***Please excuse any typos - I'm still under the influence of anesthesia!
Today's follow-up surgery was so different rom my prior hip surgeries. After experiencing the mother of all hip surgeries twice, I figured this one would be significantly easier and it was.
Unlike the PAOs, where Perry and I stayed in a hotel in Tacoma 3 hours from our house and had to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM, today's surgery was at noon. I slept in my own bed last night and we took our time going to the hospital around 9:00 AM after a full night's sleep.
This surgery was outpatient - once I was stable in the recovery room I was allowed to go home. I'm sitting on my recliner at home right now. My pain is well controlled.
I was not very nervous for this one, which is unusual for me. I did know that this would be a much simpler surgery but I'm always nervous around doctors and hospitals.
Dr. Santore was able to successfully remove all of the H.O ("a massive amount," as he told me) and put my rectus femoris tendon and muscle back together. He also moved some bone that wasn't showing on the x-ray, outside of the rectus femoris, which was preventing external rotation. I am beyond excited that I now have better internal rotation as well as unexpectedly-better external rotation.
He re-used my original scar which is great. He was also going to remove as many screws as he could easily reach, but when he tried to remove the first one it broke off so they are staying. Dr. Mayo countersinks screws, and it has been five years, so we knew this could be an issue. The screws don't really bother me other than a little sensitivity with cold weather but it's always good to NOT have metal in your body if you have the choice. Oh well!
At least now I have 12 and a half screws instead of 13!
I'm tired from the anesthetic so signing off now.
