Hip Infection* Checking in

[Miss Muffet]

@McDeeva - I'm so sorry to hear your news about pain. I hope you are speaking up to the medics about this as it may be you need your medication adjusted till it is under control. I see you've tagged Josephine and she's your best bet as she has so much experience of these things. The log leg you are experiencing is what we all have. I remember it well ................ I would speak to it and explain we needed to budge out of bed when I needed the loo, but it didn't listen! I had to rely on my upper body, arms and good leg to mobilise out of bed. It will last a while, even when you get home, but gradually disappears. I do hope you manage to get some relief soon.

 

[McDeeva]

Thank you @Miss Muffet for the log leg reference lol as that hit the nail on the head. Man that is a weird feeling for sure! It seems everyday it's a teensy bit better. It seems like getting in and out of bed is the worse! Due to the log leg and the general heavy feeling of the leg, when I am scootching in the bed, man, can I feel those twinges of pain yikes! I have some incisional pain and upper femur as the implant the put in is larger due to the revisions.

@KarriB man, hospital PT wasn't helpful while I wasn't there. They seemed to be understaffed and overworked and that frustration carried over into their work. It was quite sad though, but oh well, you know they were too busy to walk me so I got up and walked myself. It was costing me nothing to pay them no mind. But I am thinking of informing patient relations about my treatment.

Just an update I am finally home! Came to my dad's yesterday. They almost had to give me a transfusion that's why they kept me but at the last minute my hb became "stable".

I am going to my home Friday. I am taking 10-15 mg oxycodone every 4-6 hrs and Tylenol still. Things seem to get a smidge better everyday. I was able to shower before leaving the hospital, so tomorrow will be my first time washing myself up at home.

@Jamie or @Jaycey how do I get my thread to the post op threads to get all that bones smart mantra good stuff lol

The Deeve

 

[sharonslp]

@McDeeva I'm sure Jamie or Jaycey will start a thread for in Post Op, but while you're waiting, here's your reading list.

Sharon

First are the BoneSmart mantras ....
- rest, elevate, ice and take your pain meds by the clock as prescribed
- if it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physiotherapist - to do it to you
- if your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again
- if you won't die if it's not done, don't do it
- never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can go to sleep!
- be active as much as you need to be but not more than is necessary, meaning so much that you end up being in pain, exhausted or desperate to sit down or lay down!

Pain management and the pain chart
Healing: how long does it take?
Chart representation of THR recovery
Dislocation risk and 90 degree rule
Energy drain for THRs
Pain and swelling control: elevation is the key
Activity progression for THRs
Home physio (PT)
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

 

[Jaycey]

@McDeeva I moved all your post op post to this thread in the recovery area. Please keep all your updates here so that we have all the information in one place to better advise you.

 

[Miss Muffet]

@McDeeva - Our friend @Cynthia777 described it as having a rolled up beach towel stuffed down her thigh. I recon that describes it pretty accurately. It is fair to say it is a weird feeling. Weighs a ton yet and doesn't seem to take any notice when you want it to budge, despite stern instructions and the strongest will in the world!

 

[KarriB]

Good to hear you're at your dad's and soon will be home. You're on the last leg of a long journey! Chin up, friend!

 

[Josephine]

Due to the log leg and the general heavy feeling of the leg, when I am scootching in the bed, man, can I feel those twinges of pain yikes!

Are you using a leg lifter to help with moving your leg? You really need to, you know.

 

[KarriB]

Of course, Jo is right, I should've remembered! I had leg lifter for my TKR and when my dad broke his hip and needed a THR last year he had problems getting comfortable in bed. I took him my leg lifter and he was able to scootch into the middle of the bed (he fell out of bed the day he came from his THR).

 

[Jaycey]

@McDeeva I hope you will come back and keep us updated on your recovery. We are here if you need us!

