Bilateral THR bilateral THR 10/22/12

[Damn!]

You poor thing. Your doctor should be able to tell you how quickly you could undergo another procedure. However, I am thinking that if it was taken care of under a local anesthetic there should be no problems. Besides, you already have the crutches for your after care. Go for it! Why deal with unnecessary pain!

Sending out thoughts and prayers for a painfree day!

Tammy

 

[cnydutch]

yesterday i was 4 weeks, my OS follow up is a week from Thursday and i'm looking forward to getting my precautions lifted. (maybe) My activity is increasing. I walked 1.3 miles sunday, and at PT yesterday spent time on the recumbent bike, the
elliptical machine, and a few minutes on a treadmill just walking, along with some other exercise machines.
Going to do another walk outside today, have company coming to go with me (mom). Hope to get 1.5 miles!
I did find a great app for my blackberry phone called Runtastic that i can monitor my walk with. It tracks your GPS,
and gives average speed, distance, even elevation. Sunday I learned that my road drops 60 meters within
1/2 mile, i guess that constitutes as a bit of a hill that I go down an come back up! But I think that is great exercise,
walking up and down hills uses a lot of different muscles than just flat walking.

 

[Josephine]

You can have another surgery as soon as you feel ready. Getting to the hospital and back again is the first problem but doesn't sound like you have much of a problem anyway. Morton's neuralgia (name of the pain caused by the neuroma!) is the pits and you have my sympathies. However, it's usually just a day case surgery - in and out in the same day - so nothing to worry about there. Get it booked and get 'er done!

 

[cnydutch]

wow does time fly! i am at 5 weeks today, 5! After huge gains in my mobility from week 3-4,
things have seemed to level off a bit, but that's ok. Our weather has changed, so no long walks outside
for a little while (snowcovered roads now), wouldn't want to risk a fall.
Last week, (thanksgiving) i had 2 PT appts, then was on my own till my next appt tonight. I did find
a few opportunities to walk, after turkey dinner i invited the family to walk with me, so we almost did a mile
down home in my old stomping grounds where i grew up. Friday, headed out and did a little light
shopping, and went to a hospital to visit a friend that had bilateral THR on tuesday last week. That was
a bit of a walk from the parking garage, on thru the hospital etc up to his room, but he was thrilled to
see me walking in to visit! he is just starting his journey, but seemed to be doing well. On the way out,
i got a little lost and ended up getting a good walk in for the day!
Over the weekend, went to a movie and found it a little uncomfortable after the first hour, but i made
it thru ok with some squirming in the seat and after the movie we went shopping in a couple stores that
were close by. Didn't feel bad at all. Sunday, i truly spent the day resting, took a quick venture outside
in the snow to help my SO clear the driveway with the tractor (had to show her the ropes). She did great,
and i helped move vehicles around etc. very very careful walking outside in snow/ice, surely do not want a fall.

One thing that isn't easy for me is standing still, in one place for any length of time. I can walk fine, but
i find it hard to just stand there, like if we were out at a pub (yea, we ventured out this weekend). I had
to plop myself down on a stool.. not the end of the world, but i just find it hard to stand still. If we are shopping,
and SO wants to stop and peruse the merchandise, i take off, and walk around in a circle around the aisles.
Is this something that gets better?

Thursday this week I go for my follow up appointment, maybe i'll get an idea of when i can return to work.

 

[Damn!]

What a great update. It sounds like you are doing great. I can't believe that you are already doing all that walking. That's very promising for the rest of us to read. BTW, did you realize that your signature says your THR was only 4 days ago. I about had a fit when I saw how much you were doing only 4 days out of surgery. Whew!

I couldn't stand in one spot prior to surgery, and am not weightbearing yet, so I have no idea if it will continue to bother me. I hope not.

Hang in there Dutch. Sounds like your SO did a great job clearing for you.

Tammy

 

[cnydutch]

ooops,
i keep getting confused, the weeks are all blending in now....

thanks,

 

[Damn!]

No worries! Still happy to see how well you are doing.

 

[cnydutch]

Has anybody experienced itching or a rash from Tramadol? I started taking it every nite last week,
to help me sleep more than for pain, and my legs got very itchy. I was using cortozone cream to relieve it,
and last nite took benadryl instead of Tramadol, and today, i haven't had those itchy feelings i was having.
is it possible the tramadol was the problem??

