THR Caspa's January RTHA Recovery

[Penguin Hopper]

I had codeine and paracetamol.
The codeine made me feel awful so I chucked it.
I decided it was bruising ( and it’s a brutal operation) that was the pain.
I couldn’t even sit down.
I had the wound checked at 2 weeks and it was red and inflamed but not infected . I was then able to shower which is another challenge .
The nurse said it was the worst bruising she’d ever seen.
Living on your own means you have to manage and I think that has helped my recovery

 

[Caspa]

Like you, Penguin, I get ill from opioids but I was surprised to have such strong side effects from the celebrex and the longer I took it, the worse I felt. When the anxiety set in I knew something was wrong. It went away as soon as I stopped the medication. I have since read that is its a side effect albeit uncommon.

 

[CricketHip]

@Caspa we sure do love hearing updates like this! Just imagine how good you may feel in another month of healing. There’s still a lot of healing to be done for your new hip.
That was very interesting about the Celebrex and it was nice of you to share your experience.
I used my cane for Rightly well past the 4 weeks mark. There’s no reason to chuck it too soon and every reason to keep using it as needed.

 

[Caspa]

Hello everyone. Today is 7 weeks since my hip replacement. Some days I feel pretty good and others I still have a lot of discomfort. I'm still using a cane around 50% percent of the time. I don't need it for stability but it helps with the discomfort. The hip pain moves arounds so I'm not sure if it's the way I'm sleeping or what. I've just started experimenting with side sleeping part of the night and I think that might be what's aggravating it. I really don't know.

My bigger concern is my knee. I felt better, but not pain free, after my partial replacement in August 2022 but after around six months my knee started to bother me more and more. At my one year follow up, the X-ray looked great of course, don't they always, so the surgeon believed it was referred pain from my bad hip, which I should have had replaced in 2019, put it off, then COVID, then knee got really bad. In retrospect, probably should have done the hip first. Anyway, as my hip got worse this past six months, my back got worse and my knee got worse. Ugh. So here I am, 7 weeks out, back pain mostly resolved but my knee is killing me! For the first time, it even hurts when I'm sitting still. But it doesn't feel like this everyday, so confusing! I'm so worried I have an infection although it's not really swollen, red or warm. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm not sure if I should wait until my next follow up in April to talk to the surgeon (he didn't do the knee). I'm wondering if my odd gait from hip and back pain messed up my knee implant. Or if my gait now, (I feel even more imbalanced from scoliosis since the surgery...like operated leg is much longer than my good one) is the culprit. It's so frustrating. Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks! (Can you tell I'm having a bad day? LOL)

 

[djklaugh]

@Caspa I am sorry to hear you are having such trouble with your right leg and your back! Everything is connected in our bodies and it can be difficult to figure out what is causing what. I have a couple of suggestions ... if you've already done these and they haven't helped .... hopefully someone else will come along with other suggestions.

1- Side sleeping - sleep with your left side down and put a pillow between your legs to prop up the right hip and knee - I used a throw pillow that was rectangular shaped but you can use a regular bed pillow or one of those big body pillows and lay the right leg on top of that.

2- Shoes - IF you are wearing shoes that you wore frequently before your hip (or even before your knee) surgery check the bottoms. See the wear pattern? That is the old limping pattern and can adversely impact your current gait and keep the muscles in your leg from regaining their proper functioning.

3- Leg length differential problems - that is a possibility but it needs careful and specific measuring to determine if it is indeed a problem for you. Either your surgeon or PT could probably do that.

4- Have you been doing any new or strenuous activities recently? Perhaps something you had not done since before either surgery? It is possible that you are just doing too much too soon (around here called joining the Over Did It Club - ODIC).

5- Does icing the sore areas help relieve to discomfort? Or applying heat? You can try both or either one to see if that will help you feel better.

 

[Caspa]

Thanks for the reply. I'm definitely not overdoing it. Sneakers are new. Always sleep with a pillow between my legs (for decades). I do need to have my legs measured. My right hip is definitely higher than my left but I don't know about leg length. My surgeon didn't mention special considerations due to scoliosis and I didn't even know that was a thing until after the surgery. I live in mortal fear of a PJI and I know how hard it can be to diagnose a low grade one. Maybe I'll try to get a prescription for PT. Rothman Institute doesn't advocate for PT unless at home exercises aren't working.

Edit to add: I didn't sleep on my side at all last night and I'm better today than yesterday.

 

[Nini]

Hello Caspa! We are same day surgery gals! I too don’t d not do well with the pain meds. I woke up in recovery and very soon after started dry heaves. I went home with Lorna Dune cookies, Vernors and a puke bag. This continued till Wednesday when they prescribed any nasua meds for me. Didn’t let up a whole lot. So then we doubled up on them per doctor. So after 3 or 4 days no pain pills. Just Tylenol and aspirin. So I can sympathize with you on feeling sick Sounds like you are doing well now if it weren’t for the uncomfortable days? You did good planning a visit to your mom so early in!

