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THR 15 year old has first new hip

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Thanks so much for all the advice and support. As its only day 10 post op I know I need to slow down my expectations but as each day passes I am hoping to see progress. I am growing concerned that I failed to appreciate how long and difficult the recovery period would be. When talking with the surgeon almost the entire focus was on whether to do this or not on someone so young. What was said about recovery was quickly dismissed by him as in essence no big deal. He did warn us that in younger patients the inflammatory response is greater and they tend to struggle more in the immoderate post op phase but he indicated that they quickly tend to bounce back. I didn't know enough to drill down on what he meant by "quickly". This is an issue as, I previously posted , as I look ahead with his school year set to start 8/11 and with the second hip set for 8/23.

Delaying the second one is very problematic especially with the big leg length discrepancy he now has. I have sat down to talk about the situation with the school guidance and administration but I don't really know yet what to tell them about how long he'll be out at this point so a plan can be formulated. He may be able to do some sort of remote school thru the computer while recovering but not sure if the small catholic high school he goes to can accommodate that fully. I guess I just have to be patient and see how long this hip takes for him and use that as the yardstick to tell school what to expect for the second one. Of course the longer we wait on that to try and get an arrangement made the harder it will be. But for now I'm unsure we have any choice but to wait and see.

No matter what the school says though I won't put him thru waiting around any longer than necessary to get this over with for him.

On an encouraging note he said yesterday he can already start to feel the difference in that the fixed hip feels in his words more "solid" and that the left is, as always, still very sore. So he is excited to get both fixed and behind him.


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So glad he is feeling the difference!
I didn't realize, when you talked about missing school, that in your area school starts in 3 weeks!
I wonder if, even though he goes to private school, he would be eligible for public school district benefits such as a home-bound teacher. Another option could conceivably be to homeschool him for a couple of months. I seem to remember, from my own few homeschooling years, that Florida used to be an easy state to homeschool in. Or--
He'll be 10th grade? Perhaps he can have all the textbooks from school, the "designated class note-taker's" notes, study hard and get ahead starting as soon as he gets his brains back, take tests at home, have classmates help with homework when he's not ahead of them, and return to core classes one at a time as he feels able. Pie in the sky? I do that a whole lot...
Then as he felt able, he could return to more and more classes (except PE!!!!!) until he was full time. Tired, but full time.
If it's a small school, the admin is probably open to all kinds of creativity.
My niece is principal of a small Christian school-- if you'd like language to use, I can put you in touch with her! :) she would be delighted to help.


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Thanks for the concern and good suggestions. We will just have to deal with the school situation after we see how long it takes him to recover enough this time that we would feel comfortable sending him back.

For now, post op day 12, he has been making good progress. Getting in and out of bed mostly on his own, in/out of bathroom, showering with minimal help, walking more, eating well. He's getting a little cabin fever and wants to try to get out of the house and maybe try going to a nearby restaurant. I'd feel better about that if he was more stable on his feet. Still using walker and not real comfortable with just cane as of yet.

Going to try to stretch out the pain meds a little today. From every 4 hours to 6. Will see how that goes.


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Wow-- if he wants to go to a restaurant on a walker, go for it! Take the ice ;)
My gut says, maybe stretch to 5 hours for starters? I'd really hate to have to play catch up this far along. Let us know how it's going -- maybe your hunch is right on target!! :) :)


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@tbatt9 Hi, Bilateral Jim here. I Transitioned from the walker to my Walking poles. I found that the natural gait started from the beginning and offered a more stable platform. Just a thought plus they were fun to do!
 
@Michegon so many people have talked about walking poles that I must give them a try!! I ditched my walker after about a week, and couldn't successfully weight bear on the cane, so carried it for self defense!
@tbatt9 maybe a pair of ski poles or the like would be cool:lol:
How are we coming along?


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Zauberflute's ideas about school are what came to my mind, as well. Surely home bound teacher, or home schooling temporarily are both options.
I went to the foam store and had thick foam pads cut for my easy chair, and the sofa, to raise the seating level for my long legs. Maybe raising the sofa onto a pallet of some sort would be helpful.
Sounds like he is doing well
 
Things are progressing but slowly. Today is just the two week point post op. He still gets tired easily which in part is I think due to not being able to do much except sit around the house. He did make it out for lunch yesterday and that went well. He still is using walker but I am hopeful the quad cane I got for him will be enough for him soon. Going to try to go out to dinner as family tonight if he feels up to it.

School is still a worry but I am trying to get a meeting set up at the school to explore all the options. At end of the day no matter what I am going to get this fixed for him as planned. If I try to delay it just because of school with what the surgeon said about how spongy his right femoral head was he would be at too much risk for a collapse. Worst case for him and school is that he will have to do some sort of virtual/remote school for few weeks. He has been an exceptional student getting As in honors and AP classes so I know he will be able to figure it out and catch up.

