On March 29, 2019, I underwent hip surgery to repair a labral tear and to smooth down excess bone growth due to cam femoroacetabular impingement (FAI for short) in my left hip. This is a timeline of everything that happened from preparing for surgery to when I got home post-op. I hope you find this helpful if you are undergoing a similar surgery so you can get a better idea of what to expect!
March 28, 2019:
9:45pm - I finished my last meal before not eating until post surgery. Due to the anesthesia, I was not to eat or drink anything after midnight the night before surgery.
10:15pm - I showered with antibacterial soap and made sure not to put any lotions on.
11:00pm - I tried to get everything situated knowing that when I got back home the next day, I would be limited in my ability to move. I set up my laptop on the coffee table next to the couch I'd be laying on and also packed my backpack with things I made need at the hospital: extra big pants, shorts, water, etc.
11:15pm - Bedtime.
March 29, 2019
6:00am - I made sure I woke up early enough so I would have time to read my bible and pray before getting ready to head to the hospital.
7:15am - My mom, dad and I headed to the hospital which was about 15 minutes away for my check in time of 7:45am and my surgery time of 8:45am.
7:30am - We arrived at the hospital and eventually found our way to the surgery center. It took a little while because we got lost but good thing we got there a little early!
7:45am - Check in time. I went up to check in where they had me do some paperwork and confirm some information.
8:00am - The nurse called me back where they had me give them a urine sample (to make sure I wasn't pregnant, news flash: I wasn't!), and then they had me change into my hospital gown and robe. I had to take all of my clothes off, the only thing I kept on was a hair tie in my hair and my glasses (there was no metal on my hair tie, so I was able to keep my hair tie in but before I went into the OR I gave them my glasses to give to my parents).
8:15am - They had me lay in my hospital bed where they put my IV in, got my blood pressure and heart rate. They asked me a bunch of questions just to confirm some things like what kind of surgery I was having and what hip the surgery was on (good thing they asked because they had the wrong hip written down!). Then I waited for the anesthesiologist to come check with me and ask a few questions before surgery. After that, I waited for the surgeon to come and check in before the surgery. He wrote on my hip that he was operating on while I was awake so we made sure it was the correct side.
8:50am - After that, the nurses rolled me to the OR. At this point, I was lucid but the anesthesiologist started sedating me. I started feeling a little loopy and I even remember at one point saying "I feel really loopy" and everyone in the OR laughed. The physician's assistant put some plastic boot-type things on my feet that were meant to hold my feet in place while in surgery. Then, I remember the surgeon putting on his surgical gown and them saying they would sedate me on my hospital bed before moving me to where they were going to do the surgery. And that was the last thing I remember.
11:45am - The next thing I knew, I remember starting to wake up and everyone around me was moving so quickly. In my head, I honestly thought that they had accidentally woken me up mid surgery by mistake. But they had just finished up and were transporting me to the recovery room.
At this point, I was laying in my bed in the recovery room. The nurses at the hospital were literally amazing. There were at least 4 that were around me periodically. As soon as I was lucid enough, I started to feel the utter pain in my hip. It was so painful and sore. It wasn't really a sharp pain but a dull pain over my whole hip. I was just waking up and I didn't really have a way to communicate the pain I was in but I was crying because it was so painful. I just remember the nurse overseeing me asked me on a scale from 1 to 10 how bad the pain was and I immediately said 10. My eyes were closed the whole time but I just remember continuing to cry because I couldn't help it. They started giving me narcotics to help with the pain and some crackers so I didn't take the meds on an empty stomach. For some reason, I'm not sure if it was because I had an allergic reaction to the narcotics or just because of the narcotics itself, I started getting super itchy. Specifically my nose was so itchy but really all over my upper body. They had put an oxygen tube in my nose so I could breathe out the anesthesia but I kept moving it so I could itch my nose. I was rubbing my eyes also but the nurse came over and told me not to do that so I wouldn't scratch my cornea. The pain eventually went from a 10 to a 5.
At the same time, I asked for water and they gave me some ice chips but I think they didn't want me to ingest a lot of stuff because of the meds (?). Not really sure but in my normal life, I am literally a fish, I could drink gallons of water every day and to not drink water since before midnight the night before was not easy for me.
1:00pm - I swear all this felt like only 10 minutes went by, but this was all over the course of at least an hour or an hour and a half. I started waking up a little more and a couple nurses were around me helping me to get my clothes back on. Once I got my clothes on, they moved me to a chair where my parents were. As soon as I moved to the chair, I immediately felt nauseous. Apparently the medicine they gave me made me nauseous but only when I moved. They gave me a barf bag but I didn't throw up at that point. They also gave me some ginger ale which helped the nausea.
I sat in the chair while the nurse went over everything with my parents, from my medication to my crutches to my bandage. I was trying to listen but the nurse told me to sleep if I wanted to sleep, but I still heard everything they were talking about. At this point, I was still itching ALL over and would continue to pretty much for the rest of the day.
2:00pm - At one point, they rolled me either in a wheelchair or in the chair I was sitting in, down a hallway where my dad had pulled the car around with the backseat open. The nurse was helping me get from the chair to the car but once I got into the car, I was able to use my arms to pull myself in. As soon as I got into the car, I felt super nauseous again but I didn't throw up.
