Little Wang Fu of China

Yesterday Deanne combed my hair in a French braid. When I looked in the mirror I thought of an old story in a Summer Bible School book. Either the Nursery or Kindergarten book tells all about Little Wang Fu of China. Now I'm very curious ... who had the little pigtail hanging down the back? Was it mother or daddy or Little Wang Fu himself?

Maybe I'm getting mixed up with the people in The Story of Ping, a duck that lived on a boat on the Yangtze River.

Or I might be picturing Tikkitikkitembonosarembo, the boy with the long name who also lived in China with his little brother. 

My thin braid reminded me of some story book character out of my childhood. 

French braiding the hair of someone recovering from surgery or illness is Deanne's claim to fame. Along with dispensing meds and keeping track of ice packs, arranging pillows and whipping up scrambled eggs for breakfast before she heads in to town for a staff meeting at her job.

The long looked for day has come and gone.

October 9th, the day I had a total hip replacement. Ellis and I traveled to LaCrosse, WI Sunday evening and stayed at Gunderson Hotel and Suites.

We had a snack before I started fasting. A cinnamon roll from Kwik Trip and mint tea. In the morning I read somewhere in the pre-op instructions that I was supposed to give up herbal teas the week before surgery. No one asked me any questions about herbal tea and I didn't reveal what I had for a bedtime snack.

Monday morning we arrived at the hospital at 8:30 am where I was prepped for surgery. The anesthesiologist popped in to say Hi. I told him I've never had a spinal before. He said, "I've never given a spinal before. We can learn together."  I laughed and said maybe he should go out the door and find someone else to help. He told me how many years he's been here and he was just checking my sense of humor. I had already been experimented on by a new nurse trying to put an IV in my hand. But another experienced nurse came in and got it in my left arm with no trouble.  I told the new nurse she was very brave. I wanted to be a nurse all my growing up years until I thought about the needles involved and that was the end of that.

At 10:30 I was wheeled to the operating room, given a spinal and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room at 12:00 noon. A nurse was asking me to tell her what my pain level was on a scale of 1 - 10 with 10 being the worst. This is one of my least favorite questions to answer, but after some groggy thoughts I said the pain was about at 6. More pain meds through the IV brought that number down eventually. 

By 1:30 I was back in the same room/cubbyhole where I had been prepped for surgery. The gown I was wearing had a hose inserted into a hole and I was given a dial to monitor warm air swooshing inside this insulated garment. My legs were wrapped and a pump on each leg kept blood circulating to simulate walking. 

Ellis was there with my clothes. Before we had much time to think my IV was taken out, legs unwrapped and I was sitting  on the edge of the bed - ready to walk to the bathroom.  Because physical therapy was coming at 2:30 and we needed to be ready for their instructions. My right leg felt rather wooden and I only slid my foot along as I hung onto the walker. 

By the time I was dressed my leg felt a little less numb and I was ready to walk down the hall with a physical therapist on either side of me. This all seems quite miraculous to me! 

When they told me this surgery is an outpatient procedure I admit I was skeptical. I was prepared to stay in the hospital overnight if I needed to, but it soon became apparent that we were heading out the door.

I was wheeled in a wheel chair back to the hotel where Ellis was waiting with a walker. In the morning we went through a tunnel under the street.  On the way back my escort took the skywalk. I could  see the blue sky of a beautiful October day. 

              Flowers from Krysta's garden 

Back in our room at Gunderson Hotel and Suites Ellis was soon talking about supper. He found a restaurant close by that had soup on the menu. I chose Yukon Potato Soup and Ellis had Clam Chowder. We each had cheesy bread with our soup and Ellis had a barbecue brisket sandwich. 

Here's the view out the window of our hotel room. 

At 8:12 I shared  wordle on our family chat. Maria asked, "You're awake?"

Trenda asked if I had danced a jig yet.

I was awake but not prepared to dance any jigs yet.

Ellis took the job of dispensing meds through the night. Tuesday morning we drove away from LaCrosse WI and Gunderson Hotel and Suites. If any of you need to have a hip replacement I can recommend Gunderson Hospital. We were very happy with the service there.

We came to my mom's house Tuesday afternoon where I will be recovering. She has a ramp so there are no stairs to climb. There is plenty of room to maneuver a walker around. Deanne came over to help while Ellis ran off to keep an appointment with a CPAP expert. Everything is coming at once!

Looking back on my experience, the one thing I forgot to ask is what my new hip is made of? And will it cause problems when I go through airport security?