24 Hours

Yesterday morning I woke up to sheer terror (about tomorrow's surgery to replace my right hip.)  What if it didn't work?  What if it did work and I broke it somehow?  (And I wasn't even out of bed yet.)  Yes it was a major case of the fantods and purpose tremors.

Today?  Woke up as sunny as a day at the beach.  After all, some 323,000 hip replacements are done annually.  Before you "Ooooh" about that, know that it's nearly double that figure for knee replacements. 

More positives:  I will be on the 2nd floor, not the 4th.  The nursing staff up there is friendly and professional, but the "doctor" who is responsible for all of the patients on 4 is not.  She never showed up after having been called for until hours later.  I got the distinct impression that she loves swanning about on 4, taking her own sweet time to respond.

As I am not a pussy (like her staff) I shrugged and checked myself out AMA (Against Medical Advice) both times.  This did not inspire cozy warmth on the part of the nurses and in retaliation they only removed half of the cardiac leads (which is no big deal.)

Lastly:  because I have had nearly four months on a walker, have done the exercises ordered, am expecting to be able to go home well within the "1 or 2 days post op."

The point of this is - don't succumb to terror (like I did) but instead realize you are going to get much-needed help, pain pills galore and CHEER UP!