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THR Diary of my journey to happy times

@Klassy Have you tried putting a pillow between your knees? I find that helps a lot to keep leg(s) supported and avoiding aches in the morning. Even 14 years (almost) after my BTHR I still do the pillow thing ... just feels better to me. I use a longish pillow and put it from knee down to foot. Give it a try.
 
Agree re pillow. With my post op knees I found it helpful to use enough pillow to keep the entire postop leg, hip to toes, parallel to the bed.
 
I second the longer pillow as, djklaugh, mentioned. I've used one nightly since my THR 8+ yrs ago.
Those long Body Pillows work well in my opinion and they're inexpensive also. Good luck!
@Klassy
 
Good progress to report!
Firstly, thanks for the suggestion about using a pillow to support side sleeping. Tried it, and it works a treat!

Second, I have seen a lot of improvement over the past week. Generally feeling I can put more weight on the left leg, walking more quickly and smoothly around the house with crutches. And over the past couple of days I have progressed to using one crutch only. This makes a huge difference to my ability to do things, eg carry a cup of coffee etc. A huge morale boost.

Third, I had a very encouraging consultation with the physiotherapist yesterday. She was really lovely. She reassured me, as helpful folk on here had already said, that the pain and incapacity I had experienced at first was what can be expected after a hard fall, even without a fracture. I may or may not have had a partial non-detected fracture, but if so, it was healing fine. She said my recovery was exactly on target and I had nothing to worry about She took me through what I could do, eg put almost full weight on the injured leg (just using a bit of support with hands on countertop) , and ascending and descending an easy set of stairs. She has of course given me exercises, but no targets for numbers of repetitions or sets, just to take at my own pace. She suggested that I could probably do without the crutches soon, maybe already, but I said my experience with two hip replacements was that I didn’t need to push myself on this, it would happen naturally, and she accepted this.

She asked me what I wanted to get back to, and I explained about the tower bell ringing. Specifically, the challenge presented by the tower stairs - steep, crumbling, spiral, no handrail. She was quite taken aback! I pointed out that it was 11th Century technology! She thought it might take another couple of months to get back that ability. I shall be patient!

I didn’t say that I was desperate to get back to gardening. I can see so many things in the garden just begging for my attention! But I remember that landed me in the ODIC after one, maybe both, THRs, I am really trying to avoid that mistake this time. So, focus on the long view, metaphorically and literally: enjoy the autumn colours and don’t look at the fallen leaves etc.
 
That is not a good report…..it’s an EXCELLENT one! I’m glad you have these good people on your medical team who are reinforcing what you read here. You’re going to be okay. And you know patience will get you there.
 
Great news all around.

Gardening...yeah.... I hear you loud and clear!
My second TKR and now this current hand/wrist issue both happened just at the start of summer, so twice in three years I have had to wait out a full growing season and well into autumn without being able to deadhead or prune.

I did get friends to help this summer with a bit of deadheading and pruning, but the larger drought tolerant shrubs have utterly run rampant, spilling into each other and encroaching on gravel path. They merit careful from the bottom up pruning, not wholesale shearing with power tools by local "professionals," and all I can do is sigh, shrug, and tell myself "they're not going anywhere!"
 
@Jamie , you are so right!

Oh @mendogal , I feel your gardening pain!
You certainly have been through the mill in so many different body parts. As you say, at 70 (71 for me) we are definitely out of warranty.

I just caught up with your hand and wrist surgery thread. Quite a few things I can identify with from the time I broke my wrist, about 10 years ago. But you make me realise how relatively lucky I was to break my left wrist, and not my very dominant right. I still found it really hard to floss single handed though!

Let’s hope we both are fully better in time to tackle the spring gardening jobs.
 
Well we certainly learn patience during these challenging recoveries no matter how short or long in duration!
First spring summer after my replacement no way I was getting on my hands & knees to plant so my partner did it for me under my direction! He has the patience of a saint. I like the flowers arranged color coded and he was thinking I had to be nuts! Pink here , then white, than red. Repeat.
I can now do my own planting which I look forward to in May. I just pulled out some of the flowers that have gone past their prime. We have been blessed with some gorgeous fall weather so the flowers still were looking great but we had big rain storm & a few cool evenings so they were looking shabby.
Klassy I bet Tula is happy you are getting around better, sounds like things are improving each day. Hang in there. The finish line is near!
 
I, too, can relate to the gardening issues. I had my first hip done in July 2022 and I watched as the weeds took over my flowers. No deadheading got done. This time I decided to have surgery in October when most of the outdoor stuff was done. There's still some things to do but my husband will do them for me. There is a red star hibiscus that needs to be moved and the daylilies need to be cut back once they turn brown. The reblooming irises are blooming right now so once they are done they'll need to be cut back. I so wish I could get out there and do this stuff myself. Maybe next year. :)
 
Six and a half weeks since my fall. Slow but steady progress has continued over the past week. I am now regularly using just one crutch in the house, and counter-surfing without crutches in the kitchen. I can just about walk without crutches, but only if I limp/lurch, which I think best not to do. I have managed a little bit of gardening, just deadheading, but a big morale boost, and I have had a few little outings. Today I achieved a major milestone: got up the tower ( and, the hardest bit, down again!) to ring the bells for Sunday morning church service. It was lovely how pleased the others were to see me back. I see from this thread that the same feat took me almost 4 and a half months after Hip 2 (Hip 1 took 3 months, because the church where we rang then has a less difficult staircase).

So my recovery is months ahead of where it would be if the fall had broken my hip, and I was now recovering from a hip revision.

