These pages contain symptoms and information on various Autoimmune diseases.
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Categories
My Mental Trampoline
A Blog I Follow: My Mental Trampoline
The Moments That Count
Written September 10, 2010 Last night I went to my grandmother’s bedside, it was late, the room was dimly lit. She lay in her hospital bed, lost amid a jumble of pillows and blankets. She is presently at home in palliative care making her way from this world to the next. She is dying. It […]
The Art of Weird
I come from a generation in which if you were weird you had to make a choice, hide it and blend in, or be out there and don’t look for acceptance. Be strong enough to own your weird, earn your acceptance through sheer force of will. They used to say “don’t dress weird unless you […]
A Trip to the Hospital – What to Pack
When you have finally made the hard decision to go into hospital you may be overwhelmed by your circumstances, emotions, and the tasks you are expected to complete. The best way to cut down on the number of concerns and tasks at hand is to be prepared. If you have a comprehensive list of items […]
How Do I Get To A “Safe” Place?
Getting to an immediate “safe” place may be as easy as dragging yourself step by step out of the room that you are experiencing your crisis in and into a safer place in your home. Make sure you avoid high risk areas like the kitchen, for instance. There are too many things you can harm […]
Trip to the Hospital – Admitting Yourself To Hospital
Now That You Have Realized You Need Help And Have Decided To Admit Yourself into Hospital It is imperative that you make this critical decision before you carry through with any plans to harm yourself or others. Try not to let your crisis get out of hand. It is very important when you are experiencing […]
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Not Over Till The Fat Lady Sings 
I posted this as a comment at “Jan’s Story-A View from the Other Side” I wouldn’t mind contributing this as a guest story. I’ll have more to add after I go through my next round of tests.
Thanks!
I developed AVN of both hips. Had to have the left one replaced. It had totally collapsed 30 days after the initial diagnosis and I didn’t want to live with it that way at age 54 so I opted for surgery. The right side resolved on its own (thanks goodness!). I’d been on steroids about 3 years before the AVN reared its ugly head but had stopped taking it except for occasional bursts. Too late and I didn’t know, the damage at that point was just beginning.
For the surgery, I had a spinal and that was fine except it didn’t work. I was like “Excuse me, I can still feel and move my leg!” The anesthesiologist poked me with a needle because he didn’t believe me. I couldn’t see where he was poking and I yelled “OW!” So he had to administer more anesthetic. He said if I ‘d been a 200 lb guy, he would’ve proceeded with GA but since I was only 100 lb girl, it was easy for him to do another injection. I asked the anesthesiologist if he’d waive the use of sedation during surgery so I could hear what was going on. He didn’t but the dosing was light so I was able to hear my ortho sawing through my femur, reaming out my acetabulum then pounding in the prosthesis. That was pretty cool actually. I have a medical background so not much bothers me. The worst thing is poking at the lower half of your unfeeling body and how weird that feels. It didn’t even feel like…me. I had a lot or pain after surgery. I can’t take most opiates so my pain control was practically nil with just tramadol. I complained and asked for Fentanyl which I’d never tried. My ortho told me some of his patients didn’t react to it like other opiates. Amazingly, I had no reaction to it so bye-bye pain!
That was on a Tuesday. Went home on Friday. Where I lived then had stairs and no elevator . I had to pull myself up using the railing while my sister watched helplessly nearby. There really wasn’t anything she could do. I survived. The day after I got home, my sister took me out to dinner. I wanted to go but darn, I had to navigate those stairs again. I made it with effort and it was worth getting out to do do something normal!
I had a home nurse check my coumadin every day and had a PT come to my home 3 days per week. She even removed my stitches! 17 days after my surgery, I was driving my 5-speed sports car. 4 days later, no more crutches or walker. Woohoo!
All in all, I’d say that it wasn’t the worst time of my life. I lived alone so I found very creative ways to accomplish things around my home during that time, especially with my cats. Poor guys. It’s 4 years post-surgery and the ceramic on plastic replacement gives me minimal trouble. No running, no high-impact activities, no more skydiving, no water or snow-skiing. But I can walk!
I did have to go to the ER a week after the surgery. I developed blood clots in each leg. They checked for PE but the imaging was inconclusive. Because of that I had to stay on coumadin for three months. They wanted 6 months and I said “No!” and haven’t had any problems since.
6 months after the THR, I had a 3-level cervical fusion. Now that surgery was easy. In one morning, out the next afternoon. No pain at all. But that has now become a “failed” fusion and I’m looking at revision surgery but I am going to wait. I’ve recently been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease. Today I see the endo to do a work up for Addison’s. I really don’t want to have to start taking steroids again. Wish me luck!
Thanks for your site. I always like hearing about other peoples’ experiences with their THRs,
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OOps,should be this story: Jan’s Story – Hip Replacement Surgery With Addison’s Disease
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