New and Improved Hubby....

Kenny had his surgery Friday morning. We arrived at UCSD Medical Center bright and early (6 a.m.) for the surgeon's first surgery of the day.

Here is a picture of Kenny in the pre-op room getting ready to go. This was before his IV etc. I was amazed how many people asked him what he was having done and which side it was being done to. How, with all that double checking, do people get the wrong procedure or cut on the wrong side? One of the residents signed his initials on Kenny's hip as yet another check. Kenny added his own smiley face sticker as a special "hello" to the team.



I'm pretty sure this was taken right before they wheeled him off to surgery.


Jana texted me not to be surprised or worried when the surgery took longer than expected. I am thankful for that. The pre-op documents said it was a 90 minute surgery. The surgeon, Dr. Ball, told us with anesthesia etc. it would take around 2 1/2 hours. They were supposed to go in between 7 and 7:30. Dr. Ball came to talk to Kenny's dad and I at 10:15. He told me that the surgery was a success. There was a LOT of arthritis etc., more than he actually expected. He scraped away two pretty big bone spurs. All of this should really help Kenny's eventual range of motion. He said that he had extremely good muscle tone and bone density. All of this should help with his recovery.

The arrows point to the bone spurs, I think.... the arrows are mine.


Here is a picture of his new hip. He is now part metal (cobalt-chrome) and will need to be wanded every time he goes through the airport. He said he is happy to drop is drawers and show them his scar. That's my Kenny.


That is when the waiting really began. Dr. Ball had told us that Kenny was awake, but would be in recovery for two hours or so. We read a little, went and ate lunch and sat for quite a while. At 1 p.m. the recovery nurse called me on my cell phone (isn't it interesting what technology does to bedside manner?). She told me that Kenny was still groggy, but would be moved to his room in about 10 or 15 minutes. Forty five minutes later, we FINALLY saw him being wheeled to his room. I had started to worry that something had gone wrong. She told me that they were waiting for the room. Hmmm.... she had my cell phone, couldn't she have called me?? Grrrrrr.....

Kenny was still a bit groggy. He was pale and didn't talk much. A couple times he got a bit emotional and just asked to be hugged. It was hard for me to see him like this. I think we were both surprised that the anesthesia hit him so hard. He was also in some pain. I could see it on his face. They asked how much pain he was in on a scale of 1 to 10. When he said "four" as he winced, I said, "really? are you sure? You don't have to be a hero." He then quietly said, "well, maybe more like a six." They gave him a bit of morphine at that point. That was the only morphine he had.

This picture might have been taken after the morphine.


By Saturday, he looked and felt much better. I brought the kids to see him and it did a world of good for them and for him. Jackson was excited to see him, but had to be reminded that he needed to be gentle with Daddy. It might be tough for Jackson not to wrestle with Daddy for quite a while. Luckily, he's a pretty go-with-the-flow kid. Amelia gave Daddy a quick hug and kiss and then found things in the room to entertain her.





Unfortunately, there isn't too much to do for a two-year-old and four-year-old in a hospital room. Kenny's parents (the kids' Mimi and Boompah) took them back home for lunch and naps. I stayed with Kenny for several more hours. I was able to see the occupational therapist with him as well as the physical therapist. The physical therapist, Jeanette, is a mountain biker and was asking Kenny all about mountain biking in San Diego since she just moved here from Northern California. I think that made it a fun session for Kenny. He did three laps around the wing, when she only asked him to do one.

Things were going OK and Kenny didn't feel that he needed me as much. His parents had been SUCH a help to us, especially with the kids. We knew that it was hard for them to be away from home for any length of time, so we told them to go ahead and head home. I am not sure what I would have done without them. It was GREAT to have them here to help us. And the kids loved having the quality time with them.

Yesterday was a bit more frustrating. Kenny called me at 10 a.m. and said, "they told me to call my ride... I can go home!" Since the doctor had started the discharge paperwork two hours earlier, this didn't surprise me much. The kids and I arrived around 11 a.m. Kenny had just been told that there would be a slight delay. There was some sort of mix up with the drugs they were supposed to send home with Kenny and they were tracking them down. Well....THREE HOURS, several walks with Amelia and an interesting lunch in the cafeteria later we FINALLY left the hospital. While the service at UCSD was friendly, I wasn't too impressed with their administrative prowess on their discharge procedures. AND... we ended up having to go get the prescriptions at a CVS pharmacy anyway. Grrrrrrr.....

So he is home now. He is walking well with crutches, including going up and down the stairs. I had thought he would stay upstairs the entire time, but going up and down is part of his rehab. He doesn't stay on the crutches for long because his hip starts to ache after a while. He is taking a nap now... oh wait, Amelia just went in to see him. Nap over. Oops.

He showed me his incision last night. Yikes. That is quite a cut. I am, once again, reminded why I could never be a nurse. I am way too squeamish! Here is a picture of it. I hope you don't mind seeing a picture of Kenny's butt. LOL. Avert your eyes if you are also squeamish. You have to scroll down a bit so everyone doesn't necessarily have to see it. This will be the end of this post.....