Danny is the Man

Danny pre-op

Danny recovering

So Danny has his PAO on Friday.  He was supposed to go in for surgery at 11 and be done in 3 hours or so.  He ended up going in at 12:50 and it lasted about 5 hours.  He was in recovery around 6 and things went well...YIPEE!

The only complication he had was waking up with some irregular sinus rhythm's, EKG and heart arrhythmia's.  I wasn't concerned because this happened last time as well.  They sent us to the telemetry wing instead of post-op which simply means Danny has to wear an annoying heart monitor and be watched more closely.  The arrhythmia's continued but nobody seemed concerned.

In 2009, Danny's left hip was case #11 and in 2011 his right hip was case #50 or so.  In the past 2 years the surgery has really advanced (not to mention the surgery team has gotten more practice).  Instead of going into the actual hip socket where the head of the femur lies, they simply sawed the acetabulum into a 3 piece triangle and placed it more appropriately over the femur.  They don't have to release as many large leg muscles and it is usually an easier recovery.  So far this has been true for Danny and we are soo grateful!   If they need to correct things more internally, they go in arthroscopically in about 3 months which is a very simple procedure.

Danny was only in the hospital until Monday.  3 days post op instead of 5.  He is in way less pain, even though he doesn't remember it being less painful than it is now.  His heavy duty pain meds (percocet and oxicodone) were doing quite an interesting number on him.  He was getting panic attacks, strange dreams and didn't want me to sleep in case he died or lost all nerves, so he decided to switch to Tylenol with occasional oxicodone when needed.  His mental state has normalized and he is tolerating the pain like Danny does so well.

So he is in quite a bit of pain, but trying to manage it the best he can.  He can get up for short periods of time.  Nights are the worst.  Last night I was so grateful and felt SOOO good when I slept continuously from 2-5 straight.  Nights for Danny are a countdown until it is light and laying in the same position, being unable to sleep for very long and being in the worst pain of the day is over.  When I think it is bad helping him change positions, get pain meds, go to the bathroom, situate pillows, etc, I try to think of how much worse it is for him.  Hoping it gets better for the sake of all of us.

Let me tell you, he is one tough guy!  He is continually grateful that he will hopefully not have to live in the constant pain he had pre-operatively.  He is grateful they caught this in time to save his real hip.  He is my optimist, which I am so grateful for.  He is such an example to Tyler, me and the other kids of staying positive when life isn't exactly going 100%.  Tyler watches him give himself shots and talks to him about when Tyler gets shots.  I am glad he has someone he can relate to.