Bilateral THR Aug.18 - a success!

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

@Hip Hip Hooray! I love your avatar! You and @Hipster Girl inspired me! We're makin' the joint look festive! I love yours, too. Isn't that Mr. White Christmas? The music and comedy in that one was brilliant.
I'll bet your stove does last forever. Those things are built to last. Yum about the homemade broth. There really is nothing better and it doesn't that long to make just a ton of it that can be frozen and used whenever you need it.
Potato leek soup...that sounds so delicious right now. Maybe my appetite is starting to come back. Yes, I've got to start freezing broth. It's so delicious when you make a soup stock. It's a great base. I think I'll make some homemade bread to go with the soup. Glad to hear that your appetite is starting to come back. My mom said that the pain killers really affected her taste. (in a negative way.) She didn't have her hips replaced, but she ws on meds for her heart.
The bads in Germany are amazing. I'm definitely going to miss that this winter.
I'm sorry your hips are hurting you. I imagine this will be something we will deal with throughout our lives. Our bodies hurt at times, even if the parts are brand new. The surrounding tissues and muscles will get aggravated from time to time and will likely worry us. I hope it settles down and that you're pain free soon. Thanks. It was very mild. I think it's just muscle soreness and aggravated tissue from the additional exercise. Muscle soreness feels totally different with hip implants as compared to God given hips. There's something foreign in there, and I have to remember that. It only lasted a day or two, though. No biggie.
I'll bet your little cottage looks so lovely and cozy with the decorations up! I love this time of year. I'm hoping we can get ours up sometime this week while the hubs is off work. Yeah, the decorating put me in a really good mood. I've been singing Christmas carols and buzzing around the house. It motivates me to do my cleaning, too.

Take good care of yourself, friend.

You too, @DeepBreath.

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Hi @Hipster Girl, My stove is white. The knobs are porcelain. They are so pretty! It reminds me of going to my aunt's house in San Franscisco, when we were growing up. She had an old Wedgewood stove. You had to light it with a match. It was very charming.

Yes, my hips are fine today. The pain disappeared. I'm still seeing great improvement, which is encouraging. Yesterday I found myself dancing around enthusiastically. I'm not doing anything technical, but I just feel excited and energized about the future. It's such a complete difference compared to last year.

I went though my dresser yesterday and tidied up all of my drawers. They look so nice now. It's amazing how much that affects my state of mind. I have some nice sweaters that were my mom's before she died. They look like new. Many are cashmere. So luxurious! It's getting colder, so I've been wearing them.

I'll have to check out those laser lights that you mentioned. I've thought of getting the solar ones for my outside conifers. We get a lot of sun, so they might work. That way I wouldn't have to deal with extension cords. I'm just happy that I can do it. My house is so small, I only need a couple of strands to light up the front. Less is more. It cracks me up when people fill the whole front yard with huge decorations this time of year.

Take care. Thanks for posting!

 

[Hipster Girl]

Hi @Hip Hip Hooray! well all know now is I want one of those Big Chill fridges in one of those awesome colors!

Funny, I watch HGTV all the time and everyone wants stainless appliances...not that there is anything wrong with stainless but EVERYBODY has it. I love something like yours that is unique and out of the ordinary....it really stands out and is so refreshing.

The porcelain knobs on your stove do sound pretty. I remember those old gas stoves that had to be lit with a match. I don't think the modern ones do, do they?

That must be a good feeling to get your drawers all organized. The cashmere sweaters sound lovely!

I'm glad to hear the pain in your hips is gone today and that you are dancing around your house. Being excited and energized for the future is such a wonderful byproduct of this surgery!

The official website for those laser lights is broken link removed: https://getstarshower.com but I bought mine at Bed Bath & Beyond. You can go to the official website though to see what they look like. I'm still waiting for my son to put it in the yard so I can't speak from experience but I had called their customer service line to see if I should get a remote that I could control from the inside, and they told me the lights turn on automatically at dark and turn off when it's light. So I didn't bother getting the remote.

 

[DeepBreath]

@Hip Hip Hooray! I hope your day was wonderful. I love that you're wearing you mom's beautiful sweaters. It sounds like you're getting a hug from her.

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Hi @Hipster Girl, I keep looking for your old avatar...the one with the flowers. Thanks for you post. You always sound so positive. I checked out that website. I'm trying to decide whether I should go with those, or just buy new lights and put them up manually. I always dread doing it, but then I love how it looks. My front yard is very small, so I'm not sure I have enough space for the laser lights to work. Let me know how you like yours. They sure seem much easier.

