My Journey to becoming a Bionic Woman

Today marks week 3 since my actual surgery, half way done with the "healing" process, so it's probably time that I document my day 3 weeks ago before I really DO forget everything! I'm not sure a person could forget something like this, but just in case. :)

I had to be at LDS hospital at 8:15 a.m. to check in, so we dropped Cam and Reag off and Shannon's the night before and we took Keric to my sister in law Denise's early Monday morning. I actually slept OK Sunday night, but by morning the nerves were really starting to set in.

We got to the hospital and I got checked in. Of course you don't really do much after you check in except sit in a waiting room and wait for your name to be called. This whole process doesn't do much for the nerves by the way, but I didn't wait for all that long I guess.

By about 8:45 a.m. I finally got called back to see one of the nurses. When I went back to get weighed and checked in she was looking at my chart and then asked me if I was really getting my hip replaced or if she had grabbed the wrong chart. I assured her that there was no mistake and that yes I was getting my hip replaced. I suppose it's flattering to be thought of as "so young" but I do get a little tired of the whole "I can't believe you are getting your hip replaced!" conversation. It's not like it's a really popular elective surgery! I didn't wake up one day and decide that I was bored and had some extra money so hey..let's replace one of my hips.

After my initial check in I went to a little room and got on my sexy hospital gown, TED hose, and blue socks. Then the fun really began. A new nurse came in and hooked up my I.V. which I HATE. They can never find a vein on me, and I always end up with a huge needle on the side of my arm in my wrist which really hurts! It's like I can feel it resting on my bone or something and it's really hard to use that hand or arm with a huge needle in it like that! Ugh! I hate it!

We weren't in the little room for very long when someone came and took my chart and tole me that he was going to take me down to surgery. Thankfully they let Chris come all the way down with me until they were ready for me. I remember at my last surgery they left my mom at the waiting room area, and I was totally petrified having to go the rest of the way by myself! This time they showed Chris where the waiting room was, but then let him walk down with us.

We sat in yet another little room, except this one was seriously like as big as a closet. This was where I kind of lost it and the tears started to come a little bit. We waited awhile for the anesthesiologist and Dr. Bertin to come and talk to us. When the anesthesiologist came in she explained to us that I would be having an epidural and not a general anesthetic. The epidural would be stronger than the one I had when I had Bubby, but still the same kind of concept.

I kind of already knew all of this because while I was reading through all of the stuff you should know for surgery it talked about the advantages of having an epidural over a general anesthetic and I actually asked the Dr. if I could do the epidural since I haven't had the greatest of luck with general anesthetic. It makes me SO SICK when I wake up that it's almost worse than the surgery itself. The thing that she told me that I was not prepared for was that even though they give you drugs to calm you down and make you not really aware of what is going on, she couldn't guarantee that I would actually sleep through the surgery or that I wouldn't remember the surgery. Well that scared the crap out of me and I really started re-thinking this epidural thing! She said that most people did sleep, but unlike the general, she couldn't guarantee anything! Great!!

Dr. Bertin came in shortly after and talked to us a little bit. He wrote a big "YES" on my left hip, and I noticed that the marker he was using was purple, so I told him that that was a good sign since purple was my favorite color. :) I asked him about the epidural thing too and he just kinda laughed and said there was no need to worry, I would sleep right through it, and everything would be just fine.

A few minutes later the nurse came in and took me away and Chris went to the waiting room.

I actually remember quite a bit about the surgery room. I waited in a hallway for quite awhile until they were ready for me. I saw lots of Dr.'s and nurses coming and going. I couldn't see very well because they took my glasses away and I couldn't wear contacts, but that was OK I guess. The nurse eventually rolled me into the actual surgery room. It was very cold and very big! They moved me onto the surgery table and then they gave me my epidural and laid me back down on the table on my right side so my left hip was up. I remember lying there and hearing lots of people talking and then I must have fallen asleep after that. However I woke up twice during my surgery that I remember clearly.

I woke up one time and I remember hearing the hammering and the drilling sounds. I remember Dr. Bertin's voice, but I couldn't see anything because they had a cover over my head, which they told me they would do to keep me warm. The cover had kind of a vacuum thing on it that was blowing warm air on my face. I stared at the cover for quite awhile trying to see something, but I couldn't see anything. I remember closing my eyes and telling myself to go back to sleep and I think I probably did for awhile longer.