 

[keepmovin]

Hi @McDeeva - First, congrats for finally making it to your second stage surgery!! So sorry I missed being there to offer support! This is it! You will be on the mend from here out. I see you are experiencing some discomfort right now but this will pass. Give it time. The pain management is so important right now so make sure that's controlled. It will take a while to regain muscle control, coordination and strength but it will return. It's been 6 months for me and I'm doing well but still working on regaining the strength I once had. I'm a bit older than you so you'll come back much quicker, no doubt! Also, on that note......Happy Belated Birthday! So young, but so wise I find you to be!

I'll watch for your post going forward. I am so happy you are done with the worst part of this ordeal, the infection gone and complete healing and a healthy and happy life ahead of you!

Blessings for a healthy recovery

 

[McDeeva]

Hi Bonesmart family!!

Ok so the drugs must be wreaking havoc on my mind because I am just finding my new thread!! I have been going to the other thread like where are all my friends? I need my bonesmart mantras to read. Did they forget about me?? Lol!! Thank you @Jaycey for getting me a new thread to go with my new hip lol, and thank you @sharonslp for my mantras!

Ok so let's get down to bitness:

-been at my dads since Sunday, and am going home tomorrow. Can't wait because my house is one level, and we all heal quicker at home you know.

-I have decided to get a recliner!! I have been having trouble sleeping , and I slept last night for the first time in over a week for longer than 3 hours. Due to me not having anywhere else to sit besides my bed and a computer chair at home, and the need to not be banished to my room like those flower in the attic kids (I love that movie BTW...the original of course) I think it's for the best. I don't think I should have to be uncomfy for the next 3 months you know? Especially having been uncomfy for so long prior due to the spacer thing a majiggy. Did anybody else get a recliner and find that it helped them? If so what type of recliner did you get?

- I have been on 10 mg of oxy every 4 hours with 650 mg of Tylenol every 6. Seems to be working but again when I get out the bed I am just stiff. I get up every 2 hours to take a stroll around the upstairs then sit in a chair for like 30 minutes. Then back to the bed I go as I need to keep my leg elevated because of the swelling.

- The swelling oh my goodness!! My foot is like almost unrecognizable!! Monday I was downstairs for a couple hours and it has been swollen ever since. I have not been back downstairs since then lol. My leg and foot are just scary looking swollen. Is this normal? Yesterday I noticed it going down some as I was keeping it elevated above heart level a lot yesterday.

- @Josephine thank you I did start using the leg thingy and it helped. However yesterday I was sitting on the side of the bed and being kinda....animated. I think did too much because I had a twinge in my groin area that hurt all night and is still tender. I don't know if it was from all my animation, or because my leg has been at an incline so often. I keep asking myself it's not dislocated right? When you dislocate your hip you know it right? I am assuming it's still early enough to have some unexpected twinges aches and Pains without going into the doom and gloom way of thinking right? Lol.

-I have not seen my incision yet as I have an aqua cell dressing thing that doesn't come off until Monday. My surgeon did not use the whole incision he previously used for the spacer thank goodness. So there are two aqua dressings stacked on top at one part because they weren't long enough to cover the incision. In the hospital it then started rolling up so they put a tegaderm dressing on the piece that was rolling it to keep it straight and it has been working.

-I just found out that I was supposed to be discharged with a knee immobilizer. I found this out yesterday thanks to my extra thorough PT. I was in the hospital 3 days and nobody ever give me one. I guess the surgeon wanted me to wear it for 6 weeks to "remind" me of my precautions as I am at a higher risk of dislocation and with all the recent surgeries. So the ortho dept was highly upset but hey. I dont go back until Oct 17, and I told them I dont need a full length leg reminder of my precautions! This ain't my first rodeo sad to say. Did anybody else get discharged with The immobilizer as a "reminder"?

Whew! All in all I must admit that this recovery is easier than the spacer. I look better, and feel better emotionally. I am WBAT and still on Walker. The log leg thing seems to get better everyday but is def still there. I do have some new groin pain that may be from excessive movement. I also have femur pain as this dual mobility implant is big and long. Goes where down my leg where the previous implants were short. My left hand is also swelling. It is so painful at times. It's like my joints are swelling or something, and being exacerbated by me being on this Walker for over 3 months. Le'sigh...