My oven doesn't have to be lit with a match. I had it brought up to code. He took it from eight pilot lights down to two! It has a safety, too. I know what you mean about stainless steel. It's very popular, but not my style. I love the vintage kitchens. They just make me happy. I refer to my fridge as my Mercedes. Some people spend their money on fancy cars. I spent mine on extravagant appliances. They're really good quality, though. I use them every day.

Thanks @DeepBreath. The sweaters are really soft and warm. The older I get, the more I appreciate good wool, cashmere, and alpaca. It feels so natural to me.

Yesterday I did some Hatha yoga at home. I'm really getting more flexible. I read through a recovery thread on this forum by a yoga teacher named Elle. It was really inspiring. It felt great to do all of the basic poses. My hips still don't like external rotation, so I don't do those. It seems like the yoga is really helping with the healing. I still ride the bike each day with the dogs. I went to the gym last night just to use the sauna and jacuzzi. I think it's really beneficial. Sweating out the toxins always feels healthy to me, too. I don't sweat the way I used to when I was taking dance classes every day.

I think either the swimming or weights caused the pain in my hips. It went away after a day. I've been really fortunate with this recovery. I've really had to carefully test the waters, as far as exercise. I think I was getting a little too gung ho, in anticipations of rehearsals. I'll just enjoy the fact that I don't have a job right now, since it gives me more time to heal completely.

I hope everyone here is doing well and getting better.

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

I just got a letter from Blue Shield. I was hoping it was my reimbursement check for the surgery. It was a letter saying they canceled my policy on October 1st! I was wondering why I hadn't received my bill for Dec. yet. I checked, and they cashed my check for both October and November. I tried to call, but got a machine. I'll deal with this first thing in the morning.

 

[Jaycey]

OMG - can they just cancel without giving you any notice? That's terrible @Hip Hip Hooray! Will you be out of pocket at all?

 

[CricketHip]

Nooooo! they can't cancel your policy without any notice! Especially since you have the cancelled checks for October and November. Besides, your surgery was in August! So at least that will be covered even if they did indeed cancel your policy in October.. I am sorry you have to fuss with this.
When I have time I will go back and catch up with your thread, looks like i've missed a lot.

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

OMG - can they just cancel without giving you any notice? That's terrible @Hip Hip Hooray! Will you be out of pocket at all?

@Jaycey, I'm hoping it was a mix up. I switched to Blue Shield's Silver Plan in August, because they covered my surgeon, the hospital where he does surgery, etc. They paid their percentage to Blue Shield, and I paid the difference. So far, I've spent about $21,000. $13,000. of that was to Dr. Matta. They are supposed to reimburse me for part of that. They sent me a letter right before the surgery saying he was an out of network doctor. I had already made sure he was in network by calling Covered CA when I switched. Dr. Matta doesn't bill through insurance, though. Now I can see why. I tried to call this morning, but they weren't open yet. I should be able to sort it out.

My follow up appt. was in October, and they took several xrays. Fortunately, I paid my bill early, and I can prove that the checks were cashed.

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Nooooo! they can't cancel your policy without any notice! Especially since you have the cancelled checks for October and November. Besides, your surgery was in August! So at least that will be covered even if they did indeed cancel your policy in October.. I am sorry you have to fuss with this.
When I have time I will go back and catch up with your thread, looks like i've missed a lot.

Yeah, it's strange. I didn't get a bill for December, or a letter. There's a phone number at the bottom of the letter. I'll call Covered California and see what is happening. I think they might have switched me to Medical, because I haven't found a job yet. I'll check.

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Yesterday was a great day. I went to CVS and bought some Holiday lights on sale. I put up a few strands of icicle lights around the front porch. I hung lots of colored LED lights on the two Christmas trees that I have growing in my front yard. It looks really festive. I also raked up a lot of leaves that were laying on the ground. I feel so much better! I went outside and gazed at the front of the house after it got dark. It gave me such a good feeling to see it look the way I had imagined (years ago,) when I first planted those tiny trees. Now they are as tall as the house, and they look lush, green, and healthy.

I made tacos for dinner. I've been organizing my drawers and cupboards. I plan to do more of that today. It's our watering day, so I'll be out in the garden. (We're only allowed to water twice a week in California.) I've got lots of leaves to add to the compost pile. The pineapple guavas need to be picked, too.

Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for the posts!

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

I spent most of yesterday morning on the phone with Covered California, Medical, and Blue Shield. It turns out I'm in the system for MediCal, because of my income. There was an error, and my income ended up being higher than I reported. So, I had to fax proof of income to a representative at Medical. Once he takes me out of the system, then I can get my health insurance reinstated with Blue Shield. It's hard to get through to Medical. I kept getting recording after recording, but I stayed on the line. The woman was really helpful and gave me the information I needed.

