THR Constanze's recovery diary

[agileHippie]

Hello @Constanze thank you for all your very informative posts! It's very interesting to see how after care following surgery is handled in different countries. I'm so glad to hear that you can do so much only ~3 weeks out!

Hi Josephine or whoever has the rights to do so - could you please change my surgery date to 20 April 2015?

FYI, you can change your signature yourself by clicking on your screen name at the very top of the screen when you are logged in to the forum. You should get a drop-down list, one of which will be "Signature". That's where the date and other info are stored.

 

[Josephine]

Hi @Josephine or whoever has the rights to do so - could you please change my surgery date to 20 April

Tis done!

 

[wcgirl]

@costanze I am following you w interest too. I'm one week after you. I was in the hospital 3 nites & rehab 5 nites. There was very little PT but went home w the OS protocol all spelled out. My ice device followed me through it all w very little bruising. My PT is at home 2 weeks now w range of motion exercises standing, chair, lying down. I'm definitely stronger as i've put these in my daily routine. Just did stairs today. Still a little swelling so im icing for 20 min now. I stopped taking pain meds 2 days ago. Tylenol seems to do the trick as needed maybe 3x day. My take a pain tonite after upping exercise. I'd love to swim but the steristrips have not come off yet. I graduated to one crutch today on flat surfaces putting more weight on operated leg.
Steady on girl, it sounds like you are paying attention to your body. Its hard not to do more and I tend to rush thru everything thinking 'bring it on' and then i need a nap! Im only listening to my body!

 

[Constanze]

Hi everybody, That's exactly what I do - listening to my body. Well, today I cycled to my hairdresser's and had my hair cut - 12 1/2 km there, 12 1/2 km back. The route goes partly along the Main River. And my body liked it. It's fun getting out into the fresh air - and everything is green and in blossom.

 

[Constanze]

Thanks for changing my surgery date, @Josephine .

 

[Granny Di]

I knew what you meant as soon as I read it @sunbunny. Mine strikes from the knee down. All day golf I get too. Sometimes I am so glad when H goes off for a bike ride or something. I turn the TV off and nap.

 

[Granny Di]

Wow @Constanze - Good for you and I am so jealous. It must have felt so good to get your hair done and get some exercise. It pays to keep in shape! Now I have to look up the Main River on google maps. I have only flown in and out of Munich and Frankfurt -never have toured Germany.
Cheers!

 

[Constanze]

Hi @Granny Di , the Main flows through Frankfurt am Main (there's another Frankfurt in eastern Germany but that's not so well known). Then the Main flows into the Rhein - hence we have an area called Rhine-Main area (that's where I live now - it refers to that bit between Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. You can cycle along these rivers for hundreds of Kilometers - very beautiful. There is the odd industrial area or 2, but most of it is beautiful landscape.

 

[forbesy]

Hi Constanze

Glad you enjoyed your cycle and got out for a wee pamper session.

Billy

 

[Legin]

Wow look at you go it sounds lovely there

Legin THR Sep 14

 

[webbie73]

@Constanze, you are 8 days ahead of me and I can not even imagine riding a bike!! You go girl.

Your area sounds beautiful. I live in the New England area and there is not one stretch of road that is flat! If it looks flat it really isn't, it is a gradual hill.

 

[Constanze]

Update - what I can do about 5 weeks post-op
Hi all, just want to give an update of my state.

Successes:
What I can do painlessly and faster than pre-OP:
Hoover (vacuum clean) the house including stairs
Walk up and down the stairs normally
Get in and out of cars - driver's side and passenger's side - normally
Drive
Walk uphill
Stand in the kitchen and cook meals
Stand in the Queue (line) in the super-market.

Exercise/sport:
Swim 800 m - crawl swim
Breast stroke - about 2 lengths of 25 m, anything longer is still a bit too strenuous
Cycle 30 Km
Walk 2-3 Km with hubby (he walks relatively fast).

Other things:
I'm still taking my thrombosis pills - 1 Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) 10 Mg. My surgeon prescribed them to me up to 6 weeks post-op. I was told by another doctor at the hospital that this is normal because all patients who had surgery on the arm and leg bones.

