Tomorrow....

I get my stitches out! 

I've gone back recently to read the blog that helped me mentally prepare before my surgery. I'm almost 21 days out and compared to the other blogger, I'm doing much better. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging or anything, but at 21 days she was still having an at home nurse and physical therapist. She was just learning to get in and out of a car. And she was graduating from a walker to crutches. I used the walker the first day. Then quickly graduated to crutches the next day. Maybe I had some sort of advantage because I've had surgery before and I've used crutches before, but I have to give myself props on the daily strides I take. I've been getting in and out of cars since I got home. I even went into my work and visited people. 

I am almost 100% off the narcotics. I still take them at night so I can get some sleep. The CPM and Ice machine are gone and I hit all my goals as far as degrees of motion. I do miss the CPM though. It's a little relaxing to have your leg moved but not have to put any work into moving. #lazy? I am also able to lay on my belly (this is good for stretching the muscles in the hip) and I can also sleep on my side. I have only been able to do that for a couple hours each night though because my right leg just feels like dead weight and I can't get totally comfortable. But I have been sleeping better and for longer periods through the night. I can get myself out of bed as well. Getting into bed is still a struggle but every day I get better and need less and less help. 

Today I went out and enjoyed the beautiful weather! I'm not too thrilled that we are going from 70s today to almost 90 tomorrow. My dad brushed and bathed my dogs while I sat out on the patio and watched. I also spent time watching the ABC Family Harry Potter marathon. The best part about that is my dear friend who lives in New York was watching too and sent me a video when Dobby was dying. She and I saw that movie in the theater together and cried. Even though she's across the country from me, it was like she was right next to me watching. I miss our Harry Potter marathons. 

Physical therapy is also going well. To give you an idea of what PT is like for hips this is what they do: stretch and flex. My main exercises to do at home involve me flexing. Main muscles: my butt and my thighs. This has began the process of waking up the muscles around the hip. Another thing I get to do at home is lay on my belly a couple times a day for 5-10 minutes. Then I am able to get up from that position on my hands and knees and do some yoga like poses. I get to do the "scared cat" and from that lean back toward my heels. So far this exercise has been awkward, but successful. I get closer and closer to my heels every day. This stretches the muscles near my hips and progresses my flexibility and range of motion. At PT they stretch my hip in different directions and move my leg around in circles. It's pretty relaxing, but you never know how sore muscles can get from just stretching. This week I will start on the bike. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. Last time I didn't have a broken hip with screws and everything. This time I do, and sitting on the toilet is still a bit of a challenge. But I'm tough and if I don't feel 100% comfortable with it I'll let my physical therapist know. 

I'm excited for my post-op appointment tomorrow. And I will be sure to post all the news from the doc.  

Laughter is the best medicine....

Soooooo yeah I'm 22 and my mother has to help me shower. It's like I'm an infant again. Laughter is the best medicine sooooooo here goes. 

Not the most flattering picture of me, but we definitely have to find the humor in all of this. 

I know my body is healing every day, though I'm still working on pain management. I'm keeping my head up because I know every day I get closer to being off crutches, showering on my own, taking a walk with Ryne, going to my friends weddings (Brett and Lindy), finishing school, and walking down the aisle of my own wedding one day. 

Everything I do for the next 8-12 months will set me up for success in the future. It's a long road, but one totally worth taking. 

Thank you to all my friends and family who have been supportive and keeping up with my recovery. I really appreciate you all! 

(P.S. If anyone sees me slacking, please slap me and get my ass back into gear.)

Day 13

I'm so embarrassed to say I had to go to the ER today. If you know me, you know I'm the tough girl. I grew up with three older brothers and that created a fighter on the inside. I'm still a girl and can get emotional, but I've never let pain consume me so much. 

The past couple days, since the serious pain medications ran out, I had been struggling with managing the pain. I couldn't keep it at a comfortable level. I spent most of this morning crying because the pain was too much. Like ugly face crying! We called my surgeon's on-call doctor an he said to go to the ER. I was there for about four hours, but we got the pain level down. I actually feel like a million bucks right now. 

