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Hip Infection 2 stage revision, hip infection

That's funny about having to rest before you ate the dinner you fixed! Sounds like it was really tasty. Regarding the stairs, it was weeks and weeks before I was able to do stairs without grabbing onto a railing with both hands/arms and physically pulling myself up. Fortunately I didn't have many stairs to do. When I got "better", I had to use a crutch in one hand and pull myself up on the railing with the other. It is very good being all on one floor while necessary.
 
Help! Advice Needed!
Everyone is different, I know, so I am really just looking for what helped *you* or any ideas you have.

I need to go home, Dad's condo is going on the market and I can't stay here after this weekend, which was the plan anyway.

What I didn't anticipate was the difficulty with stairs I am having.

To get into my home, there are about 6 steps to the porch. Inside, there are about 16 to get upstairs to the bedroom and the bath with a tub/shower.

I am going to try to get a bed for downstairs, and will just have to do sponge baths for 6 more weeks if I have to. :-)

But that still leaves getting into the house!

Any tips or suggestions?

I am hoping to have PT come out, a one time thing, to help me problem solve the stairs, but that probably won't actually happen until next week sometime. Meanwhile, getting into my house is a thing! :-)
 
Do you know any strong young men that could possibly help you navigate getting into your home? If not, I'm sure if you call a local church, they will surely offer you assistance.
 
If I grabbed on to my husband while he held me up on one side, and with my other arm I hung on to the railing, I could manage in those early days. Do you have any strong man or woman who can help you?
 
Thanks for the input, @Krista and @Cynthia777 . I think some version of just finding some strong people to haul me up the stairs is the best idea, lol!

I got a bit of a reprieve and will be staying at the condo for a while longer. That will give me time to consult with the PT and see if there is a way to manage.

It occurred to me that if I had a couple of really strong people, I could sit in a wheel chair and they could lift the chair up the front steps. Now, this is a little scary to contemplate, lol! I am not really that kind of a thrill seeker! :-) But it would work, just to get in. I doubt I could have people available for every time I needed to go to the doctor, however...but that will be another bridge to cross when I get there.

@Josephine, I read your thread again about not doing PT or overdoing while recovering. It is reassuring to me, as *not* doing it seems counterintuitive. I worked very hard to be as strong as possible for the first surgery, and not continuing to do so for the second surgery felt weird. My surgeon put it well for someone the other day: I have had two dislocations and now a major surgery in the past 10 weeks. And now have the space et al, which is NOT a "normal" recovery situation. The hip and surrounding areas need to rest, and really to be coddled during this time.
Makes sense, and your thread really helped me relax about getting strength back afterward! Any other tips are very welcome, too!

Had a real slump emotionally yesterday, combination of many things; dealing with the anger (from him) that comes with my Dad's dementia, other family stuff, trying to recover, etc. Today is our first Mother's Day without our mother, so very bittersweet. I had planned to do some things in her honor today, but now am housebound, which I really did not anticipate. On social media, I saw many friends and family just having good times, and I started feeling really sorry for myself. I want to have fun too, I whined to myself. Every one in the whole world is having fun while I sit here in pain stuck in the house, dealing with grumpy people!

Today I can laugh at myself a bit, but the feeling lingers. Need to keep my focus on the temporariness of this situation. I will plant the rose bush when I can, and call it Mother's Day. Will work with mindfulness, and gratitude, and will accept the sadness as part of the experience of today.

But also, I am open to any tips or comments. I am sure anyone who has gone through this whole 2 stage experience has had days like that! What helped you?
 
My dear, I know one or two people whose husbands have dementia and know all too well how difficult it is to live with. And to have your perfectly natural desire to have a special remembrance activity for your mother block is also, as you said, bitter-sweet. Sometimes those things are all that help us cope with the loss. I remember it well.

My basic reasons for starting this 'no exercise' campaign is that it certainly did seem counter-intuitive to me to mix up strength training with 'recovery' therapy. These two are, in my opinion, poles apart and in no way compatible. And my surgeon wasn't too enthused about post-op physio either and more or less said 'please yourself what you do. So I did! And two knees later, I have the 'proof of the pudding' that this is the right way to go.

As far as hips go, I've worked with about 30 hip surgeons in my career and not one of them were emphatic about physio. They just told their patients to walk a little to start with and increase it bit by bit but that if they ever got any pain to back off until it settled. Imagine my consternation when I started to work on BoneSmart and found people were being made to do all this therapy! It sounded more like an Olympic training ground than THR recovery!

