THR April 12 - Second THR

[MissFanny]

I am maybe 20% better today. Going to work on increasing that today. Get me out of the ODIC! This is the worst club ever! My daughter and SIL are coming over to grill today. I plan to sit on the deck with an ice pack most of the day. I might go for a short 1 mile walk later to keep things loosened up, but we’ll see.

Happy Sunday, BoneSmarties!

 

[Layla]

Happy Memorial weekend!
Have fun grillin n chillin!
@MissFanny

 

[LeftKath]

I had a lot of butt in the right cheek prior to my RTHR. Even though my left hip needed replacing too it's pain presented differently. The videos below helped me with butt/piriformis pain.

I don't want to encourage you to do anything your surgeon or PT has advised against but I'm going to attach links to a couple of workouts that have helped me over the years. (And please if there is a pose in them that your body doesn't like just skip over it an do deep breathing instead.)

Yoga for running and hiking (after the activity)

This yoga practice will help release tension in the muscles that get stressed from running or hiking. It includes both stretching and strengthening poses for the hips, legs and back,[...]

sequencewiz.org

Yoga practice to release piriformis tension

This home yoga practice will help you release tension in piriformis muscle; it may or may not be useful for sciatica, depending on it's source.

sequencewiz.org

Yoga For Sciatica - Yoga With Adriene

Yoga For Sciatica. This gentle and supportive practice is soothing for those who are in recovery from pain or injury and ready to easy back into a physical p...

www.youtube.com

 

[MissFanny]

Thank you, @LeftKath! My instructions at my 6-week appointment included no yoga for 6 months, but I bet there are exercises in those videos I can use or adapt. I won’t be doing pigeon pose or anything, but I stretch a couple times a day now.

 

[Mojo333]

Rest and Icing and perhaps some gentle massage (some folks use a tennis ball) would probably be the most helpful for resigning from the club.

For some people, stretching can make their buttock pain much more irritable. Gentle stretching is helpful in some cases, but strong, long duration stretching can often be provocative for an irritated nerve.
I would break the 1 mile walk up into 2-3 shorter walks.

I know this is a boring regimen, and this is possibly the hardest part of recovery...was for me...

 

[MissFanny]

@Mojo333, the most active I was yesterday was standing to assemble potato salad. I sat most of the day and kept ice applied to my hip and buttock. I am still doing my heat, massage, stretch, ice routine 2x/day, but gentle stretches that don’t hurt. I feel a lot better this morning! I have a few household chores planned, but I am going to take it really easy again today.

I feel like it’s one thing after another with me, but curious if any other women experienced a post-menopausal period from the blood thinners. My last period was February 2021. For the past week, I’ve had sore, tender breasts and some mild acne on my face. I told my husband, this is so weird, I feel exactly like I did before my periods, but that’s impossible. Yesterday, I started my period with all the symptoms of a regular period. I have been reading about post-menopausal periods and they can be triggered by blood thinners. I just stopped blood thinners (low-dose aspirin 2x/day) after my 6-week follow up appointment. Unfortunately, post-menopausal periods require medical attention. I will probably have to go through testing even though I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me. From my reading, 91% of the time, it is nothing serious but you must go in and have it checked. Sigh. Getting tired of all this medical stuff. From December - February, I was seen by a cardiologist for an irregular heartbeat. After a battery of tests including an angiogram, I was proclaimed heart healthy. Then the hip surgery. Now this. Growing older ain’t for sissies.

 

[Jaycey]

Unfortunately, post-menopausal periods require medical attention.

Indeed - you do need to have someone check this. I could be the blood thinners. But I would think it was a spike in hormones. Please do get checked. I know it's yet another medical appointment. But better safe!

 

[Mojo333]

@MissFanny
Glad you are taking it easy.
I oft-times feel like the resident Cassandra...but I'm sure you are listening to your body. I think most of us have ventured into the O.D.I.C. at some point in recovery.

Oddly, I had the same situation with bleeding a little over a year after my last cycle too. (which interestingly enough, was a few days before my BTHR)
REALLY made me nervous.
I did have it checked out thoroughly with OB/GYN and was given the all clear but I swear I cannot remember what she attributed it to. It had stopped after a few days by the time I got to appt.

 

[MissFanny]

@Jaycey, I wondered too if it’s a perfect storm of some hormonal shift or my ovaries firing off one last egg for old times sake and the blood thinner. It’s odd that I had pre-menstrual symptoms. The blood thinner alone wouldn’t do that. I will definitely get it checked. I am not at all worried, but I also don’t want to be dealing with a bigger issue a year from now and have the doctor say, “If only we’d addressed this a year ago.”

I feel like I live in medical offices lately. I also have a rare form of glaucoma that strikes young people. I was diagnosed at 31. So, I have 2 eye surgeon appointments a year—2 if I’m lucky, sometimes it’s more.

