Guest viewing is limited
Lounge Doctor

bilateral total hip replacement

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Kathlew

new member
Joined
Aug 4, 2009
Messages
4
Location
United States
Hello there. I'm in my fifth week of recovery from bilateral total hip replacement and, being unable to share my recovery process with anyone, I'm seeking some kind of validation that I'm doing just fine!!! The doctor who performed the surgery told me, pre-operation, that I could possibly return to work in 3 weeks. With that in mind, at the 5-week juncture, I feel like I'm not making good progress because there's no way on earth that I'm ready to go back to work. Unfortunately, I'm scheduled to return after 6 weeks, and it appears the cane will be going back to work with me. I was hoping I would be walking perfectly fine by then, but it's just not happening. My one question is, if I do all my exercises and then walk quite a bit, by the end of the night, I can hardly walk. Am I better off just putting off the exercises and walking as much as I can, or should I continue with the exercises and walk and endure the pain? I'm still on pain medication, which I will have to discontinue before returning to work. Sorry I'm long-winded, but I have so many questions. Thank you so much.
 
Hi and Welcome, I wouldnt NOT go to work in 3 weeks. I cant even imagine that.....You had 2 hips done unfortunately it will hurt. Sounds like you are really doing to much. Do you still take medicine and ice...That is so important........I would continue with the exercises and maybe not walk as much. I cant believe he said go to work in 3 weeks........I know others will chime in. Please dont feel like your post was long. Post anytime as much as you want. Believe me we have all done it....If I were you I would do the exercises, REST, ice take your medicine. I dont think you are behind at all. Take care of yourself....Im sure Jo and Jamie and others will post........With both hips done i think you are doing fine....:) Keep posting...
 
kathlew, i sure do wish you would have found us sooner. i'm so glad you got here though. two hips thats huge. i just had my right hip done and am having my left hip done in two weeks. i'm 6 weeks now. i can say at week 5 i over did it. had to cut back rest and resume. do those exercises and rest if your on limited time you need to let the inflamation go down. is there any way you can be out longer?? even three weeks would be a big difference. your not behind at all your expecting alot of yourself. a os put simultaneous replacement to me this way. your not having twice the surgery its really more like three times the surgery. you need lots of protein and iron in your diet lots of rest and to take it alot slower if your going to expect your body to preform in a couple of weeks. how old? anterior posterior? what type of work? were all here for you give it an hour or two you will have a ton of people behind you
monique 36 rthr, left two weeks from now.
 
Welcome Kathlew! You just had bilat which IS twice as difficult to recup from! I think it's still too early for you to return! But every day will get better and better for you! Just be patient with yourself! It sounds like you're doing great! Chin up! :)
 
I went to work for the first time yesterday.....thats 3 months after one THR....to be fair I could have gone back earlier, but not at 5 weeks!

What sort of work is it?
Are you still going to physio?

At 5 weeks on you are still very early days, I know that the drs often say 6 weeks and you are right to go....may I suggest that that is an "average" not a definant....

Go easy on yourself and talk to your pt about what you should be doing.
Rachel
 
Hi
I am 9 weeks out. I work for school system . We started back this week Tues. I am doing great but the change in routine which has been exercise and walk and exercise and walk and just take care of myself has changed. So the long seating has caused me a little swelling in my ankle . Not much but some. Even though I do get up and walk often . I do come home eat good meal exercise with weight and then walk one big hill in a mile walk. All three nights I have noticed some swelling in my ankles and minimal pain. Do use Ice. I can not imagine going back to work full time till at least 6 weeks. Wow if I had had to have done that boy it would have been very frightening..

Good luck. Take care of yourself.
Phoebe
 
Well, surgeons do have a tendency to be over-optimistic about their work! I am quite sure that if he had a BTHR, he's think twice about that. Besides, he said possibly remember.

You are by no means long winded, in fact, I wish you had been more so and given me a bit more information.

Such as

~ Is there no way you can negotiate with your employer to have more time off? I would have said at the outset that for a BTHR, 12 weeks would have been a minimum.
~ What pain meds are you on now and how often do you take them? Do you wait until you are in bad pain before you take them?
~ how much walking or other activity can you undertake without getting past your endurance limit?

What you need to do overall is to have periods of exercise and periods of rest. Rest is just as important as activity as your body needs to recover from the surgery. There is deep, deep healing to take place and you are going to feel very tired. You also need to be resting with your feet elevated so the swelling goes down. And I don't mean just on a foot stool but up - like this (though not with your body twisted like hers is!)

[Bonesmart.org] bilateral total hip replacement


As for the cane, I doubt you'll be dispensing with that a while yet and shouldn't be in a hurry to do so. You're doing well using it now as it is.

So, pain meds:
~ you don't stop them because of work, you stop them when the pain stops!
~ PT is going to be painful so you should plan your medication that you take a dose about ½hr before the session.

Finally, I suggest you see your surgeon about this and see if he clears you for work yet. If he says you can, go to see your own doctor. You can't go back to work if you're not walking properly. Your PT might also have an opinion so check with him as well.
 
