THR Finally! Left Hip Anterior Recovery

[Merrimay]

@tanvat, try not to compare your recovery with your mother's. She sounds like my great-aunt, who had THR in her late 70s and was walking miles unassisted at 12 weeks. I, meanwhile, had thr at age 68, and am still limping at 6 months despite my best efforts.

It's different for everyone. Be patient. You're doing just fine.

 

[thepuckhead]

Hi, @tanvat - wanted to drop in and say welcome to the recovery side! I remember your story from the pre op side and am really glad you made the decision to have the surgery so you can get your quality of life back.

I was all set to emphasize what others have already said and to enjoy at least 2 weeks of chillaxing and then I read that Mother Nature had other plans for you. Sheesh! Glad everything is OK and sorry you had such an "exciting" start to recovery.

I can imagine that pre-op PT was pretty pointless for you. The surgeon probably wanted to exhaust all conservative efforts first. Which is a product of our sometimes very inefficient healthcare system. You might find it helpful to ask the clinic or OS or nurse what the purpose of PT at 2 weeks would be - maybe it's just standard for your clinic to schedule it and use it as a 2 week check in and offer help with using a cane or something, but in any case, in my non-professional opinion, any kind of formal PT exercises beyond any that were given to you post op (stuff like glute and quad squeezes meant to keep the blood flowing and help keep the muscles engaged the tiniest bit)-- not helpful for you to have those on your radar. Priorities are infection control and pain management in the first couple of weeks. So, if you go, remember you're the boss! They're there to help you based on your particular needs, not to run through a pre-ordained protocol.

And it is hard not to compare recovery milestones. Just do your best to be kind and supportive to yourself - time and patience to heal as your body dictates are the biggest gifts you can give yourself right now. You've got this!

Take care and heal well! Looking forward to following your progress.

 

[tanvat]

Day 5: swelling is still the chief issue. Resting (a lot!), icing, and elevating. Hard to tell if it helps as I have no baseline for comparison. I assume it’s helping. While the swelling is expanding and perhaps peaking, the discomfort has gone down. I call that progress, at least temporarily. One thing I forgot to mention was the perceived LLD. It’s very noticeable. Perhaps it will even out in time or when my right hip is replaced in June. If the LLD is real and persistent thing then - unlike the arthritis- I can manage that- perhaps not ideal, but nothing about THR is ideal. so far so good - or at least okay - and on to the next day. Pile up enough days with tiny footsteps forward and I’ll eventually get somewhere!

 

[MissFanny]

I’ve grappled with my recovery vs other people’s recoveries, too. Mainly because people insist on telling me stories about all the heroic hip replacement people they know. I have had to tune all that out and focus on doing what is right for me and my recovery.

Good for you, @tanvat! I do see mountains in your future. I had my first THR in September and have since conquered a few mountains in Arizona.

 

[LaKarune]

Day 5: swelling is still the chief issue. Resting (a lot!), icing, and elevating. Hard to tell if it helps as I have no baseline for comparison. I assume it’s helping. While the swelling is expanding and perhaps peaking, the discomfort has gone down. I call that progress, at least temporarily. One thing I forgot to mention was the perceived LLD. It’s very noticeable. Perhaps it will even out in time or when my right hip is replaced in June. If the LLD is real and persistent thing then - unlike the arthritis- I can manage that- perhaps not ideal, but nothing about THR is ideal. so far so good - or at least okay - and on to the next day. Pile up enough days with tiny footsteps forward and I’ll eventually get somewhere!

Hey hey — I’ve read on a bunch of recovery threads that the LLD usually resolves once your body realigns / aligns properly. I imagine this takes weeks or months, maybe depending on how long and how badly you were walking around out of alignment. I go in for my operation tomorrow so pls remind me I said this in a week when I’m freaking out.

 

[MissFanny]

Day 5: swelling is still the chief issue. Resting (a lot!), icing, and elevating. Hard to tell if it helps as I have no baseline for comparison. I assume it’s helping. While the swelling is expanding and perhaps peaking, the discomfort has gone down. I call that progress, at least temporarily. One thing I forgot to mention was the perceived LLD. It’s very noticeable. Perhaps it will even out in time or when my right hip is replaced in June. If the LLD is real and persistent thing then - unlike the arthritis- I can manage that- perhaps not ideal, but nothing about THR is ideal. so far so good - or at least okay - and on to the next day. Pile up enough days with tiny footsteps forward and I’ll eventually get somewhere!

