Friday, January 23, 2009

Hips O' Steel III

Hips o’ Steel III

A few hours in the ICU then back to my room, with tubes going in and tubes coming out, everything was hunky-dory. The next day the OS came and asked me to swing my legs over the side of the bed. Even though I had been warned that this was routine for my post-op, it was still an anxious moment. Shouldn’t have worried though the staff were well trained to manage the situation even with a fat fart like myself. With feet on the floor and a few guided and assisted steps I was (almost) mobile 1 day after the operation. From then on it was me and my Zimmer frame and Khun Took the Physical Therapist. Nice girl but determined!


Day 4 saw the end of the tubes, wounds were clean albeit very sore, especially if I strayed over onto them while sleeping. Bodily functions had almost returned to normal, although during a # 2 the tiny bathroom was reminiscent of a scene from a Harry Houdini act. One major problem was sleeping for any length of time, more so because I was not allowed to turn on either side and had to maintain a pillow between my thighs to alleviate stress on the weakened hip muscles and ligaments that crossing my legs would cause, possibly resulting in a hip dislocation. It all resulted in only one or two hours sleep a night. But that was a small price when compared with the progress I was making.

 Day 5 and it was away with the Zimmer frame, by-passing the crutches and introduction to the walking stick. Again Took came into her own and drilled me on the techniques of walking with a cane. She also dangled a carrot in the shape of an instruction from the OS saying that once I mastered the ‘art’ of climbing up and down the stairs minimum of 10 steps, I would be allowed to go home.

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