Also spacing out his pain meds to every 6 hours has been ok. Not sure what to do or when to do it to start to tapper him further.

It at times seems overwhelming to think he has to go thru this all over again in just a months time. But I am trying not to think beyond one day at a time. Not easy for such a type A worrier like me.


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@tbatt9 glad to hear he's doing so well! Remember, the fatigue is totally normal post op! Even though he's a kid, his body uses enormous energy to heal.

That also seems to be very good news about his schooling situation. Congratulations to him for maintaining such a great GPA with AP classes even!
A thought--you could buy a pair of quad canes, so he could get used to using them both now, before he has the other hip done?
My hip has been rescheduled, so I won't be on here for several months. I wish your son and your family all the very best, and I know he's going to have a great year this year!!!


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Thank you so much for all the support and kindness. Best of luck to you and hope all goes well.


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Its been a while since I posted here. This will be a sort of post op update/ pre op post. Not sure if the rules allow it this way or if I am suppose to start a new thread so here it goes.

So Matthew is now 5 weeks and two days post op for the right hip. The good news is he has progressed well just much slower than we were lead to believe by his surgeon. I've come to think that while the surgeon, thank God, is an excellent surgeon and knows all you want him to about actually doing the procedure, he either doesn't know or doesn't really devote much time to thinking about the recovery period. To be fair he did warn us that for younger patients like Matthew they can have a rougher time in the short term. But on the other hand he made it sound like with the "minimally invasive" technique he'd be nearly 100% within 2-3 weeks. That just isn't so we now know.

Matthew has been able to get around with just the quad cane and even able to take few steps around the house without it. He went back to school on 8/11 and has gotten through his first week or so reasonably well. It is exhausting for him to get around class to class as slowly as he has to walk with his cane but the school has been great about accommodating him. He is off all meds. He wont even take any Tylenol as he hates taking anything. His incision looks good, although he developed a rash around it. He preferred to keep a bandage on it all the time up to just a week ago and I think the adhesive irritated his skin when he forgot to change it one day. So that's all the very good news about his progress.

The hard part is we will be headed back up tonight to Mayo for his pre op work up starting tomorrow for his left hip. He is set to have that one done on 8/23. The stress for him is the hardest part. We have arranged with the school for him to be out for three weeks post op and for him to ease back in afterwards as best he can but between the worries of going through this all again combined with his anxiety about how he will catch up at school he has been very down and upset the last couple days. We have done all we can to try and make this as easy on him as possible but its a lot for a 16 year old to deal with (his birthday was 8/14). At this point there is nothing else we can do except get it over with and hope his recovery this time is a little smoother. I learned some hard lessons about what to do and what to expect last time around as you can see in my earlier posts. God willing this will all be behind him in couple months.
 
Yes, we like everyones recovery in the same thread, that way we can easily go back and read your story to better advise you. Also you will have a diary of your son's recoveries.
All recoveries are different, even on the same person. Sending positive thoughts for you and your son that this second recovery is much smoother for him.
 
@tbatt9 Hey! Glad he is doing better. I have nothing to add as I have not had my surgery yet. Just wanted to let you know I'm thinking about him (and you). I have kept up with your thread and my heart hurt for you more then once. I can not even imagine as a parent having to go through this with my child.
Good luck this next surgery and try to keep the long term goal of him being pain free and being a regular kid in mind. :)
 
So we made it thru the second surgery replacing his left hip yesterday afternoon and think we will be discharged home tomorrow depending on how he does. This time around he seems a little better at this point in that he's eating and seems a little more alert. He hasn't been able to move much out of bed yet. Only been up to a chair and back to bed. But he seems to have better control of the operated leg than last time. Only issue of some concern is he has some tingling sensations in his big toe and on that side of his foot. Dr. said it would likely go away and in fact it seems to get better when he's moving it. Hopefully things go much smoother at home and he's able to avoid the horrible constipation issues he had before.


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I'm sure you're feeling great relief now that both surgeries are behind Matthew. I had an easier recovery with one of my THR's, so hopefully he will experience the same thing. :-)
 
Thank you all for your kind replies. This site has been huge help in getting through all this.

Yesterday late afternoon they pulled the nerve block catheter. The good news with that is the numbing goes away so should be able to move better but downside is his pain went up a lot. They have him taking the slow release OxyContin every 12 hours, Oxycodone as needed every 3 hours along with 1000 mg Tylenol every 6 hours and Naperson every 12. Last night he also needed 2 mg of Morphine. But this morning it seems better controlled. He also is somewhat anemic in that his hemoglobin dropped down to 7.6. But the surgeon said that isn't alarming for him given his age and that there is no sign of any post op bleeding. The plan for him is to see how mobile he is with PT this am and if he does well back in car for the 3-4 hour drive home.

Here are his new hips:

[Bonesmart.org] 15 year old has first new hip




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