Busy Day

I started out late today and managed to get an unmetered parking spot at Spring Hill on the first pass and made it to my appointment with my dentist a little early. I have no cavities :), so it was just a scale and clean today and another item off the checklist.   I spoke to Dr Tom about the surgery and about the report I read in relation to taking an antibiotic an hour before any procedure and apparently these precautions are more commonplace than I thought.  It seems that these precautions are taken by other people with different fixed items aside from joints.  I guess it stands to reason that those with a higher risk of complications due to infection should do what they can to avoid them.  It is just something that I hadn't really considered until now.  Poor dental health is even worse news than not taking antibiotics so making sure that I go for my regular checkups will be important.  I've booked in the next one for six months time (which I did after I got home as the new receptionist forgot to ask if I ever wanted to come back again), by which time I should almost be able to walk there :)  Maybe a little toooo far - a ten minute drive would equate to a pretty long distance, though I could catch the bus which would be a new thing for me.

After I left Dr Tom's office I went up a level to check at my old GP's office to see if all was sorted with the insurance company that was requesting my health information (which it has been so hopefully that will also be something that is checked off the checklist).  The issue was the insurance company not wanting to pay for the time to collate my medical history (which is hardly light reading even though this GP only covers the last four or five years).  I guess this is what happens when you have to search for someone to actually want to insure you.  I would have thought that with the prevalence of arthritis in the community today that it wouldn't be such a big deal, however, it is apparently and there are few insurers that want to touch me (other than the really bad catchall, no medical questions type covers which don't do much for you anyway - don't get me started on that one - just know that I wasn't happy with them).

Next it was coffee at my old coffee shop, Two Cups, which was next door to where I used to live.  That would have to be the big thing that I miss about living in the city - crossing the street for an awesome cup of coffee.  The closest coffee near where I live now is a five minute drive.  I'm not quite sure what the coffee options are when I am in hospital and this might be where I end up in trouble.  Though I've cut back to a cup a day - I make sure it is the best possible cup of coffee that I could possibly have so that I can really enjoy it.  It might be my husband's job to scout coffee before he arrives to visit in the mornings which will be somewhat reflective of what life was like for him on Saturday mornings when we did still live in the city :)

Next it was off to Milton to drop off some paperwork and then out to Coorparoo for physio where I actually arrived early again.  This is highly unusual behaviour for me as things usually don't line up as well as I plan them so today was a bit of a surprise.

I had a bit of a break after physio and caught up with Paul and had a chat about all kinds of stuff.  Ultimately it ended up with the big issue in my life at the moment - surgery - and what I want to eventually write about here that I am going to probably need some help with to make sure that I get it all right.  It's a bit of a pet project that I have to work on when I have some time after the surgery.  I might be crazy to think that I will feel like doing too much in the early days but I do have a lot of little projects planned for those few weeks.  I'm not really starting on a lot of this until after as there is a fair amount that needs to wait until I am going through the rehab process as the work I've been doing to prepare is really to improve the surgical outcomes and reduce the impact of rehab.  These are things that I really can't comment on until I actually am there and going through it.  I'm not going to know what needs to be worked and where I feel weakness until later.  Some of the focus of the pre-op preparation has come from comments made by others on discussion boards as to what things they found difficult in the rehabilitation process while the rest has come from discussions with my physios as to the things that they know that I will need to deal with.

Home again and getting some work done.  There are a few reports that I need to organise and just little bits and pieces that fall due when I am away.  Unfortunately most of them needed March to finish before I could get right into it so the bulk will be done tomorrow on the weekend.

Eight sleeps to go.

Illness Paranoia

I was actually a little rude today which I'd like to think is out of character.  I caught up with some friends of mine who I haven't seen for such a long time and things were going smashingly until one started to sniffle a little.  At that point, I was pretty much out of there.  I was asked if I could give her a lift home from the event which I normally wouldn't have an issue with at all, but instead responded with, I can't be in enclosed spaces with contagious germy people - I have major surgery in three weeks.  I'm not sure if I am just being overly precious as I really don't want to delay my date because I have a cold or flu.  My chosen surgeon is going on leave for easter, so I'm not sure how long I'd have to delay for if I don't make that April 8 date due to illness.

