THR Bumblebee's recovery thread..

[CricketHip]

Hi bumblebee! I had my surgery one day before you had yours. I wanted to comment that I, too have a swollen foot and ankle. its annoying and I so wish that I could reach it and gently massage it! I didn't experience this with my first THR (other side) so it has given me a few moments of concern, too. Maybe not as much concerned as annoyed! Now my achilles tendon is becoming very stiff- I'm wondering if you are finding this with yours, also?

I hope you continue to make progress.. you sound like you're doing very well, especially with navigating your stairs.. My biggest issue is not overdoing it and I am guessing that it's a good thing that we get tired so easily!! it keeps us in check.

 

[Layla]

Hi @bumblebee2
I hope you're having a nice weekend. I noticed a post of yours on (MarvinL) thread and thought I'd elaborate over here as he's most likely not into shaving his legs and I didn't want to derail.

Two options for a razor - Do on online search for The Girafffe razor and another option is to securely tape a disposable razor to a 12 inch ruler, or paint stick, in an effort to get a better and closer shave than you're getting. I've read these handy dandy tricks on the forum before and figured I'd share in case you've never heard, or thought of either. Good Luck! Wishing you a great week!

https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads...list-for-hospital-and-home.12499/#post-275966

 

[bumblebee2]

Ooo nice, thanks Layla

I did wonder if anywhere sold a super long handled razor but didn't get around to googling for one as yet.. awesome to see that they exist. I don't have a paint stick or a ruler - but do have some left over pvc window trim that might work.. it might be a little too flexible, but hopefully it's just about sturdy enough. If not, the Giraffe razor is definitely going to be on its way soon. I'd do just about anything to have a bath, shave my legs and paint my toe nails right now

 

[bumblebee2]

Hi bumblebee! I had my surgery one day before you had yours. I wanted to comment that I, too have a swollen foot and ankle. its annoying and I so wish that I could reach it and gently massage it! I didn't experience this with my first THR (other side) so it has given me a few moments of concern, too. Maybe not as much concerned as annoyed! Now my achilles tendon is becoming very stiff- I'm wondering if you are finding this with yours, also?

I hope you continue to make progress.. you sound like you're doing very well, especially with navigating your stairs.. My biggest issue is not overdoing it and I am guessing that it's a good thing that we get tired so easily!! it keeps us in check.

Hi and thankyou CricketHip - lovely to hear from someone with a date so close to my own..
I'm not finding any stiffness with my achilles right now - that has to be annoying along with the swelling.. is it sore or just stiff and swollen?
Definitely a good thing that we get tired so easily.. I popped out on the mobility scooter earlier today again to pick up some food and paracetamol (i forgot the paracetamol grr).. and it was just way too much for my hip. By the time i got home i was in a lot of pain due to having to keep my leg in one position the whole way, and tired. My neighbour came with me though, so i made him a cup of tea - he put my shopping away for me, and then as soon as he left, i went to lie down for a while. Not long woken up again.

Do you get much pain and heat from your incision site if you've been doing a bit more than your hip is happy with?

 

[CricketHip]

Yes, I get some heat and stinging around the incision site.. not often. But definitely when I'm trying to be super woman. My foot, ankle and achilles are all tender to the touch. I think the bruising and old blood/lymph that has pooled down around my foot has created a bit of inflammation? just tender- not painful- and yes there is stiffness for sure from the edema along the back of my foot.
In fact, today I am feeling some relief from the swelling. But if I walk outside later or even just sit on my front porch, it will begin puffing up, I'm sure. I am blaming the heat and humidity. Oh and that minor surgery from 12 days ago...

 

[Mojo333]

Hope you are still staying on ice as much as you can.

It was my best friend for the first 2 months...great anti inflammatory!
Healing hugs coming your way.

