Dave H Update

Good Tuesday Afternoon!

I just received a phone call from Susan Hannum! Dave is out of surgery and while susan has not talked to or seen Dave yet, she was assured by the Doctors that the surgery went well and Dave is resting!
God speed my friend!

AJC

Great news indeed!!!

Great to hear !!!!!

Fantastic news. Get well soon Chief!

Great to hear Dave is doing good after surgery!

It's great to hear that Dave came through the surgery with flying colors! Now the fun begins. Rehab can be a real task. The therapist will push him hard and he must be faithful to whatever exercises they recommend. They can tell if you do it or not when they are not around.

God bless ya', Dave!

Bob

Thank you all for the very kind get well wishes here and in the email. Things are really going pretty well, much better than I had anticipated. Pain hasn't been too bad yet. Had visit from occupational therapist today and two from the physical therapist.

Went walking twice, and have already walked as far as I have to prove I can to be allowed to go home. Spent 4 hours in my chair mid-day and another almost 5 this evening. Just had a very nice 2+ hour visit with Kat and Larry who brought get well greetings and goodies from Hoosier Lighthousing Club members and others. Again, many thanks for the very kind thoughts and prayers from all of you. If all goes according to plan I will get to go home Friday afternoon.

More later, time to give it a rest.

I told you before your surgery that lots of people would hold you in their thoughts and prayers, myself included.

Knowing you're up and at 'em, and determined to do what you gotta do so you can go home, warms my heart.

I will continue rooting for your complete recovery, and look forward to the day when you can get back out there without having to endure the pain.

Cheerleading you on, my friend!

Judy

As you can all see from Dave's post we had a really nice visit Wednesday. As as RN who has worked with post op patients I can honestly say I was really impressed with how well Dave looked when we stopped in to visit. Normally I wouldn't stay as long as we did for any patient that is only one day out from surgery but Dave was his old self and it was really wonderful to see him. Other than the fact he was in a hospital gown with a catheter bag hanging next to him you wouldn't even have known he had surgery the day before.
Dave, it was wonderful to see you and we keep you daily in our prayers for a quick and totally positive recovery. God bless you, Susan, and Heather!!
Susan and Heather you are also in our prayers!! You get to wait on the "Old Salty Dog" for the next 6 weeks!!

Lots of Love to You All,
Larry and Kat Waterson

Glad you're out of surgery and doing well. Have a speedy recovery. They can't keep a good man down!

Glad to hear you are out and about....hope you have a speedy recovery!

Spoke to Dave, Monday. He returned my call because he was out walking. He's sounds terrific and everything is going great!
Bob

Glad to hear that Dave is doing well and out walking!
Thanks for the update Bob!

Well done Dave! Carry on healing at this pace, the marathon will be a matter of time - short time at that ...

Visited the surgeon's office today to have the staples removed. Nurse said things look good which was what we wanted to hear. For the next week I have tape helping to keep the incission closed. Fortunately not duct tape.

I have been walking a couple of times a day (more exercise than I was getting before surgery....) and doing pretty well at that. Doc said best thing I can do is to walk. Other rehab is self directed using exercises assigned by physical therapist - no trips to the PT shop for therapy.

Have had to use a walker for past couple weeks to make sure I had stable footing. The next couple weeks I will be phasing back to my cane, and then I will be working to ditch the cane. Lots of rules and precautions I have to follow, but I am happy to do so based on the results I have had so far. Pretty much no pain, other than the rather large slice they took to stick my bionic hip in and the staples to help it close and get started healing.

The only downside I can thnk of so far is that I won't be able to wear my thong to the annual Saints & Cruise Directors pool party. (and, I wonder just how many are now doing everything possible to get that image out of their mind........)

I ended up going to a surgeon in Fort Wayne, about a 90 minute drive for us. Probably one of my better decisions. Most excellent surgeon, supposed to be one of the very best there is. Based on my experience I would have to agree. My cousin is a sales rep for BioMet and was in the OR during my surgery. He said my old hip was way beyond shot, that had I waited much longer I could have caused more problems. The hospital was one of the newer concept Ortho hospitals - just 24 beds with a staff that deals only with orthopaedic surgeries. It is attached to a larger satellite hospital of one of Fort Wayne's major facilities.

I was given the newest type joint available, referred to as metal-on-metal. It is able to accomodate a larger ball head (better range of motion and has reduced risk of dislocation). While the traditional metal-on-polyethylene style of replacement joint is expected to last 10-12 years, they expect the metal-on-metal to potentially last 20-25 years. Still so new in actual use that real life wear data is still being developed. I'm hoping the 20-25 years works out to be an accurate estimate!

Be interesting to see how I do the next time I visit the airport, but I have my official "replacement parts card" from the doc.

That thought about the throng is almost as bad as my memories of waking up the first morning to the blare of the trumpet at Navy Boot Camp.

Daave,

If you do wear the thong, would you have someone take your picture and post it here? I haven't thrown up in a long time.

I'm so very happy that you seem to be well on the road to a complete recovery.

My prayers are with you and for you -- and your family.

bobo

Oh my! Slap your face, Sandra!!

Don't count on that card getting you through airport security any faster--if Stan's metal knee and my mother's two knees and both shoulders are any indication of what will happen to you, better plan on taking a lunch and wearing thongs on your feet.

Happy to hear you're on the mend. Just don't overdo it.

Sandy

Dave, glad to hear you are healing well.
HOWEVER! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Dave...like Sandy said "the replacement card" is worthless at the airport. I just plan on John being wanded everytime he goes through airport security. Sometimes it gets a bit crazy where they even have him unzip his pants. He always goes through security and tells them he has had his hip replaced but it doesn't seem to matter.

Glad to hear you're on the mend.

When's the pool party?

I am with Ruthie ... Nooooooo thong please ... Ruthie is right about the acts of kindness and "not wearing a thong" is definitely one huge act of kindness!

But good to hear you are doing well Dave! Long may it continue!!!!

Dave, Glad things are going well with your recent surgery.

The thong visual almost made me lose my dinner.

I could fill in for you Dave ----with my SUMO

belt even beter than a thong.

Best of luck and get up to speed soon!

RIP

Dave,
I'm glad to hear you are doing so well. I wish you a speedy recovery.