@CanukTriMom /Cheryl I hope your surgery too goes as well as mine, but my main wish is that YOUR surgery goes as well as it is POSSIBLE for YOU.
When I get my other hip done, I may not have all of the same results (it would be VERY difficult to beat this surgery since there is so little room left for improvement over "near perfect".)
My physical condition definitely helped as did my mental strength, but likely these two attributes will be far more important when I get my BTKR (both knees) on Oct 21st. Knees are harder, two knees are harder still.
THE KEY item for the THR for me was the Anterior approach (which you are having), without that my quick early recovery would have literally been impossible
Merely the post-op PRECAUTIONS caused by the posterior approach would have stopped me from doing MANY things, and made me far less comfortable (crossing legs, adducting/legs together, breaking 90 degrees upper leg to body, twisting leg outward are all Verbotten with PA.)
Sitting on a (much larger) incision for the past 11 days would have been a real pain (literally and figuratively)
Consider DIPS and/or PUSH UPs if you are athletic as essential pre-surgery exercises -- if you aren't already using a cane etc., consider getting your cane NOW to train your arms to use it.
The cane might make you more comfortable in the next month while waiting for surgery. (You could do the same with crutches, but having an Anterior approach hip, I never used either walker or crutches, went straight to a cane 2 hours after surgery on my first "check out" walk.
[There are more advantages, e.g., I can take care of my own wound better if it is in front instead of behind me, but you are having an Anterior THR so the other differences aren't really important to you.]
A GREAT ANTERIOR SURGEON was certainly part of it as well, my surgery was actually a bit more difficult than the norm as he spent about 1/3 longer getting my surgery correct.
I really would not have wanted to do this with someone on the low side of 50 Anterior replacements and more than 500 is really better.
But to be clear, I would take a 500+ Anterior surgeon over a 2000-Posterior surgeon for the 2nd hip if my surgeon (Dodgin) isn't available then.
Exparel was perhaps ALMOST as important as a Great Surgeon -- this bought me 72 hours of NO PAIN in the joint, and for me this meant
NO PAIN AT ALL (literally a single 1/2 second flash of pain when I sneezed the night the Exparel wore off -- that was the ONLY thing that was painful in any significant way. My right thigh was a little stiff and sore to stand at first but only about like doing a bit much at the gym after a long layoff.)
Ask if you are getting Exparel and if not, ask WHY? I might not change surgeons but I would likely change hospitals to get it (the hospital anesthesiologists may have more to do with this than your surgeon). This stuff probably isn't allowed for everyone (is anything?) and there may be some surgeries where it makes no sense, or even something BETTER (someday?).
I asked Dr. Dodgin at my post-op followup on Monday (which was mostly a discussion of doing my knees in Oct),
Me: "Are we going to use Exparel again?"
Dodgin: "Yes, absolutely!"
Me: "Good, because otherwise I have to find another surgeon QUICK!"
Dodgin: <LAUGHING> (He actually has a great sense of humor.)
Knowledge: Bone Smart and the other fine people here helped me immensely, in ways they will never realize since much of that was my reading older threads rather than asking questions. Reading the list they provide to each person planning a replacement or recovering from one.
RICE: REST, ICE, COMPRESSION, and (proper) ELEVATION were keys to getting me ready for the Exparel to wear off. I knew that, but BoneSmart makes a mantra of it and emphasizes it so thoroughly, especially the explanation of the PROPER way to elevate. Check out the library or reading list.
GREAT ICE PACKS helped quite a bit I am sure. I used these (knee) wraps
https://www.amazon.com/Elasto-Gel-Cold-Wrap-3-9-Pound/dp/B000S5GKHY/?ie=UTF8&qid=1409460935&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Elasto Gel Hot/Cold Therapy Wrap 9" x24" which worked great for my hip. They are a little expensive ($40 on Amazon) and you need to order them now to get a good price.
Also, order enough. I only ordered 2 but Amazon accidentally doubled the order so I just kept the EXTRA 2, and was happy to pay for the mistake. 4 were enough, 6 would not have been too many (unless you have the Polar Ice therapy working well.)
Sometimes I wrapped 2 (especially at bedtime), one high including as much of my hip as feasible (my incision starts almost precisely at the "hip/body crease" and goes exactly 5" (12.5cm) on the slightly lateral side of the front of my thigh), the second one OVER but mostly below the first and down to the knee.
The straps on these pads are EASY to get set, and then easy to tighten as needed but I seldom could walk without having them drop so get to your resting place to put them on.
As a woman they will likely be easier for you to deal with (no not what you might be thinking) because your thigh is likely smaller than my 225 lb body offers. I could not always get the pad FULLY around HIGH on my thigh, but that is ok because the BACK of my thigh had NO issues and didn't really need to be covered by the pad and the straps stretched enough to make contact with the Velcro mating surface.
I iced through my (long) gym shorts or long gym pants OR I put a "tea cloth" (knapkin or thin towel) and never had any problem with frostbite etc.
Also note one of the few mistakes I made (didn't matter but it might have been important:
My polar ice machine was IN MY HOSPITAL ROOM when I woke up, but my focus was so dedicated to getting OUT and my pain level was ABSOLUTE ZERO (on the Kelvin scale) that I didn't notice or ask much about it (sitting in a box still sealed up.)
No one offered to set it up; no one offered me a single ice pack even though I was there and awake for about 6-7 hours (mostly waiting on the PT and then the surgeon to come back to release me.)
That was at least 5 hours of missed opportunity to ICE and ELEVATE (I was mostly resting and hips don't compress that well anyway.) Being in bed, the elevation wasn't so bad though. BUT NO ICE all day until I returned home.
MAKE SURE you or your surgery helper (spouse, friend, etc.) DEMAND they ice you even if you are only going to spend the day there.
FYI: For home use the Polar Ice is NOT QUITE worthless without your own ice machine or VERY mobile surgery helper who can run to the store a LOT to get more ice (at least once, maybe 2-4 times per day.) That silly thing will eat all the ice in the refrigerator ice maker in one swallow and still want more. I am buying or renting an ice machine for my knee recovery ($200-800 to buy, probably not getting it "plumbed" but using a portable type.) It wasn't critical in the THR since my recovery was so near to ideal.
I did a LOT of other research and this was very valuable as well. Not everyone should WATCH surgeries, some people would be disturbed too much thinking of them doing THAT "to me", but I watched many surgeries, and tried to find one on every element of my procedures (I was still considering knees first up until two weeks out.)
IF you are Ok with it, I would WATCH a couple of anterior surgeries MAYBE (for me this was more important because it was part of my decision process but you have that already decided.)
FYI: My WIFE wanted to watch but quickly changed her mind and I took it OFF the big screen TV to watch on my personal laptop -- and she wasn't even the one getting the surgery though that may happen by early next year.
MILD WARNING: If your anterior THR is anything like mine (and you get the Exparel) then your hip won't hurt (much or at all) but the LOWER HALF of your Quad down to just above the knee will likely be somewhat stiff and sore -- this was the ONLY (minor) issue with getting up from a low chair or the toilet.
For me this wasn't "true pain" but about a 1 (of 10) as if I had laid off tennis for a couple of years and then played 5 sets but somehow oddly only one thigh was sore. Or like you went to the gym and did too many leg presses with too much weight. Nothing drastic but "Hey, that's not exactly comfortable."
If you are prepared for that it makes dealing with it easier in my opinion but for me it really wasn't a deal.
Luck -- you can do everything right and get lucky or not -- best to set it up to create your own luck but sheep happens, so no matter what your condition on the other side, just start doing everything you can to make the best of it. (Mental strength matters the most if you get thrown a curve during your surgery or recovery.)
For example, I prepared as well as possible, especially MENTALLY, in case I spiked a fever or otherwise showed an infection. It was on my list of things to accept and MOVE ON with fixing.
Dips (closer to the real movement you'll need to get out of chairs, toilet, etc.) and pushups (easier to do at home) are to prep you for getting up and down with the assistance of your arms. Note you don't NEED to be able to do your entire body weight, because just HELP from your arms is usually enough.
Presumably you are needing some help already from your arms (or you wouldn't likely need the hip replacement.) While needing help from you arms is unfortunate it does help you prepare for post-op.
MISCELLANEOUS: I bought a LOT of accessories to make this easier but many of them were pretty optional (or worthless), or more relevant for when we do my THR in October. (Only two weeks before my surgery I decided to do the THR first; until then the plan had been BTKR first.)
My biggest decadence was an expensive La-Z-Boy Power Recliner to replace my broken down recliner but I need that for the next 10 years (I work from home and sit in it all day), this was just a good time to buy it and use it.
At some point I intend to post the full list of things I purchased and did or did not use, what helped or didn't etc.
Australia
I can only speak from the point of view of my THR recovery. The little I have read on the knee side of the forum, I get the impression TKR's take longer with recovery and I guess in your situation you are having multiple surgical assaults on your body in a reasonably short time. 
Oh, Herb, your recovery thread here reminds me that it can be just that easy -- my recovery from my first THR was just as "easy" as yours and now I'm working on convincing myself that it can be that way again -- you've nearly done it. 
Day #13 Post-Op 
Lot's of dips on the negative weight Nautilus. I am now doing multiple sets of 10 multiple times with about net 70 lbs. Not a lot but I am doing VERY deep for a full stretch and fully controlling the entire movement slowly.
and much of that is due to being able to share it with you kind folks, and of course the help everyone gave me to prepare which was a significant part of having such a near perfect experience. 
Thank you all and virtual hugs for everyone.