 

[bumblebee2]

Yes, I get some heat and stinging around the incision site.. not often. But definitely when I'm trying to be super woman. My foot, ankle and achilles are all tender to the touch. I think the bruising and old blood/lymph that has pooled down around my foot has created a bit of inflammation? just tender- not painful- and yes there is stiffness for sure from the edema along the back of my foot.
In fact, today I am feeling some relief from the swelling. But if I walk outside later or even just sit on my front porch, it will begin puffing up, I'm sure. I am blaming the heat and humidity. Oh and that minor surgery from 12 days ago...

lol at the minor surgery comment.
Glad your swelling is feeling a bit better - hopefully it's staying fairly unpuffy for you. Mine is a fair bit better today, and it's not feeling as tight and achy.
Today is all round a fairly good day actually. I woke up at stupidoclock (5am ish) and had a quick cup of tea, stretched out my super annoyed back a little (i hate sleeping on my back, and am hugely surprised i'm sleeping anywhere near as well as i am on it), and then went back to bed. Propped myself up into a half sitting position and fell back asleep until a much nicer 9am.
My leg was super stiff for a little while, but nicely painfree (5 out of 10ish = i'm calling that painfree since it's been higher than that for the last who knows how many years now).. and i've had hardly any pain all day from it. I'm still taking pain meds (paracetamol and Naproxen - plus codeine if necessary and the others haven't worked well enough) at roughly the scheduled times, but found myself forgetting twice today, so took them an hour or so late both times.
I feel like i need to go for a good walk, as my muscles feel like they need a good stretch, but my hip isn't playing ball properly just yet, so i can only do 5 or so mins at a time before i get a really irritated hip. So chair exercises it is.

Today is the first day that i've not needed a midday exhaustion nap, and i'm only just starting to feel like i could fall asleep easily.. yay to increased energy levels!! - Hopefully a sign of the days to come, because my 14 year old is due home on Friday and i want to be able to look after him rather than the other way round. (though he's carrying plates into the front room for a while ).

 

[bumblebee2]

Hope you are still staying on ice as much as you can.

It was my best friend for the first 2 months...great anti inflammatory!
Healing hugs coming your way.

Thanks Mojo.. hugs much appreciated and some back to you

No ice at all here unfortunately. I can't handle the feeling.. my brain translates the cold as pain, so as much as i'd like to do it because it is really helpful, i just can't sit and handle that cold sensation..
I'm elevating my legs plenty though - and i have a fantasic rise and recliner chair that i had delivered today. It's my new best friend.. absolutely love it.

 

[Calgal]

No ice at all here unfortunately. I can't handle the feeling.. my brain translates the cold as pain

I have a tip you may be interested in. I can and do ice, but at about your timeframe I got really sore sitting on my recliner. It just seemed too hard. I looked around my house for something to soften it up without adding much height or bulk. I looked on the floor and noticed a sort of plastic flexible 'cool mat' that I had bought to keep my dog cool this summer, but he wasn't really keen on. It's a cooling gel pad. I put that on the seat of my recliner, with the excess curved up on each side of my hip. It worked a treat! It was cooling without being cold. And it softened the seat. I've seen similar things called a 'chillow' that go under your pillowcase for menopause hot flash symptoms. Might want to check out either of these on Amazon. Good luck!

 

[Layla]

No ice at all here unfortunately. I can't handle the feeling.. my brain translates the cold as pain, so as much as i'd like to do it because it is really helpful, i just can't sit and handle that cold sensation.

Would wrapping yourself in a big warm fluffy blanket balance it out? Or placing a heating pad on the other leg, or somewhere on your body as you ice? It could be an interesting experiment
I have read of other member's doing this before...
@bumblebee2

 

[bumblebee2]

Thanks you two

I'll have to try the chillow pad thing.. that sounds like it could be the right kind of cool for me. I like feeling cool things on my skin (like the grass underfoot early in the morning while it's still damp with dew), but when it tips over to cold, i'm out.