Surgeon Advice for Surgery Prep

I found this linked off a discussion board where a number of contributors have great things to say about Dr Gross.    He looks to have done quite a lot of these, having started with the resurfacing procedure in 1989 which seems to be well before it became reasonably commonplace.  [Side note: The first I heard about resurfacing was in 2002 from a rheumatologist who I saw very briefly (as I really didn't like the guy), though he didn't really understand the procedure and its benefits enough to answer any questions or be humble enough to recommend that I speak to a surgeon if I really want my questions answered.  At that time I was pretty much running away from surgery anyway as I'd just started down a new physio path that was making such a huge difference.  (Anyway - based on the conversations with my surgeon, there is no chance I would have been a resurfacing candidate then anyway due to my bone quality)]

Anyway, back to Dr Gross, he actually has some prep advice that was missing from the material that I have brought home about my procedure.  Check it out here: http://www.grossortho.com/hipinfo10.htm
Some of it is pretty common sense and ties in nicely with the program that I have made up myself with the help of the professionals that I have been working with for a while now.

The recovery worksheets are interesting as well.  Though different surgeons recommend slightly different paths, the information is comprehensive and certainly interesting reading.  The exercises that are in the phase two are of more interest to me.  I understand that you need to start out slow and not overdo it and have to follow the instructions given to you by the surgeon.  The fact that you could end up in phase two at six weeks is pretty amazing.  The slower path might drive me crazy and I hope that I am in a rapid path plan.  I guess it will be a wait and see type of thing.

Monday's Hydro

Had a good time at the pool today.  I feel good after the session and I hope to be the same way tomorrow.  We cut out a few of the abductor exercises which I think has made a big difference to how I feel after the session.  I think that might be where I was overdoing it.  With that minor change, I should be able to take a few more steps forward strength wise.  I have three more sessions in the pool (instructed by one of my physios) and maybe another three on my own.  It's amazing to think that in as little as three months time, there is a strong possibility that the abductor exercises that are giving me so much grief now might well be easy.  Ok so, maybe it won't be 'easy' that soon, though they are going to be significantly easier due to a  normal or even near normal range of movement.

Preparing for Surgery

I booked the surgery in a couple of weeks ago after having a lot of long conversations with my husband.   There was a lot to consider for us when looking at our plans for the next three - five years.  The decision process is for another post.

Once the decision was made and the surgery was booked in, there was a lot more research for me to actually find out more about what I could expect and to see what I could do to improve my overall health and strength to hopefully reduce the length and difficulty of rehabilitation.  I know that rehab isn't going to be easy especially getting both hips done at the same time so I figure that anything that I can do to improve my chances has to be worth the effort.

What this has meant as spending time talking and planning with the health professionals that I already work with on a regular basis and finding new people to answer the questions that I still have.  This has meant more physio, an extra session of pilates, blood work at the GP to see where all the vitamins and minerals are at, a nutritionist to look at my eating habits and generally clean up my act.  

I have to mention that I am currently only working part time.  This was all part of the planning process for the next few years for me.  I finished up with a full time job, one that engulfed my life for a decade, in September of last year.  The company went into liquidation and another short term contract took me up until Christmas.  My options at this point were to find another full-time job straight away or use the opportunity to get my hips fixed.  There were a lot more considerations to the decision than that, though this is the bit that is relevant now.  I don't think that I could devote the time that I am at the moment 'looking after myself' if I was working in a full time capacity.  My ability to maintain work-life balance has been questionable at times, though a large wake up in September of last year has really prompted a lot of thinking time about what I want out of life and when.  That said, the point of me mentioning the part time is the schedule I am keeping at the moment, making sure that I am preparing and eating fresh food and spending time each morning either at physio, pilates (two days), hydrotherapy (all three with instructors) and the final week day back in the pool or doing the other exercises that I have on my list from one of my physios.  This morning it was pool time doing as many of the exercises that I could remember from my Monday's hydro session.  

Some super humans manage to do these things while working full time.  I'm not quite sure how they achieve that.  Maybe their definition of full time is less hours, maybe they are just more motivated.  I'm not sure.  I just mention it in case you think I am one of those super humans.  I can assure you that I am not.  A number of the testimonials that I have seen online for hip replacement surgery seem to be either super humans or super sporting people.  It makes it a little difficult for me to relate to as I don't fit into either category.  I get tired easily, take a long time to recover from over exertion, I don't look after myself as well as I could.  Making sure I eat breakfast every day was probably one of the more difficult hurdles to overcome after many years of taking the extra half hour sleep instead.  

The count down to surgery is 36 days.