THR 1-8-19 hip surgery recovery

[goblue61]

Had LTH surgery this past Tuesday and all went amazingly well. Doctor recommended getting a spinal block and that was a good decision in my opinion. No nausea, sore throat, or grogginess when I woke up. Zero pain also! Mini Posterior surgery scheduled for 9:30am. Wife told me the doctor told her that surgery took close to 2 hours. Went a little longer because I am an athletic guy (at least I was before hip pain the last two years) and had to be more careful to not cut muscle.

Was moved to my room around 1pm and met some great nurses at Cedar Park Regional Hospital who took very good care of me. Around 5pm the nurses took my pee bottle from me and said they would like me to walk to the bathroom. Why not, lets give it a shot!

First steps were very shaky and scary but slowly made it to the bathroom to pee and walk back to the bed. Hardest part was trying to pee with a young female nurse holding a security strap directly behind me. Turning on the water faucet helped the stage fright.

First night in hospital very minimal pain and nurses did well with the meds and helping me to the bathroom 3 times (Unfortunately very normal evening except for using a walker to get there and disconnecting all the stuff to leave a hospital bed). Each time walking I was able to improve and apply more pressure on my left side with my walker. By the 3rd time walking since surgery (3 am) was able to walk easily with walker a good 75ft down the hallway with assistance.

After breakfast and group PT I was ready to go home at 1pm. Five hours later waiting for delivery of a walker and commode to take home I finally was able to leave and go home. Got home after picking up meds (6 prescriptions including Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Blood thinner, Nerve pain medicine, and stool softener)

First night all went well and was able to sleep with minimal pain. Only had to wake up my wife twice during the night for help to bathroom. Our home has no stairs which I am very happy about.

Today has been a day of rest with doing a few PT exercises and home health PT lady came by to inspect the home, jot down starting benchmarks, and even timed me on my walker walking through a straightaway in my living room.

I really think that I could do so much more than the exercises given and also think I could drive and ditch the walker within a week, but after reading the many posts about NOT overdoing it. I do know to just chill out and take it slowly.

Maybe I can get my moneys worth from Netflix the next few weeks

 

[Layla]

It's great to see you over here. I'll leave the Recovery Guidelines again so you only have one thread to refer to. You sound like an active one so I'm going to encourage you to take it slow. You don't want to stall your recovery by landing in the ODIC (Over Did It Club) Its no fun there
Sweet dreams tonight

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

BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy​

5. Here is a week-by-week guide to

Activity progression for THRs​

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. @goblue61

 

[Debru4]

Sounds like a great start! If you are taking any narcotics for pain, it really isn't a good idea to think about driving quite yet---except for driving your walker or cane around the house. Instead of concentrating on increased exercises, just do as you suggested you would---take it easy and start with walking and resuming daily life activities. That's all it really takes!

 

[Jaycey]

Welcome to the other side! Please do take it slow and steady. Your body has just experienced major trauma. You wouldn't exercise if you had an injury would you? Let your body recover from the trauma - there will be plenty of time to get back to all that activity when you are fully healed.

 

[Mojo333]

all done and doing well!
Certainly glad you have decided to give all those soft tissues and stretched about muscles time to heal before you work in things too much.
You will be glad you did.

Great start to a new year!
Assume the position and chill
Hope today is a Good Day.

 

[goblue61]

Thanks for all the good advice everyone. This advice and the links sent definitely help with pre and post op jitters and questions to ask.

I am now on day 4 after surgery and it is so nice to not have the pain in my groin, hip, and leg that I had before. I am still taking medications as prescribed and the surgery pain is still minimal. Had my first day of home PT today and the lady was very low key emphasizing taking it slow and not overdoing it. PT is scheduled 4 times next week and twice the next. Probably will be outpatient therapy after that. Not at all sure how many additional weeks will be scheduled after that.

Finally was able to have a BM this morning. Was starting to worry about it since nurse had said I might have to get something more powerful if after 5 days I did not go.