 

[Caspa]

Ugh, Nini. Sounds like my post op experience. They couldn't do a spinal so when I woke up I hadn't been administered pain meds yet. Yikes! So they loaded me up with dilaudid and zolfran. Pain was controlled but I was so sick. When the nurse took me up to the suites after, we entered through the dining area and she said "Doesn't that smell delicious" while I was vomiting into the bag they gave me. Hahaha. Fortunately, I was able to get off the hard stuff pretty quickly too.

 

[Layla]

Hi Caspa,
Happy Two Month Anniversary!
Hope you're doing well. Stay in touch and enjoy the weekend!
@Caspa

 

[Caspa]

Hello all. So I'm 10 weeks post surgery and my hip is doing reasonably well. Strength and stretching exercises really help but with this weather, I'm not walking as much as I should be. Some of my back pain has returned which is a bit disappointing but not surprising considering all the spine issues I have. I still have leg weakness and mild pain when walking but it's tolerable and gets a tiny bit better each week. Last night was the first night I could sleep on my sides all night without my hip complaining! Yay! However, my knee is another story. It hasn't improved at all, in fact, it feels worse than ever. I have my three month follow up in mid-April and will ask the surgeon to take a look at my knee while he's at it. I really hope we can figure out what's going on because I can't enjoy my new hip while my knee is killing me. Hope everyone else is doing well. Looking forward to spring and warmer weather!

 

[Jaycey]

@Caspa Did you take Deb's advice (above) about new shoes? Wearing shoes with a pre-op wearing pattern can cause all kinds of aches and pains.

 

[benne68]

Wearing shoes with a pre-op wearing pattern can cause all kinds of aches and pains.

@Caspa. Jaycey is so right about this.

I know because I was slow to admit I needed new shoes. Once I finally took a close look at the bottoms, the wear pattern was obvious -- and, what do you know -- my pain improved very quickly once I replaced those old shoes.

 

[Eman85]

Post 26 said she had new sneakers.
When I had my THRs it was a miracle how my back stopped hurting post-op. Not so much a miracle but sitting comfortably and resting did wonders for it. Didn't take long past initial recovery to have my back hurting when I became active. Like my wife told me, they put new hips in but the rest of you is old. I see you do use a pillow between your legs when sleeping, that helps me a lot with my back.

 

[Caspa]

Post 26 said she had new sneakers.
When I had my THRs it was a miracle how my back stopped hurting post-op. Not so much a miracle but sitting comfortably and resting did wonders for it. Didn't take long past initial recovery to have my back hurting when I became active. Like my wife told me, they put new hips in but the rest of you is old. I see you do use a pillow between your legs when sleeping, that helps me a lot with my back.

Yea, the back thing has been lifelong. I had emergency surgery for a blown out disc when I was 40 and have been doing the pillow thing ever since. Runs in the family and could be worse. My brother has had 4 spine surgeries! So while disappointing, it's not surprising.

It's this dang knee that has me flummoxed. I had the partial done a year and half ago and it was never pain free but started to get bad at around a year. When I asked about it at my one year follow up the presumption was that it's referred pain from the hip. It was worse than ever after the hip surgery. My hip surgeon also does revisions, so maybe that's in my future. I just hope it's not a low grade infection....my biggest fear. We'll see what he says next month.

The other really surprising thing for me, as I mentioned before, is how weak my legs are from hobbling and sitting for so long! It's a slow climb back to fitness but I know I'll get there. Hang in there, everyone! Spring is almost here.

 

[Layla]

Happy Three Month Anniversary, Caspa!
How is you recovery going these days? I hope your knee is doing better.
Let us know how your appointment goes if you care to share...
Best wishes!
@Caspa

 

[Caspa]

Thanks for asking. I just had the three month follow up with the surgeon. He did an X-ray of my knee and of course it looked fine. My back flared up terribly last week and I'm taking muscle relaxers now for that. It's making walking difficult so I'm not able to go more than around 20 minutes at a time. Overall, the hip is progressing nicely. Still some pain but not too bad. He suggested that the knee could be referred back pain but I can tell you it is not! I am continuing to exercise and hope for the best. I see a spine specialist on Monday (I have multiple issues there and we know it's all connected so hopefully he'll get me going in the right direction for recovery).

I've read multiple papers reporting on the higher than expected incidence of low grade infections being the cause of post prothetic joint pain. Because they don't present with the typical symptoms, they are difficult to diagnose. I don't know how to get someone to take this seriously enough to investigate. There is definitely something wrong with my knee. I'm at a complete loss regarding next steps. I thought about going back to the surgeon who did the replacement but when I looked at the report from my one year follow up he diagnosed me with chronic pain syndrome!!! What is it with these guys? Has anyone here experienced a difficult to diagnose late onset low grade infection?