I have attended surgeon's conferences over these years where I would meet hip and knee surgeons from all over the world and would engage them in a discussion about this issue. To my surprise very few of them were in favour of excesses of therapy I reported to them. To be truthful, many of them didn't actually go as far as I did with it but when I told them, they were very warm to the idea.

More recently, I have managed to interest a professor of orthopaedics here in the UK and he is most interested and trying to interest some colleagues to apply for a research grant to investigate the theory. You can imagine how excited I am!
 
Three weeks out from surgery today! Can't say it has gone quickly, lol, but it has gone!

I had my appointment with the infectious disease doctor yesterday. So, it turns out his role in cases like this is not to monitor if the infection is improving, especially since it was so hard to find in the first place, but rather is, well, basically, to make sure the antibiotics don't kill me, lol! Well. Okay then.
Everything is good, kidney and liver function, white cell count, etc. I am still very anemic (directly due to surgery, as my hemoglobin was fine pre-op) but it is slowly improving. Hemoglobin and hematocrit are a little better each week. It is a slow process, and I am don't know that I can get it back up to good levels before then next surgery.

I wore real pants yesterday! Progress! Granted, they were stretchy baggy yoga pants, but they were mine, and they were not hospital pj bottoms! Yipee! I am going with @glynis 's suggestion, and switching over to skirts for the time being. But since I didn't have any that fit, I had to order some, and they aren't here yet.

No shoes yet though. The swelling in my leg and foot is much better, but not enough to get a shoe on. So I wore my yoga pants, a nice bright shirt, and house slippers. I felt spiffy!

Also, I managed the three stairs to get in and out of the condo much better this week. It was still painful and scary, but doable. Not even close to being able to manage the steps at home, but at least some forward motion.

@KcSweet1975 , how is it going? What changes have you noticed over this last week? I love being able to peek just a little ahead!

@Josephine: The whole issue of how much and what kind of activity post op is so interesting. My surgeon is much more in line with how you see it than some. With my previous hip replacements (anterior approach), he did not prescribe PT. We were just to continue the early basic movements they showed us in the hospital, as we could tolerate, and work on gradually increasing walking. That is it. I know other patients of other surgeons who were going *out* to PT several times a week! I shudder to think.... I had great recoveries from both surgeries.
Also, I know it is a little out of your area, but any tips as far as the anemia? I am taking a good quality iron supplement, per surgeon's instructions, making sure I eat something with a good vit c amount when I take or eat something with iron...anything else?
 
Thrilled that you are feeling so well! Three weeks out is generally a time of much improvement, or at least it was for me, too. Good work on the 3 stairs, and I hope you can figure out a solution as to where you will live while you continue to recover. I think I did my first flight of stairs at about 5 weeks post-op, and I had a regular THR so my recovery was way easier than yours with a spacer.
 
@Josephine and @Cynthia777 , thank you for the links, good information. @Krista , you did first real flight of stairs at 5 weeks, that is encouraging to me! There is hope that I will be able to conquer that and be able to go home well before the next surgery! Yay!

Thinking about nutrition, reading the articles, etc, caused me to realize I am not eating anywhere near enough for solid nutrition. *What* I eat is pretty good for the most part, but I am eating very little. No appetite, and when I get hungry and eat, I fill up pretty fast. And although I do have things prepared, truly, even just getting things on to a plate and heating it up doesn't feel worth the work sometimes.

I am thinking maybe I should eat on a schedule too, even if it is just a little bit each time. Although I could stand to lose about 15 pounds, that is most definitely NOT on my to-do list for this period of time! Optimal nutrition and enough healthy calories for healing are!
 
Absolutely, @dinsmaum, you need excellent nutrition right now, to fuel your healing! The nutrition articles here are very helpful and I'm glad you are getting inspired by them. It is possible your appetite will kick back into gear soon. I remember that I only ate because I had to for the first 3 weeks or so, forcing myself. Then my appetite came back, which made it so much easier to eat the food that I needed so much! I really like your idea of eating on a schedule. That makes good sense.
 
Hi @dinsmaum - just getting caught up with your thread. Regarding your stair problems, are you not able to get up the stairs inside with the aid of the banister and crutches or is it just outside where you have no banisters/aids on either side? I was able to manage stairs inside my home with my spacer. I had to pass this PT requirement before I left the hospital because I was going straight home and not to rehab.

