Hi Mike,
It looks like I just got to just about the end of your recovery saga after reading it for the last two days. I've really enjoyed your writing style and attention to detail. As has been said by various folks over and over again, everyone's experience is a bit different. I haven't seen anyone else mention a rehab hospital, for instance, but I imagine it's a great idea for someone normally living alone. Fortunately, when I was released on the fourth day, I had family members living at the house to help.
In my case I found I could taper off and stop my pain pills before they were all gone. This was partly due to the shocking price (profit margin?) of the meds. We laughingly considered selling them on the street to get more and recover the cost. Anyway, at this point I'm getting around okay with a cane and short jaunts around the house without. There is no pain, just some discomfort or a dull ache if I overdo things.
I go for x-rays and to see my surgeon on November 29, by which time I hope to be cleared to drive and not have to depend on others and cabs. When I asked him at 2 weeks post-op, he said 8 weeks before driving.
I was wondering what those TED socks you hate so much were, until I Googled them. I had something similar in the hospital, but without the feet, but they took them off after a couple of days. There seemed to be a disagreement among the nurses whether they were too tight or not and it felt good to have them off at night. When I got home, I received a bill for them!
But as I already said, everybody's experience is different. When I first went back for PT at the hospital out-patient department, the therapist concluded that I have what they called a "good hip", which explains the low pain level. I remember being asked in the hospital to rate my pain from 1 to 10 and at first it was 2 or 3, but by the third day it was 0 to 1. I also had high expectations based on what what a friend told me. He's 79 and had THR a couple of years ago using the minimally invasive procedure. He was riding his bike 4 weeks after the operation and logged 6k miles the first year. Of course, I'm not expecting anything like that due to my procedure being the conventional method.
Anyway, it was informative and a pleasure reading your account, and go easy on those 12-hour days. Fortunately I'm retired and don't have to put up with that anymore, although I've been getting called in to consult from time to time. In fact, the boss called me a week before my surgery, but I was in too much pain. Now I still have an excuse.
Australia