The mistake we made was trying to use ibuprofen to manage the pain. I have broken bones and that's a no-no. So pain will be managed now with Tylenol. And so far it's working out well. 

So that's today's update. Have a good Memorial Day everyone. 

The post we have all been waiting for

Yaaaaaasss! They look so good! Some people get tattoos. I get scars! 

The past couple days have been rough emotionally. I'm so ready to be able to shower alone, walk, jump with joy. I know that day will come, and I have to be patient. Physical therapy is going well. My muscles are waking up and I'm able to move around more and more. 

I still have quite a while left on crutches. And months left of physical therapy. 

My friend Kelly brought me a book and some Oreos today! That was wonderful. Seeing her was exactly what I needed after a long week. I hope to catch up on some sleep tonight and to sleep in tomorrow. 

I'm still up for visitors so text me and let me know if you want to come see me. 

So until then...

Days 7 and 8

I can't believe it's already been a week. 7 more weeks on crutches!! 

Day 7

I had physical therapy. This visit mostly consisted of the PT instructor moving my leg around and taking measurements of how much movement I have in my leg. It was relaxing actually because I've been so stiff since the surgery. After PT I had to ice my hip a ton. I got to see Kristina, my boyfriend's mom, and that brightened my day. She is wonderful and it was nice to finally see someone outside of my family. 

I got flowers delivered from Sam's club and my godparents. That made me happy too. Feeding my new fish has been a highlight of my days too! So far the Blue one is my favorite. He watches me like he's making sure I'm getting around okay. It's so cute. 

Day 8 

Today I was left to be independent. Ryne came over for a short amount of time to make sure I had enough ice to last me until my dad came over for lunch. I was able to get up and go to the restroom by myself. My grandparents are here too, but they mainly help me with getting fed. Since the weather has been so cold I've been bundling up and sleeping a lot. Every few hours or so I get up and do some laps around the house. That helps with being stiff and it helps me breathe. Opens up the lungs lol. 

I'm hoping to get in the shower soon and change the dressings again. I'll take a picture of the scope wounds and post them here later. 

I am open to visitors, just send me a text and I'll let you know when is best for me. 

I got my Amazon Fire TV stick today so I can stream Netflix without using my laptop. :) that makes for a happy Natalie. 

I hope the weather gets warmer soon because I would like to see and play with my dogs. 

Stay tuned... 

Days 5 and 6

Day 5

Was a lot of sleeping. Getting myself to the restroom. Practicing getting my clothes back on while on crutches. A lot of pain management. Icing most of the day. Doing laps around the house. Watching tv. 

Day 6

Today has been pretty good. I'm super sore and groggy in the mornings so getting up is not my favorite thing. This morning I got up. Went to the restroom and showered. My mom changed my dressings on the scope incisions. These are about an inch in length and they looked beautiful. No blood or anything coming out of them. Very clean! That's huge. They are starting to itch, so that means they are healing. 

Showering was the hardest part of the day. It's hard to get everything clean sitting down and when sitting down is so uncomfortable. 

After the shower I went downstairs. I've basically been in and out of sleep, getting up and doing laps around the house, eating... But the meds make me tired so mostly sleeping lol. Dad bought me a cookie today :) and Ryne bought me a blizzard yesterday! Healing foods! 

Every day I feel better and better. I can move around more and more. I'm more confident in myself getting to the bathroom and getting on and off the toilet. Physical therapy starts tomorrow! So that's exciting. I have promised myself and everyone around me to do exactly as my PT instructor says. That's key to making this successful and living my life pain free. 

More updates to come tomorrow. I'll try to get Ryne to set up the X-rays so I can take photos of them. I'm excited to show off my hardware. Here is my smiling face! 

Day 5

I'm home!! 

I was discharged around 1:30pm today. The ride home was bumpy, but we missed all the severe weather so that made things better. 