 

[Jaycey]

Well, the stress of facing surgery, having major surgery and then recovering is bound to "unbalance" things. I think you are right - probably nothing to worry about but best the get it checked.

Gosh - glaucoma at such a young age! Hope it's controlled!

 

[MissFanny]

@Jaycey, I am 95% sure it’s surgery related but I will get it checked for sure. I read the common culprits of hormonal imbalance are:

• Diabetes (my glucose is normal)
• Thyroid (no obvious signs of problems here and 2 friends have had thyroid problems and knew something was wrong)
• Stress (ding! ding! ding!)

Couple that with blood thinner and—well, all I have to say is this better be the only period. I was getting along just fine without them thank-you-very-much.

The glaucoma was well controlled until around age 45. Then my case got more complicated. I have had 2 SLT laser surgeries and I am on 4 different kinds of drops, but I still have field loss in my left eye. It’s not obvious to me yet because my right eye and brain are filling the holes in for me. Nonetheless, it is a race to prevent blindness in that eye. I recently switched to the top eye surgeon with a glaucoma speciality in my city. He’s coming at it much more aggressively than my previous surgeon who was a little lackadaisical imo. My poor son is already on drops at 25. Just one and his is well controlled.

 

[LeftKath]

Thank you, @LeftKath! My instructions at my 6-week appointment included no yoga for 6 months, but I bet there are exercises in those videos I can use or adapt. I won’t be doing pigeon pose or anything, but I stretch a couple times a day now.

Yes there is a huge spectrum of Yoga practice and some poses are very hard on the hips. And depending on the surgical approach for a Hip Replacement certain movements are restricted. Makes sense for the Surgeon to say no yoga since they can't shadow you in a yoga class and say, "NO don't do that." I think if people have done yoga before a hip replacement then it's easier for them to judge what poses should be avoided or modified in a particular routine. Once I was about 8 weeks past my surgery I discovered that many of the exercises/stretches that my PT gave me were very similar to the poses in some of the gentler yoga videos that I had used prior to my surgery.

Good Luck with those other health care issues too

 

[Gloucestergal65]

Definitely agree with the saying ‘Getting older ain’t for sissies’!

 

[MissFanny]

By all rights I should be at the head of the ODIC today for another bad choice I made yesterday (yard work), but I am feeling a little better. I told my husband last night and now I am proclaiming to the BoneSmarties, I am going to take it easy for a full week beginning today and see what that does for me. Idk what my problem is—why I can’t seem to stop overdoing it—but it’s getting embarrassing. Hubby thinks it’s human nature—or at least in my nature—to push things as far as possible every time I feel a little better. I want to feel good for my national parks road-trip at the end of June. I need to keep that in mind as the endgame.

I found this data on the Apple Health app yesterday. Guess when I had my surgery? I think the high spike is walker time, then the moderately high spike is walking on a cane.

 

[MissFanny]

Good incentive to keep me resting and on the healing path: I REALLY want to get off ibuprofen. I have been taking ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or Meloxicam every day for more than a year now.

 

[Gloucestergal65]

I wish my walking asymmetry graph looked like yours does.

 

[MissFanny]

I ran out of ibuprofen yesterday. I am going to see how I do with just ice alone today.
*Fingers crossed*

 

[benne68]

Are you still taking a full regimen of Tylenol, @MissFanny? You may find that it is sufficient now at 6+ weeks post op.

If not, and you still have pain, you might trying increasing your Tylenol dosage. It is safe to take 2 extra strength tables (500 mg each) every six hours (4 times a day) -- as long as none of your other medications contain acetaminophen because you don't want to exceed 4000 mgs/day.

Remember that it's important to stay ahead of the pain by taking your meds on a regular schedule. https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads...ing-pain-after-a-tkr-and-the-pain-chart.7969/

Take care of yourself!

 

[MissFanny]

I haven’t taken anything today and I feel well! I may take something before bed since I don’t want to disrupt my sleep. But during waking hours, I seem to be fine without anything. I am thrilled! I have been taking something for pain daily for over a year. This feels liberating.

Was seen today about the post-menopausal period. I was examined and they drew blood. I am now being referred for ultrasound and to a gynecologist/specialist. Still not worried and, from my reading, expected to have to succumb to the full spectrum of testing. Hopefully, I can have all my tests done before vacation!

 

[MissFanny]

Appointment for the ultrasound and gyno scheduled for June 16. Still not concerned but it would be nice to have those tests behind me sooner. Pap and blood work from yesterday came back normal.

I have kept my word and taken it a lot easier this week. I go for multiple short walks (around 0.6 miles) throughout the day. Icing pretty heavily and as of yesterday, only taking ibuprofen before bed. This is a big breakthrough for me! I still have pain in my glute but it seems to be improving.

Really, there’s not much for me to report on these days unless I lose my mind and find myself back in the ODIC. I will check in again if something changes or with a report after my June 16 appointment.

Be well, BoneSmarties!

Thanks for the support and encouragement.