Journal Notes

Well this Journal aspect of my WordPress blog hasn’t had much placed on it. So here goes, let’s play catchup. Here we go. On 31 March 2021 I had a right hip replacement surgery. The surgery from what I can remember supposedly went well. From the Surgical and hospital records I ordered to read thru were a whopping 237 pages. Now mind you I stayed over night after surgery and was released by 11 am the next day 1 Apr 2021.

No, I really do not remember much other then having to get up at what seemed to be every 10- to 15 minutes to hit the elusive potty chair. If you are planning on having surgery and need to get your body hydrated, DO NOT drink Gatorade the week before. I say this becuase I did not realize it is overloaded with sodium. When you become sedentary as I did for 3 years, you do become dehydrated because you are not up moving and sweating like normal people. And I am anything but NORMAL! And I hate drinking water !

Well since I was so tired in the hospital from all the drugs and combinations of them they were pumping into me while in surgery and also after surgery when they came in to talk to me I did respond apparently very well. Personally, I do not remember any conversations other then one about an hour before I was to be released. The nurse had come in with a pan of water and soap and she had me take a bed bath. She washed anything from the waist down while I washed everything from the waist up. After being dried off, she did not give me my bag to get my deodorant out, so go figure. She was nice enough to get my change of clothes to wear home and help me into my pants since I was not suppose to bend and had to be very careful not to spread my legs ! Was not an easy task to put on my sweat pants, but she helped me and showed me how I needed to do it once I left the hospital.

Now since I had had all that wonderful gatorade the week before and the fact they had me hooked up to bags of water to help flush my system of the sodium it basically caused both of my feet to look like big round balls and she had put a pair of my footies on me that were pink. What she did not know about these footies were that they were made small and you really had to stretch them out before putting them on me. I had brought with me those cute ones from previous surgeries since I wear them at home when walking around the house in sock feet. You know the ones they have those cute stripes on both side of them to keep you from skidding across the floor !

I barely remember my surgeon coming into the room after surgery but what I do remember was he told me he measured 4 times then made one cut.

IF you know anything about carpentry they always say measure 2 times and cut on the outside of your line so you have a perfect fit. Well he told me he measured 4 times and cut on the outside of the line ! I laughed and told him that is a great thing so I knew that both my legs would still be the same length and I would not walk with a gimp. I had told him in the office that having to walk with a gimp or having to have an insole to raise me up was not an option. So he told me that he would make sure I didn’t walk with a gimp or need an insole.

While reading the 237 pages, the section after the implant, they had the notes where they measured both legs as well as both sides of my body for my full height.I knew I had lost height over the past 10 years going from 5 foot and 3/4 of an inch, what I didn’t realize that I was after surgery a whopping I was 5 foot and .098 inches tall. That is what happens when you can’t take hormones after a hysterectomy ! Yep good old Osteoarthritis in the hip joints and other joints in the body. Plus arthritis on the bones as well. Since I still drink milk I hope the amount of calcium will prevent further bone loss.

My genetics which I had done via 2 separte companies indicated that I was not genetically inclined to have any forms of arthritis. But depending upon the way you lived can change your genetic makeup. Actually it does not change your Genetic makeup, it alters areas of overall body, Your Genetics can not change, just how you do things with your body or to your body determines what your physical and mental being will be.

Since I could not take hormones after my hysterectomy in 1990, I knew that my body was more prone to gain weight since the hormones that are there are to help all the other hormones work together. Play buddies in the body ! Almost the same as Eat and Apple every day keeps you healthy in everyway.

When the ovarian hormones were gone, the other hormones in your body has to work overtime to keep you regulated. Sometimes they like to puter out on ya ! IF you know someone who has a goiter in their neck, that produces hormones too! You have heard of people who had to have their goiter removed and then they have to take medication for the rest of their life. They do that becuase that goiter when it is removed also removes your thyroid. Your Thyroid regulates you bodies ability to keep you from becoming fat or too thin.Some people who have a goiter are on medication to keep it in control ! Well I have a goiter and have had it since I was in my early teens. I never thought anything about it, just thought I took after my mom and her mom. I looked at it as having a fat neck. You know like having that wobbly under the chin fat that can move back ad forth on ya!

In my late 30’s my primary care doctor I was seeing she was an Endocrinologist in her home county of origin.When she came to the United States she had to re-take the training here and do the primary care aspect until she was able to obtain her licence here in the United States by our regulations. Which in all reality is somewhat idiotic as many Countries have much better Universities then we do. Anyway, she noticed right off I had a fat thyroid with a goiter and it just so happen to be swollen that day. So She set me up for a needle biopsy for the next day there in the office. Now laying there with your head on a towel rolled up under the back of your neck and her sticking a needle in your neck is pretty uncomfortable especially when you are scared out of your wits.

I was fortunate my husband took a vacay day and was there so when I squeezed his hand he could take the pain I was feeling and talk to me to keep me calm.She told me it would take longer to numb the area the it would for the biopsy, so I said okay. Now I can deal with a certain amount of pain, but this one was a hand squeezer ! And yes my husband did feel it, but he has strong hands.

Getting back to hormones, You have many areas in your body that releases hormones. Yep, if you did not know that you need to look them all up. Depending upon what your body is going through certain hormones will be released. Have you heard of Cortisol? That gets release a great deal when you are in any form of pain. So if your body is going through pain for a short or long period of time, you are constantly releasing Cortisol.This can be good for you and it can also affect other aspects like your brain ! Yep the brain sensors your have can really misunderstand what these hormones are doing for you and then your brain signals other things to react.This is where you may feel as if you are going nuts ! You have the hormones in your pancreas to regulate your blood sugar, you have others that keeps your liver from building up anything toxic like alcohol, bad drugs, good drugs. Many people will take activated charcoal to keep their liver clean of the toxins. People who over dose on drugs use to have to drink 16 ounces of charcoal mixed with water.How do I know that, I been there and done that. IT was not pretty taking a hand full of valium and drinking Vodka. But that was due to depression way back in my early twenties. And back then was the early 1980’s and they send you for counseling, but at that time they did not put people on something to help them out.

Well I think I have written enough for tonight it is now about 2: 20 am tuesday morning nd this ole gal really needs to get relaxed to go to bed. Can’t do an all nighter again to make it 3 days in a row.

Remember live life to the fullest as if it were the last day of your life !