I also woke up at the end of my surgery, which most likely is not unusual. I imagine by the end the drugs are starting to wear off and most people start coming around. I could hear people talking and I I felt them pick me up and move me off the table and back onto my bed. I remember being taken to the recovery room and after that I was wide awake.

I laid in the recovery room for what seemed like a really long time. I kept thinking that it was really silly that I was just lying here, and I was fine, so why not take me to my room. I watched lots of people go in and come out of surgery. Some of them didn't look so good, which made me even more grateful that I was feeling so well!

I talked to my new nurse for a little while, and I also talked to Scott, Dr. Bertin's P.A. when he came around to check on me. I remember asking him if everything went OK, and he told me that everything went beautifully, which made me feel good. The one thing that I did notice right off was that I had no pain, and I felt really good. Kind of like I had just woken up from a really good nap. :)

After what seemed like a really long time, someone finally came to take me up to my room. We talked all the way to my room, and when I got there Chris was standing in the hall outside my room waiting for me. He told me he was a little shocked to hear me laughing as I was coming down the hall. I told him I felt really good, and I wanted to go home. I'm fairly sure he thought I was still under some really good drugs. :)

I got to "order" food from a little menu that they gave me. I had a club sandwich and a chocolate milkshake. I REALLY wanted a Dr. Pepper and a Cafe Rio salad, but no one could find me a Dr. Pepper, and I wasn't going to send Chris out to Cafe Rio. :)

Around 2:00 p.m. Dr. Bertin came to see me. I told him how good I felt and that I really honestly had no pain, which was completely true. Then I asked him if I could go home. He smiled at me and said "Do you really WANT to go home today?" I told him that I missed my baby, and I would rather sleep at home in my own bed. He kind of laughed and told me that if I passed my PT evaluation he didn't have a problem with me going home. YEA!

The PT kind of took his own sweet time coming to see me, but he eventually DID come in. I overheard one of the nurses talking to him outside my door. She said "Oh yes, it's this patient here, she's well, turbo patient, she just came out of surgery a few hours ago, but wants to go home today. Dr. Bertin has ok'd her going home if she passes the PT evaluation." I kind of laughed to myself about my new nickname but heck if it got me out of there, I was OK with being called "Turbo". Apparently they don't have a lot of hip patients who go home the same day.

The PT got me up and walking around. I was a little surprised at myself honestly that I was walking so far. I remember after I had my surgery to remove that stupid tumor in my stomach that it was about all I could do to walk to the bathroom, but I was walking pretty good with my crutches and I even did the stairs without too much trouble. After my walk and my stair adventures he said that he was OK with me going home. I was so relieved!

So after a few more checks from the nurses, they took my IV's out, let me get dressed and I was headed for home by 6:00 p.m. My sweet husband of course made a quick pit stop at Cafe Rio for me, and then we were off back to Tooele.

I think Denise was a little shocked to actually SEE me in the car when we went to pick up Bubby. I was so happy to see my little man, and so grateful that I didn't have to spend the night away from home! It was nice to be able to sleep in my own bed and even nicer to be able to have Chris and Bubby taking care of me rather than a different nurse every few hours. The nurses were great, don't get me wrong, but there is just something extra healing about a 2 year olds hugs and kisses!

Easter and Reagan's 7th birthday

I apologize that I'm a little slow with posting this, and I will tell you right up front that I wasn't the greatest with taking pictures this weekend but I kind of had a good excuse! Thankfully Chris picked up the slack and took some video of this weekend.

This was Bubby's first "real" Easter so I wanted to do a little Easter egg hunt for him that morning. Chris and I filled eggs the night before and so before he got up I hid a few of them around and then took him downstairs to find them. Of course I forgot to take any pictures because I was so involved in helping him and watching him, but at least Chris got it on video. It was so funny to see him getting so excited about finding his eggs and putting them in his little bag. I was surprised at how quickly he caught on to what we were doing, and was sorry that I hadn't hid more eggs for him! He kept wanting to find more, and there were no more to find. We did however open a few of them and let him eat some of the treats out of them so that made him happy.

We watched conference that morning, and I made french toast Easter Eggs for breakfast. I have this Easter Egg cookie cutter that I have really never used before so I decided I would use it to make breakfast since I probably wasn't going to be baking a huge batch of sugar cookies! Maybe next year? This was really my first attempt at making French Toast and I have to say not only was it incredibly easy, it was also really good! Guess I'll have to make it more often, Easter Egg shaped or not.








Keric was pretty good during conference. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hear any of the talks over his running and playing, but he wasn't too bad. I was really proud of him for folding his arms during all the prayers and for saying a big hearty AMEN at the end of each one.



