Hip and Flags

Nana had a hip replacement over Thanksgiving. It went really well (that should have been a sign.)

December was a hectic month… we had the usual holiday activities… funerals… everything.

We were preparing for both a funeral and family Christmas party… late night/early morning when on December 16 her hip replacement dislocated.

She was simply standing there. not twisting or bending or even walking. (I was there.)

It takes “trauma” to dislocate your hip replacement.

We didn’t know for sure that is what it was… since there was no trauma... so she actually pulled herself back up the stairs and waited several hours before going in. Which of course required getting back down the stairs.

I don’t remember if that time she slid herself down or if we carried her in the wheelchair. Either way, it was unpleasant.

They went to the hospital… they yanked on it and popped it back in. Papa said this was “really cool.” (Nana disagreed.)

They also put her in a brace to prevent that from happening again. She was to wear it for 6 weeks. It came off like February 7th.

The doctor said “this happens to 1 in 100 patients… it just happens sometimes.”

Then, on February 11 we were watching the Jazz game after Jerry Sloan’s resignation. The kids were in bed…

Nana was IN bed. All the sudden she was crying, screaming and swearing.

I was stunned. Again? Seriously?

It takes “trauma” to dislocate your hip replacement… and I don’t think Jerry’s resigning counts.

I went and got my brother, the wheelchair and the 4runner.

So they went to the hospital and they yanked on it again and popped it back in.

They put her back in the brace to prevent it from happening again.

“This just happens sometimes.”

Her next check up was February 22nd. However, the night before on February 21st… it dislocated again.

She was standing there. She was wearing the brace. It didn’t come all the way out this time. Maybe the brace helped.

It popped out again in the hospital after they popped it back in.

So apparently the magic number is 3. After 3 dislocations they do another surgery.

That wasn’t a pretty announcement.

This is approximately how it dislocated those 3 times. Out and up.

Easy to tell… the leg is much shorter and you can feel that it is out to the side.

So she had her second hip surgery, after 4 dislocations. The end of February. She wanted to wait till after the Bon Jovi concert in March but the doctor said no, she could just go in a wheelchair after the surgery.

So he put a “lip” on it… so that cup you see in the x-ray… it can’t pop out that way because there is a lip on the one side.

The first one also wasn’t long enough, he lengthened it. Okay cool… everybody thinks we are all good.

Meantime, I make sure I know where the wheelchair is at all times… (call me pessimistic… or call me prepared. It works for me.)

So she is supposed to do exercises and be walking to strengthen her leg. Clearly, not supposed to be bedridden. Works up to walking almost a mile… on the street because driveways are sloped and that freaks her out.

So… all goes well until September 7th. Nana is just standing in the kitchen and her hip pops. Not OUT, just pops.

Of course… everyone completely freaks out… silently. She calms down and realizes it is okay… and goes back upstairs. She calls her doctor the next day… and “this is something that happens sometimes.”

On September 9th, she calls her doctor and asks if she can go out to put ribbons on the trees.

They say that would be “fabulous.”

We were just relaxing that Friday… trying on some new long sleeve/jackets that we got.

(19 long sleeves and jackets for $18. A few are for Christmas.)

We decide to go out and put some ribbons on the trees before 9/11. It was Friday 9/9.

We cleared out some extra branches so they would be out of the way and gave them to the horses…

We got some yellow ribbon out to tie on the trees… only the ones on the flat ground.

Papa did the “bumpy” or “sloping” ones… Nana was too paranoid about her hip to walk on uneven ground.

Even though she was 6 months out from her 4th dislocation and 2nd hip replacement.

Dislocation is “unheard” of after 3 months.

Put some flags in… (Nana wouldn’t do it, no bending over.) Ali had been riding her bike.

Then we came inside… the kids ate and went to bed.

Thinking that the ribbons were pretty awesome and excited about seeing them the next day..

Uncle Riley headed out to the track… I attempted to get caught up on some pictures.

Nana was just upstairs standing next to her bed looking in a box and Papa was working on the computer.

All was well… for a couple of hours.

And then the cat (who joined us in May) had a new experience… and the dog and I heard an all too familiar sound.

4 letter words… accompanied by some crying/screaming and the word “hip” thrown in there.

At that point… you almost go into automatic “go get the wheelchair, bring the 4runner around” mode.

The dog kind of just sighed and went back to sleep… she knows to stay out of the way.

The cat… went a little bit nuts.

So… this time it wasn’t obvious… it wasn’t the same as the last 4 times. I was not prepared to say “It’s dislocated, it just went the other way.” So I just kind of let them decide what to do.

Knocking her out and waiting till morning was the conclusion.

So the next morning… she stalled… didn’t want to go back to the hospital.

So the kids entertained her a bit…

We had everything ready to go though…

Not that anyone was thrilled about it…

So before they left for the hospital… I warned Papa that this was not the same as last time.

This wasn’t going to be a “run in and yank and run back out with a brace on” situation.

I showed him the rather sickening x-ray… (creeped him out) and told him that he should be prepared. This wasn’t going to be easy…

It was difficult to get back in… and I wasn’t sure how they would do it.

I wanted him to be prepared… without freaking her out.

I tried to find an x-ray of a anterior hip replacement dislocation... I couldn't find it.

They went in… and they couldn’t get it back in.

The doctor couldn’t get it back in.

The doctor tried with her knocked out in the OR and couldn’t get it back in.

So finally… almost 72 hours after it initially dislocated her original surgeon came in… (yep it was over a weekend.)

He doesn’t do on call. He doesn’t work weekends.

Of course he doesn’t.

So he came in and simply did a third surgery in 9 months.

So this time… they put a “cage” around it. Which, apparently is something like the below x-ray. (I decided not to ask her to verify it's the same thing... since this is the only x-ray I could find of it.)

Which obviously from the below x-ray… in addition to being ewwwwww… does not make it impossible to dislocate either.

That is just fabulous. I am just going to pretend this x-ray was the result of a horrendous car accident or something. It has to be. Then again, how many hip replacements dislocate without trauma in the first place?

Because seriously? If we hear a loud noise, whether it is a thump from the cat knocking something over... or someone laughing... or yelling at the cat... we all stop breathing... until there is not crying and 4 letter words with "hip" thrown in there. .

Ali is however in the clear, her hip x-rays came back good.