Nutrition is so important for proper and speedy recovery! I remember reading the nutrition articles Josephine left you - lots of great information! I, too, had an iron deficiency but eventually it worked itself out. I was fortunate that I did have an appetite and tried to make sure protein was part of each meal. My incisions healed pretty rapdily and the nurses all said this was because of good nutrition. It was hard because I had to prepare them myself. Pretty exhausting with the spacer and walker!

You sound like you are doing very well!:yes!: Are you having much discomfort with the spacer or has that settled a bit for you?

Time seems to be moving quickly for you. Before you know it, you'll have your new hip! :flwrysmile:
 
@dinsmaum
Hello!!:) I am doing good! I go today to get the allergy test done and go to the infectious disease doctor tomorrow.
I am getting around really good! At times I do get sore especially a day after being on my feet more than I should so I pay attention to my body more and rest when needed. I do enjoy my afternoon naps though:)
Like you I'm so ready for the 2nd part of the surgery so I can get to healing and at least enjoy part of the summer with my kids and hubby and do activities we would like to do.
It sounds like your doing quite well:)
It is a different recovery and more restrictive but I'm making the best of it. I make a point to keep a normal routine daily and get up shower and put makeup on cause it makes you feel better. I'm sitting outside a lot just to get fresh air and take in the outside beauty and relax.
I will keep you posted on the visit tomorrow and let you know the plan going forward. Fingers crossed my labs are good and surgery is right around the corner.
Have a good day!


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@keepmovin : The stairs thing is puzzling, actually. It is kind of as if my hips and legs don't know what to do! Like the brain signal is not getting through right. Up with the good leg, down with the operated leg, but those legs really really want to reverse that, lol! And part of it is the stairs themselves. Pretty big steps up, outside, and very wide. I can reach one bannister, but truthfully, they are old and a bit wobbly. Six or seven big steps outside.
Inside I have a bannister about half way up, then it is just wall. There are about 16 steps up, if I am counting in my mind correctly, with a turn. I know last time I did fine with the walker after about a week.
I do have crutches at home. Have not been using them because I am pretty klutzy with them, and feel more stable with the walker, but maybe should consider it for stair going. Can you describe how you went up and down with crutch and bannister? I am having trouble picturing it.
I have to say, I have not tried the stairs at home, and am judging by the difficulty I have hear at the condo with three shallow steps. I am going to see if physical therapist will meet me at home to problem solve for those front steps.
@KcSweet1975 : I have been thinking it is time to get a little more structure and routine going. I think that is so important, and your post was a good reminder to me. Time to quit thinking about it and get going on it. My morning routine right consists of getting dressed, getting coffee, starting the antibiotic infusion, and turning on the computer. I also have not spent time outside, even though I *know* it is important. The barrier? No suitable chair to take outside, and often no help to do it. :-( The one chair I could take out there is too low to get up and down from safely. It just seems like this shouldn't be such a hard problem to solve, lol! I do get the door to the deck open as much as possible, and then can at least feel the breeze and hear the birds. :-)
Yes, keep me posted on your doctor visits and results!
 
@dinsmaum, the stairs at your home sound daunting. I'd worry about a wobbly bannister and bigger-than-normal steps. And inside your bannister only goes half-way up -- that is a problem! Ours are secured to 2 x 4's and are very sturdy, and go all the way up, otherwise I couldn't have managed. I handle stairs with a bannister and crutch like this. Surgical leg is right leg and bannister is on right. So I hold on to bannister with right hand and use crutch with left arm. I take them one at a time, leading with whichever leg is strongest, and getting whatever support I need from the bannister and the crutch to get my body up while leaning on the "better" leg. The trailing leg comes up very easily. Then I repeat. Going down is the opposite.

But you really need to have the wobbly bannister made more secure. And I don't see how you will ever be able to get up the flight inside with support that only goes half-way up for quite some time. Perhaps you could get it extended before you go home. Or you could have your bed and clothes downstairs until you are recovered enough to do stairs without support. Life is so darned difficult sometimes!
 
Please do as Krista suggests, and get your bannisters made safe. This is so important. If you don't know anyone who's good at this kind of thing, please engage a professional tradesman. Get him to make all your bannisters safe, indoor and outdoor, and fix some new ones on your blank area of wall. It may be expensive, but it will pay for itself in the long term. I use any bannister available, even now, 3 years after my second revision op.

Also, do try to arrange for a physiotherapist to meet you at home and show you the best technique for the stairs. In most UK hospitals you are not allowed to leave until you have shown you can manage stairs. I always found the stairs difficult, but there is a method to learn, which many people grasp quite well.