My hips feel great. I'm going to the gym today. I made a cream of cauliflower soup yesterday with the leftover chicken carcass and stock. I went to my knitting group and had a good time. I stopped at the library and checked out a couple of library books. I've been reading this morning, and it's really relaxing.

I realized yesterday that I'm really lucky that I don't have hot flashes, weight gain, or night sweats at my age. I'm also able to sleep deeply. Before the surgery, I was awake a lot at night, because of the pain. I think my hormones were kind of off, too. When I couldn't sleep, I felt like my body rhythms were off. Now I feel back in syc. I'm much more relaxed, and I don't feel worried. I can do the things that relax me like yoga, gardening, and exercise. I think a lot of women experience a double whammy with needing a hip replacement during menopause. The medications make it more challenging.

I'm using more fresh herbs again. I have a clove of fresh garlic every night. I put homegrown parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme in my soups. I add ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg to my morning coffee.
(I sprinkle it on top of the grounds before I add the water.) I've always responded well to herbs.

I hope everyone is healing and doing well...I've got to catch up on your thread, @CricketHip.

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

I just ordered a book on water exercise for hips by Linda Huey. They just put out a second edition in October. Her website is www.completept.com. She works with a lot of professional athletes. She's in incredible shape. I've heard good things about her classes. I'm going to study the book, and see if I can do the exercises in our pool at the gym. I might drive down there and try a class, too. It looks kind of intense, but they also have a gentler workout. A ballet teacher I know took her class after having her hips replaced, and she raved about it.

 

[DeepBreath]

@Hip Hip Hooray! You have been so wonderful and supportive to me and I am just now catching up on my forum reading. I am so sorry to hear about the issues you are having with your insurance. ARGH! Stuff like that really burns me up. I hope you are able to get it all sorted quickly. *Hugs*
Other than that though it sounds like you are doing great. I love to hear about your Holiday decorating and the yummy dishes you've been preparing.
Also, Yipee on not having night sweats, weight gain, etc! I think your excellent exercise and eating practices have a lot to do with that.
I'm going to check out the water exercises by Linda Huey. That sounds amazing!

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Thank you, @DeepBreath. Your posts have really helped me through this, too. I needed to talk about it, but didn't want to bore people in my life that haven't had the surgery. They don't find it as fascinating as I do...

Yesterday I tried doing a handstand. I was nervous about it. I popped right up, with no pain, on the first try. I felt jubilant. I love inversions, they're my favorite part of yoga. They are so energizing. I think I might go swimming today. I've been doing the breast stroke, not realizing that we're not supposed to do it for the first few months. Oops. I only rotated outward slightly, though. Maybe that's why I was sore. I've never been able to do the crawl, I just don't have the coordination. I always liked the breast stroke on my stomach, and the elementary backstroke returning. I repeat those two, over and over. I use the kickboard for a couple of laps, too. We'll see. I'm able to add a couple new yoga positions each day. It's exciting to be progressing, slowly...

Complete PT is accepting applications from physical therapists. I don't have a college degree, but I do have 30 years experience teaching yoga and dance. I might apply, anyway. I feel like it would be really helpful to have someone on site who has had their hips replaced. That was the one thing I really wished for when doing PT in the hospital. It surprised me how some of the nurses thought they knew what it felt like to have a bilateral hip replacement. They really had no idea...I didn't want to be negative or argumentative, but part of me wanted to educate them. I guess it's kind of like going through childbirth. I did explain to some of them how it felt, and they seemed kind of shocked. One said, "Oh, I've never had a patient who has had both hips replaced at the same time." She just didn't understand that I needed a few days of sleep and rest before wanting to get physical.

The one lesson I really got from this experience was "Listen to your body." Because of the posts I read here, I told the doctors and PT, "I have to wait and see what the delayed reaction is before I'm going to do more." My surgeon nodded.

 

[DeepBreath]

@Hip Hip Hooray! I so agree with you about loving the sounding board we have here. Even if we have wonderful, concerned family and friends in our personal lives, if they haven't been through it they truly cannot understand. Nothing against them, it's just a fact.
Your analogy about child birth is apt. You can try to explain it using all the colorful metaphors available, but that is also something that's extremely difficult to get across.
Since having my second hip done I have gained even more respect for you bilateral folks. I honestly do not know how you do it. Sorry for the TMI, but when I use the restroom, especially in these early days, I wonder how on earth you guys manage. I have to be very conscious of now 'babying' the hip that was doing most of the work last time.
I'm not terribly sure I am coordinated enough to have been able to navigate a bilateral THR.

