[THR] Hey I am on the other side!

Hey every one, I am safe and sound on the other side! Surgery was on saturday, and the experience at the hospital was wonderful! all things considered. Its good that I can actually make such a comment about a hospital in a developing country. The care was first rate, the staff were caring and frinedly. My doctor and the anastesiologist were great. At my pre opt, my husband realised that he knew the anastheisologist from university in Jamacia, so i got extra special care (yippy!) I am home now and the most challenging thing since I got home was climing the 13 stairs to my room. But with the help of my husband I got up and I am am back down this morning.

I had a spinal and genral anasthesia for surgery, felt nothing and my post op pain was managed with a morphine pump (oh god i love that pump). Po opt there was no nausea, just the itch associated with the narcotics. I feel like a cocaine addict itching all over. I am grateful that all went well and hope that all the July sparklers are doing ok. I started pt on mondaymorning and have been doing well so far. I am so grateful to the forum for helping me prepare for this surgery. Sincerley, Titac. LTHR July 14, 2012

Attagirl!! So far all the July Sparklers who have reported in are doing well. Yay all of us!! Keep the progress reports coming, Titac, and don't hesitate to raise any questions or vent any concerns.

Sharon

Welcome to the other side, Titac. With that wonderful attitude und spirit of yours, you will recover in no time!
Look forward to seeing your updates!
Warmly,
Desiree

Great uplifting post. Hope you continue to do well!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't life GRAND?

Titac,
So happy to hear that you have made it through your surgery with flying colors! Well done!
Wishing you success for your healing journey.
Warm reagrds,
Elle

Glad your surgery went well and you had a great hospital experience--that is SO important to get a good head start into recovery!

Dorothy

A little past one week into recovery, life is grand indeed! I was discharged with physiotherapist instructions for light exercises, exactly the ones which are found on this website. These have been going well, with minimal pain post exerciise. I find though that I am having some issues with the leg lifts, my leg seems very weak. I have been using the leg lifter to help with that issue. Is there anything else I can do to help with this. The aductor muscles are the weakest, I am having issues with those as well. I don't know if my brain is playing tricks on me, but I think I read somewhere that there is should be no focus on aduction immediately post opt, because it may cause a limp. Is this true? I was discharged with 2 sets of pain medications- the one which had to be taken 4 times daily finished yesterday so I am experiencing a little for pain than before. If this continues through today, I will have to call my doctor for a refill. Apart from these issues I feel good, I am upbeat - with youtube on the labtop keeping me good company through the day. I feel more stable on my feet post op, so I am sure that my gait will improve considerably post therapy. Once again thanks for all the encouragement, bonesmart is really a charm.

Hi Titac, glad to hear you are progressing so well.

One week out....definitely refill that pain med prescription. Keeping ahead of the pain is a huge part of a successful recovery.

At one week out, I started my outpatient physical therapy, and of course they wanted me to do leg lifts right away. For some reason, leg lifts are the holy grail of physical therapists!!! Well, I simply could not do them yet. For the next week, my therapist did most of the lifting with me just flexing my muscles to try and get it started. Now....two weeks after surgery....I still need some assistance and modification with leg lifts. When I do them on my own at home, I still use a long tie to help me lift. At PT, they still assist me. So DO NOT force yourself to do these to any level of perfection yet. Do what you can at whatever level you can, and if it hurts, stop. Rest a day, and try again. Eventually you'll do them, and wonder what the fuss was about. Right now the fuss is that your muscles simply are nowhere near ready. Forcing them will only hurt you.

As for the adductor muscles, I don't know anything about this causing a limp. One of the early exercises I was supposed to do was lying in bed, a snow angel kind of movement....moving the leg out a couple of inches and then pulling it back in. Moving it out is no problem but bringing it in brought sharp pain to the groin. I am very respectful of pain...when it speaks, I listen. I noticed that when I do the exact same movement standing up, holding on to the kitchen counter, I have no problem at all. I mentioned this to my PT person, and she said it was fine to do it standing up instead of lying down. So...that's what I do. I recovered from my first THR with no limp; I expect the same from this THR recovery.

Even now, at 16 days post op, I spend most of my time relaxing on the couch, with lots of short trips to the bathroom and the kitchen. I go out to PT three times a week...on PT days, I don't plan anything else. I am getting out on other days for a couple hours of socializing....sitting at a coffee shop and knitting with friends. I get out for short walks daily....yesterday I managed a lovely 20 minutes. It felt great....but it's important to stop before you cross the line into overdoing.

So...get adequate pain control. No need to cut back on the meds for a while yet.
Ice and elevate...particularly right after attempting the exercises.
Rest and rest and rest.
Do your exercises faithfully, but make many modifications for the ones that cause pain. Fewer reps, shorter distances, etc. Don't allow pain to take over.

Hope this helps. You're doing great.

Sharon

Thanks sharon; your last post should help me a hole heap. Regarding, the aductor muscles, the exercise you described is the exact one I am having difficulty with, so i will try the sugested modifcation. Thanks also for the other recovery tip. So far I have mosly been at hom i plan to venture out next week. Happy that your recovery is going well.

Hi Titac

Great to hear everything has gone well mind when you venture out to do everything in small doses and take things gradually.

Billy

Hi everyone; I have doing well, but I think I hit a road bump. I have been having some chill, I am wondering if its cause for concern. I dont know if I am conld due to the AC in my room, (which is always on) or something more serious. Please help.

Hi Titac,

Yes the adductors are weak. PLease read this excellent article Josephine wrote about Side Lifts Do the angels Sharon suggested, they are fine for now. They really do work on strengthening those muscles slowly. I am exactly a month ahead of you and I just started to do sets of side lifts in prone position a week ago.

Chill not a problem, but if it means you have a fever then it is! I live in the tropics, too and yesterday the aircon was just too high, so that very well might be an issue. I think we are a fragile after this operation, so we need more warmth (especially id you have a body typle that gets cold easily. Just take you temperature to make sure indeed, you do not have a fever.

Warmest,
Elle

Hi Titac, very well done on getting through the surgery and to the other side. You did really well with the spinal and genral anasthesia, I too has these for my surgery on Monday and was sick as a dog all day Tuesday so well done to you. We sould all be very proud of our achievements so far.

LXManager I told my anastheisologist about my experience with nausea post general anasthesia fom a previous surgery. So he gave me no pain medication, because he said hey are generally responsible for the nausea post op. So as soon as I woke up post op; the hooked me up with a morphine pump for pain management and that worked well. Sorry about your nausea experience, know it can get bad. But - the short and long term benefits outweigh all of that so lets not worry about it. My chills have gone, so I am doing well.

thanks everyone for all the advice and encouragement. This forum is really a big blessing.