THR And now the healing begins

[Layla]

It seems you had a productive session with, Daniel, today. Chris and Daniel sound like a good team and thankfully you have an understanding with each of them. Daniel lent a compassionate ear and also expressed his satisfaction in working with you which is endearing. I like that neither of them try forcing you to engage in painful movement.

I believe the emotional times you described have to do with the Post Op Blues, which is common, to varying degrees and normally short lived. I hope each day feels brighter than the last. We’re here for you always, lean in when you need to.
@wander03
https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/post-op-blues-is-a-reality-be-prepared-for-it.7591/

 

[wander03]

@Layla After reading the article Jennifer sent yesterday and discussing my feelings with Jennifer and with Daniel as they relate to our working relationship, I seem to be feeling better today. Jennifer and Pete came down for about five hours. Jennifer did several things that I needed done around the house. I rode with her again on two outings; one to pick up our lunch curbside, and one to buy stamps at the post office (she went in and purchased LOVE stamps for me), and to get double-dip ice cream cones from Baskin-Robbins. Yum.

Jennifer questioned the wisdom of my riding with her after the fatigue I had after last Saturday’s two outings. Since I have not gone anywhere since last Saturday, she decided that it might do me good to go out. I think she was right. We both noticed that I was able to get into the vehicle more easily; last Saturday she had to lift my legs in. I think I have made good progress during the week.

The morning of Tuesday the 12th, I see Dr. Bradshaw’s Physician Assistant, Lynn Fuhrmann, for removal of my bandage and its replacement with sutures. At least that is what was done during the post-op appointment two weeks after my right THR. Bonnie is taking me because I am still taking pain meds, and one is not advised to drive while on pain meds. After the appointment, I am buying Bonnie lunch at the Cafe in Mercy Ortheopedic Hospital. Then I will come home and ice while on the Lounge Doctor.

Other than that and two in-home physical therapy sessions, I intend to take it easy next week and continue my slow, relaxed recovery. I think I have made marked progress during the last week, so I plan to continue the same basic regimen.

I hope you have an enjoyable Sunday.

 

[Layla]

I’m glad you’re feeling better after your talks with Jennifer and Daniel. I think it’s great you were able to get out today, even if it was only a car ride. The change of scenery makes you feel like you’re part of the world again. Also, how encouraging to realize you were able to access the car with more ease than a week ago. Bravo!

I believe you’ll enjoy your visit with the PA on Tuesday when I’m sure you’ll receive reassurance on how well you’re doing. Lunch and time spent with friends is always a mood booster. You can also look forward to your in home PT sessions now that they have a clear understanding of what you will and won’t do. Both Daniel and Chris sound personable so I’m sure their visits are enjoyable.
Have a great Sunday!
@wander03

 

[CricketHip]

Hello Wander.. you are doing so well. I love how you document where you are in your recovery.

Good for you for speaking with Jennifer and Daniel, also. Communication is so important for our recoveries.

I hope you have an enjoyable Sunday, too!!

 

[Zoebichon]

Other than that and two in-home physical therapy sessions, I intend to take it easy next week and continue my slow, relaxed recovery. I think I have made marked progress during the last week, so I plan to continue the same basic regimen.

I love your descriptions of your slow and relaxed recovery. I had a similar approach, spending my days (and afternoons and evenings!) with my legs up on my Lounge Doctor, often icing. I never went anywhere, except my 2 week appointment, for 6 weeks. But I loved it and never had cabin fever! I did do short walks outdoors up and down the sidewalk in front of the house.

In reading dozens of recovery stories prior to my surgery, one in particular really stuck in my mind, and I patterned my recovery after hers. It was from years ago and her user name was An54. She called her recovery her Rest Cure!

