Vanderbilt - Hip Surgery

My wife and I drove to Lebanon, Tennessee Tuesday afternoon because she was having hip replacement surgery on Wednesday.  

A few years ago, she had her left hip replaced and had a terrible experience in Knoxville, and decided when she needed the other one done, she was going to Vanderbilt in Nashville.

The hip surgeon operates out of Vanderbilt, Lebanon which is why we are here.

Before the procedure on Wednesday, several doctors came in to visit with her before surgery, explaining to her what they were going to do and how they were going to manage her pain, and if she needed more just to let them know.

Right from the very beginning, she was feeling very good about what was going to happen because of how concerned they appeared to be over her pain management.

One can go to the best surgeon in the world, but if the people around that surgeon don't manage the patient's pain, then the surgery is perceived as not being A+.

Now...

one must also bear in mind that the pain after the surgery, can only be managed based upon one's tolerance for pain.  Some people tolerate pain better than others...  Pain meds can offset that to some degree...  and, that pain is not always the fault of the surgeon.

My body for instance tolerates pain much better than my wife's body.  I had five lower back disks fused a three years ago and the first night out of surgery, I slept on my back and never took any pain meds.  My wife is not that fortunate and still experienced pain even after taking the pain meds and it took her almost a year to recover from her first hip surgery.

The last comment I made to her before they took her to the operating room was, it will be different this time.