THR Chocolatine's New Hip

[Chocolatine]

Day 5- or is it day 6? My surgery was on the 13th

I have more pain at the incision and it's worrying me. There is a small amount of leakage visible under the bandage- some obvious blood, something kind of rust-colored. No fever, some swelling but no redness.

We called the health clinic to see if they would look at it, and they told us that if it was infected they "couldn't do anything anyway" and we should go to the ER if we are worried. The idea of hanging around the ER for hours is less than appealing.

Is more incision pain ever normal at this stage?

I did not get much sleep last night and I am mentally and physically exhausted.

 

[Chocolatine]

I had acetabular dysplasia, so it's very possible that my previous walk/stance/etc were abnormal and that I am adjusting to normal. I do hope it goes away.

Hi there! I just had my right replaced in June and my left two days ago. I also had dysplasia. My left now feels higher, but my right did initially as well. After my right, my leg lengths were great. I remember telling my doc "I don't know if it is actually longer, or if for the first time ever, I am actually feeling what a stable hip feels like." Just throwing that thought out to you. After the right was done and I recovered, that feeling went away, and then I could feel my left dip down every time I walked! Not anymore. Hopefully, my leg lengths are the same, but this is something that time will tell.

Hi! Glad to hear from someone else with dysplasia. I know I my gait got terrible when the pain got bad. I had about three years to develop all kinds of bad habits. I do think you are correct that walking on a stable hip is going to feel different for a while.

 

[dnordo220]

@springs12 my newest hip felt higher too, until Monday. 4 weeks.

I’m still swollen a lil. I just noticed that when I looked down, to my knee. I just finished walking on the treadmill, so maybe that’s why. I really think the treadmill helped, because there are hand rails instead of a one side cane, but that’s just me.

 

[dnordo220]

@Chocolatine that’s normal, the healing has all different feelings. Unless it’s red, hot, oozing. I’m sure there’s something in your material or here to review. Redish blood would be new blood, I think. And then it turns darker, which is probably why it was scabbing is usually black My incision had that. Ice it.

 

[springs12]

I have more pain at the incision and it's worrying me. There is a small amount of leakage visible under the bandage- some obvious blood, something kind of rust-colored. No fever, some swelling but no redness.

I will just tell you what I was told at discharge two days ago. They did a Spica wrap with an ace bandage to be taken off at 48 hours. She said some drainage may be visible when I take it off, and if I want to just re-wrap it for pressure, I can do that. She said if it is starting to look saturated, has a foul smell, fever, is greenish/yellow, to re-wrap it and call them. No fever and no redness is good. Dried blood is rusted looking. Swelling is normal at this stage, and for some, for many many weeks.

Did your dysplasia always bother you? May I ask how old you are? I was rearended and suffered sprains in my SI joint and am pretty confident, it either tore or made an already torn labrum worse. I had no stability after that. Took 2.5 years to get diagnosed and I had to finish nursing school in there.

 

[Chocolatine]

I have more pain at the incision and it's worrying me. There is a small amount of leakage visible under the bandage- some obvious blood, something kind of rust-colored. No fever, some swelling but no redness.

I will just tell you what I was told at discharge two days ago. They did a Spica wrap with an ace bandage to be taken off at 48 hours. She said some drainage may be visible when I take it off, and if I want to just re-wrap it for pressure, I can do that. She said if it is starting to look saturated, has a foul smell, fever, is greenish/yellow, to re-wrap it and call them. No fever and no redness is good. Dried blood is rusted looking. Swelling is normal at this stage, and for some, for many many weeks.

Did your dysplasia always bother you? May I ask how old you are? I was rearended and suffered sprains in my SI joint and am pretty confident, it either tore or made an already torn labrum worse. I had no stability after that. Took 2.5 years to get diagnosed and I had to finish nursing school in there.

Thanks for sharing your discharge info. I was told that I might get a little bleeding at the incision once I started the blood thinner. It appears to be minimal, but the increase in pain just set my mind going.

It's amazing how long it takes to get diagnosed. Sorry to hear you had accident trauma, but amazing that you finished nursing school on top of it.

I am 50 years old. I have had some level of hip pain for about 17 years. I have been diagnosed with pregnancy-caused ligament issues, IT band dysfunction, muscle imbalance, etc. When I finally got an MRI, they discovered a very large labral tear. The radiologist said he could not say definitively that it was a complete tear, but he thought it was. The hip dysplasia was diagnosed at the same time, which disqualified me from any surgery on the labrum. It would have just torn again.

When my OS saw my x-rays for the first time, he said, "Woooow... Were your parents ever told that you needed a brace as a baby?" I honestly don't know much about how dysplasia is graded, but my acetabular coverage on the right hip was something like 55%.

I think my hip was a total trainwreck from the undiagnosed dysplasia, the labral tear and the subsequent severe arthritis. If I think back, I had subtle issues as far back as college. I should have had the THR much earlier.

 

[springs12]

"Woooow... Were your parents ever told that you needed a brace as a baby?" I honestly don't know much about how dysplasia is graded, but my acetabular coverage on the right hip was something like 55%.

You must have had pretty substantial dysplasia. The first orthopedist I saw didn't recognize it on my x-ray. My hip preservationist looked at it and said he could see mild dysplasia and then ordered a CT. He said the angles on the CT were probably worse than they appeared because of my anterior pelvic tilt. Do you have dysplasia in both hips? Once my right was doing alright, my left was very clearly a hot mess.

 

[Chocolatine]

@springs12 I have mild dysplasia in my left hip, from what I've been told. I have never had pain in that hip, and I am crossing my fingers that it stays that way!

