Two Weeks to Go...

     So I'm just realizing that I'm gonna be having major hip surgery two weeks from today. I don't think the seriousness of the surgery has settled in yet.
     I am going to be having a derotational osteotomy. Here is the link with all the surgery info and some pretty good diagrams: http://gait.aidi.udel.edu/procedures/femoral_osteotomy.pdf .  What they are doing in the surgery is they will cut my femur in half, rotate the ball part so that it is in the socket properly, and then pin it in place with a metal rod so it can heal properly.
     I have to be off my feet for six weeks, which means returning to school on crutches. My mom doesn't want me to go back to school, but I'm making it my goal to go back. I will be going through some intense physical therapy: CPM and Game Ready machines at home for six weeks, and then commuting into the city to HSS so I can do physical therapy there probably once or twice a week.
     Now that I'm typing it all out, I'm starting to get more nervous. It's not the whole surgery part that scares me. I love going into the hospital and actually having the surgery. Since I want to be a nurse, I take the whole thing as a learning experience. Plus, all the nurses and doctors know me so I am completely comfortable. It's the recovery that is beginning to scare me. Like, I don't even really know what they're doing in the surgery. I just know that so far it's a derotational osteotomy. But they could find other stuff once they get inside. Last time I needed a blood transfusion. My oxygen levels dropped really low. My blood pressure was 80 over 40. I wasn't so good. But I know I can do this. And it's not the pain that scares me either. I don't remember having much pain from the other surgeries. The fifth day always hurts the most. But I don't think pain will be an issue, considering the fact that I have such a high pain tolerance. It's going to be the physical therapy that will be tough. I will pretty much have no muscle function in my hip for six weeks. When the six weeks is up, it's not like I can just go back to walking and functioning normally. I will have this weird, retarded limp and I will pretty much have to learn how to walk all over again.
     Every year, my family and our friends do an annual Hershey Park trip for UPS. It's always in the beginning of October. This year, I will have to go in my wheelchair. But I don't really care because I will get to the front of the line for the rides. So that is another big goal for me.
     Right now, I think my main concern is preparing for the surgery. Making sure my room stays neat, getting out my crutches and the wheelchair and the shower chair, taking all my medicines to manage my current pain, going to doctor appointments. I just have to get through day by day.
     Two weeks. Fourteen days. I can do this.