That was about all he could stand to sit through were the prayers, but hey..he's not even two yet, so I suppose I can't expect too much yet.

Today was also Reagan's 7th birthday, so Chris started making her cake this morning. He has really gotten pretty good at this whole cake thing. He always asks the birthday kid what kind of cake they want and of course they always have some sort of elaborate request for him. There have been many a time where I wasn't quite sure if he would be able to pull it off or not, but he comes through every time!

This year Reagan's request was a polka dot cake. I had watched enough "Cake Boss" episodes that I suggested he just make a simple round cake and then use fondant for the polka dots. I think he had already thought of that idea, but he wasn't sure where to buy fondant. That may have been the only part that I really helped with, because I DID know that you could buy it at Wal Mart and I even knew which aisle it was on! So he did go down and buy some and came up with a really cute polka dot cake. He made a white cake and put cream cheese and blueberry filling in the middle of it.




It was actually a really good cake, but we also found out that fondant itself really doesn't taste so good. I guess the next time I watch "Cake Boss" I won't be so sad that I can't have a big huge slice of cake with them!

Cam and Reag came to our house later that afternoon and we had Easter Egg hunt #2 for Keric and #4 or something for Cameron and Reagan. I guess it's a good thing they still think it's fun since they get a LOT of repeat things. This time I DID get pictures of Keric finding his eggs and I think he was even more excited about finding eggs the second time which I didn't think was possible.











We finished watching conference and then headed up to Mama Anne's for dinner and yes...Easter egg hunt #3/5. I didn't bother taking pictures of that one because let's face it...you can only have so many egg hunt pictures before they all just start looking the same!

After dinner Reagan opened her gifts and then we had cake and ice-cream, these events sadly are on video only.

It was quite a long and hectic day, but I have to admit that when you are having surgery the NEXT day, it's not so bad to have to endure such a long and hectic day the day before in fact it was probably kind of a blessing. It certainly kept my mind off of how anxious I really was!

Potty Training

On Friday Chris took the kids to Wal-mart to pick up a few things for me. Because I am so close to my surgery date I am no longer allowed to take my regular pain medications for my hip, so I am basically useless when it comes to walking any farther than a few feet and even that is questionable depending on the time of day!

When they all came back Chris came in with a little froggy potty that he had bought for Keric! I was a little shocked that he had bought one because I guess I still kind of consider Keric too little to be potty trained even though I know full well he's probably not.

I suppose the biggest reason that I am so apprehensive about this new adventure is because I myself don't want to start doing it yet! When it comes to potty training I don't even really know where to begin! Heck I can't get the kid to quit throwing his food on the walls lately! How in the world am I going to convince him to go potty?? Granted it would be very nice to not have to buy diapers anymore, or change diapers anymore, but I was kind of hoping that he would be like my nephew and just come up to me one day and ask if he could start wearing underware!

I realize that the odds of this happening with any child are pretty much slim to none which basically means that with MY child the odds pretty much change to nonexistent, but a girl can still dream right?

Anyway, right after Chris got home with the potty, he unwrapped it and set it on the floor for Keric to "play" with. Surprisingly he knew what to do with it! He sat right on there, without any hesitation what so ever and he even talked about "pee pee", which was exciting, but that was about as far as it went.



We took his diaper off and sat him on there to see what he would do then. He sat for a little while, but seemed to be LESS comfortable sitting on it without his clothes on than with his clothes on and sadly he didn't stay on there for very long.



Later on I caught him trying to STAND in his potty,



and then after that I caught him letting Puppy try out the potty too.



We may have just as much luck with Puppy as we will with Bubby at this point!

I have been putting him on his potty every morning before his bath, but with absolutely no success to this point. I put him on it but he usually jumps right back off! I've even taken him in a couple times while changing his diaper to see if he would go, but he still hasn't gone. He doesn't sit there long enough TO go even if he had to!

I don't know? Maybe he is still too young to start, or maybe one day it will just click with him and then again maybe he will be going on 4 and still have not mastered the Potty Training thing! I have no idea. I guess only time will tell, but for now, we have a VERY cute little froggy potty in the kids' bathroom that hopefully one day will actually get used.

Ending Up with a Lemon

According to Wikipedia the term "Lemon" over time has come to refer to anything broken or defective.

I can't help but look back over the past few years and wonder if Chris didn't end up "Buying" himself a real lemon!

