Rick's hip surgery

The surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am, which meant we had to be there at 5:30, which meant we had to get up at 4:15 to be able to leave at 5am. Quite early, Rick and I have promised each other we will quit doing the crazy early flights, this we had no control over.

The actual surgery only took 1 hour. The doc came out and talked with me for maybe 3-5 min, said it went well, the hip was really bad and the right hip will need to be done also but can wait on it for however long Rick wants to wait. It wasn't paining him but according to doc, will. I say do it younger rather than older.

The kids wanted to have a family fast and prayer, which we did. They touched his heart by being so concerned. His mom thought I wouldn't be enough to care for him, wanted Chris there, called Jason to get him on her side and enlist his help to get Rick to stay in the hospital longer, get more help, etc. A mom will always be a mom, yay!! Moms will love kids even when no one else will.

Rick had told me he could come home after the surgery, not stay overnight, so I just accepted that. So many nurses expressed surprise that I finally asked one how long the typical stay was. They said all docs but Goldberg make you stay overnight. Goldberg lets the patient go home the day of if they meet his criteria, which Rick did - walking, urinating, not nauseated, pain at a manageable level, worked/saw physical therapist. He was happy to get home, we left at 1. Unbelievable that he could have hip surgery at 7:30am and leave at 1pm. The pics tell the story.

Looks quite chipper, waving, smilely

IV bag made at the Austin site

Not quite so chipper, still recovering from all the anesthesia. Needed a pain pill. The gown looks puffy because it is, a new-fangled contraption, the gown is disposable but they have a vacuum type hose that they can blow cold or warm into the gown. Rick got cold, typical after anesthesia, and they blew him some warm air which he liked.