First Week Post PAO

My PAO was done on June 25th, 2019, about 6 days ago. My recovery has been no where near as bad as they said it would be. I arrived to the hospital around six in the morning on Tuesday. My surgery lasted about five and a half hours, and I came out with three new scars. They did the PAO first, and then tried to go in arthroscopically and fix my previous labrum issues that had been further damaged by surgeries in the past. Hence the three new scars, instead of just one. When I woke up, I was nauseous. I don’t remember every detail from those first couple groggy hours right out of the OR, but I do remember throwing up and constantly apologizing to the nurses for it. They reassured me that they were expecting it, and cleaning it up was just part of their job. I was then relocated, which I barely remember because of how sleepy I was, to a different floor where my room would be for the next couple of days. My parents switched off staying with me in the hospital, sleeping on a small cot in the corner of the room. The nurses took amazing care of me all throughout my stay, and constantly checked in on me even though they had many patients and were extremely busy. I was told over and over again that I looked like I didn’t even have surgery, which although I knew was a HUGE exaggeration since I hadn’t showered or even stood up for 48 hours and still had drains attached to my leg, I appreciated it. I was always reminded by the nurses and physical therapists there that I was having one of the best recoveries they had seen. That is not at all me bragging or showing off, because it has nothing to do with personal strength or skill. It was honestly lucky, and probably had to do also with the fact that I am young and relatively healthy. I am including that part in this because I want anyone who is having this surgery or debating it to know that not everyone has a terrible experience filled with complications and agonizing pain. The physical therapist that I saw throughout my stay in the hospital told me that the longer patients have dealt with the chronic pain and the more intense their pain was, the easier the recovery usually is. For reference, I had been dealing with it for around four years. So, if you have had it for around that amount of time or more, you probably will have an easier experience with the recovery. I left the hospital on Thursday, June 27th in the late afternoon. I was told that typically, about 10% of patients leave on Thursday, 80% on Friday, and 10% on Saturday. I was excited to be going home so soon, but also nervous and anxious looking ahead.