@Miss Muffet how are you holding up? @keepmovin so good to hear from you! Thank you for all your well wishes! You are always right on time! You keep on moving forward and getting better!! @Cynthia777 hi friend how are you? The beach towel analogy is right on point! @Miss Muffet i found myself staring at my leg like you traitor lol!! Heave ho! Mush! Andelay!! @KarriB how are you! I am glad I am able to go to dads for some days first also! Gives my hubby a break and me! The dog is with her puppy mom and her "gamma" lol

Ok long post I know sorry! I'm going to eat lunch and take my meds and rest my finger. I am typing on a iPad with my index finger. It's all muscular all that's missing is a tank top and some steroids and it will be the Ms. Bodybuilding Typing Index finger 2016.

Hugs to you all!

The Deeve

 

[Tweetybrd]

@McDeeva Hey! I just got caught up on your surgery. You have been through a ton! I am so glad to read it is going well after this last surgery. Except for the groin pain.

There are a few here who had gotten recliners for their recovery. I am thinking I will do the same. I will tag @gullimac as I know he got one and can maybe give you some pointers.

Hang in there! I will be praying for a smooth recovery and that you are back on both feet soon.

 

[Josephine]

I keep asking myself it's not dislocated right? When you dislocate your hip you know it right?

In spades! You wouldn't be wondering about it - you'd be laying on the floor (bed) screaming your head off for a paramedic!

I am assuming it's still early enough to have some unexpected twinges aches and Pains without going into the doom and gloom way of thinking right?

Exactly!

I am WBAT

What does this mean? I know PWB which is partial weight bearing, and TTWB which is toe touch weight bearing. Never heard of that one, though.

My left hand is also swelling

You're putting too much weight on your hands, that's all.

I also have femur pain as this dual mobility implant is big and long. Goes where down my leg where the previous implants were short.

Trust me, that's not what's causing your pain. It's more likely muscular.

I'd like to ask you some questions if you don't mind, and it would be very helpful if you would answer each one individually - numbered as I have done - in as much detail as you can then I'll come back as see where you are ....

1. what approach did you have for your surgery? Anterior, posterior, lateral? You can look here to see the various types THR approaches or incisions

2. what are your pain levels right now? (remember the 1-10 scale: 1 = no pain and 10 = the worst you can imagine)

3. what pain medications have you been prescribed, how much are you taking (in mg please) and how often?

4. are you icing your knee at all? If so, how often and for how long?

5. are you elevating your leg. If so how often and for how long?

6. what is your activity level? What do you do in the way of housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc., and

7. what kind of PT exercises and exercises at home are you doing? How much and how often?
This is the most crucial question so please help me by using the format I have left as an example
(which means please make a list and not an essay!)

Exercises done at home: (how many sessions each day)
enter exercise then enter number of reps and sets
etc., etc.

At PT (how many times a week)
enter exercise then enter number of reps and sets
etc., etc.

 

[OUCH!]

@McDeeva I love your attitude. That sense of humor will get you far!

I too had the log leg. So much so that in the hospital the nurses and aides listen my leg in and out of the bed for me. When I got home my family did it for me for the first few days. Now, I'm super mobile as far as getting in and out of bed.

I too had an immobilizer and it came home with me. I had been expecting and abduction pillow, but was told that the surgeon as my hospital have almost all moved to the immobilizer. They just had me wearing it while in bed. You don't have to wear it all the time do you? I didn't get any direction on how long to use it, but since I can't get it on and off by myself, I stopped using after about a week.

I did get a recliner. All of our furniture is very low and worn out and saggy. I got myself a lift chair. Quite a splurge, but I'm planning a knee replacement soon, so I'm hoping it will be worth it. The lift was sooooo wonderful in the beginning and I still try to make myself use it as it helps me not break the 90 degree rule. I got a lift chair with two motors. The big benefit of this is that the foot rest and the back move independently. ON some the feet only come up if the back goes down. Makes it hard to eat while elevating. ONly thing that I wish I had been more aware of is that the feet will not go above the seat. So, I couldn't get my feet as high as would have been comfortable. I ended up using a pillow on the foot rest under my op left for the first week or two. I got the recliner because I feared I wouldn't be able to sleep flat on my back in bed, but it turns out I can't sleep in the recliner. I don't regret getting it though because it gives somewhere to sit in the Livingroom so I can be with my family.

