Ashley’s 2nd Surgery + Post Op Experience

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Hey friends and fam! Thanks for following along this medical journey of mine, ha! If you’ve missed my previous posts, here ya go: hip dysplasia and the reason for this whole situation, and one week post op update.

I am now 5 weeks post-op Surgery #1 and 2 weeks post-op Surgery #2. Read on for all of the gory details.

Pre-Surgery #2: Chelsea Handler

On May 4, just three weeks after my PAO sugery, I went in for a derotational femoral osteotomy. This surgery was needed in order to correctly align my femur in my newly aligned hip joint. (This video does a good job of explaining the ins and outs of this surgery.)

They had originally wanted to do the surgery on 4/30 but I had asked if we could postpone it to the following week because….. I had tickets to see Chelsea Handler at the Ryman 🙂 I had bought the tickets with friends months earlier, before I even learned about the hip dysplasia. And I was using that night as a motivational milestone. It was such a fun night out – and my first time leaving the house since the surgery. Yes, it was tiring because there ended up being a lot more walking inside the Ryman than I had anticipated (our seats were on the literal opposite side of the auditorium from where the elevator let us out, lol) so my arms got quite the workout. But Im so glad I went. It was the first time I put on real clothes and felt human!

The next day I needed extra rest to make up for how worn out my body was. Still, worth it!

Time for Surgery: May the Fourth Be With You

That Monday, I went into the surgery feeling really great — no panic attacks that morning! Let’s do this!!

The surgery was much quicker than the PAO; we had to be at the hospital at 5 am, surgery was scheduled for 7 am, and by 1 pm I had passed the PT tests and was cleared to go home, woo! I was thrilled that I would not have to spend another night in the hospital. But was already kinda hurtin’…

I vastly underestimated just how major this surgery was, and was unprepared for the pain levels that followed. It sounded way simpler than what I’d had done a few weeks earlier — literally cutting my pelvis into pieces and screwing them back together again. This was just cutting a bone in half, rotating, and gluing it back together with metal. Easy peasy, right? LOL

Since I had very little serious pain following the PAO, I wrongly assumed that this one would be similar. I had not thought about the fact that the femur is the largest bone and the muscles surrounding it are the largest in the body.

I was so wrong. It hurt like hell.

Between the wheelchair ride from my room to the parking garage, getting into the car, and the agonizing 20 minute pot-hole-riddled ride home, I regretted not taking the oxy before leaving the hospital. I used all of the calming and breathing techniques I knew to get through that hellish car ride (WHY SO MANY POTHOLES, NASHVILLE??? LET’S FIX THEM ALREADY), so by the time we pulled into our driveway, I was barely keeping it together. I had to use the crutches to get up the 3 steps of our deck, yet did not have the strength to hop my good leg. So I ended up slowly falling to the deck, and I lost my cool. The tears came, releasing the tension I’d been holding in.

Justin helped me get to my chair and hooked up in the ice machine, and brought me a snack so I could pop an oxy, and the whole time I’m just crying. It felt like an adrenaline release, and I couldn’t stop. The pain was unlike anything I’ve felt; it was really hard to localize and identify what I was feeling specifically, it was just radiating out of my leg through my whole body. I have a high pain tolerance, and I still maintain that the worst pain of my life was giving birth unmedicated at home, where I literally felt like someone was ripping my body in half with a fiery sword. But the pain in my leg was very different. It was less acute, more widespread, harder to isolate. And made me feel like a big ole baby.

It took about an hour for the oxy to start doing its job and within 2 hours I had calmed down, stopped crying, and started to feel somewhat normal. But I was scared of feeling that again, so I took the allowed amount of oxy religiously for three days. I really did not like how it made me feel — so much brain fog that simple decisions seemed overwhelming and I was too tired to work on any of my convalescence activities. 🙁

Bye Bye, Oxy! Back to Normal!

By Thursday night, I wanted to delay a dose to see what I felt like, and thankfully it was back to where I had been the prior week so I was able to stop taking the oxy at that point. Some friends came over for dinner and to watch whatever sporting event was on that evening; some of us colored, instead.

By that weekend, I was feeling just fine, like I had been the week leading up to the 2nd surgery. No more brain fog, no significant pain, mobility improving day by day. Back to non-narcotics. Phew! The worst of it is over 🙂

Don’t get me wrong — my leg is still tender, parts still numb, and the muscles still stiff, but no major pain! HUZZAH!!!! I haven’t even really needed tylenol most of the last week. Woo!! I’m moving pretty okay, I’m able to shower independently and hobble around the house a bit. The walker basket has let me carry stuff to a certain extent, and hey we even went out to dinner with my mom this week (check the photo of Skyler reading the kids menu, he’s so grown now)!

Trigger Warning

A lot of people enjoyed seeing the video from the first surgery so I figured I’d share the video from the second one too! (How cool is it that we can actually see this stuff in action? I wish they could film more of the whole process, tbh.) It’s higher quality and feels a bit more graphic to me because of the bright red clor, so be warned if you’re squeamish. CLICK HERE TO WATCH.

Bonus (or maybe trigger warning #2?)

Also, just because I believe in transparency and that our healthcare system is an effing joke, here’s the breakdown of what my FIRST surgery cost. I have not yet received the breakdown for the second – can’t wait. 🙄

Fun fact: in researching the costs of this same surgery around the world, the most expensive “all-in” cost, including a week in the hospital, was $30k USD. Womp womp. Our system is broken for in so many ways so many reasons. Le sigh.