#2 is a fitting moniker for this round, or any round, of hip surgery. It's poop. I mean, it's not much fun to recover from it, but then again, hopefully once fully healed, it's all good. Crossing the fingers, but not the legs as that would be too much for the hip.
I went into Hinsdale Hospital in early November to get the cutting and bone-shaping completed (that's a fun thing). The staff in this place was very, very good, IMO. Everyone coming in to prep me for surgery was on top of it. To be clear, there were a lot of them, like 9 people, including OT and a Chaplin! I could have done without the 3/4 leg shave, but such is life (and I have great legs, dammit!).
It's mostly interesting for me to go through the process in the hospital, so I don't tend to get nervous or weirded out. I keep the mood light and the staff laughing, so I get their best service. For example, whenever a staff member said, "I'll be right back", I started replying, "I'll just stay here." (lying in a bed with only a gown on). Almost all of them laughed, but it seemed a bit like low-hanging comedy fruit to me.
They started my visit by swabbing the inside of each nostril with some chemical to help prevent infections, then a full body sponge bath with some kind of pre-soaked chemical cloth. And it was just me doing it to myself, - boo, no fun. Not even the sister would help. Midway through prep, the surgeon (Dr. Domb) came into the pre-surgery cubby and sign the correct leg for operation. Phew!
Once you're knocked out, there's not much to it. You wake up pretty out of it in a post-surgical area and they help you "come around". Then, for this surgery, they plop you in a wheelchair and you get to leave the hospital. You happen to have a big "diaper" on the surgical site, that can't be removed for 72 hours. No showers either, folks. It's a pretty odd deal, but underneath the bandage was simply packing gauze that stacks-up under, seemingly to keep the bandages up off the incisions and provide something to soak up any liquids (eeeewwww).
You know it's the correct leg because the bandage is on the one with the signature - huzzah! I only wound up with three relatively small incisions (from 3/4" to maybe 1-1/4"). Take a look for yourself...
And that's after the Steristrips were taken off 14 days "post-surgery" (they love using fancy doctor words). See, the hair's growing back... but MAN do I hate band-aid residue.
It's going to take a good few months to have it be back to normal, but thanks to Dr. Domb and Hinsdale Hospital, I think it's got a great chance of coming out very well.
Special thanks to my sister who was my hospital "chaperone" AND the family in Geneva that fed me well and helped me rest for three days after. Never a dull moment. I mean, look at this grub!!!
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