Hip Labrum Repair - Surgery Day!

Last night, I was pretty anxious. My massage therapist had given me a CD to listen to so I decided to give it a try. I'm not usually one to do mediation or even much in the way of alternative medicine, but I found it really calmed me down and I was able to fall asleep without much trouble. I liked it so much that I might try it more often - I definitely felt relaxed and zen.

The relaxation didn't last long and I was up at 2am.  When the alarm went off at 4:45, I had only dozed off a few times.   So needless to say, I was tired.   But I figured I was about to get a two hour nap!

We arrived at the hospital a few minutes early at 6am.   I got all checked in and my husband snapped this photo:

I was not on any meds at this point, btw.  That cheeky grin is au natural.

I spoke with the surgeon for a few minutes and he signed my hip.  At about 7:15, the anesthesiologist came in to tell me what to expect.  I explained that I get nausea from just about anything that can possibly make someone nauseous so he decided to go ahead and give me a scopalamine patch.   Good call, as I didn't feel any queasiness at all.

At 7:30, right on time!, I was walked back into the operating room.  There were probably 6-8 people, buzzing around.  And it was about 60 degrees in the room so I immediately started shivering!  The gown I was in didn't offer much in the way of warmth.

They had me climb onto the traction table (do yourself a favor and do NOT google image hip traction) and covered me with a warm blanket.   Ahhhhh.  I was out cold pretty soon after that - a few breaths of the happy juice and it was nap time.

I was wheeled out into the recovery room around 9:45, so I think surgery took just about two hours or so.

I was in recovery until about noon, mostly because they were having trouble getting my pain in check.  I ended up getting a GRAM of tylenol IV.   A gram....  of a pain med that has questionable safety margins?  Oy.  Then fentanyl.  Then oxycodone.  And it still wasn't quite enough.  :(

The surgeon came in and explained all that happened.  He said my hip was "the real deal".  He commented "I see this sort of thing in college athletes.  Usually in people approaching 40, it's more wear and tear type degradation.   This was  a traumatic athletic event."    I took this to mean that I am as fit as a college athlete.  Right?  RIGHT.

He was a little surprised/impressed by how big the tear was, especially since it didn't look that bad on the MRI.   It was a large tear and spanned three of the four "quadrants" of the hip socket.   

In addition, the cartilage around the edge of the hip socket had started to delaminate from the bone.  He was able to anchor that and labrum to the acetabulum, so it should be functionally repaired.  In total, he needed three anchors to reattach everything.  The rest of the cartilage looked to be in great condition.

I  had a triple impingement - meaning, I had a cam, pincer and psoas impingement on my labrum.   He took down the bone on my femur, hip socket and cut the psoas tendon partially to give it more length.  I think the psoas is what is driving most of my pain post-surgery.  It is a sharp pain right above the groin.  The meds have it to the point where it only hurts if I move and not constantly bothering me.  But it sure makes getting up and to the bathroom fun.

My back made it through surgery without any major worsening, which was a relief.  I sure I would have some sciatica issues.  Of course, I am still numb from the top of the leg down due to a femoral nerve block (I think), so when that wears off, it may be a different story.   For now, it seems fine.

My throat is SUPER sore.  Like, I'm losing my voice, sore.  

Otherwise, I am so glad to be on the other side of this and can now focus on getting better. :)  First PT session is Monday!   And tomorrow and Sunday I have some moves to do to keep the formation of scar tissue down.