Class of 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 Hippies

[guyr]

Had an anterior RTHR on October 26, 2012. Hip is doing very well. Still a little pain every now and then, but nothing to speak of. The left hip needs to be done sometime. Unfortunately, I learned about three months ago that I have OA in my back with two compressed discs. That is causing pain now and will probably need surgery also. With all the surgeries I should be bionic when it's all done. (Trying to keep a positive attitude.)

 

[Kerilyn]

Hello 2012 Hippies!
It's great to read what everyone has been through and how they are doing now. It helps to know I'm not the only one with this and that
It took pretty much a year for my leg to feel normal (normal after having THR) I had trouble with my muscles getting back on track. I occasionally have leg pains but nothing compared to having a hip issue. I had the anterior approach done and still have numbness around the incision area. It's not an issue thank goodness. My ROM is not like it used to be. But! no hip pain! I'll take it!
After getting on track and walking 3 miles a day and leg feeling much better, I started getting pain in my other hip . Well went to my OS and its all starting with my left hip now. Going down the same road. Cortisone shot lasted 1 week (same as right hip) and going down hill fast. Not looking forward to surgery again (9.11.13) but I know that the future will be brighter I can get back to being pain free and active!
Best wishes to you all! This is a great community of support

 

[yanagirl:)]

I just hopped on here again to see about doing yoga - now that it's been 2.5 yrs since my bi-lateral THRs. I saw this thread for 2011 hippies and want to chime in. I love the idea of this! :iagree: Hello to everyone once again!

Except for a bit of pain from over-exertion about 4 mos. ago, I've been doing very well since my surgery. It is easy to forget that these hips I'm using are not the ones I was born with!

But now that I am thinking about getting back into yoga (I'm talking gentle, senior yoga!) again, I turned to this site because of the vast and varied and voluminous amounts of experience and opinions on here. I intend to get started slowly and gently. While it'is true that I've had no pain, I am not as flexible as I'd like to be. So I don't want to overdo. I do water aerobics 2-3x/wk. but there's not a lot of stretching in that - at least the way I do it.

So I'm surfing the net and looking around on here for yoga tips and pointers and experience. It's great you guys are still there!!
We have so much to be thankful for. Hope everyone is well and walking the walk! I mean, a "normal" walk like everyone else - not like we were walking just before our THRs!

 

[Poppet]

Welcome back yanagirl:), if you do a search for yoga at the top of the page in the forum, you will get lots of info and threads to go look at.

 

[Poppet]

Hi there guyr and Giopei, good to hear from you and that life is returning to some normality

 

[crybaby2]

Hello Poppet and all. Today was my 1st post op appointment. Happy Happy. I can drive again. Still no water sports, no sleeping on side or stomach but I can drive. I am doing well. Can walk with no crutch but not ready yet. It is my buddy. I am probably crazy but.... I want to start a crazy wheel chair club. When I was told I would have to do in home PT I was very disappointed. I wanted to rent a wheelchair so I could push 1 and half miles there and back. I can't the ride the bike yet so...... Why not we all get strong!!! have fun doing it... ride the bike half time and push the chair half the time. Have beautiful legs and arms and the core... well that will just fall into place with the bike and the chair. Am I crazy??? Probably, but it does sound fun to do with others. Maybe some good laughs. It isn't zoomba or yoga... but I'll think of a good name. Anyway again today was another good day. Love to all CRY BABY2

 

[Pugfugly]

Hello, pugfugly here a.k.a hobbit!
Its been a while.... Good to browse through and see how everyone's getting along. I am using a walking stick on long walks because it helps me to walk straight. Recently I have started getting a bit of pain down the front of my thigh, anyone else experienced this? It happens suddenly and is a sharp pain, it's gone as quick as it comes.
Doing keep fit and Pilates and mostly I forget that I've had my hip replaced, which I never thought would happen.

Lovely to catch up with all the news. x Hobbit x

 

[alexthecat]

Hello, Pugfugly! I'm sure you've mentioned this previously, but could you refresh my memory as to which surgical approach you had? I can tell you that I had little "zaps" from my anterior scar all the way to my big toe. It didn't happen very often and it stopped completely when I was about 1.5 years post-op for that incision.

