Sunshine, Rainbows and Roses

Six months ago today, I underwent bilateral hip replacement surgery. Physically, since then, life has been sunshine, rainbows and roses! 

It’s as if they had wheeled me into a time machine instead of an operating room because a few weeks later, I had gone back in time and was walking the dogs again, mowing the lawn again, playing ball hockey again, riding a bicycle again, ice skating again, and sitting at my drums again, able to get my feet on the bass drum and hi-hat pedals at the same time.

For the last few years, I had been living in pain and with diminishing mobility. The discomfort had been worsening and was going to continue worsening. It was all leading to a very dark place. Surgery would mean short-term pain but, ultimately, it would lead to sunshine, rainbows and roses. At some point, I realized surgery was a no-brainer.

 

I did not want to forget, or casually gloss over, how difficult movement was for me before June 29^th so I wrote things down. Before the surgery, I would lean against a wall, or lean on railings, to gingerly go up and down stairs; if I dropped something on the ground, I wanted to angrily punch myself in the face because it meant I would have to painfully bend down and pick it up. Putting pants or socks on, or taking pants or socks off, was painful; I had to build a tower of towels to slowly step in and out of the tub, and sitting down on the toilet and getting up off the toilet was terrible. 

 

I kind of hated myself for having taken these things for granted before.

The morning after surgery, the amazing Dr. Zukor stopped by to see how I was doing. I asked if I could take a photo and he agreed. A few hours later, physiotherapist Andrew, and trainee Courtney, got me out of bed and walking in the hallway. The hospital had suggested bringing non-slip footwear that was easy to step into and out of – as you can see, that meant my highfalutin LL Bean duck boots!

Noelly and Elyssia were the nurses caring for me the day after surgery. As you can see in the photo, they recorded my vitals - blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, oxygen and subjective pain rating - on a board in the hospital room.

Along with Dr. Zukor, I am grateful to so many hospital staff, Rona, Ulia, Angela, Mani, Shone, Keeba, Perline, Yvette, and Carlos, the orderly in recovery, to name a few.

 

Look at me! I can carry the tires from the shed to the car and carry the overstuffed box of Christmas ornaments up from the basement.

 

Fortunate doesn’t begin to cover it.

 

It’s all surreal; being able to do things I was not able to do a few weeks ago.

 

I’m dumbfounded that Dr. Zukor and his team were able to do this for me. The surgery and recovery are now imperceptible, a micro-blip on the continuum of my life; a micro-blip that changed everything.