I should be counting myself very lucky. But it’s hard! A scheduled hip replacement is one thing. You know it’s going to be a long haul, you put nothing in the diary for a block of months, and you are so grateful to be rid of the arthritis pain. But when I set off for a brisk walk back in September, I had no idea I was about to spend weeks on crutches. And immediately afterwards, I had no idea how long it might take. So it has been 6 and a half weeks of cancelling one event after another that I had been looking forward to, as the date approached and I had to concede I was still not going to be sufficiently recovered. I have spent most of a glorious late summer/ early autumn inside, and now the clocks have gone back and it’s cold and drizzly. And I am grumpy!

But hey, this will pass. Best wishes to all other Bonesmarties who are hanging in there!
 
You’re over the hump with this recovery, so try to focus on the things you CAN do. You’ll get there soon. You are right not to push the walking independently, as limping is not good for you. It can slow things down and cause you to develop an improper gait. And that can lead to problems with other joints when you walk like that. So smart move to keep some type of walking aid until you really don’t need it at all.
 
:SUNsmile:Sending a sunshiney wishes (though it's rainy here as well) that you continue with slow steady improvement.
Congratulations on bell ringing!!!!!
And yes, use a mobility aid until you can do good heel to toe walking.
 
Hello all, and thank you for all the support and good advice.

Update: This is a saga! Also, some yucky details, so please feel free to skip it all and go to the last sentence!

I am currently improving, cautiously, after some big detours. I was doing so well for a couple of weeks from my last post. Then I had to have scheduled surgery to remove a minor skin cancer above my lip. I knew this would stop all exercise for at least a week, but recovery was worse than expected. I have had similar surgeries, but I should have realised that the lip is a difficult site.

So, several weeks of being really careful before I could resume with very gentle activity. On the plus side, during all this rest, the last of my hip pains disappeared. But I was so feeble. I built up carefully, and I was doing really really well, finally getting back to everything I enjoyed: ringing, dogwalking, gardening, going out to a handbell concert (in the audience and not performing because I had missed so many rehearsals, but at least I was there).

All was great, for about 4 days. Then I came down with a bad cold which had struck down many of the tower ringers. Why o why don’t people keep their germs at home!!! I had a slower recovery than anyone else, maybe because soldiering on is not in my nature, but probably because I was already so run down after months of inactivity. About two weeks in, I coughed so hard that I pulled something in my back. That was so painful. I dosed up on cough suppressants, but would wake in the night with a coughing fit that felt like being stabbed.

Meantime, my bowels just stopped. So I didn’t take painkillers because they would make things worse. Gradually, with rest then gentle stretches, my back pain has nearly gone. Constipation continued, and it was hard to tell if I still had some back pain or it is stomach pain. I resorted to chemical weapons. This resulted in a cycle of: No activity and increasing anxiety and discomfort for several days, several days of taking increasing doses of pills, painful success followed by a day or two of hovering near a toilet, then wait hopefully for normal service, no action, start the cycle again. I don’t know what caused this. I have never had it so bad, not even post surgery. Looking back, I had oral antibiotics for the lip surgery, so maybe that upset things. Also, I had very little appetite and the small amount I did eat was high fibre (lots of veggie soups and purées while the lip healed). I always eat lots of fibre, but maybe stopping other foods confused my system.

I also wonder if the back injury, from coughing, settled into some sort of inflammation that cramped my innards. I didn’t mention before, but one effect of the fall was severe urinary incontinence. Fortunately we had flooring designed with a view to getting a puppy, so no permanent effect on the surroundings and I got by with improvising from washable rags, and not leaving home. I did a search on here and found a suggestion that it was because of the delay and difficulty in getting out of bed, but that wasn’t the cause in my case. It eventually cleared up by itself, thank heavens, I am grateful! And it didn’t recur after I hurt my back and again had trouble getting out of bed. So I now think that all the internal swelling from the impact of the fall was interfering with the operation of my bladder etc.

So I think that maybe stiffness from the back injury affected my guts.

They do say all these things are connected. So in the last few weeks, I have thrown everything at the latest problem: I have invested in a Tai Chi introduction app. I get cross with the wafty lady when I can’t keep up, instead of feeling the relaxation and peace, but I am getting the hang of it. I have introduced every available fermented food and drink into my diet. Gentle exercises. And, fingers crossed, things have improved for my innards.

So I am feeling positive and happy. I am going to keep up the good habits. And it doesn’t hurt at all that I have lost about 10 pounds since this all started, over 4 months ago.

Onwards and upwards, and a Happy New Year to everyone!
 
Klassy…..my goodness! You have been through the mill during these past few months. I’m so sorry, but it does sound like you are getting back on top of it. Please continue to let us know how you’re doing. I think you’re approaching all this correctly. Just be careful of any constipation that lasts more than a couple of days. If that happens, you might want to touch base with your GP just to be sure that everything is okay.
 
Wow, Klassy, you've had quite a few challenges to deal with lately, thankfully you've powered through and your days are looking brighter. May it only get better and 2026 be a good year.
Thanks for checking in and a Happy Four YEAR Anniversary, Righty, and SEVEN yrs with, Lefty! :thumb:
@Klassy
 
Thanks for your advice Jamie. It has certainly crossed my mind that constipation can be a sign of something sinister. The NHS info suggests consulting a GP after 3 weeks. I didn’t think they would be interested any sooner, particularly since I have at least 3 of the contributing factors they list: over 65, prolonged period of inactivity, and sudden change of diet. I am probably up to 4 weeks now, but recently things are much improved. I will give it another 2 days without medication, then seek medical advice if not totally well.
 
Thank you Layla, yes indeed my hips have recently achieved their 4th and 7th anniversaries, and surviving that tumble onto concrete with no damage is something else to celebrate. So Happy 2026!
 
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