 

[Catherine]

Thank you for taking the time and thought for all of us who were a part of the 2011 cohort! I found this forum so helpful and supportive and I feel a little guilty for not revisiting more often. I too was a double hippy (Feb and June) and my life changed dramatically as a result. Since my second recovery I have had so many wonderful experiences and challenges as well as personal sadness (a marriage breakdown). Wonderfully, I have trekked and worked on a build project in the Himalayas, moved house and completely redecorated it, run for charity, bagged some munroes, landscaped a garden completely by myself and am currently planning a next expedition to Africa. One of the best things has been learning to dance, both ballroom and latin!

Having surgery was scary, and there were so many ups and downs, but now I the only time I really think about it is when I'm out in the mountains and marvel at the difference to the way I feel physically these days to the way I used to feel when walking anywhere!

If I had to do it all again I would! Best wishes to all recovered, recovering and anxious would-be hippies.

 

[Poppet]

Hi Catherine, lovely to hear from another 2011 hippie..

So many great achievements (and some sadness) however, I thought your recovery worthy of copying your post to the library for "Amazing Success Stories" ... Do tell us more about your new project in Africa

Well done you

 

[Poppet]

Pugfugly, sounds like the tiny nerves are waking up..

 

[Nannyannie]

Hello everyone! 9 month anniversary tomorrow, it seems to gone in a flash!
Back from a lovely trip on our boat through bits of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Not much internet access during our trip so I've got a lot of catching up on Bonesmartie friends to do.
Other half and friend (who was his Best Man at our wedding in 1969!) took the boat to St Omer and left it for a few days. We (us2, SiL and BiL) went back and followed canal/rivers Aa, Lys through places like Armentieres into Belgium, up to Ghent then into Terneuzen (Netherlands) across the Westerschelde estuary to Vlissingen and up to Middelburg. It's easy to look at where we went on Google Earth (and how many locks we went through.) The French/Belgian area is gearing up for next year's 100th anniversary of the start of WW1.
I am now off the Tramadol and realise how much of last year I cannot remember due to pain and the medication, let alone how confined to the boat I was! I'm not exactly leaping on and off the boat (a 40 ft motor cruiser) but I am so much more mobile and was able to do the tourist bit. It did involve lots of "rests" in cafes involving coffee, beer, wine and tasty Belgian waffles or Dutch appelgebak met slagroom (apple pie and whipped cream!) so there is now 10lb to lose which seems to have settled round my tummy. It was worth it!
Like Pugfugly I'm getting odd twinges in my leg but had assumed it's nerves re-growing - I heard from someone who had a pin put in a broken femur that she was told 12 - 18 months for the bone to knit properly with the metal and everything else to settle. A THR also involves interference with so much of the soft tissue, ligaments, etc. as well that it's no wonder we twinge!
Best wishes to all
Anne

 

[smip]

Im glad I found this site. It is so uplifting to me to see others in my same situation. It's nice to compare notes. I had my first hip replacement last August 2012 and then my right hip a couple months ago on in June 2013. I am definitely having a rougher time with my right hip than what I did with my left hip. Here it is two month out of surgery and I'm still using a walker. Pain level is going down quite a bit but the pain in my left hip never went away completely before I had my right hip done.

As I said, I am so glad I found this site. I am anxious to read through them all. Nice to meet you all.

 

[bottomshollow]

smip, so pleased you have joined us here on the forum.
Please start a thread of your own here in the Hip Replacement Recovery forum. Here is the link that gives you the instructions you need to do this: Starting a new thread and posting

By starting your own thread, you and your questions and concerns will receive the attention they deserve. I look forward to seeing your first post.