I've gota prescription for physiotherapy: Got 6 sessions prescribed. This is also normal. For this purpose, I go to an outpatient physiotherapy centre to which I drive 10 km. They are very good. The other day I did an exercise involving bending the unoperated leg (knee), Holding the knee and then stretching the operated leg. That was quite strenuous. Another one involved stretching the operated leg and then moving it ouwards and inwards. The idea is to stetch the muscles and ligaments (pre-op a different physiotherapist told me the adductors and flexors were very short). After the exercise the lady massaged my hip and but. That felt very strange - it was pressure and at the same time the feeling as though someone was tickling me. Then today I did gait training with a male physiotherapist. He says the correct gait is important so I don't develop back ache.

I stopped taking my pain meds after 3 1/2 weeks post op. Will go to work on 1st June. I'll write more then and will Report how my first day at work was. Bye - Constanze

 

[webbie73]

You are doing amazing!!! I am one week behind you and still have discomfort when I walk. Although like you I can easily get in and out of my car. The OS will not let me drive until I see him in one week. For outside walking I still use the walker because my knee is in bad shape. I think that it is slowing my recovery.

Keep it up!!!

 

[isolde]

Hi Constanze, is your surgeon happy with you doing breast stroke legs? Mine has specifically banned me from doing that because of the dislocation risk, although I didn't have the sense to ask him for how long so my acupuncturist/physio is going to try to phone him to ask whether it's just for a few weeks or for ever. Reading your post has made me feel like trying cycling again, although it's not very flat round here and I would prefer a beautiful riverside ride - sounds wonderful!

 

[Constanze]

Hi Isolde,
The answer is no. I haven't got a ban on breast-stroke. In fact, another surgeon I saw previously said this breast-stroke ban which I read about on the Internet is nonsense. And the surgeon who actually performed my surgery is very "liberal" concerning movement restrictions (the 90°C rule and all that). He said 6 weeks maximum. This means I can try things out which don't hurt. I can already put sock on normally for example, while other movements are still a bit hard. I just test my limits. Breast stroke is ok if you don't overdo it, and I only did 2 lengths. However, I found that exhausting.

 

[isolde]

That is really tempting, I am currently doing half breast stroke and half crawl on my swims, and during the breast stroke lengths do dolphin type kicks or alternate leg kicks like I'm snorkelling. I did breast stroke all the time before the op as it's great for keeping hip mobility when you've got arthritis. The surgeons seem to give such different advice, and I don't know if it is based on us as individual patients or if it's their general attitude. Ie whether our hips or ops are different enough that the advice would be different. I was going to ignore the ban until I asked a physio if you got any warning of dislocation before it happened, like pain or being hard to make the movement. She said no, no warning, but you certainly know afterwards straight away! That's great you can put your socks on normally already, I've only been able to do that for 2 weeks. I got excited when I could dry all my toes with my foot up on the side of the bath! My 90 degree restrictions got taken off at 8 weeks but I was already cheating and shaving my legs and had started going up and down stairs normally after nearly falling up the stairs one day when my feet just rebelled against the rules and wanted to be normal again.

 

[Granny Di]

Hi @Constanze ! Your success just proves that being fit and healthy is a good thing and speeds recovery and getting back to a normal life. Also I think it is fortunate that you had the THR at a relatively young age and you didn't have to wait longer so that your conditioning was lost. I biked outside for the first time yesterday - finally!
I will be going again when the rain stops. Good luck going back to work!
Diane

 

[Jaycey]

@Constanze You are back to work tomorrow! Good luck and do listen to your body. You may feel a bit of energy drain - all normal. Ease into activities. Do let us know how you get on!

 

[buzzybee]

Hi @Constanze - wonderful to read your post and to hear how well you are doing. Your physio sounds similar to
mine, I am going twice a week and hope to do some hydrotherapy soon. One exercise I still find difficult is
"Hip hitches" where you stand on a step sideways and drop your hip up and down, but most of the others I can
do. I hope all goes well on your return to work.

 

[webbie73]

@Constanze, re reading your update makes me wonder why they are prescribing 6 more weeks off physical therapy. You are doing amazingly well! What more do they want you to be able to do?