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Getting Hip: Recovery from a Total Hip Replacement by Sigrid Macdonald
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 The Hospital
My surgery took place as scheduled. I was given an uncemented hip made out of cobalt and titanium. For those who are interested in the technical details of the implant, my new hip has a titanium shell with a highly crosslinked polyethylene liner. It also has a Secur-Fit titanium stem coated with hydroxyapatite and a cobalt chrome femoral head measuring 28 millimeters.
I woke up in the recovery room, feeling as though I'd been hit by a Mack truck. I stayed there for more than five hours, which is quite unusual. Generally, people are in recovery for about two hours. However, my blood pressure fell precipitously during surgery. I’m not exactly sure why that happened but my surgeon reassured me that it was common. Moreover, thanks to the glucose IV, my blood sugar had risen to 19.2 millimoles, which is equal to approximately 350 milligrams. The normal reference range for blood sugar on the metric scale is between 4 to 6.4 millimoles per liter. In the U.S., the range is 80 to 120 milligrams per decilter. 350 milligrams is much too high! I knew that I was going to feel very ill while the law of gravity forced my blood sugar to drop back down, way below normal.
THE ORTHOPEDIC WARD
I don't remember many details about the first week in the hospital because I was extremely sick. After I was released from the recovery room, I was taken upstairs to the orthopedic ward. I had insurance to cover the cost of a private room and was disappointed to find that there were none available. Ordinarily, I enjoy talking to people and I can be quite chatty, but I feel positively antisocial when I am unwell. Luckily for me and for any prospective roommates, I had the semi-private room all to myself for two days postoperatively.
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