 

[Lisybug]

Hi guys it's been 1yr and 2 months since I had my LTHR after an awful hospital stay I got home and got better slowly and my new hip is great but the pain in my right hip became pretty apparent 3 wks post op I then lost health insurance I did not get to go to PT and have suffered with one bad hip over the past year my husband got a job with great insurance 3 months ago and 8 days from now I will go in for a matcher on the right side

 

[Debowma]

Hi folks. It's been a long time since I posted. I had my second hip replacement on dec. 4, 2012. I thought my recovery was doing well, but then I got rear-ended at the end of April while I had my foot on the brake. My hip was all right, but I've had a really tough time getting strength in the muscles of my right hip. I went to pt beginning in August, which is helping, but I limp easily and had to get a lift in my left shoe. Can't quite figure all of this out. The pain is lots better, the hip operates correctly, but the muscles tire easily and then hurt. Any thoughts?

 

[Lumiere]

Hi Everyone,
I had Left THR on June 19th, 2012 after it had been fused for 45 years. The dr. had offered me wonders but nothing of that happened. Before my leg was 8 mm shorter than the right one. Now it is 2 inches shorter. Besides I don't have flexibility in the hip and the leg is crooked towards the inside. It has been awfully disappointing because he never told me all these things could occurred. However, I went back to work 3 weeks ago. I'm a professor. The first 2 weeks I thought I wouldn't be able to make it but it's getting better. I think I can handle. I still have problems with the gate. I use a cane and walker, go to PT twice a week and exercise in the water 4 times a week. Nice to have a 2012 list of people who're still recovering or still remember the experience.

Lumiere

 

[PlanetJanet]

Hello to all! Today is nearly exactly the 11-month anniversary of my LTHR, which was October 24, 2012. On this particular day I'm in some pain because I went back to my trainer after nearly 3 weeks off, but in general, I could not be happier with my new hip. I'm up to an hour on the treadmill. Still a bit leery about an extended walk in the real world, but about a month ago, I did an extended mall trip (the kind of milling around walking that I always found very difficult) and did just fine. Some of you may remmber that my big goal was to wear high heels--I'm happy to say that 2" are no problem at all, and I can do 3" for an hour or so at a shot. (Vanity is all, but that was a big part of who I am, so I'm happy to be able to do that again). I'm back to being a very fast walker. The ROM is great, just like the other one, and while there are twinges, etc, nothing to write home about. My right knee will probably need to be replaced in a year or two, but for now, cortisone injections are doing the trick. My next big goal is a trip to Paris and Germany this time next year, for my daughter's 30th birthday. I figure I need to be able to run for a train with a suitcase, walk at least an hour at a time, ascend and descend stairs without a hand rail, and, because I intend to visit a town in Germany with a famous castle on a hill, to be able to climb stairs for about 10 minutes without wanting to die at the top. Not even not be out of breath--just not seek extinction! Unlike some of you, I never forget for a moment that I've had it replaced, but this is mostly because I am SO GRATEFUL to be out of pain. Even now, nearly a year on, I'm still so happy when I can spontaneously decide to run into a store, rather than spending five minutes in the car steeling myself for the pain I know is coming. Congrats to all of you, and to anyone considering surgery and reading this, do it!

 

[Lumiere]

PlanetJanet,
I'm happy for you but I don't really appreciate your "congratulations." I want to make you aware of the fact that because your surgery was successfull and now you can do everything you couldn't do before and you can go everywhere you want, not all hip replacements are as successful as yours. So, please, don't congratulate all of us. Not all of us are happy of doing it.
Before the surgery I had not pain and I could do so much traveling and hiking but now I'm a real handicapped: I have pain every single day, there is a leg discrepancy of almost 2 inches, my leg is croocked towards the inside and beside, I don't have hip flexibility. All of that make it very difficult to walk, to sit, to cook, to ascend, to descend, to shower, to travel and to function in daily life. For all those reasons, I'm not happy about the fact I went ahead with the surgery. Actually it's the worse decision I ever made. It really ruined my life. Because the surgery worked for you, it doesn't meant it is going to work for everyone else as it did for you. Some of us were not so lucky or will not be so lucky. It is not your fault but I need more sensitivity from the lucky folks who had the surgery and now can plan on claiming the Everest and doing everything they couldn't do before the surgery.

 

[Lumiere]

Lisybug,
How're you doing? Did you have the surgery? I also had congenital hip displasya. I hope you started walking and PT as they do normally after THR. Tell us how's it going. Hopefully you're home by now.

LUmiere