I find the whole thing pretty confusing. I have had doctors really downplay both the dysplasia and the labral tear. One told me to lose weight (even though I was very fit at that point) and maybe come back for a replacement when I was 70! I was so upset. I did not see him again.

 

[springs12]

@Chocolatine I hope your left holds off too! It was weird for me bc I never felt a ton of joint pain....it was all the compensatory patterns my body had going on. Looking back at all the problems you had in the past with muscles, it sounds the same. I've always been told my left side was way tighter. I didn't notice until my right was replaced, and suddenly after four months, I was like "wholly moley"! My surgeon said I was a complicated case bc mine had so much muscle involvement. I had/have an incredibly tight pelvic floor, and the surgeon had me get checked for hidden inguinal hernias (which docs are trained men are who get them....not women). I had 3 repaired laparoscopically. Apparently, hip dysplasia, hidden inguinal hernias, and pelvic dysfunction are friends and commonly found together. However, my orthopedist's office was the only place that educated me on all of this.

 

[Chocolatine]

@springs12 Thank you so much for all of this info! It's really helpful. I also have pelvic floor issues and I had no idea these things could go together. It sounds like you have gotten great care- it can be hard to find a good team.

 

[springs12]

@Chocolatine Finding all this out was not an easy journey. It took 2.5 years after a car accident, and even with that I consider myself lucky to have found the orthopedic practice. It was my 3rd pelvic PT who said to get my hips checked by a specific surgeon, and her PTA was concerned about my adductors and said I should get evaluated for the hernias (she had them herself at one point). I'm grateful. I don't know where I would be now had I not gone to that independent PT location.

 

[Chocolatine]

Today I am one week out from my surgery. I haven't had too many issues with pain and many things have gotten easier. I take one Dilaudid before bed, and I generally have to take another in the early morning hours.

But my sleep has been just awful for the past few nights. Last night, restless legs kept me up for hours. I ended up hauling myself out of bed to walk around for a while. We do not have a great house for night time wandering. I don't want to wake everyone else up too.

I spent some time this evening searching through BoneSmart for info on RLS. It sounds unfortunately common. I'll try some of the suggested things- magnesium is first on the list. And I guess compression socks. Ugh, I hate compression socks.

 

[dnordo220]

@Chocolatine it’s the back sleeping for me that kept me from a good nights sleep and made my legs restless, for the past 2 weeks, I’ve been sleeping on the love seat. It reclines in both sides, I open them both up and put pillows where the gaps are, then lay diagonal with a pillow and wedge myself in. It sounds weird, but I’ve been sleeping through the night. I decided i’m not going to side sleep at least for a few more weeks. Bonus, no snoring hubby.

 

[Chocolatine]

I so hear you on the snoring hubby, @dnordo220

I am generally a side sleeper, and the back sleeping is making me crazy. I would love to try sleeping downstairs, but I am not sure I can get on/off our sectional safely at this point. I am seriously considering getting a recliner.

 

[dnordo220]

@Chocolatine agree, maybe in a couple of weeks.

 

[CricketHip]

Good idea about using a recliner. I rented an electric lift recliner for the first month, it was such a comfort to me and slept very well using it.
I used a soft bedspread draped over it then added some pillows,, so cozy!
The local home health supply stores rent them.

 

[Jenntee]

Hope my experience will help you. I had problems back sleeping in the beginning but with restless itchy legs until recently. Found my own solution was to use a bed cage to keep the bedding off my legs. I sleep really well now with no itchiness or foot swelling. I feel that my life has got loads better.

 

[Layla]

I am seriously considering getting a recliner.

It may be a good investment and useful in the years to come. I was really hesitant to purchase one before my surgery, mainly because they are not necessary. Hubs actually pushed me. Then...at the furniture store had to persuade me, along with the salesman, to purchase a lift recliner. Boy, was I happy I did and it came in very handy. during my early recovery. I even slept comfortably in it for the first three weeks of recovery.

Do I Need a Recliner for Recovery?

The short answer is, no. While a recliner isn't a necessary recovery item, many are unable to imagine their recovery without one. Not only are they loved for comfort and convenience, but for the assistance they offer at a time when getting out of a chair can feel like a challenge.

While your mobility is limited, a lift recliner offers ease with sitting down and getting up. Recliners can provide a wide range of positions for you to relax, keeping you comfortable while you're healing. You may need to make the recliner sit a bit higher if it doesn't have lift capability, but that can easily be done with a simple wood platform or blocks.

Reclining with your feet above heart level, toes above the nose, allows gravity to naturally reduce swelling and inflammation, boosting circulation and aiding in recovery.

Have a great week, Chocolatine!

 

[Goma]

I had restless legs after my knee replacement and it drove me bonkers. Knee recovery is bad enough and add in restless legs... well I didn't cope.

After scouring bonesmart the best advice was elevation. Toes above nose to get the swelling down and in my case after weeks of keeping my legs up above my head and 24/7 icing all the way down both legs it passed.

 

[Chocolatine]

Hope my experience will help you. I had problems back sleeping in the beginning but with restless itchy legs until recently. Found my own solution was to use a bed cage to keep the bedding off my legs. I sleep really well now with no itchiness or foot swelling. I feel that my life has got loads better.

I suspect my problems with restless legs may be related to the covers on my feet. I saw someone mention making a sort of tent for their feet out of the bedsheets. My husband put some pillows at the foot of the bed, under the sheets and I got a good five hour uninterrupted stretch of sleep last night.

I have never heard of a bed cage- can you tell me more about it? Does it lift the covers off of your feet?