29. There's Many A Slip Betwixt Cup & Lip

I should have known not to speak so soon. There I was, the day before I was due to go to the hospital to get my new hip, packing my bag, getting all worked up with nerves, when the phone rang and it’s the hospital saying they have to call my op off as they have had so many trauma cases, they won’t be able to fit my op in.

Build Me Up

(To the tune of ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’)

Why do you build me up (Build me up)

For my op, Conquest

Just to let me down? (Let me down)

And mess me around

And then, worst of all (Worst of all)

You never call, Conquest

When I think you will (Think you will)

But I need you still

I need you (I need you)

As there’s nowhere else to go

I have known that right from the start

So don’t build me up (Build me up)

Conquest to just break my heart

They have now re-arranged it for Tuesday 17th January 2023, 4 weeks later. I knew I wouldn’t get my op in 2022.

Will I have to have another pre-op assessment with all that involves i.e., blood tests, ECG etc?

I’ll also need some more stuff to shower with as I’ve almost used all they gave me.

I’m still going to have a bloody good Christmas no matter how low I’m feeling!

I sincerely hope my op does not get postponed again!

Trouble is there are more nurses’ strikes planned for about the date I’m due to go for my re-arranged op. so it wouldn’t surprise me if I get cancelled again!

After Christmas I rang the hospital to see whether I would have to go through the whole procedure again i.e., the Pre-Op Assessment etc. and they said I would.

When all the holidays were over, I rang the hospital, on 5th January, to see when I would be going for my Pre-Op Assessment as they have to be at least a week before so I’m expecting it to be on 9th January, but I have heard nothing. When I finally got through it was only to a voice-mail message so I left a message and we’ll see when/if they get back to me!

As they didn’t get back to me, I rang them again, the next day, and finally got to speak to a human who said I didn’t need another Pre-op Assessment. I said fine but I would need some more of the special soap, she said if I popped in, I could collect some so I asked for its name and I would see whether I could get some form Amazon. Which I did.

I’m still not totally confident that I won’t get cancelled again, in fact, I won’t believe it’s happening until I wake up and they say ‘All done!’.

The following verse had to be moved once as this op was cancelled. Hopefully, it won’t need to be moved again.

My Hip Op Is Today!

(To the tune of ‘The Sun Has Got His Hat On’)

We’re going to The Conquest this should be a happy day.

We’re going to The Conquest

As my hip-op is today.

Now I will be happy. Some pain will go away.

‘Cos we’re going to The Conquest

As my hip-op is today.

I will be very excited

I will be very delighted

I’ll have some fun when some pain has gone

A new hip will make my day

Well in this case it was second time lucky!

On Tuesday 17th January 2023 Bob & I and arrived at the hospital bang on time and they showed me to my bed, and after unloading my stuff Bob left. After a short while the anaesthetist came to introduce herself to me and to ask me the questions that would be repeated umpteen times that day.

I changed into my rear-ventilated gown and was visited by several other doctors and nurses and questioned and examined and told I was first on the list for the day, finally I was loaded onto a trolley and taken to the theatre. Next thing I knew it was done.

Normally, they will not let you out of hospital until you have passed the stair test so on Wednesday, 24 hours post-op the physio said we’d give it a try even though I hadn’t actually been out of bed up to that point, I just wanted to be able to go to the loo like a normal person. I did tell the physio why I don’t like physios and I think she had some sympathy for me.

Anyway, walking is done with a frame and is quite tricky but mostly a matter of practise but the stairs were one of the most painful experiences of my life and I had to give up. I did say this should not stop me going home as I can sleep downstairs as we have 2 loos. After I got back to my bed the physio said that normally patients should dose themselves up with pain killers before they try something like stairs then it might not hurt as much.

As each day progressed, I could get further under my own steam when going to the loo but it still was very painful so going home on Thursday was vetoed but as long as I could make it under my own steam all the way there and back Friday would be OK.

Dear Bob worked unbelievably hard to get the place ready for me and I came out on the Friday, I had to sleep in the chair as the couch wasn’t quite ready but I didn’t mind that.

I’ve left this a while as I wanted something to say. It’s now nearly 4 weeks since my op. and after about a week sleeping on the couch, I decided it was time to try the stairs and I confess after the pain of attempting stairs in the hospital I was a bit scared but in the end the stairs proved to be no problem at all. So now I sleep in the bed and Bob sleeps on the couch because as luck would have it we all developed Covid which knocked us all down.

Now Bob & I are just left with the cough which is really annoying but thankfully doesn’t really keep us awake. It just tires you out when you are awake.

The other day I saw the nurse at the GP and I walked in and out without any help, frame or anything, she removed my dressing at last which meant I have finally been able to have a shower. Heaven!

In 2 weeks, I go back to the hospital for my first post op. check-up.

One drawback I’ve found of being a bit more mobile without the hip pain is that my left knee is hurting more and more. Obviously, it has decided that it wants to be top of the new list and seeing as that’s the joint where all my problems started all those years ago I suppose it’s about time it came to the front again.

Just over a month since my operation and I think it’s improving nicely but my biggest problem at the moment is my post Covid cough which will not go away and is driving me mad day and night.

I’ve now had my 6-week post op. check up and everything is progressing very well. So well in fact they don’t need to see me until 6 months post op.

I have been told I can start getting back to normal i.e., bending my hip more than 90o gently at first and we’ll even go back to our proper sides of the bed.

At the check-up I did mention the down side of having my hip done which is that as I’m now more mobile, as my hip pain is gone, it aggravates other arthritis affected joints that is my left knee and right foot. When I said this the practitioner said I would have to go to my GP to get them onto the orthopaedic merry-go-round (not his actual words but it was what he meant).

Therefore, this chapter ends here.