad it went well. I hope you continue to heal. I agree with Judy and 3girls about not drinking while on pain meds. That is not a good combination.


Not to mention the antibiotics she may be on as well.

[CatEyes]

I appreciate your concern. I had the visiting nurse come out today and the tunnel turned into a cyst. She tried to call the surgeon because she thinks that I need to be on antibiotics.

As for the drinking. I only drink when the pain is intolerable and the pain meds isn't working. No I have not discussed the drinking with my doctor.

I have been walking on my left hip that I had surgery on. I thought I did pretty good today hopping on my right leg with a walker until we went to the store tonight. I used my wheelchair going to the store but we have 6 steps that I have to climb up and down. I am doing what the physical therapist told me to do when using the steps. Take one step at a time. We went to the grocery store first while using my wheelchair and then we went to Dollar General to get a yeast infection medicine. I was on antibiotics while in the hospital and I do believe I have a yeast infection starting. The visiting nurse wants me on antibiotics because my incision on my panty line is infected some. So I had my DH go in Dollar General to get some yeast infection medecine but he could not find it. So I bit the bullet and walked in w/o the wheelchair because all of the feminime stuff is near the door and I walked down about two lanes to find it and handed it to DH and went to our van. I noticed while I was walking that I can feel the bone or metal plate rubbing against each other. I was in a lot of pain by the time we got home. So I took some pain meds and since we are out of beer I am drinking whiskey now. It is helping with the pain thank God. The visiting nurse said she would call back if she heard from the surgeon to tell me to go get the antibiotics but she didn't call today or this evening.

The 1st visiting nurse was out two days ago and my heart rate was up. My permanent visiting nurse that I had out today said my heart rate was up highter. The first time I had my right hip done my heart rate was up and they had to give me two blood transfusions and my heart rate went back to normal. The visiting nurse will be back this Thursday and take blood to see if I need another transfusion.

I will try harder to keep my weight off of my left hip and leg so it will heal like it should. I will try to rerain from drinking to. I know it is bad to drink with pain meds but my body has gotten used to the pain meds and isn't working like it should, so i drink to supplement. Thank you all for your replies and your concerns.

[JudyJudyJudy]

http://www.drugs.com/oxycodone.html

Do not drink alcohol while you are taking this medication. Dangerous side effects or death can occur when alcohol is combined with oxycodone. Check your food and medicine labels to be sure these products do not contain alcohol.

http://www.drugabusehelp.com/drugs/oxycontin/

The use of oxycodone with alcohol, other opioids, or illicit drugs will have an additive effect, causing central nervous system depression.