Most of you have probably heard by now that my hip-replacement surgery is finally scheduled and will be taking place on April 5th at LDS Hospital. I went to see Dr. Bertin on Wednesday and luckily he had a cancellation for the 5th so I snatched it up! I was so grateful that he had an appointment so soon! I was afraid I was going to have to wait another few months, and I wasn't sure I could wait that long! Although the recovery from this surgery is not nearly as intense as the recovery I would have been looking at with the PAO surgery, it will still be a good 6 weeks before I will be up and around all on my own. I will have to use 2 crutches for 3 weeks and then 1 crutch for the next 3 weeks, and hopefully when I go in for my 6 week check I will be all fixed!

Chris and I have been married for 4 years in June and in that 4 years he has had to put up with quite a bit from me! I don't consider myself a "sickly" or an un-healthy person, but I think I have probably only given him about 1 good year!

1st it was my Pre-Eclampsia, then it was being an overwhelmed new mom, and for the last year it's been a "gimpy" hip. Pretty soon it will be a wife on crutches for 6 weeks!

Thankfully he is a good sport about it, and he doesn't complain about having to use valuable vacation time to take care of me, and that he will have to do all the cleaning, and cooking, and the constant chasing after Keric, or at least he doesn't complain to me about it! :)

So even though most "lemons" are just lemons their entire life, and never really become anything more than that, I am hoping that after my surgery and my recovery I will at least be considered a lime, and hopefully Chris will still consider me a "good purchase"!

Little Person with a Personality!

When I was little my mom used to sing this funny song that went something along the lines of "He's a little person with a personality...." I don't know that there were anymore lines to the song other than that one, and I always assumed it was something she just made up to sing to us when we were little.

Whether it was made up or not, that song has been going through my head a LOT lately as I watch my OWN little person with a personality, and man does he have one!

The past week or so, he has really made us laugh with some of the silly things he says and does. He is getting to be quite the little talker!

The other day I was in the kitchen cleaning up lunch. Bubby as you know loves to watch Handy Manny, and he likes to sit and eat his "shish" (Gold fish crackers) while he watches. I had set him down on the carpet with his little bowl of shish and turned on Handy Manny for him while I cleaned up. I guess I wasn't doing too good of a job at watching him because as I was putting dishes in the dishwasher I heard an all too familiar voice say "Oh Bubby! No! No!" I looked over and he was no longer sitting on the floor eating his shish, so I started calling his name. Pretty soon he came running out of the bathroom with a big smile on his face. I asked him what he was doing in the bathroom, and he just stood there smiling. So I went to investigate.

He had been taking his goldfish and putting them in the toilet! From what I could see he hadn't eaten any of them, but I guess if he did, thankfully my toilet was clean! He obviously knew what he was doing was "bad", I guess he just didn't care that it was bad. So somewhere along the way, I have missed teaching him a step!



All the toilet paper you see in the garbage behind him, would be the remnants of a previous Bubby mess!

A couple days later I decided that I really wanted to have fettuccine. I don't know why, but since Chris is on Atkins and can't have pasta I made Bubby and I some for lunch one day. He seemed to really like it. He was eating away and saying "mmmm!" which is always a good sign. Next thing I know he is doing his famous "Ah ah ACHOO" game where he pretends to sneeze and then when he says "ACHOO" he throws something. Usually something he shouldn't be throwing. When I checked on him, he had thrown a whole bunch of noodles on my wall! I said "BUBBY! We don't throw noodles on mommy's walls!" His response was "Doggie! No! No!" So I guess now we are blaming the dog for things we have done?



This last week I also took Bubby shoe shopping. Shoe shopping would be much more fun if a) he was a girl and b) he was good in stores, but it was something that had to be done! This past Sunday I put his church shoes on him, and he started screaming and trying to take them off. He usually doesn't mind shoes, however I know he prefers to not wear them if he can get away with it. I figured he was just upset about having to go to church and I didn't think much more about it. I went to finish getting ready and he was following me crying about his shoes. I looked down and he was actually walking kind of weird like maybe they actually DID hurt. I said "Buddy what's wrong with your shoes?" and he said "Fat Feet!" I immediately started laughing! Chris and I are always making fun of his little fat feet. We are always saying that his feet are the only thing FAT on him. I guess he understands when we talk about his fat feet!! I hope he doesn't have a complex about them now!

I hate that my little boy gets bigger with each passing day, and that he becomes more and more a little BOY and less and less a baby, but I do love watching him become his own little person with his own little personality!

I love you Bubby! Thank you for always making me laugh and smile each and everyday!