Ugh, i feel rough today. I've had a pretty easy recovery so far tbh, so i guess it was inevitable that i'd have a really bad day at some point. I had a bit of a rough start yesterday due to doing too much the day before (a little bit of light gardening and some light housework, as well as a trip to town on the scooter), but an afternoon nap cleared a lot of the exhaustion and by evening i felt pretty good.

Last night was awful. I went to bed and spent a lot of the night waking up in intense pain and kept having to shift positions. My left (unoperated) hip is killing me. It would probably feel a little better today if i could sleep on my side, but since i'm on my back, it absolutely hates me right now. Getting out of bed was rough - my left hip was screaming at me, and my right is pretty stiff and useless until it warms up a little.
I've got a PT appt later today at 5pm, and i'm honestly shaking my head here at the idea of not only having to somehow get into my step-dads car, but spend 45 mins each way in it, and trying to find somewhere high enough to perch while waiting for my appt at the hospital.
I'm generally good natured, but if the PT causes me any pain at all today, i guarantee that i'll be in tears wanting to make a complaint.

 

[bumblebee2]

So, the PT appt didn't happen. I went all the way there in the car, only to find out that the appt should have been the day before. The receptionist assured me the day before that the appt was the next day, so i was really annoyed at that :( . I managed to get into the car, laid/sat awkwardly for the 45 min journey.. managed to open my incision up a little - resulting in some blood coming through my dressing (didn't look.. didn't want to - just left it alone due to it only being a small amount of blood).

The trip did however show me that i can get into a car, and my leg muscles/nerves are starting to recover a little (no way i could have lifted my leg and swung it to the side last week), and due to the receptionist feeling bad, she managed to squeeze me into my local hospital for a PT appt yesterday morning (awesome, it's so local that i can see it from my back garden). So i walked (super slowly) over there yesterday morning, and it actually went pretty okay.
The PT tested my range of movement out a little, and moved my leg to the side for me because i'm not able to do that at all while lying down just yet (abduction?) - i was wincing, still expecting it to hurt like it did before the op, but it was totally painfree. I can't wait until my muscles and nerves go back to normal and i can test out that range of movement properly myself.

The PT said that she thinks my nerve was compressed a little during the op, and that's why i've had so many problems getting my leg to lift and move. On the positive side of things, she said that the nerve is likely to be fine long term because i've already recovered quite a lot, and my foot drop only lasted around a week or so after the op.


A question about the aspirin protocol thing if someone can advise please; I slightly cut my knee while shaving yesterday, and bled for the next 5 mins. Not a huge amount of blood, but it was bleeding for far longer than the usual 30 seconds or so.. does that mean the dose of aspirin is too high, or is that normal?

 

[Mojo333]

@Bumblebee
I dont have the answer to your question about bleeding...sounds like it is doing what they want it to do but...How much longer are you supposed to take your aspirin?
I believe I took it only for the first month, if that long.
Do call your doctor if you feel it is a concern.
I'm sorry you had a wasted trip but also happy you were able to go closer to home.
Hopefully everything will start easing up very soon.
Sending healing vibes your way.

 

[CricketHip]

My gosh, what a sad state of events with the PT! But now you are situated closer to your home,, isn't that marvelous?
I agree with Mojo333 and would put a call in to your OS office about the prolonged bleeding.. especially since you can tell that your incision was bleeding some, too. Best to be safe than sorry, correct?
We are one day apart in our recoveries. I am to see my OS (his PA) later today!!

 

[Layla]

Happy Two Month Anniversary!
I hope you're doing well in your recovery.
We'd love to read an update on your progress. Please considering leaving one next time you're on the forum.
Wishing you the best as you continue the journey...hope to hear from you soon!
@bumblebee2

 

[Mojo333]

Yes...happy two month Hipversary.
Hope all is leveling out and the light at the end of the tunnel is shining brighter.

 

[Layla]

Happy Three Month Anniversary!
How are you doing? @bumblebee2
We'd love to hear about the progress you're making if you can find the time to share an update.
Hoping all is well and wishing you the best as you continue healing.