I had my 2nd hip replacement surgery last Monday - May 23rd. Everything seemed to be going well...until it wasn't. I was able to go home the same day as the surgery like I did last time, but by Wednesday, I started feeling very fatigued, which is normal after surgery. so I didn't think anything of it until Thursday when my symptoms got worse. By then , I was experiencing low oxygen levels, racing pulse, fatigue, headache, nausea, loss of appetite, and lightheadedness. We called my surgeon's office, but he was in surgery and was supposed to contact us once surgery was over. However, the doctor never called back. By Friday morning, my symptoms had worsened to the point that it took too much effort to even talk or get out of bed. Alan decided that I needed to go to the ER to get checked out. I didn't think I could even make it to the car, but somehow I managed. Once at the ER, several tests were taken including blood work, X-Ray, and CT Scan. It was the CT scan that revealed that I had blood clots in my lung. No wonder I had no energy.
After my dad had one of his hip replacement surgeries in December 1991, he also got a blood clot in his lung. He was rushed to the ER and ended up in the ICU on life support. We didn't know whether he was going to make it or not. It was really touch and go for a while, but finally he turned the corner and started improving so the ventilator could be removed. We considered it a true miracle that he didn't die.
As you can imagine, when I found out I had a blood clot, I was very concerned. However, my clot is not in the upper lobes like Dad's was, which is a more threatening situation.
Because of my clot, I was admitted into the hospital for treatment and observation. Thankfully, I only had to stay one night. I was home by 4:00 PM on Saturday. However, they wouldn't let me go home without putting me on oxygen and blood thinners. Whenever I am without oxygen, my levels start to drop. My primary care physician will monitor my oxygen levels until he feels I can do ok without oxygen. I will be on the blood thinners for a few months.
[Me leaving the hospital after my 2nd surgery]
[Mom on oxygen during the last few months of her life while she battled lung cancer.]
[Me on oxygen today]
I'm healing from my surgery and getting around pretty well on my newest hip. By next week, I should be able to trade my walker in for a cane. Oh, happy day!
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UPDATE 6/6/22
Last Friday, June 3, 2022, I had what I thought was a very good day as far as my hip recovery goes. I was getting around so well and had very little pain. However, I had a physical therapy evaluation at my home. During that visit, the therapist had me do some mild exercises to test my mobility and everything checked out ok. In fact, he said I could do things that most patients at this stage of a hip replacement can't do.
About 4 hours later, I started having a lot of pain in my leg - more than usual. The pain continued to get worse as the evening progressed and by about 8:30 I was in so much pain that I couldn't stand it. I was in tears and knew my pain level was a "10" out of 10. No matter what position my leg was in, it was extremely painful. I've never felt that much pain before except for when I was in labor.
Finally, we decided to try to reach my general physicians office even though it was after hours. After explaining what was going on to the doctor on call, he said to immediately go to the ER because I could have an infection in my hip and that would not be good.
I was already in my pajamas and I didn't feel like I could stand the painful transition back into my clothing, so Alan grabbed my robe for me and off we went to the ER. Once there, we did a lot of waiting. It was pretty busy that night and my pain kept increasing as I waited. Finally, after about an hour, I was able to get an I.V. so they could administer me some morphine for the pain. It took two doses before I was out of pain enough to transition from the gurney to the x-ray table to get the x-rays taken.
The x-rays looked good and I didn't have an infection. We aren't sure what caused me so much pain. I think its possible that the session with the physical therapist may have disrupted a muscle or nerve or something. I spoke with Neal on the phone yesterday and he thinks it was probably caused by an inflamed nerve. That would explain why it hurt so much, I guess.
I've been doing a better job of staying on top of my pain meds because I don't want to experience a "10" ever again in my lifetime. For two days, I've been trying to catch up to where I was before this episode on Friday. I think maybe this set-back has cost me about a week of recovery, but I hope not.