2:30pm - I finally got home and immediately went to bed. This was when I started sleeping off the meds they had given me and I started to actually feel the pain in my hip. I had a very reduced range of motion. Any twisting or turning caused an uncomfortable pain in my hip. I pretty much only laid on my back while I slept or even when I was awake.
March 28, 2019:
9:45pm - I finished my last meal before not eating until post surgery. Due to the anesthesia, I was not to eat or drink anything after midnight the night before surgery.
10:15pm - I showered with antibacterial soap and made sure not to put any lotions on.
11:00pm - I tried to get everything situated knowing that when I got back home the next day, I would be limited in my ability to move. I set up my laptop on the coffee table next to the couch I'd be laying on and also packed my backpack with things I made need at the hospital: extra big pants, shorts, water, etc.
11:15pm - Bedtime.
March 29, 2019
6:00am - I made sure I woke up early enough so I would have time to read my bible and pray before getting ready to head to the hospital.
7:15am - My mom, dad and I headed to the hospital which was about 15 minutes away for my check in time of 7:45am and my surgery time of 8:45am.
7:30am - We arrived at the hospital and eventually found our way to the surgery center. It took a little while because we got lost but good thing we got there a little early!
7:45am - Check in time. I went up to check in where they had me do some paperwork and confirm some information.
8:00am - The nurse called me back where they had me give them a urine sample (to make sure I wasn't pregnant, news flash: I wasn't!), and then they had me change into my hospital gown and robe. I had to take all of my clothes off, the only thing I kept on was a hair tie in my hair and my glasses (there was no metal on my hair tie, so I was able to keep my hair tie in but before I went into the OR I gave them my glasses to give to my parents).
8:15am - They had me lay in my hospital bed where they put my IV in, got my blood pressure and heart rate. They asked me a bunch of questions just to confirm some things like what kind of surgery I was having and what hip the surgery was on (good thing they asked because they had the wrong hip written down!). Then I waited for the anesthesiologist to come check with me and ask a few questions before surgery. After that, I waited for the surgeon to come and check in before the surgery. He wrote on my hip that he was operating on while I was awake so we made sure it was the correct side.
8:50am - After that, the nurses rolled me to the OR. At this point, I was lucid but the anesthesiologist started sedating me. I started feeling a little loopy and I even remember at one point saying "I feel really loopy" and everyone in the OR laughed. The physician's assistant put some plastic boot-type things on my feet that were meant to hold my feet in place while in surgery. Then, I remember the surgeon putting on his surgical gown and them saying they would sedate me on my hospital bed before moving me to where they were going to do the surgery. And that was the last thing I remember.
11:45am - The next thing I knew, I remember starting to wake up and everyone around me was moving so quickly. In my head, I honestly thought that they had accidentally woken me up mid surgery by mistake. But they had just finished up and were transporting me to the recovery room.
At this point, I was laying in my bed in the recovery room. The nurses at the hospital were literally amazing. There were at least 4 that were around me periodically. As soon as I was lucid enough, I started to feel the utter pain in my hip. It was so painful and sore. It wasn't really a sharp pain but a dull pain over my whole hip. I was just waking up and I didn't really have a way to communicate the pain I was in but I was crying because it was so painful. I just remember the nurse overseeing me asked me on a scale from 1 to 10 how bad the pain was and I immediately said 10. My eyes were closed the whole time but I just remember continuing to cry because I couldn't help it. They started giving me narcotics to help with the pain and some crackers so I didn't take the meds on an empty stomach. For some reason, I'm not sure if it was because I had an allergic reaction to the narcotics or just because of the narcotics itself, I started getting super itchy. Specifically my nose was so itchy but really all over my upper body. They had put an oxygen tube in my nose so I could breathe out the anesthesia but I kept moving it so I could itch my nose. I was rubbing my eyes also but the nurse came over and told me not to do that so I wouldn't scratch my cornea. The pain eventually went from a 10 to a 5.
At the same time, I asked for water and they gave me some ice chips but I think they didn't want me to ingest a lot of stuff because of the meds (?). Not really sure but in my normal life, I am literally a fish, I could drink gallons of water every day and to not drink water since before midnight the night before was not easy for me.
1:00pm - I swear all this felt like only 10 minutes went by, but this was all over the course of at least an hour or an hour and a half. I started waking up a little more and a couple nurses were around me helping me to get my clothes back on. Once I got my clothes on, they moved me to a chair where my parents were. As soon as I moved to the chair, I immediately felt nauseous. Apparently the medicine they gave me made me nauseous but only when I moved. They gave me a barf bag but I didn't throw up at that point. They also gave me some ginger ale which helped the nausea.
I sat in the chair while the nurse went over everything with my parents, from my medication to my crutches to my bandage. I was trying to listen but the nurse told me to sleep if I wanted to sleep, but I still heard everything they were talking about. At this point, I was still itching ALL over and would continue to pretty much for the rest of the day.
2:00pm - At one point, they rolled me either in a wheelchair or in the chair I was sitting in, down a hallway where my dad had pulled the car around with the backseat open. The nurse was helping me get from the chair to the car but once I got into the car, I was able to use my arms to pull myself in. As soon as I got into the car, I felt super nauseous again but I didn't throw up.
2:30pm - I finally got home and immediately went to bed. This was when I started sleeping off the meds they had given me and I started to actually feel the pain in my hip. I had a very reduced range of motion. Any twisting or turning caused an uncomfortable pain in my hip. I pretty much only laid on my back while I slept or even when I was awake.