Hey hey — I’ve read on a bunch of recovery threads that the LLD usually resolves once your body realigns / aligns properly. I imagine this takes weeks or months, maybe depending on how long and how badly you were walking around out of alignment. I go in for my operation tomorrow so pls remind me I said this in a week when I’m freaking out.

Good luck tomorrow!

 

[tanvat]

One week out!!! After a super rough night 5 - yikes- 36 hours and there are signs of discernible progress. Fleeting perhaps, but at least I think I’ve raised the floor just a bit. On night 5, my entire back felt like it was
severely sunburned and I was sleeping in sand - something like that. I don’t throw around the word “pain” lightly, but that was pain. Needless to say, when one is restricted to sleeping on their back and you’re sleeping in a recliner, it’s impossible to avoid contact with your back. The only relief was taking off my shirt and sitting upright with nothing in contact with my back - kinda hard to sleep and makes for an interminable night. Around 4 am covered the my recliner in a cushy down comforter and soft fleece blanket and that made it tolerable enough to sleep for 30 minutes at a time until around 8 am. At that point I was not psyched for what was to come, plus my left thigh was soooo swollen. But since then then swelling is starting to down so that the circumference of my thighs at the same point above the knee are only 2 inches apart, down from 4. The skin pain seems resolved. I can actually walk in the walker a little bit rather than hobble around like a discombobulated human Rube Goldberg contraption. A little progress goes a long way. The decreased swelling is the big thing. Anyway, while each recovery is different, I hope my very limited experience provides a little bit of hope and optimism to anyone who is having a no good, very bad day with their THR. Things can apparent turn for the better in fairly short order. Of course,‘the converse is also true, but the trend line is up.

 

[Gloucestergal65]

@tanvat - the trend line is always hopefully up but it can get a bit tangled up en route

 

[MissFanny]

Sorry to read you had a rough night! I can empathize with the swelling and back pain. I hope you got a good nights sleep!

 

[RoosterRick]

Yuk, sounds like a very long night :( I had one memorably shi$#y night at about day 5, which was the low point for me. Mentally and physically. I hope last night was better for you. Hang in there Tanvat, every day is progress, however modest it may be.

 

[tanvat]

Day 8: just back from PT. Therapist emphasized if it hurts, don’t do it. Seemed consistent with the ideas often expressed here re in healing, not in training. We’ll see - but it seemed OK. And good to get out of the the house! Swelling continues to very slowly dissipate. Along with that comes less discomfort and increasing mobility. I can see how one could inadvertently over do it - just the pent desire to get up and move, particularly when, where I live, Spring has sprung so beautifully.

 

[tanvat]

Day 10: today was good. I feel like I’m starting to round that long, slow corner toward recovery. The swelling and stiffness continues to dissipate. It’s still there, of course, but it’s so much improved since Day 6. I’ve been staying downstairs, and haven’t navigated a flight of stairs since the tornado warning last weekend forced me to. Perhaps it’s the bias of my own experience, but if you can move to a lower level and avoid stairs, I think that is a good call for the first week or two. Walked around the backyard for the first time post-op and that really buoyed the spirits to be out in the warm spring sun among the spring wildflowers. Now, “walked” may be a less than apt description. I still use the walker and don’t yet have sufficient confidence in my balance to walk without an aid on hardwood floors, let alone outside. The Number One Rule for me is Don’t Fall. That’s the risk, not an extra week using the walker. So to those about to get a THR or who still in the pain and swelling stage, it does not last forever even if it sometimes seem like it might.

PS - fully aware this reads like the start of an invitation to the dreaded Over Did It Club.

 

[Layla]

I’ve been staying downstairs, and haven’t navigated a flight of stairs since the tornado warning last weekend forced me to

Ugh. Yuck, tornado season...can we skip it? Thankfully your safe!

No, No, No. No ODIC now. You behave yourself so you can get back to all you love all the sooner.
A great week to you!

 

[tanvat]

Layla, I share your sentiments- I don’t plan to complete, send,‘or accept the ODIC invite. Membership, I hear, has no privileges.

