Recovery Day 4 -- Wireless!

Last night was a terrible night because of the rash. Even though I finally got some steroid creams last night, the itching and discomfort was hardly vanquished, and I had to keep calling for Nubain and Benadryl in between my steroid cream applications.

This morning I wanted nothing more than to leap out of bed, have a shower (preferably stripping away several layers of rash-infested skin in the process) and then marinate myself in steroid cream. Last time I had this operation, I absolutely dreaded getting out of bed because it was so painful and logistically difficult. I think the rash is worse this time around, but I know that getting into and out of bed is somehow much less difficult, so it makes sense that I'm much more amenable to getting out of bed.

Nonetheless, I spent most of my morning in bed, working. So much for taking off from work for two weeks after surgery! Dr. LaReau stopped by to check on me, I ate some fruit salad, time passed.

At 10 my catheter came out. With that, I was wireless! No more leads, IVs, drains, nothing. Just me and my rash.

Finally Kimber came for PT, and it was time to get out of bed again. It went better this time; I was more confident with the limits of what I could do, and I also trusted Kimber more. Once up and in my wheelchair, I was taken to the PT room to try walking on the parallel bars. Again, I was pretty confident about it -- after all, this had been a less invasive surgery and I had already done this learning-to-walk-again thing before.

As all you proverb fans probably guessed, it went terribly. At least I felt it did. Just like in March, I couldn't slide my op-side foot forward to save my life. I was so disappointed and confused. This time they didn't cut that muscle! It is supposed to work! Why can't I move my foot?! Kimber helped me slide my op-side foot forward for each "step" but it just felt like cheating. I couldn't do it myself. The whole endeavor hurt my hip and my pride and I felt like a sad failure. I had thought it would be so much easier than in March and it wasn't.

At least when I got back to my room my sheets were changed. But I didn't get to take that long-awaited shower because (of COURSE) I got the only room on the floor with a bathtub instead of a walk-in shower. Perfect. So I had to wait for a new room to open up so I could switch rooms to take a shower. Which meant getting back into bed to stew in my own boiling skin for a few more hours.

I have been on oral pain medication since the epidural came out yesterday, but I still feel like they are not yet covering my pain properly. There are "gaps" where the pain comes through and when I ask if it is time for some more medicine I end up having an hour or more to wait.

Just like in March, I feel like I always have more pain than I "should" have. I know it is probably in my head, but I just get this vibe from people like they think I can't possibly be in pain when I am taking "so much" medication. But I am not exaggerating my pain. When I ask for medication, it is because the pain is at a distracting level, like 5 to 7. Actually, earlier today, when I told one of my nurses my pain had returned and asked if I could have some more medicine she looked at her watch and sort of sighed disapprovingly and said "you are already on a lot of medication..." It sucks to feel simultaneously like a sissy and a junkie.

At around 15:00 two doctors from dermatology came to look at my rash. They didn't take any photos so I guess they were "the deciders." After some chin-stroking they presented exactly no new ideas and no new solutions. So once again dermatology comes up a day late and a diagnosis short. Give me my steroid creams and go away now please.

In the afternoon I got out of bed again for a second session of PT with Kimber. Needless to say, I was not feeling positive about it, but since I had to get out of bed to get my shower anyway, I figured I might as well hit the parallel bars along the way. For some reason, this time it all went much better. Kimber still had to help me move my left foot forward, but at least it felt like I was contributing this time.

And so I earned my reward. Ahh, a shower and a steroid cream body mask. What a spa treatment. After that I was feeling (and looking) much better, so when Dr. Millis stopped by this evening he was happy to see me looking revived. He said everything is going so well that I might even get discharged tomorrow afternoon. The only things left on my to-do list are final x-rays and showing PT I can climb stairs on crutches. And we all know I can do that. Right?

Consult Scheduled

Sharelle Davis from Dr. Millis' office called me on Thursday morning to let me know that Dr. Millis had reviewed my file, and to schedule my first consultation appointment with the doctor.

When I had first begun talking to Sharelle last week, collecting my records and films for Dr. Millis' review, the doctor still had consultation appointments open in December; by now his first available appointment was in January. Dr. Millis sees new patients on Thursdays only, and with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day all falling on Thursdays, the holiday season is not a scheduling cornucopia.

As an alternative, Sharelle offered to put me on Dr. Young-Jo Kim's track. Dr. Kim is on Dr. Millis' team and has worked with Dr. Millis for quite some time. The advantage is that Dr. Kim's schedule is lighter -- I'd be able to get a consult with him in early December. But if I chose Dr. Kim for the early consult, I was also choosing him as my surgeon -- one can't switch between the two.

It seems from his bio, resume and publications that Dr. Kim is younger and less-reknowned but by no means incompetently skilled at PAO surgery. That said, this was a choice I didn't really know how to make. How to choose between the doctor referred to you specifically by name as the "best" or his similarly qualified, yet unrecommended, understudy?

I called Dr. Su's office to ask for help with the decision. What had Dr. Su heard about Dr. Kim? Would he recommend him as an alternative to Dr. Millis? Dr. Su never got back to me with any answers, which I found disappointing. He might get back to me next week, I suppose, but I did not want to stall on the scheduling. I wanted to secure an appointment and have something concrete in the calendar right away.

I surveyed the message board about Dr. Kim and found no negative comments and one first-hand comment: a woman who has a surgery scheduled with him in the spring and who found him to be knowledgeable with a good bedside manner. In the absence of an answer and affirmative recommendation from Dr. Su, however, it seemed prudent to go with the doctor he had initially recommended by name. After all, Dr. Su hadn't recommended Dr. Millis' "team" or "program," he'd recommended Dr. Millis himself.

I took Dr. Millis' earliest available consult appointment, January 8, 2009. The appointment consists of an MRI at the hospital's Waltham facility in the morning, followed by a 12:30 appointment with the doctor at his Boston office. Sharelle could not estimate my surgery date based on the consult; she said it was something the doctor would discuss with me at the consult.

While I am glad to have an appointment in the books, the sluggishness of this process is very frustrating. Ideally I would have been having the actual surgery in early January. But I suppose I have unrealistic expectations for a busy, reknowned doctor and a major surgery. And I could always have gone with Dr. Kim if it was so important to me to race through this.

To her credit, Sharelle has been very kind, patient and responsive with me despite my many questions and phone calls. I have tried not to be an annoying patient (as I have had enough annoying clients myself to know how it is on Sharelle's end of the phone) but my impatience is difficult to suppress.

A woman on the message board told me that Dr. Millis' surgery lead time is typically three to five months from the consult. Since I am under 35 years old, I can have my surgery at Children's Hospital where the doctor has more operating room time available, so that should help. Even if we assume best-case scenario, I won't have anything earlier than a March surgery date for the right hip.

I suppose all this speculation is silly, though. There's nothing I can do now except carry on until January, doing what I can when the pain is minimal, taking it easy when the pain is worse, and enjoying the holidays until the dawn of 2009, the Year of the Hips.