THR THR concerns 11 months out.

Russell

new member
Joined
Feb 25, 2020
Messages
7
Age
66
Country
United States United States
Gender
Male
Hello All,

First post looking for help. Thank you in advance for listening.

My THR was March 20 2019. Things didn't go well from the start but mostly stupid stuff. I had to wait in post op for five hours, massive pain. Finally go to room with massive pain, basically given the weakest percoset (?) 3/xxx every four hours. Still massive pain. Asked for more, no joy. Sent home with instructions to take pain pills at a certain interval (don't remember interval) for a week. Prescription did not cover a week and when asking for more they treated me like a drug addict. I kept saying, maybe something is wrong.

I have been in pain ever since, 5 to 8 pain sometime during the day is normal right now. Good days are 3 to 5. Never a day with out pain. My biggest concern s the swelling. My operative hip sticks out 1" (25MM) further than my other hip.

Due to this, I moved up my one year appointment to today. OS has no explanation for the swelling. Going to get a Bursa shot Thursday in the operative hip due to a pressure point he found. He got blood checked today and is negative for infection. He does not feel anything is wrong with the hip or procedure. As mentioned above my main concern is the swelling. It's not like it's just a little swelling. It is 1" of swelling in the area around the opening site. No fever, no redness.

Other symptoms: Pain when standing, pain when lifting, shooting pain down leg, thigh is still pretty numb, thigh has pain, can not lie in bed very long on that side, and I still have muscle spasms in the operative thigh.

So my quest here is to get informed opinions about this and informed in general. I would also like to know what my next steps are. I will get the Bursa shot on Thursday and keep moving forward. However, I am an engineer (I know!) and would like to have a plan. Having a plan will help me keep them on track, I think.

Thank You
 
Sorry to hear of your pain. I would want to get another opinion if I had that much pain (5-8) for this long if your OS has no explanation. Possibly one of the moderators can recommend someone in your area.
 
@Russell Welcome to BoneSmart! Have you iced your hip at all during this recovery. Swelling is normal but you got off to a bad start with that pain flare. Ice is a natural pain killer and may help reduce all that swelling.

Hope your injection helps! Please update when you can.

Meanwhile I'll leave you our recovery guidelines. I know it's be awhile since your THR. But some of this information may still apply.
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
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 this BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy
5. Here is a week-by-week guide for Activity progression for THRs
6. Access 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 that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
 
Hello, Welcome to BoneSmart. Thanks for joining us.
I'm wondering if you're willing to share a little about what you do for work, whether it's physical, or not.? Also what your activity level is.
Sports, workouts etc.
 
I would be so frustrated if I had that level of pain this far out. While some ongoing pain is natural, your levels sound really high to me. I personally would seek out a 2nd opinion. I am assuming your xrays show that the actual hip has no issues? If it is soft tissue, hopefully the injection will help. A couple of different times in my recovery, (much earlier than 11 months,) I also had success doing a "reset" and going back to regular icing, reduced exercising, and regular acetaminophen. I hope you get it figured it.
 
Hi @Russell :wave:
Welcome to the forum, there's a lot of helpful guidelines and support here.
It will be interesting to see, after you read the recovery guidelines if you find that you possibly have been overdoing things? It's a shame that your pain wasn't controlled from the beginning and that wasn't a great start to your recovery. I'm sorry you had to experience that.
I can't imagine how frustrated you must be feeling.. if it is bursitis or tendinitis it can recover.. it just takes more time. Which is frustrating to hear!!

Hopefully the injection and maybe doing some icing will get you some relief.

Please hang around! Would love to see you get some resolution with your new hip.
 
Hello to All,

Thank you for the well wishes. I actually have lurked around here for a while. This gave me the confidence that I have been doing it right. By lurking I was also able to get the confidence in this site to post in the first place. I had read the Hip Replacement Guidelines posted above several times.

