I've been reading hbl's very thorough recovery timeline and feel a bit guilty that mine is all over the place!
Her recovery has mostly mirrored my own with the same 'saddlebags' at the hips and swelling round one of the knees in particular. The positions of various aches, pains, stiffness and severity of pain appears, however, to be unique to the individual so I thought if I shared my experience of pains etc. then it may add to the collective understanding of what to expect and what is and isn't 'normal'.
Following the operation I was left with badly bruised tissue surrounding both knees, at the back of the knees and immediately below the incision lines - deep purple bruises. The general swelling has been mostly around the thighs which initially were about twice their usual size and also in the tissue surrounding the scars (at least 60mm in all directions around the wounds) which has been persistent and very solid. The swelling in the thighs has diminished dramatically thanks largely I expect to having brought in a riser recliner allowing me to have ankles raised higher than my hips so the fluid could then drain back into the lymphatic system and be flushed out. Swelling isn't always a constant and it's easy to overdo excercises which often results in increased swelling.
The bruises have taken 5 weeks to disappear entirely but the outside of the thighs and all around the knees still feel tender to the touch and if I put fingertip pressure under my right knee it will leave an indentation in the swelling for a little while - oedema. Obviously the area surrounding the wounds is painful if any pressure is applied (massaging Bio-Oil in etc.) and it's a peculiar sensation rubbing firmly into a damaged area that my head would rather not think about.
Initially I couldn't get much of a bend at the knee when lifting the foot backwards at the knee as it felt like someone had sandwiched balloons just behind my knees. This is improving slowly.
As for the hips themselves - the right has gone through stages of feeling loose as though not quite attached, to internal pain deep inside with stiffness and pain in the groin, glutes, hamstring and to be honest every other leg muscle I used to have! Different pains come and go - it is not always constant. The left leg started off feeling almost no pain anywhere - but three weeks in it began feeling weak, stiff, painful, generally as though it was in the wrong position and putting pressure on the outside of the hip joint when I tried to walk. It has continued to be difficult causing pain to the rear of my pelvis and in my left knee. I think after the 41 days it has now been since the operation this left leg has finally started to improve but I won't be convinced of that until my surgeon checks the X-rays at my follow-up on the 18th.
I cannot climb stairs forwards yet but that's improving a little each week with increased stretching of muscles and tendons. To put this in perspective for the previous 2 years I had been climbing stairs sideways by bending my knee, placing the ball of that foot sideways onto the step and effectively hopping up with the other leg while spinning round to face forward. A sight to behold and not somehing I would dare to do with replacement hips! But this has left me with no real functioning mechanics inside my leg to allow me to climb stairs forwrds - at least not yet.
In general though I have not been in enough pain since the day of the operation to require any more than just 1 paracetemol in the morning to get me through the day. I don't think this is normal but I believe I had just become so accustomed to pain for 10 years that I have built up a tolerance to pain. Sleeping is still difficult as if I don't prop my right calf up on a pillow the top of my thigh will go completely numb and consequently wakes me up. But like every other bi-lateral I long to sleep on my side again.
The poor state of my hips and muscles due to prolonged and extensive OA and osteporosis will mean it could take many, many months to get back to anywhere near the movement I used to have but then it's taken 10years of degeneration to get to where I was so a couple of years recovery should really be viewed as a good result. I just wish I could convince myself of that!
Jo