Dysplastic Mother of Four: Surgery Day

My surgery was scheduled for 8:00 a.m. and was supposed to show up at 6:30. I fell asleep just fine the night before but then woke up at 3:00 a.m. anxious and couldn't get my mind to shut off. So I took a xanax to help me get a little more sleep and also knowing I would want the relief at the hospital anyway. So I have taken Xanax many times in the past due to anxiety/panic disorder. Things have been under control for the past 5 years or so and I just take the Xanax every once in awhile. So it was very weird to me that I kind of freaked out after popping the pill. It usually has an immediate calming and sedating feeling but for some reason this time my heart started pounding and I was getting amped up. So I woke up my sleepy husband and he gave me a massage for about 1/2 hour. He is so amazing and sweet to me! So anyway, I totally relaxed and slept good until the alarm went off. We were both sleeping so hard that we apparently slept right through the alarm. We finally got out of bed and hurried to get out the door. We got to the University of Utah hospital at 7:00, about 1/2 hour late. We figured, no big deal. You always end up waiting no matter what but they were actually waiting for us and got right down to business. The staff was great. They were all fun to talk to and helped me to settle down about this major surgery that was about to happen!

Since I've had 4 kids I was not at all worried about the epidural. I've had 4 kids and 4 epidurals with great experience with each one. I was really surprised that for this epidural I totally passed out! He put the needle in no problem, but when he started the meds, I totally lost it. I remember feeling really dizzy, cold, and weak. They kept talking to me and then put something else in my IV to liven me back up. I felt like I was going to throw up but after a little while was feeling okay again. What a great way to start the day!

So it was crazy to realize that I was ready for surgery. They usually give patients Versed at this time to basically put you to sleep. It just makes you really sedated and unable to remember anything. That is why the last thing you usually remember before surgery is going through the big doors. But I had a major reaction to Versed after complications following the birth of my 1st child and wasn't too keen on having hallucinations and nightmares again. The doctor said I was the first person she had met who was "allergic" to Versed. So since I didn't have Versed, I was totally coherent and talking to my anesthesiologist all the way down the hall. I asked if this was weird, if most people are already out by this time, and she said, Oh yeah, usually the patient is totally out of it right now. I wasn't too excited about some of the things I saw as we were going down the hallway. I am really nervous around hospitals and medical things so seeing other patients being wheeled around totally under with all kinds of tubes, IV lines, and equipment kind of freaked me out a little bit. But it was interesting to go into the operating room and see the big room where it was all going to happen. The nurses were talking to me and joking around about my husband wearing a BYU shirt at the U of U hospital (they are huge rivals). So I do remember them getting prepped for surgery and then saying, "Okay Julie, this is when we put you to sleep". I remember them putting the mask on and starting to cough a lot and then I remember waking up in recovery.

Here I am right after being wheeled to my room. It is such a weird feeling to wake up feeling like you just barely fell asleep and realize it has been hours. The first thing I noticed was that there was only 1 hospital bed in the room. I had talked to Shelley the night before, who had the same surgery at the same hospital within the past year, and knew that she had to share a room. So I was expecting to have to share a room. When the nurse came in I asked if it was a private room. When she said, "Yes", I wanted to jump up and kiss her. This meant that Darren had his own pull out to sleep on and I would have so much more privacy. She told me that they had just remodeled the rooms in October. Hallelujah!

The doctors came in shortly to tell me the surgery went as well as they could have hoped. It took just a little over 2 hours for the surgery. I lost as little blood as could be expected, so no blood transfusion, yay! He had to shave the femoral head which I wasn't really expecting and thought was interesting. I guess it helps to get a better fit. I asked what they thought the degree of my dysplasia was now that they had seen it first hand. I knew before that it was fairly mild compared to other patients but obviously my pain dictated the need for surgery. The doctor said that on a bell curve, my dysplasia was right in the middle. Meaning, he felt it was moderate and definitely needed to be fixed. That was what I already assumed was true but it is always nice to hear it firsthand from the surgeon. The epidural worked great and I woke up in no pain. I used the pain pump just a few times in those first few hours but after that everytime they asked my pain level, I said zero. I thought I was going to be smooth sailing and it was until everything went flying downhill the next day.