Yaay about the handstand! That's awesome. I am looking forward to being able to swim. I think that will help a lot in my recovery.

For what it's worth, I think you'd be a great addition to Complete PT. How amazing would it be to have a PT who has actually gone through the process? It would be invaluable.
I agree that the things we learn here are so important. I don't think I would have been able to advocate for myself nearly as well if I hadn't learned so many valuable lessons here beforhand.
Listening to your body is absolutely necessary going forward. I say to myself at least once a day, "This is not a sprint; it is a marathon". Wise words indeed.

I hope you have a terrific day.

 

[Hipster Girl]

Hi @Hip Hip Hooray! So sorry to hear about the mess with your insurance. I've had a couple insurance glitches since my surgeries and they are no fun to try to sort out. It can be exasperating.

Thanks for sharing that website; I am looking at it now and it is very interesting. I think you would make a great PT and am glad you applied - you never know, this hip surgery just might be the catalyst for a new career.

I couldn't agree more about the nurses and PTs who have no idea what it is like to actually go through this surgery. I had some rehab assistants that were clueless with some of the things they did, like one of them who twisted my leg all over the place trying to get my TED hose on, or lowering the hospital bed super low every time so that it would strain my hips if I tried to get on. Over and over, I had to ask these people to raise the bed so I could get on/off easier. They were clueless.

Too cool on the headstand - that must have felt great to be able to do that!

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Hi @DeepBreath, I think I was very fortunate with my bilateral. I had built up my abs and upper body by going to the gym every day. That helped me a lot. I'm light, so I didn't have to use my legs very much. The walker really worked for me. I had a raised toilet seat with bars, which made using the toilet much easier. I also used a commode near where I slept the first couple nights at home. (I slept on the couch as first, and my dad slept in the bedroom.) That way I only had to walk a few steps, (with the walker,) to the commode. Oh, and I was able to put weight on both legs right away, so that made a big difference, too. I was very lucky.

Yes, the swimming is therapeutic. It's taken me quite a while to do it without feeling discomfort the next day. I'm not really sure why. I think it was aggravating the soft tissues. I went again yesterday, and added side stroke and backstroke. I'm slowly building up my time. It felt really good. The kicking gets deep inside the joint. I'm excited my Linda Huey's new book to arrive, so I can try some of those exercises in the pool. The three month mark seems to have made a big difference.

Thanks for the encouragement on the handstand. It felt great. Before the surgery, I didn't think I would ever be able to do a handstand again. It's exciting to be going uphill now, instead of downhill...

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Hi @Hipster Girl, Yes, I am new to insurance issues. It takes a lot of time and patience. I'm documenting everything, which helps.

Thanks for the encouragement as far as working in PT. I'm just following every intuitive hit that I get as far as my career. It will be interesting to see what develops.

I was lucky with my nurses, but like you, I kept thinking, "They have no clue what this feels like..." I guess there's no way that they can, without experiencing it.

I'm feeling really energized lately. It's fun to be able to gradually add new poses into the yoga, and to see and feel the improvement. While taking a bath, I was able to use the pumice stone on the bottom of my feet last night. I stood in the tub, and put the ankle of the foot I was scrubbing on the knee of the opposite leg. That's a huge deal for me. I didn't have the external rotation to do that until now.

My winter vegetable garden is producing well, so I've been eating a lot of salads and greens. I feel like it helps my hormones to get that plant estrogen. My navel oranges are ripe now, and they are really juicy and delicious! An orange from a backyard orchard tastes entirely different than one from the grocery store.

I hope everyone is moving forward in their recovery. Thanks for the posts and good vibes!

 

[Hipster Girl]

oops @Hip Hip Hooray! i said headstand, didn't I? And you did a handstand.....headstand/handstand, they are both things I can't do,

That is a big milestone to be able to use the pumice stone on your feet! How encouraging to see you are starting to have more external rotation like that! Is that one of those things that just kind of happened organically and one day it was just "ready"? Also curious, is there a trick to getting into & out of the tub? I don't know of any way I could get into my tub right now but maybe there is a method I don't know about. It never occurred to me to ask my OT but then again, she only came to my home for one visit to evaluate, and at that time, all I was worried about was how I would shower.

Your salads and oranges sound so good and healthy. It is wonderful that you have your own garden and can grow even into the winter months. Eating well is so important, especially as we are healing.

Keep up the great recovery - you sound like you are doing very well!