THR Bad hips!!

[maryo52]

I can feel your anger and have been there recently myself. I mean, I got an infected TKR, pretty lousy. I was mad in the Spring when I had surgery for melanoma. I think anger is a healthy response to feeling curtailed in our efforts to stay fit and health, andy I'm like you, always doing physical stuff. I have friends who are healthy and in their 70s who smoke like chimneys or drink like fishes, just having a good time. Unfair! Let yourself be angry as you work through this. I also feel as if I'm losing grip on my health. I have a chance to work as part time school nurse this year, which I love, but I'm wondering if I ought instead to make a commitment to my physical fitness, e.g. gym, swimming, biking

 

[skigirl]

Mary I have almost decided that my anger reaction is fear---fear of the unknown, fear of loosing my physical condition, fear of losing control of my life. I get angry, then, when the anger is too hard to sustain (after all being angry all the time, is time consuming and takes a lot of work)! Like my people, i find acceptance and then scurry around to see how I can make things better.

I don't want to give up, I have always been physically strong and I have loved my life, playing soccer and ice hockey, being a ski instructor, becoming a really good skier, loving to dance and bike.

My life was interrupted in a major way when I lost Bob, but 4 years later I am happy again and I love my grandchildren. I was willing to give up some things--like now I am a midwestern skier!!! But I am not willing to let go of my physical life. I will deal with these hips which are slowing me down and then go as far as I can, back to a life full of sports and travel. I am not afraid, I have survived worse than this interlude. It will take time and frankly, rehabbing a joint is boring!! First you have to get through the worst of the pain and then you have to slowly resume your life and go back to leg lifts to get the legs moving again. The first two months of my knee surgeries I read 30 or 40 books. But really, a lot of the time I was bored out of my mind---just wanting to take a hike or a bike ride and knowing that my body would rebel.

When you finally get past that ugly stage of rehab---you never want to enter that door again--yet, here we are. As I often told my kids, life is not fair---it is easier to face that and move on!!

 

[skigirl]

Just came back from my second opinion. A very nice doc who does anterior hips, which is the approach I want for myself. He felt that although my hips are bone on bone, hip surgery is elective, rarely an emergency. So, I am going to wait until after ski season to have my hips done. Unfortunately, this doc does not do two at once---he feels the blood loss is too great and he pointed out that I am borderline anemic.

He told me that if I get into pain during ski season, I could have a cortisone injection to get through.
I am going on a feb ski trip with my son, so I could cut the season short if I was in a lot of pain---but frankly with my knees I can handle some pain for skiing.

I find the burden of arthritis to be a literal pain---I think we underestimate the fact that every joint has arthritis, it is a serious illness. I feel comfortable waiting, I am just not ready to submit to a hip replacement. I waited for my knees until I could not more forward and I don't regret that. He did agree to out patient surgery as I don't want to stay in the hospital.