Again thanks to everyone for the friendly words of advice and thoughts.

 

[Michegon]

@goblue61 Hi, Bilateral Jim here. You sound like you're doing fine. I'm originally from Michigan now in Oregon! Go Blue! You have a great start so keep it going. The only aspect of your journey that you might want to watch out for is the rehab itself. Like Josephine says hip do well on their own. I also had mini-posterior done and it was awesome. Remember, when you exercise you actually are breaking the muscle fibers down. The most important part is to let your hip heal, it will not heal faster by breaking the soft tissue down. The people that had some issues were people that wanted to heal faster and setbacks. Good luck to you!

 

[Mojo333]

Glad you are rolling with these early recovery days and can already see that once healed...that hip is going to serve you well!
Hope today is a Good Day

 

[goblue61]

Thanks for the good advice mojo and michegon (rough end to UM football season wasn't it?).
I have a question. This morning I decided to take my coffee to my home office to take care of some work, pay bills, email replies, open up mail, etc...
I really couldn't sit in my chair for very long without discomfort at the hip or incision. I easily had to stand, stretch, or walk every 15-20 min. I had a lot of stuff to do so I sat on a pillow and tried to finish what I started till I just had to lay down which with ice relieved all discomfort/ pain.
Does having the surgery with posterior approach cause this discomfort from just sitting upright on a chair or toilet? Does Anterior surgery patients have the same discomfort by simple sitting?
A lot of my job is sitting at a desk half day and driving half day. Not much physical labor or lifting needed. Is this all the part of why weeks or even months are needed for people to return to work even though they have a desk job?

 

[Jaycey]

@goblue61 Nearly every new hippy has a problem sitting for any length of time. I had posterior LTHR and lateral RTHR and after both ops I couldn't sit for long periods of time.

Is this all the part of why weeks or even months are needed for people to return to work even though they have a desk job?

This and energy drain are the big roadblocks. But the good news is this eases with time.

Very early days for you. Easy does it!

 

[Layla]

Happy Sunday!
I experienced Posterior and was unable to sit on hard chairs for very long initially.
I remember wanting to sit on a counter stool and Kitchen chair to feel more "normal" like part of the household, but always ended up back in the recliner in short order. Do what is comfortable and gradually ease into it. It will get easier. Wondering when you're going back to work? The half hour days in the car would have done me in! I couldn't sit in the car for more than 30-40 minutes early on and that discomfort lasted awhile. I'd get jiggly and fidgety and want OUT! Initially it concerned me because I wondered if it would ever end. Thankfully it did!
I hope you have a nice Sunday and a great week!
@goblue61

 

[Hippielife]

Goblue61..had posterior all 3 thr. At OSHU I used the zero gravity treadmill , if you can do therapy there, it adds body weight slowly as tolerated while walking and body stregthening . Helps get the core muscles in shape. I didn’t have any sitting issues as long as the seats were high enough and I could slightly recline using foot stool. Normal sitting is tricky the position puts to much pressure on the new joint. My surgeon finally added higher seats in his waiting room. Sending lots of healing Angels your way to help guide you thru your healing journey.

 

[Debru4]

Even now, 5 1/2 months out, I often have discomfort when I stand after sitting. It's much, much less often, and painful, than before, but even with short amounts of sitting, when I stand I have to plant my feet and give myself a few seconds to stabilize. Then I am able to walk/move without the pain.

If I jump up and try to go quickly, I still feel the pain much worse, and much longer. A few months ago, when I first mentioned my pain after sitting here on the forum, almost everyone said they had experienced it in one way or another.

I know everyone has a different experience, but even with the sitting pain, once I figured out how to address it, I could have returned to week after a few weeks, part time at least. I think that's only as long as you are safe to drive--not using narcotics/heavy duty pain meds. This is especially true if you have control over being able to break your car trips up, get out and stretch, etc., and if you can tend to your needs to stand/walk/stretch when you are at your desk. If you can work from home, or part time, that would be best.