 

[Damn!]

It could be possible that the Tramadol was the problem. The only way to know for sure is to reintroduce it and see if the rash and itching comes back. If it does, then you will know. I get a horrible, painful rain when taking Celebrex. The doc switched me over to Relefen, and no problems. However, the one thing I noticed is that with the allergic reaction I had, the itching was all over, not just centralized in one location like the legs. Just a thought. Are you wearing the TED's still? If so, the itching could be coming from that as well.

Tammy

 

[cnydutch]

tammy, i have to admit i have laid off the TEDS lately. It's probably been a week since I wore them.
Doc may yell at me Thursday!

 

[Damn!]

Sssshhhhh! Don't tell him.

 

[cnydutch]

Hey, I just figured out how to extract my xray from my CD so i can post,, so here it is!
now, if only I can find the original CD with my pre op hips,, we have moved in the mean time
so i'll have to do some digging..
anyway, after searching and searching for how to get those images off the cd, i right clicked over
the image and there was a "save as" option. Slick!

 

[cnydutch]

oh, and i do have company here all day, but he's pretty worthless
just lays around all day long....................

 

[djklaugh]

Great pictures cnydutch! Lovely looking new hips and a very handsome purramedic

 

[Damn!]

Dutch, what nice hips you have! It was surreal to me to see my RTHR for the first time on an x-ray...I bet it was doubly so for you.

 

[cnydutch]

yea, it was wild. i'm not the least bit squeemish, and given the chance would watch
a video of my surgeries! anyway, if you look close, on the outside of the femur, where the
implant is closest to the edge of the bone, you can see where my 2 knowles pins were removed
from each side, there's a little bit of inset where the heads of those pins were. I think on one side
you can even see where those pins went thru the femur, headed towards the ball which is now all
new!
i am going to dig and find those original xrays!

 

[Damn!]

When you find them, please be sure to post them as I would love to see the Before and After

 

[cnydutch]

Had my 6 week follow up today, at 5 weeks-3 days. Doctor said i could pretty much
forget about the 90 degree hip precaution, then he proceeded to bring my foot up
almost to my groin area! I guess my range of motion is pretty good! I am allowed to
tie my shoes, reaching down between my knees, but i need to be careful of that outside
twisting motion, or leaning outside my knees i guess. As far as everything else, things are
good to go, back to work in 2 more weeks, and continue working out at the gym in place
of PT (which is basically what i was doing) He did say that my sleep problems are common,
the body is still reacting to that surgery, and offered me an Ambion script, I'm going to try
tylenol PM first to see how that goes. Continue my aspirin till next week, (the full 6 weeks) and
take only 1 iron pill per day till the bottle is gone (instead of 3). As I work out, start building up
intensity and time to get myself back in shape.

And the best of all, he actually told me I could start skating again! (I asked if i was still a
fall precaution). He says Skating is easier than walking in some ways, and that he feels I
am good to go. He said if I fall down, get back up and get goin! I'm sure it will be a few
weeks before I attempt Hockey again, but I am
anxious to strap on the skates and get out on the ice to see how it feels! Maybe next week.

I did ask about my parts, he said they are DePuy, Ceramic coated Titanium femoral insert,
with Ceramic ball, and a titanium socket with plastic liner.
He did telll me he had to "excavate" the old pins out of my hip, and that's shown in the
Xray.
so overall i think it was a great follow up, he pretty much said i'm good to do anything I feel
up to doing, keep up the exercises, and back to work in a couple more weeks.

 

[Damn!]

Ya-hoo!!!! That's great. I can not wait until I hear the doctor say "No restictions!"

Are you planning a phased return to work, or are you going to just jump right it with both feet?

 

[cnydutch]

i will go back the 17th, work the week full time, then the next couple weeks are short
weeks with the holidays... so i should be ok. it isn't my busy time of year, so
i don't expect it to be too bad. i'm sure if i told my boss i needed to leave a little
early to go lay down he'd be ok with it if i had to early on.

in the mean time, i expect to hit the gym at least 3-4 times a week and
start working on strength and conditioning. yesterday i did 15 mins/4 miles on
a recumbent bike, and 20 mins/1 mile on the treadmill, along with the other
leg exercise machines,, abductor/extension etc.