I do not believe I have been overdoing it. I do IT stretches, and others every day. I still do most of the post op exercises that I was given to do but this is like 10 minuets of my day. Like I told them in the hospital when I had spent 5 hours in the recovery room and then had to fight for any relief I could get, "we basically have a covenant here, I have and will do everything in this book that I am told to do, your part of this covenant was to provide the level of care as described in this book, you failed to do so." And I have, done everything as I was told.

Unfortunately, I have had several surgeries. Ice is our friend and I know it. I slept with ice on my hip for probably 8-10 weeks and used it during the day as I went about my recovery. For my work I own a manufacturing business here in the US. Not very big but it has been "a living" as they say. I live 5 minuets away from work and would go home during lunch and ice up.

So most of the time I am engineering or managing this business. Some of the work out in the shop is hard but for the most part even the hard work relates to standing for short periods while the upper body is doing the work and most importantly, I have not been doing said work. I am over weight but I am not sedentary as I hike with the wife, cross country skiing(when there is snow), I deer hunt (lots of hiking in the woods here) and I do all of my home maintenance as well as my cars.

After my first post I had a meeting with my GP that afternoon (yesterday) and discussed several things. One of which was my swelled up hip. My biggest question was "should I be concerned with this swelling?" He said of course you should. We also discussed strategies for getting a second opinion as I live in a smaller town and don't want that doctor against doctor thing going on. Part of this is because the OS states the x-rays look fine. The other part is, as the OS and I were discussing things, he never even looked at my hip. Towards the end I said "what about the swelling?" I finally got to show him and he got a look on his face and looked at the x-rays again. He wants to still see what the Bursa shot does. I don't see where bursitis is creating this swelling.

So tomorrow I will get my shot and then I travel to Iowa for a business meeting. I most likely will update again on Friday or Monday. I try not to even look at a computer on weekends.

Thanks Again
 
Good luck with your injection. I hope it gives yo some relief and possibly an answer to the issues you are dealing with.
 
Hello All,

Thought I would write an update one week after I received a Bursa shot in my operative hip. The shot has helped in some areas. The general pain is better. However, the swelling continues, the sharp pains that come out of nowhere are still here. In fact twice today just waking in our shop, I got the acute sharp pains 5-7 ish.

Still don't know what is up with the other side. OS believes there is nothing wrong on either side. He made sure I knew he felt his work had no issues. I did finally, politely, let him know I was displeased at the way things have gone and that since he sold out to the hospital he has lost his way. He asked "what do you mean?" I said, "what we have here is that I have explained to your staff, and you, that my right hip sticks our 1" further that the other side, and not one of you have even asked to see the swelling.

GP and I did discuss second opinion timing. Basically, going to play that one day at a time.

Regards.
 
Well, happy to hear that the injection is giving you some relief, some is better than none. Have you tried any icing and elevating other than what you did early on? I realize you're a bit further out in your recovery but still experiencing swelling and to that extent may need some heavy duty ice. I would personally ice anytime I wasn't up and moving around. I know one of the guys on here said he takes ice packs to work and uses an ace bandage to attach it to his legs so he can ice while moving around.

Unfortunately most of these surgeons are only concerned about the implant and bone. The soft tissue, tendons, etc don't really seem to be on their radar. Told mine about the pain I was having, he said you probably have bursitis and went on about his merry way. Had to go to my GP to get an injection.

Maybe a pain management doc could get in there with the fluroscope (sp?) X-Ray thing they have and get you an injection that hits the troubled area a little more precisely.
 
Hello To All,

It has been a while and I have some things to report. My last update was basically three years ago. I thought I would chime in, update and ask a few questions.

My update is quite simple, nothing has changed and I still have pain and swelling. They kept telling me to "give it time." Well, I did. over the last three years I have endured the same pain worsening over the same period. The first of these three years was giving it time and myself getting along with life. So the GP and I discussed things and agreed to get that second opinion moving. This got dragged out by life and then the fact that it almost takes 6 months for an appointment.

Well anyway, finally got to the 2nd opinion surgeon. Based on the x-rays he "thinks" my stem is loose and has ordered a spect CT. Along with some blood work looking for infection and metals. So yes, I believe it is loose too, and have been concerned all along that something was up. He still could be wrong and in a way I hope so as I don't want to be cut on again. But no one can find anything else to fix either.

So I go Thursday for the CT scan and we will go from there. Pains and swelling still anywhere from 2 to 8 depending on the day. Right hip still sticks out about an inch.

So at this point I'M still in a wait mode for the CT scan. My biggest question is there any way to get relief on the $5000 - $6000 copay? This is going to be the part that bugs me the most!

Regards,
 
Hi, @ Russell, I can't advise you with the co-pay, unfortunately.

But I do want to send you a note of sympathy and support. You've been through a lot of pain, frustration and disappointment that has lasted far too long. I do hope the CT scan allows a proper diagnosis and gives your OS a better sense of how to solve your suffering. Wishing you the best. Keep us posted.
 
I think my mother was able to get some relief on her hospital bills. Usually the hospital can provide you with information to help you. At least that was how it worked in Ohio around 5+ years ago.
I'm sorry you have been in this cycle for so long, hopefully you get the answers and relief that is needed!!
 
I'll do it for less money, after all I have experience.
No harm in a third or fourth opinion if you're not comfortable with the opinion.
 
Thanks for the kind words. At this point I will wait for the CT scan and the followup visit on the second opinion. I really don't want to get cut again. The cost is an unexpected burden at this point and I will be asking the hospital for some sort of relief there as well.

Question, friend of mine heard that they can on do this THR twice in each leg. Is there any truth to this? I will be Googling this as well.
 
Do you mean you can only get revision 2x's? My GF dislocated a few times and had to get put back together, once she needed surgery, other times I believe they were able to pop it back into place (with lots of drugs first).
All my best, so sorry for your continued discomfort.
 
@Russell sorry that you're still having pain and swelling. Hopefully the CT scan and follow up give you some definitive answers. Know you're not really wanting to go through another surgery but if it can lessen the pain you've been having it might be worth it. Would definitely check with the hospital to see if there is some kind of relief they can provide towards the bill if it turns out you need to do the surgery.

Sorry that I can't answer the question about only doing THR twice on one hip, not really sure about that. I do see folks on here that have had multiple revisions. I believe most have been due to dislocations but not positive. Hopefully one of my fellow staffers that has more experience with this will come along that can answer you.
 
Hello All,

Came home from second opinion Dr. a bit disappointed and happy at the same time. Special CT Scan (called it a bone scan this time) showed no issues with my hip. Dr. believes we need to start looking into my back and is referring me to a spine type Dr. Of course I am pleased that I'm not getting cut open again. But, I'm so disappointed that no answers have come to light. Dr. states the spine Dr. will get am MRI and we go from there.

More to come as I get updates.
 
So sorry to hear you have been in so much pain and for such a long time following surgery that was supposed to make things better. Given that your hip looks ok it may be a process of elimination to reach a diagnosis. Meantime, as @Elf1 suggested it might be useful to get a pain management specialist involved; the problem may be more complex than just joint issues.
Best wishes and hopefully you get some answers soon.
 
Have you or your doctor looked into the possibility of IT band problems I had many of the same symptoms that you have and it looks like my problem was a very tight IT band. I had IT band surgery on Feb 9th of this year and it appears that I am finally going to recover. You might want to look at my recovery thread and see if you might have the same problem.

Golfer67
 

BoneSmart #1 Best Blog

Staff online

  • mendogal
    Staff member since November 10, 2023

Forum statistics

Threads
65,179
Messages
1,597,053
BoneSmarties
39,363
Latest member
HikerWalker
Recent bookmarks
0
Back
Top Bottom