My Second Hip Surgery

Hey friends! Tuesday was my second hip surgery day. Everything went well. If you missed my first hip surgery, you can check it out here. I’m 4 months out from my first one and doing very well. It’s great to be pain free and I’m back to walking and working out at the gym. I still have a few aches and sometimes sharp jabs in that hip, but I think it is still healing and I’ve been told that it takes a full year to heal completely. But the hip joint itself feels really good. This time, I knew what I was facing, so it made it a little less stressful to do. I had to be at the hospital at 9 am and surgery was around 11 am. I had outpatient surgery at Windy Hill hospital and they have a dedicated joint wing and it is very efficient. I can’t say enough about the hospital and the staff that helped me with my surgery. I had Dr. Stephen Kim with Resurgeons again doing my surgery and he is fantastic. I highly recommend Dr. Kim and had gotten his name from family members and other friends. He’s well known for hip and knee replacement surgery in this area.

I didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before. Once I woke up to go to the bathroom, I barely went back to sleep before it was time to get up. I checked in and got prepped for surgery. This was before the yellow socks were put on. They all made me feel very much at ease and I was ready to get it over with. Shout out to nurse Mary Ann, she handled both my prepping for surgery and does a wonderful job. After over 10 years of hip pain, I’m ready to get all healed up and have a better quality of life. I’m well on my way now!

The surgery went fine. Dr. Kim came in and talked to me before and after surgery, as well as the anesthesiologist. He was also very assuring. This time I didn’t hear a thing and was out for about 2 hours before I started waking up. When waking, they feed you Nutter Butters and a boxed sandwich meal that was preordered. I ate a little bit with water and Ginger Ale. Then I had to get up, get dressed and walk down the hallway to the PT room, where I took baby steps up and down 3 steps. Back to a wheelchair, out to the car and then home. The whole procedure was 6 hours from getting to the hospital to checking out. That’s pretty fast isn’t it?!

The nerve block really worked well this time and I am numb from my hip to my calf, which doesn’t make it easy to bear weight on that leg. I’ve really had to be careful walking on my walker and holding on. I have to constantly be aware of putting weight on my good leg and I can bear weight on my surgery leg by keeping my leg straight. If I bend my knee, my leg buckles instantly. So yeah, that’s a challenge. I’ve taken a couple of spills, but didn’t land on my hip just my butt and knee and everything seems to be fine. I’ll be glad when that block wears off and I can really see where I am pain wise after that. So far, my pain is very minimal this time. I hope it doesn’t come back with a roar.

I’m only 2 days out, so this is what I’ll be doing for the next few weeks. I’m elevating my leg as well as icing, getting up once an hour and I’m staying in the guest room again, so I’ll be close to the bathroom. My walker stays with me at all times, unlike the first time. I felt very stable with that one and started using mostly my cane right away. I never had a leg buckle with that one. This time is different because of the nerve block, so I’m keenly aware of my legs and how slow to go. So every surgery can be different for sure. I’m looking forward to healing up and getting back to normal again. I just wanted to keep you all posted on how the surgery went. I’ll do another update after I heal up more and see how these hips do together. I am now a double hippy! That’s what they call it in the hip forum on Facebook I joined. They were a big help to me before my surgery and everyone is going through the same thing, so it was nice to read up on what to expect, as well as questions and answers. Most people have had great success with hip replacement surgery, but others have ongoing issues and problems. I hope to be one of the ones with no issues and a much better quality of life!

Also of note: I’m on Medicare now (Blue Cross Blue Shield Anthem in GA) and I had an out of pocket expense of $375 for each surgery. They paid all the rest of my surgery expenses, so that was a blessing!