 

[wander03]

@Zoebichon I‘m with you. I rarely had cabin fever during recovery from my right THR, and I have had none during this recovery from my left THR. If I want some fresh air, I have a deck on the back of my house with several seating options. However, I rarely go out there, mostly because my doing so upsets the deck cats, and they scamper away. When they choose to relax in a chair on the deck, they consider it their domain. I only give Mickie, who has been here since she was born to Ricki about six years ago, and Mama Kitty, who is one of Micki’s daughters, first option on the deck. If any of the other five or six feral cats in the neighborhood (all being in the lineage of Ricki) are on the deck and I want to go out, I give myself priority. But even then I don’t go out there very often. Particularly in the first weeks, I want to keep the incision area extended as much as possible while it is healing to forego any later discomfort. I had a foldable chaise on the deck at one time, but all of the kittens, and there have been many, played on and about it and totally destroyed it. I have some videos of how cute they were. I think kittens are adorable.

Most of my walking is inside my house. My mailbox is on the curb in front of my house, and when I was having a particularly difficult time walking after my right THR, I obtained a permit for my mail to be placed in a mailbox I had Jennifer attach to the front of my house. If I walk around outside in public view, I’m quite certain I would be considered able to walk to the curb for my mail. I will need to forego the special treatment in the not-too-distant future and have the postal carrier resume using the mailbox on the curb. I am definitely going to notify the post office after I am able to walk unassisted, or at least with only a cane, so the mail can once again be deposited in the curbside mailbox, but I’m not there yet.

I did a search for @An54 but did not get any results. I wanted to read about her Rest Cure. It sounds like the three of us have a nice, relaxed idea of recovery. I think one reason I have so enjoyed the downtime during my recoveries, this being the third one in a year, is that I was always driven to be doing something productive. I have always put all my energy into whatever I was doing, whether working or playing. I had already slowed down some before my right TKR last July since my knee had been problematic for two to three years prior. I went to one OS for a year who said I did not need a knee replacement. He gave me shots in my knee that did not help. When he retired, the OS that he suggested I start seeing, in the same health system, looked at the x-rays taken a year or so earlier when I started seeing OS #1, and the first thing OS #2 said was that the only thing that would help me was a TKR, so that was the first of three joint replacements.

Although I have enjoyed and am enjoying the downtime during my recoveries, I am looking forward to being able to walk unassisted, hike, and go on trips with Jennifer among other things. We have always had such a good time on our trips, but when I am not comfortably mobile, it’s not as much fun. My right knee became more problematic after the summer of 2019. I call the summer of 2019 our “summer of music concerts.” Jennifer and I went to a large number of music concerts including Rod Stewart, Boy George, Kris Kristofferson, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, The Johnny Cash Heritage Music Festival, and numerous others. It was an exceptionally fun summer. A road trip to the Minneapolis area and maybe on to Traverse City, Michigan, where one of my brothers and his wife live, is my #1 priority for the summer of 2023. I hope gasoline prices have gone down some by then.

I am keeping up with your recovery thread, and it is obvious you are doing great! I am particularly interested in the opinions concerning squatting. If you are comfortable squatting, the advice Is to listen to your own body. However, I am more with @Layla in her opinion on that. Taking it slow and easy is my style these days.

 

[Zoebichon]

An54… I found her recovery stories again! The title is heal first, then exercise, then dance!

l enjoyed hearing all about your feral cats.

 

[wander03]

@Zoebichon Thanks for the thread title.

 

[Doglover7]

You can buy another chaise lounge but where can you buy the entertainment value of watching playing...priceless.

 

[Layla]

Here is a link to An54’s thread.

Well, after multiple tries, it’s not allowing me to link you to her thread!
Try this -
Tap on her name (in blue) above in your last update.
Then when a small box with her avatar pops up, tap / click on that
Next, tap the small white box with the drop down arrow that says “Find”
Next tap “all threads by An54” and several threads that she started will show up.
Her recovery thread is listed last titled “Heal first, then exercise, then dance!”
Enjoy!
@wander03

 

[wander03]

@Layla Following your directions. I am linked with the recovery thread of An54, all 32 pages. Thank you!

