Ash amazed us with her positive attitude after her surgery. Lexi begged Darrell and I to record her after she was given medication, she was almost obsessed with it. But Ashlee was a boring patient, nothing too crazy happened. Right before they took her out they gave her a sedative that made everything really funny to her, like she could not quit laughing at everything. They took her to surgery about a minute after that. Her surgery was to last about an hour and a half, but after almost 2 hours I was starting to get a little worried that something happened. Her doctor came out and told us she did great, but her hip was worse than he thought. We knew her hip and femur bones would need to be shaved down to the correct shape, and we knew her labrum muscle that is in the hip was most likely bruised and possibly torn. He said she had 2 major tears and that was why she has been in so much pain for so long, but he fixed them and she'd be great in a few months. He also told us she was having a hard time waking up which is why they hadn't gotten us yet.
When Ash was 3 she had a herniated cyst in her belly button removed, and she would not wake up from the medication. It's almost scary to me how powerful anesthesia is!
We told them she had a hard time when she was 3 also, and it just seems she has a harder time coming out of it. When she did wake up she was shaky and emotional, and so confused why she kept crying.By this time Lexi had quit asking for funny videos and was actually quite scared that something was wrong since it took so long. It was sweet to see her show how much she was worried. In fact she asked me to send her a video of Ash so she could know she was ok.
She wanted a picture of our matching bracelets
Every time she pointed her finger her thumb would be up, no idea why- but it was pretty funny.
Her friends from church gave her a basket full of great things for her recovery, and her YW leaders came to visit her also. She had a giant brace with an ice pack that is hooked to a cooler. It's so awesome! You fill the cooler with ice water and it circulates the ice water through the pad on your skin so you don't have to worry about refreezing an ice pack. We learned the hard way to listen to what the nurses say- they told me to make sure when we got home I put something between her skin and the ice pad, but she was so bulky from the brace and bandages I thought she was fine. She was to keep the ice going for 24 hours, and she was numb so we didn't know until the next day that it had burned her skin. She had these little blisters from her skin freezing- I felt awful! Luckily they healed and left no scarring.
She was completely stir crazy form being in the house for so long, so she came with me to the little girls school and ate lunch with them. They thought it was great to have her, and Ashlee was bombarded with a million questions from all the kids.
The brace. The brace looks like some crazy bionic thing- and it's HUGE! She had to wear it constantly for 2 weeks, and couldn't put weight on her left leg for those 2 weeks. It's hard to not use one of your legs, but she got really good at it. When she got in the car I had to lift her legs for her, when she got in or out of bed I had to lift her legs for her. By the end of the 1st week she figured out how to use her brace straps to lift her leg by herself. She needed help with everything, so she was relieved to be able to start doing things on her own. I told her to call me when she needed help and soon the song by Charlie Puth- I'm Only One Call Away became my theme song to her. Every it comes on we still turn it up really loud!
After 2 weeks of the brace she was thrilled to have it gone. She was nervous that she'd get hurt with out the protection though. By this point she was going to school for 3 hours a day, and alternating classes. Having the brace was embarrassing, she hated the crutches too- but the brace was even more noticeable.
The CPM was a life saver for her when she couldn't move her leg. This machine did it for her, and actually felt really good to her. She would have to do it 4 hours a day- and slept the best when her leg was in it.The picture doesn't do the size justice- it was about 4 ft long and heavy. We'd have to lift it in her bed to hook her up, then take it off her bed and replace it with pillows after. It was tiring for her and all of us getting through those first few weeks.
She has decided to go ahead and do her other hip this summer. We knew it needed to be done but were hoping she'd get to play one season of soccer before the next surgery- but with her injured knee it has set her back even more. If she does the surgery in the summer she's hoping to be off her crutches before starting school- we are looking at scheduling her surgery for August. Bilateral hip impingement's are hereditary, and it's obvious it comes from my side of the family since one of my nephews has already had surgery for the same thing. You can have it and not know, but because of the sports Ashlee and my nephew played it made the pain unbearable. It's common for it to be in both sides of the hips, so Ashlee having surgery now will hopefully mean she can be pain free in her hips the rest of her life.
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