 

[McDeeva]

@OUCH! I don't have the immobilizer at all! They forgot to give it to me lol. So I guess I am on my own. In his instructions he out wear it for 6 weeks so I am thinking all the time. But I won't be back there until the 17th. And yes the whole precautions and can't get it on and off without help...I'm like whose bright idea was this lol.

Thank you for all those pointers about the recliner! Very good points of things to expect and what you don't expect. I don't think a lot if recliners go above the seat? I have never seen any that do, I think the pillows will work fine for me I hope. I'm scared I won't be able to sleep in the recliner either! But as you said I need to be able yo be social with my fam and have somewhere else to go other than the bedroom ya know. I am leaning towards the lift chair too. I told the hubby shoot we ain't doing nothing but getting older so I'm sure it will com in handy lol.

Hey @Tweetybrd thank you so much! When I was a youngster I was obsessed with tweety bird! Just love his sweet smiling self.

 

[McDeeva]

@Josephine WBAT is weight bearing as tolerated! I sure hope it's the weight and walker thing! It's so painful I have been using just ice and heat and hand braces.

You know I figured about the dislocation..I'm like it's not gonna be just a little baby twinge! Lol

1. Posterior

2. Pain is like a 4-5

3. 5 mg oxycodone tabs. Taking 10 mg every 4 hours. Taking 81 mg aspirin daily for blood clot preventative. Taking Tylenol 650 mg every 6 hours.

4. Icing my knee inconsistently. Normally I ice it to give my hip a rest. So I am icing my knee 1time a day for like 15 min. Icing my hip 5-6 times a day for hours at a time. Literally I leave ice packs on until they get warm , give my hip a 30 min break and then get some more. I am literally sleeping at night with ice packs.

5. Elevating 5-6 times a day. 4 of these are just on a body pillow and my leg is not above heart level. I leave my leg on the body pillow for hours at a time. The other 2 times is a lot of elevation to where my foot is above my heart for about 1-2 hours. It's just a matter of when someone is here to elevate it like that, and also it starts to feel uncomfy with the high elevation after a bit. I do it 1-2 hours because I try to get up every 1-2 hours to take a stroll.

6. Activity level,is minimal. Besides washing myself up I don't do too much. I haven't showered since Sunday, just taking sink baths and that is while sitting down. I plan on showering tomorrow. I have folded a blanket on the bed..you know to try to look like I am tidying up lol. No cooking, cleaning shopping etc. I do get up every 1-2 hours to walk like 3-5 minutes. I sometimes sit in my computer chair for no more than 30 min. Today I did go down the stairs and sit for 1.5 hrs. I then Came back upstairs, elevated on body pillow and using some melty ice. I also try to do minimal activity because remember I have had both my hips replaced. The left one has been sore sometimes due to taking up all the work over these past 3 months. I did get X-rays on the hip and the hardware looked fine but I still sometimes worry about it...

7. PT comes to my house 3 times a week for a hour . We do 1 set of

10 ankle pumps
10 heel slides
10 but squeezes
10 thigh squeezes
10 adduction

I do all these of and on during the day. So maybe a total like 2 sets of these by myself per day.

Thank you for your help!

 

[KarriB]

I love reading your posts! What a great attitude you have!

I came home with an imbolizer on my knee. After the washout/spacer exchange my OS felt the soft tissue was too compromised for bending. So it started as two weeks with the imbolizer and ended up as a month because that's how long it took before the knee stopped seeping. I did actually bend the rods in the imbolizer a little bit, but I did wear it non-stop for the whole month.

Just a few more days until you're home. I think the most important thing about the recliner is for it to have a power button.

