Day of Surgery No. 2 (August 23rd Right Hip Resurfacing)

Much of the 2 days prior to surgery were spent wandering around Seattle's waterfront stewing about the upcoming surgery.  I knew I had already done it before, but that didn't help all that much.  I had a lot of anxiety the day prior.  Surgery was scheduled for Tuesday morning at 0730, but I was required to be there at 0540.  I don't think I slept much at all the night before.  You know you're anxious when you get up before the alarm clocks go off at 0500.

Once we got into the pre-op area, I took the requisite oxycontin and celebrex and knew there was no going back.  Without anything in my stomach the narcotic made me pretty loopy and that's a good thing.  The IV went in much better this time, maybe because I was not dehydrated.  We met with the surgeon and discussed some of the interesting aspects of HR.  I always like that about my surgeon, he likes to talk about the technical stuff, when he has time.  I then met with the anesthesiologist.  I mentioned that I was numb for longer than expected last time and so he looked at the dosing from before and I suspect made some minor changes.  I was wheeled into the OR and laid on the surgical side while the spinal numbing started.  Gravity got the juice into the surgery area and then I turned over.  Then I think the Versed was put in and I don't remember much after that.

I woke up in the middle when they were hammering in the acetabular cup.  I think there was about 4 solid hits where I recall scooching forward a bit on the operating table with each blow.  I asked the anesthesiologist what was going on and he replied, "that happens sometimes when they start hammering", then I fell asleep again, he probably turned up the juice a little.  I then woke up near the end and tried to lift my head and look over the surgical sheets and someone quickly pushed my head back down and asked that I lay still while finishing up with the sutures.  They probably didn't want me breathing on the wound.  Anyway I stayed awake into the recovery area and actually felt pretty refreshed, like I had a decent 4 hour nap.

In the recovery area, I had the shakes but not as bad as before.  They gave me some Demerol and that settled it down.  Once again, ice chips and warm blankets never felt so good.  I was wheeled into my room much quicker this time and felt more aware and refreshed then last time.  Here it is, for the next 26 hours or so.