Hi Kathlew-- I am a bilat and at about 4 months post op. I have been very happy tih my surgery and I believe that I have had a very good recovery. I even went back to work at day 13. However, I have a sedentary desk job and, as quickly as I think I recovered, I didn't shed the cane until about week 6 or so. I also continued on meds through about week 7. Even though I workout and am active, I still have problems that are not so much related to the surgery as they are related to my surrounding tissue adjusting to my new joints and continuing to heal. So, having read your thread, I don't think you are behind any schedule and it appears that you are doing well. We are all a bit different and it takes time..I continue to learn that daily.
I would be happy to correspond with you privately if you like and I will post later this evening. However, in the meantime, what type of surgery did you have? Was it anterior approach? Do you have restrictions? Are you still taking PT? For me, the PT was and continues to be very important (Yes, I am still in physical therapy). For better or worse, I didn't push the walking part much, partly because I went back to work so early and just didn't have time. I even called my OS the other day because I have been experiencing some acute pain from time to time in my right hip. I was told, and I already knew this, that it takes 6 months or more to really recover fully. If you are in a physical job where you cannot use a cane, then 6 weeks may be too early for you. So ease up, continue with your exercises in my opinion.
I will post later.
Best wishes.
Tom
 
Aw, Tom. You going to deprive the membership of your learned experiences? That would be a shame.
 
Hi, Kathlew....so glad you found us here at BoneSmart. We'll always be here to support you, to answer questions or concerns you might have and to celebrate your successes in recovery. It's a great group of folks!!

It sounds to me like you're doing just fine and it's your surgeon that needs the adjustment! :hehe: Don't be so hard on yourself. And see if maybe you can get a few more weeks for recovery. Your body will thank you!!
 
"Aw, Tom. You going to deprive the membership of your learned experiences? That would be a shame."

Not intentionally Jo! So, I'll elaborate a bit.

I feel like I have worked very very hard at my recovery to date. I have been doing very well, but nothing is perfect. Part of my point to Kathlew is that as hard as we work, and I think we all work at this hard, we cannot rush our bodies or push them too much. Time will ultimately heal most of it. Since you have seen this many times, Jo, you probably know that well.

On my 4 month anniversary, I lifted weights for my upper body, swam 2 miles with my swim group and biked 20 with my wife, all within a 24 hour period. I awoke that evening in the middle of the night with pain all over, all over, that is, except in my hips. That was a wonderful feeling.
Still, I have had some pains in my right hip at times. The pain sometimes refers to my right knee which occasionally clunks! It is more like I simply come up lame for short periods of time and find myself wishing I had a cane. It is also a bit frightening. It seems to occur when I take a break of several days from working out (and maybe from stretching) My PT thinks it is related to overdoing it with swimming and kicking for the freestyle stroke, in particular. I have continued swimming but started stretching more, which seems to solve the problem.
As much as I have been working out, it still is only 4 months or so after a break of many years and I am now 52, so the physical improvements come a lot slower these days.
Unfortunately , I still have some real flexibility problems. I cannot yet touch my toes, but it's improving. I intend to hire a personal trainer later this month when I return from vacation who specializes in corrective exercise. I am looking forward to that.
I have also been doing trigger point dry needling in the muscles surrounding the hip. The muscles include gluteus medius, rectus femorus, sartorious, to name(and perhaps poorly spell) a few. This is not a widely known technique among PTs, but it seems to work to allow these deep muscles to relax and stretch better.
I am headed off to vacation at the Jersey shore. On the way, I will attend my family reunion and, as I had hoped 4 months ago, play some basket-ball with my cousins. I hope I don't overdo it.
Best to you Kathlew.
 
That was well worth waiting for! You're an awesome chap, my friend!
 
Be carefull!! I went back to work after one month!! It was too soon!! Far too soon... And I only had one hip done. My OS, like yours, prematuely said when I could go back to work (2 weeks). He changed his tune post op to the tune of 2 months. I went back at one month because I had to. If you can take more time, by all means do so. Sleep, pain meds and ice just as often as you can!!
 
Return to work in 3 weeks??!! After bilateral??!! You deserve a medal if you do:sct:
I had a shattered elbow a couple of years ago, and wasn't allowed to do anything with it for 6 weeks during which time my whole arm was encased in a cast.
Here we are, with our main weight holder beat on and cut into, and then expected to return to normal life and perform duties as if nothing happened within a few weeks......I think not:skp: And you had both worked on to add insult to injury:rant::rant:
Just take things slow and easy and all will be well. At times it gets rather frustrating, but it does get better.

Glenys
LHR 5/28/09
RHR 7/23/09
 
I thank all who responded to my email regarding my recent BTHR. Since my post, my legs are getting stronger and I have been able to be out and about for longer periods of time. I will be off coumadin tomorrow so that I will be able to take some kind of pain medication that contains aspirin. I have from then until next Monday to adjust to Alleve, which has been very good for me controlling pain. I am a legal secretary, so I do sit most of the time, but I have the ability to get up and walk around, which, of course, I will do. I believe I had lateral BTHR. I'm 64 years old, which is no spring chicken, but I did not wait to have the surgery until I could hardly walk - I took a proactive approach. I wish all of you success in your recoveries, and will let you know how I make out upon my return to work. Again, thank you so much. I've never done this before, and I'm extremely grateful for the moral support from people who don't even know me!!!
 
Kathlew, it sounds like you're doing just fine. You might try to phase into work. Even though you "just sit," you'll find the first week or so really takes it out of you. Your body is still recovering from that major surgery!!
 
This is my first day back to work and I'm on my lunch hour checking my home emails. And, I have to admit, my legs are tired. By the end of the day, I'm certain I'll walk back to my car with my cane. I believe you're correct regarding major surgery taking a long time from which to recover. Thanks for your imput.
 
Use that cane when you need to. Better to use the walking aids than to risk overtiring yourself as you're getting back into work. Hope you have the ability to ice and elevate your leg during lunch break. That will help!
 
I had trhr may 11 09
I am still using a cane all the time till i go back to dr. sept 10 09 still use pain med. 3 times a day go to pt 3 times a week i cannot walk without cane so i think your doing good and those are my dr. orders.
Nan
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Active Antibacterial

Members online

Total: 1,299 (members: 2, guests: 1,297)

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom