Hip Surgery: Day 4

The hip surgery went well. Better than expected, actually. I'm now four days into the recovery and feeling pretty good--as long as I lie still on my bed and keep the ice machine running the required 22 hours per day.


The surgery took about two hours. When I woke up, Traci was already in the recovery room.

"So, I talked to the doctor," she said. "He said, 'I have good news and bad news.'"

Before the surgery, the doctor had some questions about the best approach to dealing with my backwards hips. Because there is not as much room in my sockets as their should be, he spoke with a pelvis doctor to see if a better way to create more clearance might be to realign my pelvis--a much bigger surgery--rather than fix my hips. After their discussion, they decided to start small and stick with the hip surgery.

The good news was that the doctor was able to use four plastic anchors to attach my torn labrum back to my hip. The other good news was that he didn't have to reshape my femoral head--but that was because of the bad news. Once the doctor got in there, he saw that the misshapen hip wasn't causing the tear. The real problem is that the socket is only covering half my hip. This surgery might help me in the short term but the long-term fix is to have the pelvis surgery. Major bummer.

The plan is to rehab my hip and then figure out what we want to do next.

So back to the right now.

Here's how I'm keeping myself busy. 

I've watched:

• 22 episodes of Friday Night Lights
• 8 episodes of The Simpsons
• Baby Mama
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
• Catching Fire
• 30 for 30: The U Part 2

I've read random parts of:

• The Last Unicorn
• An Abundance of Katherines
• One of Paige's books that was sitting by the no-resistance elliptical machine

I've edited:

• More than a dozen chapters of my graphic novel

I've also:

• Hobbled around on my crutches pretty good
• Been pretty uncomfortable in my (highly fashionable) compression socks

Many Thanks

Traci has been a superhero. It's no easy task to run the house, take care of me, and keep Tate from bugging me, all at the same time. She's been great. 

The kids have been good, too. Paige and Curtis have been good helpers and Tate's been surprisingly understanding. He knows I can't be on the floor with him or even come downstairs. So we've spent lots of time playing Uno on my bed. Lots of time. 

The ward brought us a bunch of meals, as did our friends the Bawdens, and my coworkers sent me home with a great goody bag that was quickly sieged by my family. Tate stole the snuggly bear blanket; Paige took the bendy straw that was shaped like glasses; and Traci swiped the Seventeen magazine. Fortunately, I was able to keep the beef jerky all to myself. 

Even Ty was looking out for me. I was able to power through this morning's rehab exercises thanks to a mixtape he made me that included both Local H's cover of Daft Punk's Da Funk and Survivor's Eye of the Tiger. And my boss made me a hip-themed mixtape that I've saved for tomorrow. 

I'm a lucky guy.