I thought I would update and actually give a day by day overview as I thought it might be helpful for those about or have had a double hip replacement done at the same time.
Background - no cartiledge left in either hip and bad bone on bone particularly in right hip causing limping and pain for 4 months and use of a stick walking up and downhill when out with dogs but otherwise OK walking around the horse. Major impingement and limited adduction in both hips. Very fit, weight good, lots of gym, pilates (great for getting strong core to support bad hips) and MASSES of daily walking. Great surgeon who advised doing a double as right hip urgent, left hip not so but only a matter of time. I had anterior surgery.
Feb 19th - double hip surgery mid afternoon. All went well, epidural and sedation. Woke up pain free and dead legs. Bad sleep. Threat of catheter as had not wee'd, did ultrasound of stomach and established bladder needed emptying urgently. Hmmm - asked for and got commode - no bedpan for me! - and with the help of running water managed to completely empty bladder (they checked with ultrasound afterwards). Relief. Pain meds working. Appetite good - lots of veggie to help bowel.
Feb 20th - Day 1 Up on double crutches with physio, walked down corridor and back. Stayed in bed all day. Up for loo and assisted shower (great). Continued bad sleep due to being woken up and TERRIBLE drenching night sweats not helped by plastic cover on mattress and having to wear a nightie when normally I'm a wear nothing person.
Feb 21st. Day 2 Up for double crutch walk with physio and managed up and downstairs being shown technique. First hydrotherapy treatment. Very nervous but absolutely bliss. 30 mins of warm water and gentle exercises with others (3 to 4) good to talk to other patients with knee/hip ops. Back to room and managed shower and hair wash on my own - true bliss. Appetite good so lots more veggie and I mean lots plus bran for breakfast. No bowel movement though. Given sleeping tablet didn't work more drenching night sweats.
Feb 22nd. Day 3 OH dear. Stomach has completely blown up with all this fibre and in a LOT of pain - threat of suppositories. More walking and another hydrotherapy session. Pain under control. Terrible sleeping and more night sweats.
Feb 23rd Day 4 Routine bloods taken, established my iron levels very low so on iron tablets. Stupid me I forgot I have a bad reaction to these tablets (last taken when I was pregnant so many years ago). So now I feel very sick, appetite gone and stomach like a balloon. Violently sick in the afternoon, feeling as weak as a kitten and very ill. Suppositories given - they work - so this bit resolved. Now threat of blood transfusion because of iron levels which they said they'd check again the morning. Sleepless night as worried and ongoing TERRIBLE night sweats.
Feb 24th Day 5 Thank goodness, iron levels improving so no need for blood transfusion. Still feel very sick and can't eat anything. Double crutch walking and another hydrotherapy session. Little sleep and more night sweats. Tried sitting in chair but very uncomfortable on lower back so can't manage more than 20 mins
Feb 25th Day 6 Feeling slightly better - craving cheese on toast! Pain OK. More walking and more hydrotherapy
Feb 26th Day 7. Pain OK, more hydrotherapy. Going home at 11.00 a.m. Hurrah but scared. Given cocodomol and paracetomol to take home. Plus blood thinners for 1 month which means I can't take any anti-inflammatories (this is proving to be a problem later see below). Long and uncomfortable car journey - 2 5 hours. Sit in wing chair at right height but OH MY GOD, even with cushions it's clear that this is NOT going to work as lower back nightmare. Won't take Cocodamol because of giving me constipation so stick to 2 x 2 Panadol every 6 hours which keeps hip pain at bay but not sciatic type pain which has now reared its head running down my right thigh. Order recliner on hire as priority but can't come until one week later. So doing lots of bed naps (no ice at this stage because was never suggested by hospital and I hadn't discovered this wonderful site). Sleeping at night terrible and up to 4 drenching night sweats. Usually wake up at 2.00 p.m. for wee and very obliging husbands helps with everything. Research for good physiotherapist and have found one who can come following week - hurrah!
7 nights in hospital in total - surgery done in London King Edward 7th hospital.
Feb 27th/28th/March 1/2/3 Days 8/9/10/11 and 12. All shades of the same thing above. Appetite poor, strength weak, doing simple exercises hospital gave me 3 times a day. Bad sleeps, pain under control, night sweats and very bad lower back pain and down my right leg and knee.