 

[McDeeva]

Also @Josephine is this swelling normal a week after surgery? I find myself reading others threads and some are two weeks out and doing a lot of steps..off of walkers and just doing great.... and yet....I feel like I am......behind.

I think I may be having unrealistic expectations. I did just have 2 surgeries, beat a staph infection, 6 weeks on a PICC line, a foot drop, and toe touch weightbearing for 82 days.

So in essence I didn't have the typical pre activities that others may have had. My PT said I am not behind, especially since I have not used the muscles on my right leg in 3 months. My surgeon told me my recovery may take a little longer, although I should be able to do my ADL fairly quick. But what's fairly quick? Especially to a 33 year old woman with her whole hippy life ahead of her?

I think it's amazing how we can be in one situation and pray and pray and dam near give our first born to be out of the pain or situation that we are in. Then when we get out of that situation we want something else. We want to be further ahead than we need to be. Something more. Instead of just being happy with where we are at. With the progress that we are making. I think it's just human nature huh? But when faced with it sometimes it makes me feel...ungrateful Because it wasn't long ago where I felt like a shell of my former self. And now I feel better each day, and I really want to focus on the simplicity of that.

The Deeve

 

[McDeeva]

Ah @KarriB see there! I just got off my soap box about something and look up and you are complimenting me on my attitude lol. What a way to make a gal smile

Wow a month on a immobilizer. Ok I can understand for you..did you have the precautions that hip patients normally have? It just seems like it would be so difficult to keep the precautions with the immobilizer.

Yes a power button, a cabana boy, endless mimosas, chocolate, wine and tacos! Does anybody make a recliner like that???

 

[Krista]

@McDeeva, wow, for one week out of surgery you are communicating very well, and that long, informative post with one finger on an iPad -- I couldn't have done that! I'll chime in on the subject of a recliner. First, here is the Bonesmart link about them. Recliner chairs: things you need to know if buying one for your recovery After my THR in July of 2015, I spent almost all of my time in bed, sitting up propped by many pillows, even for sleep as I cannot sleep flat on my back due to obstructive sleep apnea. I sat for very short periods of time on other chairs, not comfy at all. I was stuck in my bedroom most of the time for months. I wasn't comfortable until I got my electric lift recliner in February.

When I found out in February that I would be having another hip surgery to fix what was wrong, I didn't want to go through that again, so I got an electric recliner, a La-Z-Boy, to help me pre- and post-op. It has proved invaluable to me before the surgery (which will be on October 27) and during my recent vertebral fracture. And it will be great post-op, too.

The lift function of the recliner has been wonderful in aiding me to get in and out without hurting my back, and post-op will keep me from breaking the 90 degree rule. As @OUCH! said, the leg rest doesn't go up higher than your hip when you are sitting straight up. But when you recline the back, the whole seat tips backwards, lifting your legs up, too, so you can elevate. OUCH said she can't sleep in it, but I have found that when I am tired enough, I can catch an hour or two of shut-eye in it. After my THR I could never sleep for longer than an hour and a half at a time for the full-six weeks, anyway, until I could side-sleep again. I just caught cat naps throughout the 24 hours. Having the recliner will give me a different place to catch some naps.

For awhile after my spine fracture I was unable to sleep anywhere except for sitting up at a table, slumped over on pillows. I couldn't even sit on the recliner or in bed. But when I got better, I was able to alternate between sleeping in the recliner and sitting propped up in bed. When I couldn't take the position in one, I would move to the other. But it just was too hard to get in and out of bed without re-hurting my back, so now I have a hospital bed at my house, and both the head of the bed and the foot/knee area are controlled electrically. I can actually get 5 - 6 hours at a time. It is still difficult, since the sleep is all in one position, and when I get up I am so stiff and in pain that I have to walk around awhile (with my walker, of course), and usually can't get back to sleep. But at least I can get in and out of bed and into and out of a reclining position by myself, without having to ask my husband for help. Thanks to @Cynthia777 for the idea of the hospital bed at home!