My Insurance Company Has So Much Faith in My Ability to Heal All On My Own

By the way, I got a message from my new physical therapist that my insurance company has decided that I need only six home PT treatments. That's the two I already had, plus three this week, and one last one on my 14th day post-op.

Your Body is a Self-Correcting Wonderland

What a difference a couple of days make. For anyone reading this who might be contemplating having this surgery: Even under the best of circumstances (and I've had them all -- excellent surgeon and hospital staff, great PT, plenty of self-motivation to do as much of what I'm told as possible, a sensitive and earnest caregiver and supportive family and friends, nowhere I gotta be for the next few weeks) let there be no illusions; the first week is hard. Make that HARD. 

It reminds me of childbirth. Everyone tells you not to think of the contractions as "pain" yet it's hard to call them anything else when you are in the middle of them. And as with childbirth, you'd like to think that the pain you go through just after hip resurfacing surgery will all be worthwhile and will bring to you a new joy you never had before, or at least not since you developed AVN or arthritis or whatever caused the hip to go bad in the first place. Only in this case there is the added benefit of not having to change anyone else's diapers while you recover! (Don't get me started on what a great idea I think the catheter is and how much I miss it every time I have to -- joyously -- struggle out of bed and into the arms of my walker to get myself over to the bathroom to empty my bladder.

But I do know that in all likelihood, this will all be worth it and I will be able to get back to living my life, taking long walks, taking my 12 year old son places (if he'll agree to be seen with me at this point in his life), and getting back to playing music.

The daylight brings relief, but trying to sleep the first three nights I was out of the hospital (3rd-5th nights post-op) were a unique brand of hell. It really didn't help being forced out of the hospital without warning by my insurance company, whose name I want to shout from the rooftops: "Achtung MDIPA/United Healthcare".  MDIPA used to be decent, and probably not by coincidence, accepted by most doctors and medical establishments. But then they were purchased by United Healthcare. This organization is obviously committed to and bound by their euphemistic title. They are fiercely united in their bold mission to keep people from getting actual healthcare, instead offering something that sounds and looks very much like healthcare, but is limited by its unified focus on The Bottom Line. Anyway, I'll stop now, but I think I could have really used one more night with the wonderful nurses at Sinai -- Roselle and Denise.

Adrian picked me up Wednesday evening from the hospital and tried to keep me as "comfortable" as possible, and I tried to obey the rules by sleeping on my back with the gigantic V-shaped foam wedge strapped between my legs but I eventually rebelled against what felt like the set of a bad horror movie (not "Redneck Zombies, Peri), and designed my own fortress of pillows with which to prop myself up during sleep. But three nights of intolerable pain and frustration led me to a kind of "breakdown" while also turning out to be a sort of "breakthrough". Poor Adrian felt the brunt of my lashing out but we got through it, and I actually had a bit of better sleep that night.

By now it's Sunday night, 6 days post-op, and I've improved immensely. The PT exercises are a little easier, getting around is a little easier, and I've become more independent every day, though I can't prepare meals or carry even a glass of water while using my walker, so I'm still very much dependent on others. Adrian goes back to work tomorrow and his neighbor Candy has offered to help me with meals. And my friend Susan Pratt very kindly packed Adrian's freezer with nutritious, homemade frozen meals for me.

I'll be able to switch to a cane at some point and am thinking of buying a wooden one and some acrylic paints and using the downtime to paint it. I'll be using it for 5 or 6 weeks, so I might was well make it artful!

4 Days Post Op - Ouch but Hopeful

Today is Friday, 4 days since my surgery. I'm definitely improving, but am still in quite a bit of pain, especially at night. Sleeping is difficult. I'm supposed to sleep with the huge foam wedge strapped to my legs to keep me from crossing them while I sleep, but the wedge went out the window (almost literally) the first night I was out of the hospital. The thing is just too big for me (probably designed for a 180 pound man, like most medical contraptions). And being strapped to anything while trying to sleep feels a little too much like torture to me. So I've replaced it with a pillow between my legs and have been compliant with instructions to sleep on my back. The result is that I snore like a sailor and wake up frequently stiff and in pain. I've become able to bend my bad leg at the knee, so that gives a little "variety" to the experience, but really the only "relief" I get is to make the struggle to extricate myself from the bed and use my walker to get into the bathroom. And I get to take 10 mg of Percocet every 4 hours. So sleeping is rough and I do a lot of moaning and groaning during the night. I'm sure if a recording was made and released publicly, I'd be kicked out of Telesma and any other musical project, just for the embarrassment factor for everyone connected to me!

I'm still annoyed at MDIPA, my health insurance company, for caring more about their bottom line than the health of its card-carrying, premium-paying members. But one positive thing is that they are paying for (minus my $20 co-pay) excellent home physical therapy that my surgeon insisted upon. HomeCall is the company that was recommended to me, and Whitney, the therapist that came yesterday and will come again today, is wonderful, caring and knowledgeable. Some of the exercises are difficult, some easier, but I am determined to do them twice a day, as advised, so I can be back on my feet and fully recovered within the 5 or 6 weeks that this is going to take. She also pays close attention to the meds I take and any interactions they may have, plus she changes my bandages, and will remove my staples either next Thursday or the following Monday, depending on the condition of the wound. She said everything looks good though; not much swelling, some bruising, and very little drainage. More than you probably wanted to know.

The best news I've had is that my father, who was diagnosed with colon cancer right before my surgery, has been told that there are no signs of metastization. We'll know next week what treatment he is looking at, but this is such a relief to me. We are so close, and he has always been so reliably healthy -- a runner for decades, a 75 year old who goes to the gym everyday and takes his health (and vitamins and antioxidants) very seriously. The thought of losing him or of him suffering was more than I could bare in the days before my surgery. To say I am relieved is quite an understatement. Thanks to everyone for their prayers for him and for me!