 

[wander03]

@Layla @skigirl I have read pages 1 through 20 of the recovery thread of @An54. I am to the time right after the 4th month in her progress. I plan to finish reading it tomorrow afternoon. As skigirl observed, my approach appears to be similar to that of An54. I am mixing some formal PT with my slow and easy approach, but only to the extent that I am comfortable. Chris was here today, and I was quite tired after the relatively light PT. Part of that may be attributable to my backing off pain meds, which I talk about later.

Today is my two-week-aversary. I think I have made relatively good progress. I have to remind myself that two weeks is not very long. I told the man for whom I had worked for the two weeks before my surgery that I thought I would probably be able to start back working in a week or two. That was certainly overly optimistic. I sat in my office chair for a short while one day last week, and that was not comfortable for my hip. Also, I still have some fatigue problems, and my emotional response to situations is not consistent. Since most of my work is talking with people about leasing their mineral interests, I need to know that I can respond appropriately instead of react. I plan to send an email tomorrow letting him know that it will be a while longer before I return to working. I don’t think it would be wise in the long run to go back before I think I am ready to do so. That would be “penny wise and dollar foolish,“ as my Mother used to say.

I took a 5-325mg hydrocod/acetam tablet (a 10mg cut in half) about 4:00 yesterday afternoon. I kept adding an hour at a time to the time before I was going to take another one. I haven’t yet taken more. When I came home from the hospital, my dose was 10mg every four hours up to 6X a day. I took the allowed dosage for about three or four days (I wish I had kept a record like I did last time) and then started cutting the tablets in half and not religiously taking them every four hours. I did not taper off in a planned manner as I did after I had taken pain meds for about five weeks last fall, but I did taper off some. I think the planned manner works better because I am feeling a bit down today.

I called Jennifer late this afternoon to get her reassurance that the way I am feeling is because of withdrawal from the pain meds. She assured me that it is, and that I have gone through this 3X before. I am having some discomfort in my left hip, but it’s not actually painful, so I plan to persevere and not take more pain meds since I will have to go through withdrawal at some point in time. I recall having read in BoneSmart guidelines that one does not need to be concerned about using pain meds for extended periods of time. That may be true for some people, but since I have an addictive personality, I think it is better for me to err on the side of caution.

I am seeing Dr. Bradshaw’s Physician Assistant tomorrow morning. I expect that the bandage will be removed and sutures applied over the incision if they treat it the same as they did my right hip. It seems like I had just regained some physical energy and strength instead of feeling fatigued most of the time, and then had my left THR, and it seems like I am right back where I started from about three months ago after my right THR. But I can look forward to regaining my energy and strength again and not having another major surgery scheduled. I have had three major surgenies in less than a year. I suppose that is no small thing.

 

[Mojo333]

No small thing at all @wander03
Glad you are taking more time off....
that Energy Drain discussed in our recovery guidelines is no joke!

 

[Layla]

I’ll bet you’re enjoying An54’s thread. I found her interesting and obviously liked her laid back approach to recovery.

I‘m not surprised you need more time off work. Concentration was an issue for me also.

Best Wishes for your visit with the PA today! Let us know how it goes.

As far as fatigue, with three major surgeries all within a year, it’s no wonder you’re tired! That is a lot to recover from. I’d view the next year, from your most recent surgery, as a year of recovery, from all. Take it slow, be gentle on yourself and allow your body to heal at it’s own pace. I found the Activity Progression in the Recovery Guidelines HERE a useful gauge for the first two months. Get lots of rest, stay adequately hydrated, concentrate on healthy nutrition, ice as tolerated, and engage in activity as your energy level allows, sometimes through trial and error.
I think you’re doing well and hope you have a great week!
@wander03

 

[wander03]

@Mojo333 @Layla I am really feeling the lack of energy right now. I am amused that I thought I would be able to start working again after two weeks. Bonnie drove me to see the Physician Assistant. I used a cane instead of a walker. I managed to walk back to get an x-ray and into the exam room.