When I got home I got a little surprise!! Fishes! That glow!! The tank has a special LED light in it that makes them prettier! My dad said fish was easier than a kitty. I'll get a kitty one day. Lol

My main focus for the rest of today/ tonight is to catch up on ice and using the CPM machine. The CPM provided constant passive movement of my leg so things don't get too stiff and the soft tissues on the inside can heal. 

The ice machine is my best friend. It may make me shiver, but it makes things feel much better when things hurt. 

I pooped today! 💩 that's a huge accomplishment! 

Today I got home to a pile of cards from Ryne's family. That warmed my heart so much. So if they are reading, thank you so so much! 

Tomorrow my dressings will be changed again, and I'll make an attempt at another shower. It will be nice to be home and get used to moving around the house. I'll take more pictures so be prepared for some gross stuff. 

Until then! 

Day 4

Hello everyone! Today was a decent day. It was an emotional day too. I had a CT scan of my chest done to make sure my on going battle with a fever and high heart rate wasn't due to a blood clot in my lungs. That came back negative, so I'm all good there. My fever has gone down but my heart rate is still a little high. Pain has been a struggle today too. They are trying to keep me away from any pain medicine that has aspirin in it to make sure they aren't covering a larger fever which could be a sign of more problems. At this point my temp has stayed regular. 

Today I got to shower! They took my dressings off and changed them as well. Showering was challenging because I was sitting down and eventually my feet fell asleep. I still have to wear the compression socks :( they are so uncomfortable and get in the way of a lot. 

Going to the bathroom and waking around is getting easier. I have yet to poop, but that's pretty normal. 

Ryne has a picture of my battle wounds and I'll post that up later. I should be going home tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading everyone! 

Days 1-3

Hey all! Sorry it's taken a while for me to write. I've been doing a lot of sleeping and working on managing my pain. Day 1 was a lot of pain management. I hit a bump in the road in the evening when I got a fever. Day 2 I had a fever and high heart beat, so I spent a lot of time dealing with that. I didn't get much sleep between day 1 and day 2. Day 2 I also got up for the first time. This is always hard. Super nauseous the first time up, but felt better in the afternoon to get up again. 

Today is day three. I slept much better last night and have switched from the epidural to pills which has really helped me progress. I am currently sitting up out of bed and will be up and moving here shortly. 

The surgery itself went great. I'll post pictures eventually of the before and after X-Rays. The doctors were very pleased with the work they did. They said I had good bones, so it made it easy to rotate the cup. They had a lot of scar tissue to clean out from my surgery when I was 14 months old. So surgery was a little long but everything went great. 

I'm gonna try to get a little bit of rest before I move around some more and I'll post later. 

I should go home on Friday.

----------------------------------------------

I just got back in bed from taking a walk. I was also able to pee on my own! Yay!

The PT people said I'm approaching rock star status because I was able to do my walk and practice a step on the second day. My heartbeat and temp are still elevated so we are trying to work that stuff out. I'm thinking it's because of the pain I'm in. 

Only a Few Days...

OMG. It is almost time.

Right now I'm feeling super anxious. I'm mostly ready to get it over with. I only have 3 more shifts at work; Today, tomorrow, and Saturday. And I have one last "Final" for school tomorrow.

I can't help but want the next four days to go by fast. I'm ready to only have one thing on my plate. I'm ready to put my focus on my healing and physical therapy. I'm ready to not struggle with simple things like walking, getting out of bed, and putting shoes on. Though, for the next few months I'll struggle with those things, it will be all worth it in the end.

Before I end this post, I want to say thank you to all my friends and family who will be supporting me through this. If anyone has any questions I am certainly open to them. I also hope to post pictures of my battle wounds and any scope pictures I'm given, so be aware. My next post will probably be late in the evening on May 11th. If not then, I'll make sure to get one out on the 12th. I'll also try to keep everyone updated on Facebook as well.

Until then...