About three years ago now, when we were in Texas avoiding the Michigan winter, I noticed something of a pain coming from my leg near my hip joint. It was rather painful to walk so I took some aspirins and it went away. It went away until about 6hours later. Then one day I was riding my bike and took a rather unintentional, awkward, and embarassing spill landing on my side. Watching me do this inglorious act was a group of about 10 picnickers about 10 feet away! I dusted my self off, smiled as if it was a regular occurrance, righted my bike and said that I was fine, and not to call EMR. The next day I had to cancel my golf game with the fellas I usually joined once a week. A few days of rest and a few ibuprofen tabs later it felt all right again, except for a few elbow scabs that were healing. Nothing severe enough to keep me from playing 18 holes for sure, and at that time I was coming in 1st or 2nd in our group of 6. Never had to buy a round of beer as the bottom player.
Well winter came and went and we returned to MI and I continued to play my usual golf once or twice a week limping around at all the local courses there. I kept the OTC drug companys in business. I was switching between Motrin, naproxin sodium, acetaminiphin and aspirin on consecutive days, never taking more than the recommended dosage. My liver meant too much to me.
Meanwhile we moved to MO. I limped my way through that.
Advancing to 4 months ago, I had my physical where they took an xray and informed me that I had an arthritic hip and warned me that I had a hip procedure coming soon.
Not me! Said I. Can't be true as I am too tough and indestructible for this, besides it scared me as I had never been in a hospital before..since I was 9 yrs old, that's almost never and I really don't remember much except that then there was no TV and my entertainment was a nurse who came in once in a while to play checkers.
About August 10th I went to Washington MO to the Patients First Clinic to talk to an Orthopedist about getting a new hip to replace the old worn out one. I engaged Dr. Dean Lusardi to do the surgery and he scheduled me for 195 minutes in the Operating room on Sept 7. I counted the hours, days, and minutes until the big day arrived. I got up at 5:30 AM, showered with the antiseptic soap that they gave me and Judy drove me to St. Johns Hospital where they prepped me for surgery at 9 AM. I don't remember anything after that until I woke up in the recovery room at about 12:45PM. Where did the time go? Birds were singing, music was playing and I was floating in the air. Wheee, what fun that was! They took me for a ride up in the elevator to my private room. (don't remember the elevator ride either)
I felt like a special king of kings as the nurses were looking after my every wish.
My doctor came in and asked me how I was doing, and I remember telling him that I was still alive. I still was feeling no pain and all I wanted was to drink water and sleep. That night I must have awakened 10 times to go potty. Had to call the nurse to help me get out of bed. Then every two hours the nurse came comes in to take my temp, blood pressure, and a blood sample. It was a very long night.
The next day I had my wife and my pastor visit me. I enjoyed seeing someone whom I recognized. The hospital food was horrible that day, but got much better as the days wore on.
I think the explanation for that is that my taste buds were screwy, and I got hungrier as time passed.
Hospital nurses are so kind and gentle, and that is just what I needed, as being moved from position to position for eating, pottying, and sleeping was a little trying.
My hospital stay was 3 days, I was really ready to leave. Driving home from the hospital was an hour except there was an accident that blocked the road for another 45 minutes.
Now in retrospect, the experience was not that unpleasant. I am glad that I had the procedure done. I'm exercising every day for my new hip, eating well, and sleeping like a dead man. In another 3 weeks, my doctor says that I won't know I've been through anything like this. I have a new perspective on life and looking forward to more golf. Thanks for reading.
Some decorations on the porch.....