 

[LaKarune]

Day 10: today was good. I feel like I’m starting to round that long, slow corner toward recovery. The swelling and stiffness continues to dissipate. It’s still there, of course, but it’s so much improved since Day 6. I’ve been staying downstairs, and haven’t navigated a flight of stairs since the tornado warning last weekend forced me to. Perhaps it’s the bias of my own experience, but if you can move to a lower level and avoid stairs, I think that is a good call for the first week or two. Walked around the backyard for the first time post-op and that really buoyed the spirits to be out in the warm spring sun among the spring wildflowers. Now, “walked” may be a less than apt description. I still use the walker and don’t yet have sufficient confidence in my balance to walk without an aid on hardwood floors, let alone outside. The Number One Rule for me is Don’t Fall. That’s the risk, not an extra week using the walker. So to those about to get a THR or who still in the pain and swelling stage, it does not last forever even if it sometimes seem like it might.

PS - fully aware this reads like the start of an invitation to the dreaded Over Did It Club.

I just revisited the start of this thread and saw you were in severe arthritis pain for two years before you found a surgeon who would do the right thing — it must be SUCH a relief to be ten days out of surgery and seeing a path to living your life again.

I'm Day 3 and looking forward to my Day 10… and to hearing about your two week check-in on my 1 week anniversary.

Did you ever figure out what that crazy burning feeling on your back was? Maybe some lymph thing?? Thank goodness it’s gone! I wonder if a sunburn spray like Dermaplast would have helped at all??

 

[tanvat]

LaKarunne, I identified what caused that crazy skin pain. It’s gone now, and I sure hope it stays that way. Very odd and I hope no one else experiences that. It is GREAT to swap joint pain for what is now healing discomfort. I hope you soon find yourself rounding the corner to discernible progress - you will.

 

[tanvat]

Days 10-11: Progress! A week ago, my operative leg was a swollen, dead log. A week later, with the assistance of my walker, I can walk across the house at a normal pace with a pretty good gait. And, for the first time in almost 3 years, my left hip joint feels smooth and freely mobile, limited only by anterior hip restrictions and residual swelling and quad soreness. That said, its hard to see myself abandoning my walker anytime soon as I have little confidence in my balance and I simply will not risk a fall based on any arbitrary deadline - or comparison with others- re abandoning the walker. It’ll happen in due time.

Also, my PT experience has been positive so far (only two visits) despite my initial misgivings. Yesterday, my therapist noticed the marked improvement in my movement when I walked in. My comfortable range of motion was also way better. So - and que the very justifiable suspicion/concern - he suggested I try bridges, mini squats, and standing toe raises. I did. And it felt magnificent! I did 1 set 25 repetitions on each exercise, with very slow, controlled motion. I felt a pleasant sensation of re-activating muscles the swelling had put to sleep. And today, I feel no ill effect. To be clear - and I think this is CRITICAL - I only did one set of each AND these are all exercises I’ve done for decades up to and including the week prior to surgery before I had to stop taking anti-inflammatories. Also, I previously did these exercises only two days a week and I see no reason to change now. The therapist is wholly on board with limiting movements to those which are comfortable. And, to be honest, it’s a great excuse to go somewhere! So, as of now, my initial misgivings re PT are momentarily dispelled and I plan to continue for a few more weeks. I think it’s clear - and my therapist agrees - that walking is obviously the best PT to, we’ll, resume walking. The exercises are simply a supplement that may facilitate the return of function for some peioplr, c Everyone’s experience will be different. If my experience turns negative, I’ll share that so others will have that information for consideration.

Best wishes to all who are will soon be in recovery. In the end, we have take in the advice of our surgeons and our own experience to recover in a way that woks for each of us as individuals, not generalized abstractions from some scatter plot in some old orthopedic journal article.

 

[MissFanny]

Great job with your recovery and honoring your body and journey! Like you, I have decided to take things at a pace I am comfortable with. I think doing PT exercises that feel good and build strength and flexibility is a great idea. Keep up the amazing job!

 

[tanvat]

Two weeks today! One theme is that weeks can pass with lightning speed while some days last forever. The other is that small steps in recovery add up week by week and eventually you feel tangible progress. I’m still using a walker. The leg length differential - real or perceived is beside the point for present purposes- makes it feel awkward and unsteady to walk unassisted. But that’s OK - I walk unaided when my hip tells me it’s ready. My foot and ankle are still fairly swollen. That swelling is a bit more pronounced today b/c I’m back at work (remotely) and have been sitting upright and have not taken breaks to elevate like I should. Overall, and considering what happened in that operating table, I’m happy with where I’m at two weeks out. Perhaps progress will stall or there will be some setback like back or knee pain as my body readjusts. But if so, that’s just let of recovery. So far so good. Hope everyone else is hanging in there in their recovery rides.

 

[tanvat]

And again - typing this on my phone so sorry for the head scratching typos!