New Hip -- Day 1
The new hip is a reality and Kathleen (my patient) is doing great. She was wisked off to surgery at 9:45 and 1 hr. and 15 minutes later the surgeon, Dr Lawrence was out talking to me letting me know that all went smoothly and was showing me a picture of the head of the femur (the ball) that had been removed. Even I, the amerature Dr. that I am, could see that two thirds of it showed signs of having rubbed bone on bone for some time. The surface of it which is supposed to be smooth was pock-marked like you would see when looking at a picture of the moons surface. No wonder my love, was in such pain..
Kathleen chose to have this entire procedure done by having spinal anesthesia only. She was groggy but alert throughout the entire procedure and her only negative comment was listening to sound of the saw as they removed the ball from the femur. I was amazed at how alert and bright eyed she was so soon after surgery. She had a full supper this evening and stood by the bed to test her new parts. Tomorrow and Sunday she will have two sessions of physical therapy before probably getting discharged on Sunday afternoon.
I can't tell you how impressed I am with Dr. Lawrence, the Vernon County Memorial Hospital, and everyone we have come in contact with. I do not impress easily!