THR Trenna's recovery thread

trenna

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Apr 26, 2018
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Southwestern Ontario
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I initially found this forum shortly after I had booked my THRs.

I'm now 9 days post op on my left THR. It was initially scheduled for Feb 5, but some equipment issues caused my surgery to be bumped by a month.

The hip itself feels amazing and despite a month of 50% weight bearing because I have slender femurs and my surgeon doesn't want it damaged. I also have a significant leg length difference caused by the fact the replacement repaired my coxa vara, bringing the femoral head from 90 degrees to I believe the surgeon told me 120 degrees.

I ended up staying in the hospital for 7 days after the replacement due to having difficulty meeting the physio requirements. I don't even remember the day of my surgery due to a haze of nausea and vomiting and pain meds. I was so sick they ended up pushing Zofran.

I was still weak on day 2, but I was able to push myself into a sitting position and help the nurses get me ready to try and walk. The lengthened leg really threw me off. Further weakness the next day (I nearly passed out doing basic physio) prevented me from leaving the hospital on schedule.

I was almost cleared by physio to be released on Friday but it was 4pm so she couldn't check on me one more time so I ended up hospitalized until I got clearance and was able to leave at noon on Monday.
 
Boy, sounds like a pretty rough start, but the good news is that you stayed long enough to work through some of the initial medication issues. Here's hoping now that you are home you will start feeing better, and stronger every day!:flwrysmile:
 
Welcome to Recovery. :welome:Congrats on your new hip!
I'm sorry you had a rough start but thankfully it sounds like you're back on track.
Please read the Recovery Guidelines below. There are many interesting articles I'm sure you'll find beneficial as you begin your recovery journey. Stop back often, we'd love to support and encourage you along the way.
Wishing you a peaceful rest of the week.


Hip Recovery: The Guidelines

1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website

Pain management and the pain chart
Healing: how long does it take?
Chart representation of THR recovery

Dislocation risk and 90 degree rule
Energy drain for THRs
Pain and swelling control: elevation is the key

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it

Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

BIG TIP: Hips actually don't need any exercise to get better. They do a pretty good job of it all on their own if given half a chance. Trouble is, people don't give them a chance and end up with all sorts of aches and pains and sore spots. All they need is the best therapy which is walking and even then not to excess.

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask the at each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice. @trenna
 
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Hi trenna,
We have the March date for your Left THR, but do you have the exact date for your Right THR surgery in April? If so, please leave it below and it will be added to your signature.
Thanks in advance :)
@trenna
 
Thank you!
I hope you're having a good day :flwrysmile: :SUNsmile:
@trenna
 
I'm glad your recovery is progressing but I do hope you're not allowing them to make you do exercises because in my experience, it's unnecessary. You may have noticed the BIG TIP in Layla's thread, the one with all the recovery articles.
 
The exercises are the same ones the hospital sent me home with. Ankle pumping, toe raises and abdominal & glute squeezes in tiny sets of 5 three times a day

I get my Staples out on Monday,and can stop wearing my compression stockings 24/7 on Tuesday. I actually really liked the compression stockings the first week and a half because they helped with joint pain.

I got permission to switch from my walker to crutches and it has greatly improved my ability to walk and has shockingly reduced the stress on my shoulders.

At this point I feel like a giant ball of muscle pain and the rest of my arthritic joints are stiff, tight and swollen. Some of it comes from the lack of sleep and other comes from my body not feeling as balanced as it should.
 
Yahoo for staples out! :happydance: I didn't have staples and was happy about that. it looks like they hurt, or like they'd pull. Ouch! You're rare in liking the compression socks. I wanted to burn mine in a bonfire when I took them off for the last time.

I hope you body balances out relieving you of the physical pain you're feeling. With any luck you'll start sleeping better soon.
Thanks for updating! Stay in touch and have a great week!
@trenna
 
The staples are gone! It is 90x more comfortable to sit and lay down now. I'm not getting this pinching and tugging in my butt anymore. The staple removal went quick and hurt less than stitch removal. My surgeon has everyone cover their incision with paper tape changed daily in order to continue to hold the skin together to form a tinier scar.