My insurance company kicked me out of the hospital

I was doing well in the hospital. I was 2-days post op (yesterday) when I got the word in the early evening that my insurance company -- hearing that I was responding positively to physical therapy and was doing well -- decided that I was ready to transition to a home environment. Apparently they felt I didn't need the wonderful nurses at Sinai Hospital or the physical and occupational therapists who were helping me learn how to walk again (with a walker and crutches) and do simple things like putting on my socks with a nifty sock-putter-on-er.

I just accepted it and started getting my things together. I called Adrian to pick me up, which meant he was going to have to take 2 days off from work (unpaid) instead of one.

He got my stuff in the car, and I was wheeled out in a wheelchair and put into his Saab. My pain level was high, since I had to leave the hospital before my scheduled pain med time. I felt every bump and every turn of the hour-long car ride to Annapolis. It was too late to get my prescription filled, so I had to take the 5 mg Oxycodone pills I had taken before my surgery. They did nothing, though I ended up taking several. Adrian went out and bought me a raised toilet seat (very helpful) and some Tylenol (as a potentiate for the Oxycodone). I had to ditch the giant foam wedge I was supposed to strap between my legs for sleep; it was just too painful. I used a pillow instead. I was so upset, I thought of getting an ambulance to take me back to the hospital. But eventually I was able to sleep, and that seemed to help quite a bit.

My fear had been that I had somehow dislocated or fractured my hip during the move out of the hospital, but I ended up feeling a lot better in the morning. My panic is gone. It just seems ridiculous that a health insurance company to which I pay monthly premiums gets to say when I'm ready to leave the hospital. I ended up only staying one full day at Sinai. My surgery was at 4 pm on Monday; I spent Tuesday in a state of agony as an inpatient there; and by Wednesday was told to beat it.

2nd Day Post-Op - Learning to walk again!

I have a wonderful physical therapist here at Sinai Hospital named Christina. In fact, the entire staff is attentive and competent. They had me up walking with a walker yesterday and it was very painful, but I've kept at it, and today it's a little bit easier. Pain meds help, of course. They have me on 10 mg of Percaset every 4 hours. One of my big goals in life at the moment is to get off pain medications. I want my mind back! But for now, I seem to need them. But even in one day, the pain level is better.

They changed my bandage today and I got a look at the staples with which they sealed up the incision. They are smaller than I expected. I guess I had in mind one of those big staple guns we used to use to stretch canvas for oil paintings! They removed the drainage tube from the hip, so now when I walk around with my walker, I'm free of tubes and bags.

I'm doing basic exercises, trying to get the muscles in my hip and leg stronger. It makes me wish I could have worked on them before the surgery, but the last month or so, I was in such bad shape, I couldn't even imagine doing exercises! They had me try stairs today. My house has a lot of stairs and not much in the way of consistent care, which is why I'm going to stay at Adrian's for a couple of weeks.

1st Day Post-Op!

It's hard to believe I'm able to post anything after the night and morning I had. It's been pretty rough, but I'm definitely feeling better -- especially after being taken off Dilaudid, which I had as an I.V. drip. It was awful. I felt so tired, I literally fell asleep while eating my breakfast.

For the surgery yesterday, I was wheeled into the operating room around 4 pm and given my spinal anesthesia, followed by sedation. I woke up in the OR and was wheeled into the PACU around 6 pm or so. I can't even remember my pain level at that point, though I do remember that when I was given the button to push (to self-administer the Dilaudid) I was very relieved. The nurses told me to push it every time it lit up, and I found that if I fell asleep and forgot to press the button, it was difficult to get back to a comfortable state.

I was woken up by pain or attendants all night long, and was so unpleasantly drowsy all morning. I asked to be taken off the Dilaudid and put on Percaset instead, and that feels much more like it. I was able to walk with a walker a short (painful) distance and back to my bed.

I realized while doing physical therapy that I was afraid of the pain because I didn't understand it. I thought it meant something was wrong, but the therapist guided me through exercises, through the pain, and encouraged me to go gently, but go!

So I feel very motivated to do the exercises and try walking. And as soon as they remove the catheter, I will HAVE to walk to the bathroom! I feel much better this afternoon, and that gives me hope.

Last Day Before Surgery!

It's the last day I can bathe, wash my hair, reach my toes and have a hip that's not made out of metal and a smooth, scarless hip.

This pre-op period has been so difficult, wrought with sickness and discomfort. I have had so much to do, but have been able to do very little. I finally felt a lot better yesterday, but of course, used that renewed energy to go out and get some things done before I'll be unable to drive for two weeks. Stupid things like buying new eyeliner because my old one is almost out. I got gas even though my car will be sitting around for at least two weeks. I just don't want to have to deal with buying gas in the cold of winter on crutches! I tried to get my prescriptions filled, bought last minute things to take to eat at Adrian's, etc.

The end result was that I walked a lot and I haven't been able to do that in quite some time. Predictably, today I'm in a lot of pain. Took my last epsom salts bath. It's a fibromyalgia flare-up, which I haven't had in a while. Maybe I'm getting all these things out of the way before the surgery. Fibromyalgia is what my friend Bruckie would call "wavular". It comes and goes, flaring up and then subsiding. I am afraid of the effects of surgery on the fibromyalgia. It was after my last surgery that I developed the strange and painful symptoms that were eventually labled "fibromyalgia". Some people experience powerful flare-ups after surgery. My only hope is pain meds, the breathing I've learned from Joe Panella, mantra meditation and the good care I'm sure I'll have in the hospital, and especially when I get back to Adrian's.