Another Exciting Friday Night at the Wexels House!

We normally don't have much going on during the weekends, but this weekend was a little bit TOO much fun, and a weekend I hope to not see many more of!

Thursday afternoon, Keric was being his usual destructo self. I was trying my very best to keep up with him, but I was exhausted and I had somewhat of a headache. I kept thinking that if I could just lay down for awhile, I would feel better. Of course Keric was not interested in taking a nap, so I turned on Manny, I took some Ibuprofen, and tried to take a little nap on the couch, which of course never happened.

Ibuprofen has always worked for my headaches, and if it doesn't, which is rare, a Coke usually will. This headache however was not going away no matter WHAT I tried!

I am known to get headaches, not tons, but I get them here and there. I have had them since I was little, so it didn't seem like too big of a deal. This headache however just kept getting worse and before I knew it, I was throwing up. This also sadly, is not new to me. If I let my headaches get too bad, I always end up with my head in the toilet, but generally after that happens, I seem to be OK. Well, this time I wasn't. I threw up several times, and still no relief. By the time Chris got home at 6:30, I felt like I was going to die! I handed him Keric, told him I needed a break for awhile, and I went to lie down! I thought maybe I was just exhausted and that was why I had a headache and why I couldn't get rid of it. I was for sure exhausted because I didn't wake up again until 4:30 a.m.!

However sadly when I did wake up, my little "friend" was still with me and was worse than it was when I went to bed. I went downstairs and took some more Ibuprofen and tried to go back to sleep. I eventually fell asleep, but then woke up at 7 and started throwing up again!!

Now it was getting to a point where I not only couldn't keep anything down, I couldn't hold my head up without throwing up and lying my head down hurt too! I was crying I was in so much pain, and I had no idea what I was going to do. I obviously was in no shape to take care of a two year old, let a lone myself! I couldn't stand, I couldn't sit, I couldn't walk, I couldn't do anything but cry and throw up!

Chris stayed home from work THANKFULLY and was able to take care of Bubby and take care of me. He gave me a blessing and gave me some of his migraine medicine to try and then sent me back to bed. I tried yet again to sleep, but I didn't have much success and I couldn't even keep the water and migraine medicine down for more than a couple of minutes.

Finally I decided maybe I needed to go to the Dr. and see if he could help me with this headache, and also help me to keep something in my stomach.

A few years ago Chris had a really bad migraine that he ended up going to the Dr. for. The Dr. gave him a shot that took the nausea away and also knocked him out for several hours. By the time he woke up, his headache was gone. I was hoping that they would do the same thing for me. When I went in, they took my blood pressure and it was really really high. Of course that is a big thing, and always a red flag but since I don't have a history of high blood pressure, and have only had high blodd pressure when I was pregnant, they didn't seem too concerned by it. They checked it a couple more times and it was a little lower each time. So they decided that the high blood pressure was a result of the pain I was in. I do have to go in again on Tuesday to make sure it is still not too high however.

The Dr. did end up giving me the same shot he gave Chris, and told me to go home and go to bed. He told Chris I would probably be out for quite awhile, and when I woke up, I should feel much better. However, if I did NOT feel any better, or if my headache was worse when I woke up, I needed to go immediately to the ER.

While we were driving home I could feel my body relaxing, and could feel myself getting really sleepy. Chris helped me up the stairs and put me to bed. I feel right to sleep, but I woke up an hour and a half later, and my head felt worse than it did when I had gone to the Dr. I REALLY did not want to go to the ER, but I didn't have any other choice.

I truly have never been this sick before! The last time I had a headache like that I was pregnant, and the way they got rid of it was by delivering my baby. Well obviously none of these were options! So it was off to the ER. We thought about driving up to SLC to LDS hospital where Bubby was born, but I didn't think I could survive the car ride, so we just went to the ER here which thankfully was only a couple blocks away.

Mama Anne met us at the ER and took Bubby home with her, and I was admitted really quickly, which I was thankful for! My blood pressure was way high again, but no fever, and I was dehydrated. They hooked me up to a couple things, and started asking me all sorts of questions. You know your head HURTS when you can't entirely remember your address!!

The Dr. told me I had a severe migraine and he wanted to do a CAT scan on my head to make sure that I didn't have any bleeding on my brain. My CAT scan came back clear, and they gave me a big shot of some heavy duty narcotics and kept me there for observation for an hour or so. When I left the ER my headache was almost totally gone, and I actually felt like I could maybe eat something. They again told me to go home and go to bed, and if my headache was STILL not gone, I needed to come back and they would do a spinal tap.