I managed to take the city bus home from the clinic and crutch walk the 800m from the bus stop to home.
I took it slow, something like 25 minutes and sat down on the benches every 100m.
 
Always nice to get staples out. It just makes you feel so much better in yourself. You are brave taking the bus and walking amongst lots of people, especially if you are in Toronto! We saw some nice sun here yesterday although not overly warm but it was cheerful!
 
Thankfully I'm not in Toronto, but one of the smaller cities. I had my mom with me the whole time, and at any point could have got off the bus and called a cab if it was too much.

I feel so much better emotionally today because I actually managed a full night's sleep. I feel like my biggest issue at the moment is knee pain on the surgical side.
 
Wonderful restorative sleep:sleep:
Hope today is a Good Day.
Lots of healing happening...but hopefully that knee pain will ease off and things will keep getting better and better!:egypdance:
 
What a great day on Monday! :yes: Staples gone and a walk and bus ride you survived.
I hope you continue to sleep well. It makes such a difference and our body does it's best healing while we're asleep.
Hope you have a great Wednesday!
@trenna
 
I'm moving better, but right now I'm trying to find the right activity level to where I'm not in bed the rest of the day and the next. I'm starting to get a little stir crazy in the house, and am going outside on the porch because nothing in my neighbourhood is close enough to walk to.

I booked my first outpatient physio session for April 2. I'm a little annoyed because none of the clinics in my end of the city are OHIP covered, and I'm running into issues where service referrals are made but I don't qualify for aid because I'm not a senior.
 
Hi Trenna, I was told at my pre-op this week that we qualify for DARTS here in Hamilton. Our hospital nurses will help set it up before discharge. I would imagine you would have the same coverage but may need to phone DARTS yourself to get signed up. They said it takes about 2 weeks to get rolling so you just might get it kicked in before your 1st physio if you move quickly.
 
It takes several months to get accessible transit in my area and is hardly cheaper than cab fare for most appointments ($7 each way) and it often picks you up 2-3 hours in advance as it makes the circuit of users.

I'm making a trip to the library tomorrow It is a bit of a walk, about 4 blocks, but I plan on staying for an hour before I leave the library so it's not too much all at once like a couple of my other walks.

Pain ways I'm doing great on my operated side. It's down to a 1-2 compared to the 6-8 it ran to on a daily basis, I occasionally get an uncomfortable twinge into the 4 region along my femur, but those are decreasing from several times a day for hours at end to a few seconds at bedtime, and then a small pain in my butt.

Also, another pain win, I didn't get pre-menstrual hip pain in my left hip, it just let my body do its thing instead of torturing me into a full on I'm nauseated from pain and am visibly crying 9.

I'm missing my meloxicam for the rest of my arthritic joints. I'm getting stiffer and sorer day by day.
 
Hi :hi:
Wondering how your trip to the Library went on Tuesday. Hopefully it was enjoyable and the walk both ways didn't tire you out. With any luck your pain has decreased over the past few days.
Please leave an update next time you are on the forum. We'd love to hear how you're doing.
Wishing you a happy Sunday!
@trenna
 
Things are going great. I'm noticing that I have barely any pain and my left hip and leg are starting to feel more stable.

It took me 15 minutes to walk to the library last week and only 10 minutes today. I'm handling more walking every day and getting faster.

I'm hoping with the start of my outpatient physio tomorrow that I'll get my 50%weight bearing restriction lifted and can go down to one crutch. I really would enjoy having one hand free to do things like carry my own cup to the sink.

I see my orthopedic surgeon again at the end of this month to get evaluated if we can move forward with my right hip replacement or if it has to get pushed for more healing time.
 
The only thing really going on right now is I had to switch ends of the bed to sleep on, so I could tuck my body pillow along my left side to stop me from rolling onto my left hip in my sleep.

Nothing quite like sleeping comfortably and get woken up by dumb pain because I rolled over in my sleep.
 

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