March 4th Day 13. Brilliant new physio came - lovely lady. Did some very painful pressure point work in my right buttock and thigh due to very tight muscles. Definitely helped … her view is it is sciatic/performis based due to a) the manipulation in surgery b) my previous L/3L4 prolapsed disc showing its face and c) lack of a proper chair. Nightime waking and sweats as before
March 5th Day 14. Game changer - recliner arrives …… HEAVEN, at last I can sit comfortably/raise my legs/ be comfortable etc etc. I also discover use of ice packs, wonderful
March 6th/7th/8th/9th/10th. Day 15/16/17/18/19 Hip pain all managed just by regular paracetomol (see above) but such bad pain in my right leg and particularly in right knee (please God this does not mean knee surgery as this knee has been weak in the past). Still can't take anti-inflammatories (Dicoflenic at 75 mg works for me) 'cos of blood thinners. Managed one outdoor trip for coffee armed with high density foam cushion and quite long double crutch walk from car park and back all good. Generally manage a 10 minute walk each day - slight uphill and downhill - despite right leg giving me gip. Lots of icing and rest. Nights are just as bad.
March 11th. Day 20. Physio again today. More pressure point work and can feel when she presses a point in my butt how it travels down the outside of my right thigh and then round my knee. Painful but she's convinced this demonstrates the source of the problem and that we need to work on this. Richter scale of pain when pressing these points is 9.5! My husband is also experiencing some nerve pain an the doctor has prescribed some Gabapentin for him which has worked so physio says I should try this as well because my pain is nerve based and I still can't take anti inflammatoriesas explained. Start doing this.
Lots of icing and rest. Nights are just as bad.
March 12th Day 21. Start being able to go down to one crutch in the kitchen. Hurrah but right leg still very weak compared to left leg. Physio has said that when walking with one crutch hold the other arm up in the air as it balances the body and you use all the right muscles in both legs. She's right I can feel the difference and it stops me limping. I think maybe the Gabapentin could be working as my butt an thigh feel a little easier although knee doesn't.
March 13th/14th/15th/16th/17th/18 Day 22/23/24/25/26. Gabapentin is giving me better sleeps … I had noticed googling that it works on hot flushes, who knew, but these have definitely diminished although am still waking up 4.00 ish albeit this is better than 2.00 ish! Strange that such small differences make such BIG differences! Knee a real pain in the butt!
March 18th. Day 27th Now walking on double crutches further distances so up to about 20 mins each day. Much more mobile in the house and can manoeuvre around the kitchen on one crutch quite well. Keeping up with my hospital exercises 3 times daily and I can feel the difference.
I've not mentioned swelling. After the op and in hospital I had a spectacular bottom and hips; particularly the latter and also all down my inner thighs. Whilst a lot of this reduced I still have a lot of swelling on my hips but where it's really evident is my right knee and up to 4 inches above the knee. Comparing right with left, the right is 1.5 inches larger than the left and is very swollen - no surprise I suppose with the pain and inflammation I'm experiencing.
March 19th/20th/21st/22nd. Day 28/29/30/31. I am now managing a 40 minute double crutch walk. The left leg feels so good and STRONG. I can put all my weight on this and stand on one leg. By comparison I can put NO weight on my right leg as the knee just crumbles. This is really getting me down as I feel the hip op is OK but it's had such a knock-on effect elsewhere that I had not foreseen could ever be an issue. I just so hope it improves and catches up with the left leg. Maybe when I come off the blood thinners in 9 days I can take a proper anti-inflammatory and this will help? Note: my physio has given me a tip that when I do my simple exercises, some of which involve standing on one foot whilst using the other leg (supported by a bench of course) to engage my glutes and that takes the pressure of the knees. Works a treat so may be a good tip for others.
And last night I slept through from 10.15 to 5.20 no waking and NO NIGHT SWEATS (has to be the Gabapentin) and feel so much better. Knee just the same so as I'm typing this I'm in my wonderful life-saving recliner and iced up on knee and lower back. Shortly will go for daily walk.
So, if you've stayed with me for this very long thread I hope my day by day might be of interest to others for the record. Whilst in the early days I might have said avoid a bilateral like the plague you know what, I now think it was the best thing to do … one anaesthetic, one recovery period, 2 legs same length and that has to be worth it despite the butt/knee/thigh issue which I hope is just temporary that I'm experiencing.
BTW I do have photos of the top of my two femurs which I asked the surgeon to take if anyone is interested. Gruesome but interesting!
United Kingdom