 

[jaydub63]

@goblue61 UM alum and Ann Arbor resident here - don't you know we are a basketball school now, 17 and 0!!

I went back to work part-time at home 2 weeks after my mini-posterior and didn't try using my office chair at first, just used my laptop from my "recovery" chair so I could still ice and elevate. And yes, frequent breaks were needed. At week 4, I was back full-time and could use my office chair with a memory foam cushion on it. You are not even a week out so not surprised you've got some discomfort with sitting at a desk, but it will probably improve in the next few weeks. Lots of patience needed!

 

[goblue61]

jaydub63, Been a great season so far for the #2 Wolverines . Have only seen a 3 or for games and they look great. Looking forward again to the tournament. Probably will break my heart again like last year though. Being a Michigan fan you have to get used to that.

Good to hear that discomfort will disappear sitting upright very soon. I knew it would eventually but we all are a bit impatient and I cant stand just laying around watching TV when I could be doing light computer and office work. Guess I will take your advice and work from the recliner with laptop and TV tray. Definitely can sit a lot longer with feet elevated.

 

[Wayfarer]

Blue, we’re “a day a part.” Met with my PT just now (took my bandage off) and he really is about just being active, keep moving, but don’t over do it; kind of the mantra here. He hasn’t asked to see me do exercises, movements, etc., as “prescribed.” Everyone is saying I’m doing well, but I still know I have a spell to go before I’m going to do a host of things I’m used to doing.

That was probably one of the more daunting things for me; the recovery and TIME attached to that. Watcha gonna do though? I just resigned myself to the time it will take; it was either (maybe both) Kayla or Mojo that in another thread wrote something about “you’re making an investment” on the front end for this thing and the payoff will come down the road. This ain’t penny stocks, it’s a more long term investment.

 

[Debru4]

Sounds like a good plan, goblue61. It's interesting how challenging patience is for most of us. I remember before I retired from teaching how often I'd think I'd love to have a few days with nothing to do but hang out, read, watch TV, and chase questions around on Google And then we are "grounded" with our surgery and suddenly we feel stir crazy---haha!

 

[Wayfarer]

Blue-man, how’s it going out there? Just checkin’ in. Did the new cane arrive?

 

[goblue61]

Yes I did receive my oak Brazos walking cane yesterday after returning from doctor office. Practiced walking with it today in the house and although much slower "steps per hour", I will be using this when out from the home in the near future.
Will feel better using a cane when ready going out to dinner, shopping, and returning to work rather than using a walker.

First time out of house yesterday in a car wasn't really pleasant. Definitely need more time to think about driving anywhere myself farther than 10-15 min. Maybe this weekend a short trip. Incision site was very uncomfortable along with the hip pressure. A pillow probably would have helped but didn't think of it for the 30 min ride to the doctor.My first follow up with surgeon isn't till next Tuesday but the bandage was pretty blood filled so we made an appointment to get it changed. Doc said all is healing well but made the decision to wait till next week to take out staples. I told him about the minimal pain these days and being able to place a good amount of pressure on the surgical hip. Today only have needed a few Tylenol to get by. No Vicodin needed so far. If this keeps up I may be able to have a beer soon.

 

[goblue61]

Sounds like a good plan, goblue61. It's interesting how challenging patience is for most of us. I remember before I retired from teaching how often I'd think I'd love to have a few days with nothing to do but hang out, read, watch TV, and chase questions around on Google And then we are "grounded" with our surgery and suddenly we feel stir crazy---haha!

Debru, You are so right about lack of patience in a short period of time of forced rest. I sure am glad its winter or I would really be stir crazy from the last week of recovery and knowing several more weeks are needed. Cant imagine being cooped up in the house a month or so with the weather beautiful outside . I have never relaxed very well and may end up being one of those people that never retire as long as I can greatly lower my workload and stress.