One Year Post PAO Surgery
One Year Post PAO Surgery | Outfit Details
Top: Old Navy // Poncho: Target // Pants: H&M // Shoes: Freshly Picked //Necklace: Made By Mary // Earrings: Kendra Scott // Bracelet: Kendra Scott // Watch: Arvo Wear // Bracelet: Kendra Scott // Bracelet: Kendra Scott // Bracelet: Kendra Scott // Jackie's Dress: Old Navy // Jackie's Leggings: Hanna Andersson
One Year Post PAO Surgery | What is PAO Surgery & Why I Had It
PAO Surgery is a surgical treatment for hip dysplasia. The surgery moves the hip socket to better cover the femoral head of the hip joint. It is a complicated surgery that usually includes cutting through stomach muscles, shaving down and removing bones and repairing the tissue around the hip joint. There are very few doctors who do the surgery and even fewer who do it well. After finding out from my regular hip doctor that I had hip dysplasia and I would most likely need surgery, I did a lot of research and found Dr. Olsen at Duke University in North Carolina. You can read more about my diagnosis here.
One Year Post PAO Surgery | How My Surgery Went
I went into this surgery expecting recovery to take an entire year. I knew of two other women around my age that had the same surgery and it took them a lot of time to recover. Jackie was 10 months old when I had the surgery and my doctor had originally told me I wouldn't be able to hold her on my lap for 2 weeks post op and then I would not be able to pick her up for 3-4 months. The week leading up to the surgery I spent a lot of time holding Jackie and crying. It is so hard as a mom to not be able to hold your child when they want you to or when they are upset. I delayed leaving to go down to North Carolina until the last possible moment because I didn't want to leave Jackie.
My surgery went much better than expected. The tissue damage that the doctors expected, was not there. Instead of having to repair the tissue, they inserted staples to reinforce the tissue. This seemingly tiny miracle allowed me to hold Jackie on my lap as soon as I got home from North Carolina. I was scheduled to be in the hospital for 5 days after my surgery. They discharged me after 3 days. I was able to get out of bed and go up a small set of stairs. Another miracle that allowed me to get home to Jackie sooner than expected.
Three screws were inserted into my hip to hold the new position in place. The main incision from the surgery goes from just above my hip, on my stomach, to 10 inches down my leg. There are also 2 smaller incisions next to the main one. The doctors were so proud of how the incision was closed and kept telling me how beautiful it was. You can read more about my surgery and see pictures of my incisions here.
One Year Post PAO Surgery | How My Recovery Went
My recovery was much smoother and faster than anyone expected. Some of it was because of how well the surgery went. Some of it was because I was very motivated to heal quickly and get back to my life. You can read about how I was doing 7 Weeks Post Op here. I was doing everything possible to speed up the healing process. When we left the hospital, the nurses told my mom that there should be chairs throughout her house so I can sit and rest while maneuvering the house and the stairs. The day we got back to my parent's house, I went in the house and went up the stairs without stopping to rest. And that is how I took on the rest of my recovery. I got out of bed EVERY DAY, I got dressed, and I made my way down stairs. While I had a chair that I was in most of the day, I was sure to get up and move around every few hours to make sure I didn't get stiff.
I pushed myself more than I should have some times. I over did it and some days I couldn't do more than sit in my chair and sleep. I managed my pain using the medication the doctors gave me and I was very specific about the instructions for those meds. I weened myself off of the oxicodone after 7 weeks. I needed the pain medication because it was a very painful surgery but I wanted to be off of the meds as soon as I could.
One Year Post PAO Surgery | A Funny Story
When I left the hospital, they gave me enough oxicodone to last a week. They also gave me a prescription for a 30 day supply of pain meds that I could fill when I got home. Some how during the trip home, that prescription was lost. We didn't discover this until I was almost out of meds. I needed a new prescription but my doctor was out of the office for the weekend when we discovered this and the on call doctor couldn't write a new one for me. So he suggested that I go to the nearest Urgent Care and tell them what happened. This was mortifying. We have all heard stories about people trying to get narcotics from Urgent Cares and I didn't want to be perceived as that person. But I needed my meds and it was VERY clear that I had a major surgery. So being the person I am, I took all of my post op paperwork and all of my other meds and went to an Urgent Care. I showed the doctor my incision and explained the situation. She said that she had been working at Urgent Cares for 10 years and this was the first time she had written a prescription for a narcotic. But it was clear that I needed it and I wasn't just trying to get my hands on pain meds.
Luckily while I was at the Urgent Care, they were able to remove the bandage from my main incision. It was the day that it needed to be removed and I was honestly terrified about removing it myself. It was a relief to have medical professionals remove the bandages! Removing those bandages was not an easy process and it turns out that we would have needed help getting them off anyway.
One Year Post PAO Surgery | How I Am Doing Now
I was doing really well 6 months post op. You can read all about that here. Now that it has been a year since the surgery, I have been noticing a few things. I do not have ANY of the pain I originally had before the surgery. Every now and then I notice the muscles around my incisions are stiff but that is usually related to sitting for too long or it being really cold outside. I can do things now that caused a lot of pain before. I can run after Jackie and not have my hip give out because of pain. I can hold her without pain. My hip no longer keeps me up at night, which is huge!
I do have a problem with one of my screws. It was placed right on the top of the new location of my hip bone and has the swelling has gone down from the surgery, that screw is very prominent. You can see it when I wear dresses or tops with leggings. The screw chafes against the muscle and skin and can be uncomfortable. I am a klutz and I run into stuff all of the time. I have run into things and hit the screw a few times and that has been very painful! About a month ago, I was pulling something out of the oven. I didn't put the rack all the way back into the oven, so when I went to shut the oven door, it bounced back at me. I wasn't able to catch it in time and it landed right on the screw. I ended up on the floor yelling in pain. It took some time for that weird sensation to go away. I can have the screws removed. I am going for my one year post op appointment with my doctor in the next month. We will then decide if I can get the screws removed yet and when that will happen. From what I understand, that it a much simpler surgery and only a few days of recovery.
One Year Post PAO Surgery | Looking Back
Looking back, I am so grateful for all of the amazing people that helped us during my recovery and even during the surgery. My aunt and cousin came out and stayed with Jackie while my mom and The Husband went to North Carolina for my surgery. My parents let Jackie and I stay in their home for almost 3 months while I recovered. They got up with Jackie in the night. They helped me bathe. They made sure I was comfortable and did everything they could to help me recover. My mother in law came out the week we moved back to our apartment to help with the transition. I hadn't been cleared to pick Jackie up yet and she made sure I didn't and even got up with Jackie in the night. All while sleeping on our couch. Many, many people brought meals to my parent's house for us. People from church came over and played with Jackie so my mom could work. Many people prayed on behalf of myself and our little family and I am grateful to all of them!