I wouldn't force yourself to eat more than your body is telling you it needs. I had zilch appetite after my 3 surgeries (original after accident, and 2 revision ops), and did lose some weight. I don't want to say too much about this, as it knows it goes against Bonesmart philosophy, but I feel that you are better placed to recover, and get back to an active life, if you are not carrying too much excess baggage. So long as you include plenty of protein-rich foods you will be helping with a good recovery.

And Krista is right about another thing: life is darned difficult!
 
Hi @dinsmaum @Krista and @glynis are absolutely correct regarding your banisters. The outside should be fixed and you need to secure the inside banisters in a safe manner for your own safety. You have a few things working against you right now - you are alone without help and you just went through surgery and now have, of all things, a spacer inside your hip. It's not even a suitable replacement. When I had the spacer, my worst fear was the possibility of falling, or accidently putting weight on my leg and it cracking inside. Maybe I missed something in your posts but I don't understand why you didn't get the proper PT help in the hospital before you left?

Once your banisters are secure, you will need to get comfortable with the crutches. I, too, used my walker to get around about 90% of the time, the other 10% I would use the crutches to get through narrow areas and to go up and down the stairs. It's exhausting because we can't put any weight on the leg so I would only take the trip once or twice a day.

@Krista explained to you how to use the crutches on one side and banister on the other for balance. For me, my banister is on the left, my spacer leg was on the right. Facing the stairs, I would grab the banister with my left hand and hold both crutches on my right. The crutches take up the weight on the right leg. My good, left leg would then take the first step up and take all the weight of my body. The right leg would then follow up, weightless, along with the crutches. I would then place the crutches on the step along side the right leg. Then repeat the process. I, too, had a landing and that was the hardest part because it is a wide landing. Coming down, you will reverse the process. The banister and crutches on both sides become your security and your balance. My husband was there spotting me the first few times. Perhaps you could ask a friend or neighbor to help you until you can grasp the technique.

"Life is darned difficult" sometimes (love this @krista:yes:), but hopefully we can help make it a bit more easier as you go through this phase of recovery.

Hope this helps a bit! I would like to see you safely through this part so you will be ready for the final stage, new hip and new beginnings!:SUNsmile:
 
@keepmovin ,@Krista ,@glynis : It is puzzling indeed why PT did not work with me on stairs before I left the hospital. That is standard procedure here too, and happened the last two times. It may be because I wasn't on the floor with the joint replacements, what they call " joint camp." There, everyone goes for PT together, and we learned all the tricks of managing too. This time I was down the hall and around the corner in neuro-ortho. The PT came down to see me once a day, and we took a walk, lol. I am not sure why I was on that section; I had a private room (unexpected and wonderful!) and didn't know if that was because I had an unknown infection, or if it was the only space available. My kids said they were hiding me from the regular joint camp patients, so as not to terrify them,lol! Any way, PT never came back to do the stairs thing, or getting in and of the car. Fortunately I remember it all well. The problem with the stairs is it isn't working like it did the other times. I managed the stairs with the walker and a spotter, was off the walker quickly, and managed well with the cane. While using the walker, I always had someone with me, and just went up at night and down in the morning.

Getting the outside railings tightened up should not be a problem. Needs to be done anyway. Inside is trickier. It will take someone with some real skill, and knowledge of older houses. But I suspect pushing against the wall is not going to do it for me this time around!

My son's work schedule has slowed down some, which is not good for him, but means I will have more help available when I get home. And have asked for, and received more help from friends, as I realized from your comments, and how I was feeling, that I was just not going to be as able as I had hoped.

I haven't been feeling well, physically, the last couple of days. More tired even than usual, feel weaker, everything feels hard, no appetite, and when I do eat, it doesn't feel so good in my tummy. Sometimes getting sweaty or clammy. But, no fever at all, incision area looks good. No telling what's up. Trying to not worry, just let it play out. And I hit a slump emotionally too. The first couple weeks when I was *so* miserable, I was all about let's get this second surgery going and get this over with. I still am, but with feeling some better, I am also feeling more dread about going through it all again. Of course, I have no desire to live with the spacer one minute longer than I need to, but thinking about the whole surgery and recovery process again, kind of makes me want to cry, ya' know? Guess my positive attitude needs a little adjusting, lol!
 
Bless your heart @dinsmaum! I'm so sorry you are traveling such a difficult journey. You have every right to feel down at times with what you're going through. It's hard enough to face the physical pain and limitations you are dealing with, let alone the added worries of getting your home prepared for your arrival. I'm praying that your spirits are lifted and you feel physically better very quickly. :prayer:
 
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