JOHN WHITE'S HIP REPLACEMENT OPERATION 2
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I HAD MY SECOND HIP REPLACEMENT ON 30TH JANUARY - HERE'S THE DIARY FOR THE HOSPITAL DAYS
I procrastinated on the second operation for some time - in the back of my mind I really did not want to go back to hospital. After coming back from Finland I thought I could maybe get away with waiting until the autumn, which would have given some breathing space. I decided to do a couple of steeper walks and see how I felt. It quickly became obvious that the recovery of my operated leg was being held back by the pain in the other one and I decided I had to go for it. So, 10 and a half weeks after the first operation I found myself driving down the motorway at 5.30am again for the second hip replacement on January 30th.
DAY 1 & 2: READ THE SMALL PRINT!
When your surgeon or anaesthetist tells you that there is a small chance that things won't go according to plan, you tend to dismiss this and think that you will never be the one in a thousand......well that's how I thought, and today proved that I was wrong - you can be the one in a thousand!
Following a bad reaction to the morphine based spinal last time, I was given a general anaesthetic and an epidural. Waking up in the recovery room post-op is a surreal experience - everything happens so very slowly and it takes a while to sort everything out in your mind. However, once I was feeling a little better, I noticed that my right (non-operated) side was completely numb, whilst I had feeling on the my left (operated) side. That didn't seem right, so the anaesthatist came to see me and gave me a 'boost' of aneasthetic. They also rolled me a little to the side so that the anaesthetic would flow from my right side to my left. After this, I went totally numb on my right side from toes to chest, and partially numb on my left. The sudden lack of ability to move was disconcerting.
Over the next few hours, I remained in recovery (staff in the recovery ward were excellent, but after talking to them, it was sad to hear how changes in the NHS were having such a bad effect on staff morale) and in the early evening they moved me to the main Ward. For a while I felt pretty good and had no pain, but as the evening ground slowly on, I became aware of an increase in pain and feeling in my left leg, while my right side remained comfortably numb. By late evening I was in agony, I had full feeling on my left (operated) side. The epidural had only worked on the wrong side - that's the one in a thousand bit. The night was a blur of intense pain, fitful sleep, blood pressure and pulse checks. I had some other painkillers, but they didn't even take the edge off it.
Morning came and I had already asked for the anaesthatist - urgently. By this time I had full feeling in the operated leg (translated as excruciating pain), and partial numbness where it wasn't needed. I remembered my surgeon friend Ian - and texted him to see if he knew of any drugs which could replace morphine, which I could not use due to an allergic reaction to it. He very kindly provided a prompt reply and recommended Nefopam (Acupan).
The anaesthatist came and said he would increase the dosage of the epidural and tip me slightly to see if that allowed the anaesthetic to flow to my operated side. (I was in this position originally, but a nurse had removed the padding which was keeping me tipped). He also agreed about the Nefopam.
Over the next couple of hours the numbness started to disappear from my right side, as though the drip had been switched off. The nursing staff increased the flow, but I knew that something was not working. By lunch time on day 2, I had full feeling back in my right leg to match my left, and it was obvious to me that no aneasthetic was entering via the epidural. Three times I mentioned this until eventually someone looked behind my back and found it was disconnected.........there had been no flow of anaesthetic for hours.
Anyway, by this time the Nefopam, Paracetamol and Diclofenac had helped and when my visitors came at 2pm I was happily sat in a chair, with only a small amount of pain - and felt pretty good.
In the evening watched a routine Man United victory on TV and felt like I could enjoy a good sleep. How wrong was I! I had a few tummy cramps in the evening but these became worse and worse, and were accompanied by breaking wind in a regular, noisy and most unpleasant fashion - all night! Awful. Coupled with the fact that the guy in the next bed sounded to be snoring through a megaphone, I just put some music on my headphones and spent the night listening to this and farting! It was an unpleasant evening, and probably equally so for those nearby!
DAY 3: I JUST WANT TO GO HOME......
Staff the previous day and night had been good, but today, I recognised a couple of faces from last time and knew what to expect. I kept reminding different staff that I wanted to go home today and felt that if I had not done this, nothing would have happened. The physio came and I passed the walk down the ward and up the stairs test. Then, the Occupational Therapist (?) came - the same one as last time who had been unbelievably condescending. It started a bit like that this time, but I pulled my phone out and showed her some photos of skiing and snowmobiling in Finland and asked if she was interested in hearing about the recovery process....and to her credit she dropped the attitude and we had an engaging chat. Felt like I was talking to a different person. The day ground on. All paperwork had been done and by early afternoon they were 'just waiting for Pharmacy'! How many times have I heard that over the years. Everything in place, but the wait comes from finding a doctor to sign your prescription and then getting it from the Pharmacy - this process took about 5 hours. Unfortunately during this period, one nurse was unbelievably pedantic and refused to entertain any positive thoughts whatsoever - I felt like if she had her way I would not be going home. She kept on doing tests that were not needed and just wouldn't leave me alone - until late afternoon, when the drugs came back from Pharmacy. For some reason she suddenly did not want anything to do with me, though it would have taken just a few minutes to give me the drugs and send me on my way. The last hour was unbelievably frustrating - everything was there but no-one would do anything - it actually felt deliberate. At 5.15 someone finally relented (under pressure) and sorted it, and suddenly, I was out, in the late afternoon sunset, with the ever reliable Wilf, heading north. Yahoo!
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