Tag Archives: recovering after hip replacement

Riding Naked in an Ambulance

9 Replies

Things I planned for:

  1. Go to Oxaca, Mexico.
  2. Buy new luggage (preferably in deep burgundy).
  3. Plant a garden.

Things that happened that I didn’t plan for:

  • Lying on the cold tile bathroom floor for 3 hours, unable to move, enduring pain, waiting for Jerry to come home.
  • Riding naked in an ambulance and pleading for more pain medication. The kind face of an EMT hovered over me, saying as compassionately as he could, “I’ve given you all I can.” I did have a blanket covering me, but when you break your already fractured hip while getting out of the shower, clothes are not a priority.
  • Jerry saying to me in the hospital as I hollered in reaction to the shooting agonizing pain while being moved from the gurney to the hospital bed, “I wish I could take the pain for you. I’m sorry you have to go through this.”
  • Nurses calling to me from a long dark tunnel. I opened my eyes and a young nurse with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, shot a giddy smile with her face two inches from mine. She said,  “Everything went well. The surgery is over.” I recall asking in a fogged haze, “It’s over?” She replied with eyes glinting I’m-so-happy-for-you, “Yes, it over.” I wondered, when did it begin?
  • 15 days in the hospital and rehab after undergoing surgery for a full hip replacement.
  • Learning to walk again with a walker. Being excited over taking my first steps without it. “Yay, you’re walking!” Jerry said.
  • Feeling helpless, but very grateful for Jerry who has been, and is, the most wonderful caregiver.
    • read more