I need to correct something. The bandage was taken off today, but sterile strips were put over the incision, not sutures. Silly me. The X-ray of my left hip perfectly matches the X-ray of my right hip. Twin hips. Danielle, Dr. Bradshaw‘s PA, whom I saw today, was in the operating room. I asked her about the difficulty of removing the hip bone (I guess that is what is done), and she confirmed that it was a real struggle.

Danielle said the nurse who overdosed me on drugs in the recovery room said she was just trying to help me with my pain. Danielle said if the nurse ever does anything like what she did to me again, she will be fired. I said I hope if she does it again, the person tells someone about it. This is a rare case in which I think more than talking with the nurse is in order. The nurse could kill someone if she does it again. Had I not had such a smooth, uneventful recovery-room experience in March, I might not have realized how unacceptable the treatment I received in the recovery room this time was.

After we left the exam room, Bonnie pushed me in a wheel chair to the front entrance. I was totally pooped. We then drove next door to Mercy Orthopedic Hospital and ate at the Cafe. The salmon was good as usual, but I think I want to eat somewhere else the next time I eat out. I tend to enjoy something until I burn out on it. I have burned out on the Cafe. I managed to make it to the portico where Bonnie picked me up. I am very happy to be in my lift chair now. I’m glad I don’t need to leave the house for anything that I know of until next Tuesday, the 19th.

I reviewed the Activity Progression in the Recovery Guidelines a couple of days ago. I need to refer to them occasionally to assure myself that my slow recovery is acceptable. Thanks for the link. Thank you, also, for the encouragement. It helps to be among people who have been there and understand what recovery involves.

 

[Layla]

Glad to hear all went well today!

Danielle said the nurse who overdosed me on drugs in the recovery room said she was just trying to help me with my pain. Danielle said if the nurse ever does anything like what she did to me again, she will be fired.

Was this incident reported / recorded? If not, it seems it should be so it can be investigated and the nurse held accountable, if necessary, so it never happens to another under her care.

I reviewed the Activity Progression in the Recovery Guidelines a couple of days ago

I liked that article for a point of reference. As you can imagine, some members excel and some lag behind, both are fine, it’s a rough gauge. I liked it because I really didn’t have any desire to land in the ODIC, so I referenced it often, following it loosely. At some point we’re going to update the activity listed and I believe include activity more inclusive of men since a lot of what is mentioned is traditionally domestic chores carried out by females.

I am really feeling the lack of energy right now

After we left the exam room, Bonnie pushed me in a wheel chair to the front entrance. I was totally pooped.

Good old energy drain....you're not alone in experiencing that. It certainly doesn’t take much to wear us out early on and since you’re only 15 days post op, it’s not surprising. Our body's energy supply isn't limitless. So when we're in healing mode after major surgery our energy will be used for healing first, not leaving a great reserve for all the other activity of daily life. It is completely normal to feel tired for quite some time. How long....most likely relates to your body's rate of healing. Making our best effort to get adequate sleep and rest is beneficial. Our body does it's best healing while we're sleeping. So snooze whenever you feel the urge. A peaceful evening to you!

 

[wander03]

@Layla Danielle inferred that the incident in the recovery room had been reported and recorded. But I am going to ask Dr. Bradshaw about it to make certain that it was when I see him in four weeks on August 9.

Thank you for your continued input and advice. It helps to keep me going.

 

[Layla]

You’re welcome, dear wander.
@wander03

 

[wander03]

@Beejust I noticed that you liked three of my posts from my first THR. Thank you. I had my second THR on June 27.

I’m watching for you to start your own pre-op thread so we can share your journey with you. I have found that it helps a lot to have the advice and support of people who have taken the same journey. With the materials available on BoneSmart, you can be well prepared for your surgery and have a more successful recovery.

The best of luck to you!

 

[Jaycey]

@wander03 You will notice I moved your post above from the August group thread to your recovery thread as that thread is only for listing members who are having surgery in the same month. Beejust is welcome to have a conversation with you here.