Dont Do This - Simple Slip/Big Injury

Don't slip on stairs and break your hip into 6 pieces. It's no fun. 

My 32 year old wife will tell you. 

That's basically it. She slipped while coming down our hardwood stairs, mason jar of water in hand. I think she tried to brace herself by turning, but she fell far enough, and accurately enough right onto the top of her femur, that the folks in the ER said "we only see this injury in young people who wreck motorcycles or hit trees while snowboarding." 

12 hours of Fentynal, Ketamine, Morphine and Delaudid later, she got surgery.

Titanium rod from hip to knee, some pins into the ball, some screws just above her knee. Ligaments, muscle and soft tissues surrounding the area is just completely wrecked. No ability to move her leg in any direction. Oh, and a near constantly headache for going 4 days now, despite an IV bag of fluid before leaving the hospital, and Oxycodone.

6-8 weeks until she can walk unsupported. Oh and we've got a 9-month old. Oh and we had a two week Thanksgiving-with-all-the-friend-and-family return visit to Pennsylvania planned and packed for TODAY.

Big careful out there, folks. 

Ugh. 

Thoughts and prayers for you and your wife.

That sounds nasty, I cringed just reading it, can't imagine crashing down the stairs like that. Hope everything heals well, make sure to get her to  start PT as soon as they allow it.  Sending good vibes to your wife and you, you are going to be busy for a while. Come up with a really good story for how the injury happened, maybe the parachute didn't open until 50' above the ground????

My FIL is currently in the hospital (32 days and counting) for a broken hip.  He stepped off a ladder wrong.  No weight on the busted hip for 3 months.  Watch the pain meds.  They put his gut to sleep and caused all sorts of problems.  It took a while for peristalsis to kick back in once they figured why he was dying.  Your wife is 40 years younger so she should have better luck.

My prayers are with you and your family.

What can we do to help? 

I also cringed heavily while reading your post. I'm so sorry!

I hope you have some local support, and that she has a full and speedy recovery.

Wishing your wife a speedy recovery.

Expect her to start to get really restless before she is fully healed, but don't push it.

As someone who just healed from a lesser injury that required no weight on a leg I wish you guys all the best. The feeling useless around the kids and dogs was harder then the physical pain. 

Wow that hurt reading it. The little one didn't understand Mommy can't move either I'd bet. I feel for all of you but especially your wife as this won't be easy.

Wow, that's a big break. So sorry. 

Careful with the heavy meds. 

Side note: it's gonna be a long time before you get to push on those hips again..sorry. 

Best wishes to you wife for speedy recovery and to you while it’s going on.

Ouch.  That reminds me that I should probably add a handrail to our stairs...

If you ever need any local help, please give me a holler!

Shuxxorz, hunker down and hold fast.

Very sorry to hear this. Best wishes for a speedy recovery! 

Good luck, especially with coming off of the pain killers. 

As others are covering the more important aspect of opioids, stock up on laxatives and don't let her wait too long to take them. Also, don't drop off them too fast.  Both mistakes I made with my back surgery last year.

I can't imagine going through it with a baby in the house. Best wishes for a speedy recovery

Whuf, that sounds brutal.  Best of luck and medical science for a speedy recovery!

Oh damn!

Thats terrible . I cringed reading that. I'm sorry your family has to go through that, pheller.

(Looks at our stairs with a newly acquired stinkeye) 

I will take your advice to heart. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

That's horrible; here's hoping she heals as well and as fast as possible, and I hope everything goes as smoothly as possible for both of you in the interim. There's no way it's not going to be hard on both of you, so be good to each other.

Apexcarver said:

As others are covering the more important aspect of opioids, stock up on laxatives and don't let her wait too long to take them. Also, don't drop off them too fast.  Both mistakes I made with my back surgery last year.

 

I can't imagine going through it with a baby in the house. Best wishes for a speedy recovery

Maybe give her prunes or raisins instead, but you want to stay ahead of it, so to speak

Oh, and to the OP, go ahead and get the gel ice pack thing that they make for hip surgery, she will thank you.  She is maybe going to be put on coumadin(blood thinner) after a break like that, there are dietary and drug interaction concerns with that.  Make sure she does the inspiration spirometer thing too, you don't want her getting pneumonia.

That truly does suck.  

Is there anyone who can come give you guys a hand for a while?  Not saying you can’t do it but caring for an “invalid” and a 9 month old will wear you very thin.

I’ll also echo the sentiments of staying ahead of her health (breathing, pooping, moving, incisions, skin health, and pain management).  Good luck to you both!!

Seconding Ky's advice - I know what a 9 month old is like to care for, and adding in a very injured wife makes for a very trying time I'm sure. Make sure your wife is cared for, but also make sure she knows that baby is cared for. It's amazing how much harder they can take that stuff than we do - my wife is almost incapacitated by our baby's cries.

Also, make use of whatever support network you have locally. We had two fully functioning adults in the house and still found our latest little one exhausting. People will be willing to help but may not be pushy because they don't want to be in the way. I know I love helping my friends with a home cooked meal (dropped off, no expectation of eating it with them!) or chores when they're down.

Best of luck to you and big wishes for a thorough recovery to your wife.

I Broke my right leg badly in 71. today it is now 3 inch's shorter from infections where the bones were put back, titanimum rod now pins the ankle and on and on,  where I Am going is take all the pain meds you can get right now but you must STOP. I believe WHEN YOU HAVE DAMAGED YOURSELF,  the pain never goes away, but you can learn to tolerate it until you don't think about it anymore. be kind to her, even if the pain and pills makes makes her Mean, it will, she will,

best wish's 

Thanks for the sentiments, folks. 

The medical staff that cared for her wasn't worried about much. Sent her right out the door with a lot of unanswered questions. Valium, Anti-Nausea, Oxycodone. That was it, and she refuses to take the Valium anymore. 

She's in a ton of pain, but it's really the headaches and nausea that bug her more than the leg itself. I wish she could do something to start regaining the ability to move the leg because she has virtually no use of it currently. 

Luckily we've got a lot of help, and we'll need a lot of it, including patience.