We got home around 11 and I went to bed. I slept through the night, although I will admit that I had several anxiety dreams about my head still hurting! I woke up around 7 and amazingly enough my headache was gone! I also have been able to eat and drink a few things and keep them all down!

It really was a scary experience! I always kind of thought that I got migraines, but when you look up the definition of them, I don't have all the symptoms. I don't lose my vision, and light doesn't affect me or bother me, but the Dr. said that those things don't HAVE to happen for them to be considered a migraine. It's the pain and nausea that are the biggest factor in migraines, and that I certainly DO get!

So I guess next time...and heaven help me there wont BE a next time, I will know more what I am dealing with, and will hopefully be able to get it fixed much faster!

The Verdict is In...

So today was the BIG day. I finally went in to see Dr. Peters about my hip and to talk to him about performing a PAO surgery on me in the next few weeks. This appointment has been in the works for the past 3 months, and getting that appointment was somewhat of a fight and a struggle.

Chris and I dropped the kids off at school this morning and then headed into SLC. My appointment was at 9:30 a.m. but we didn't even get in to see the Dr. until after 11:00. Apparently, that is just a "normal" day for Dr. Peters!

Anyway, I got new x-rays, and we sat and talked with Dr. Peters' head resident for quite awhile. He was very nice, and actually told us some things that were "new" at least to me. I had been under the impression that the PAO was the best option for me because I was young, and this surgery would "fix" my problem making it so that I would no longer require a hip replacement. Well...that is not correct. The PAO would give me an extended life on my hip, but I would only be prolonging the inevitable. In fact, I would most likely only get about 10 years on my original hip before I needed to have it replaced. That was news to me, and made me think that maybe this wasn't such a hot option after all.

We continued to listen and ask questions, and basically what it boiled down to was my new x-rays, they would show us if I still had enough cartilage left to perform the PAO, and Dr. Peters' approval. Looking at my original X-rays, it looked like I had enough cartilage and would most likely get Dr. Peters' approval.

The Resident left, and then came back a few minutes later to show us my new x-rays. I don't know if the difference in the x-rays was because in the first I was lying down and in the second I was standing, or if it was more the fact that it had been about 9 months since my first x-rays, but I have little to no cartilage left. In fact I am pretty much bone on bone, and my dysplasia is much worse than the original x-rays showed. About 50% of my hip ball is exposed, which is a lot more than I thought. Of course the Resident couldn't tell us if that made me no longer a candidate or not, that was Dr. Peters call, but he wanted to prepare us for the "no".

Long story short, I no longer qualify. I guess maybe if I hadn't been so stubborn, and if I had been more aggressive in getting things going, the outcome may have been different, but things are what they are now, and sadly there is no going back.

My only option now is to have my hip totally replaced. While we were talking, and Dr. Peters was telling us that the surgery was no longer possible, I was fighting back tears, and trying not to lose it. I realize that I am 34, but to me that just seems way to young be having a surgery like that! I was more than a little bummed out and upset by the news, but there are some definite bright sides.

The biggest being that I am going ahead and doing what would have had to be done anyway, and I am doing it when I'm younger instead of 10 years older. Who knows what my body would be like in 10 more years! :) The other big bright side is the recovery time. The PAO surgery was going to be a BEAST to recover from, and I knew that. I was scared of all the down time I was going to have, and all the things I was not going to be able to do. I was looking at 6 months on crutches, and a complete year to recover. I guess when you only have 10 good years left, it seems like a real waste to be healing for a year of that!

So I am going to have my hip replaced and I am going to have the Dr. who did my mom's do mine. My mom has had amazing results, and really liked Dr. Bertin. He also comes highly recommended, Dr. Peters recommended him, so those two opinions are good enough to me.

I feel good about the decision that was made, I guess it isn't much of a decision anymore. Live with the pain, or get it replaced, but as much as I did not want to have to have a hip replacement, I think in many ways it is the best thing for me.

My biggest goals going into this were to find a way to one, get rid of the pain, two, go back to living a normal life and doing all the things I want to do and had been doing, and three, to have another baby. All of those goals can be met with a hip replacement. As much as it makes me feel old, I will meet my goals, and that was the most important thing to me.

My appointment with Dr. Bertin is March 24th, and hopefully I will leave his office with a surgery date. I should be up and doing things like normal with in 3-6 weeks, which sounds MUCH better than 6 months, another baby...well, hopefully he or she will make their presence known sooner rather than later. :)