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Bilateral THR Doing the double!

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Good day one and all,

Overnight sleep still evades me but I'm now following the advice of throwing away the clock for sleep timing and so far it's working nicely; I'm not perpetually tired now, I just have to try to not fall asleep with an ice bag laying in a delicate position....

The shakes and twitches appear to have worn off so I can only write that off to the withdrawal from using morphine for the pain, so no complaints there.

The unusual thing for the last couple of days has been the high level of edema and the overly dark colour of my urine. Over the last week I've been drinking a lot of coke zero as well as lots of tea, well, yesterday afternoon I knocked that on the head as an experiment and went back to tea and water, lo and behold my urine colour has gone back to normal and my edema has reduced significantly. I'm not saying coke zero is evil or anything but I'm quite amazed at the level of difference overnight from a simple change (assuming it's in any way related). Strange days.

Home physio stuff has gone well today and I've managed a slightly longer walk with no pain (yet).

All in all a good start to week 3.

Here's hoping everyone had a good recovery day.


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Hi @AndyH99
I love Coca cola but never ever, drink it. Blue Peter (remember it?) TV programme got the children to put a milk tooth when it came out naturally in to a glass of coke over night. I tried it with my son and in the morning the whole tooth had disappeared!

I think it is great when you can possibly link up coke zero to edema, or link morphine withdrawal to twitches . It is so necessary to have that sort of mind as there are so many things to look out for. I am reading a book called "Kale and Coffee" about one mans journey through being a vegan, getting very ill, eating meat and getting better ... It has been very interesting so far.

It sounds like you are doing really well for the beginning of week 3. I am just amazed, despite having gone through the process, how complicated it all is.!

Hope you grab a little sleep tonight or falling that see some shooting stars.
 
@Michegon Hi, totally logical when you put it like that. The daft thing is I usually drink tea & water/squash, but for ease a chilled can fit easier in a pocket whilst on two crutches. Hopefully my other brain cell will wake up soon

Time to go try and sleep (GMT). Have fun one and all


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Good morning one and all,

For want of a better opening - OMG I slept through!! 5.5 hours straight, my longest single stint asleep in the last 5 months if you exclude the operation. Let's hope it's not a one off, but it's a really nice start.

Also, today I got to remove my dressings and see my scars for the first time. I am absolutely amazed how relatively small they are, both are 4 inches long and really neat. Knowing the extent of the surgery and everything that's been done I'm absolutely amazed at them.

More sleep, ice and walks planned, but the real excitement is we might actually have our wet room finished inside the next couple of days. It will be so nice to have that finally completed.

Have a great recovery day.


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@AndyH99 Result! Well done on the sleep! Hopefully just the beginning of restful nights!
 
Hi Andy
I am like you for past 2 months have slept so little that if I have 5hours + I think it is really good! This level of lack of sleep is so bad and so gruelling.

Hope you get to enjoy your wet room very soon.
 
Andy - hope you are BST not GMT - if not I have lost the plot.
 
Congratulations! 5.5 hours sleep and removing dressings are 2 big ones! Actually you can count 3 since you're bilateral. Wishing you continued victories!:dancy:
 
Good day one and all,

Where to start.....? Some days don't you just want to find that nice quiet comfy hole and pull the duvet over you and hope the world leaves you alone till the pain goes away.

The positive side is things are progressing, my movement, walking distance, walking gait on crutches and PT exercises are all improving. I'm now able to do a few legs raises as well as the normal PT and the range of motion before either swelling or pain stopping me is increasing. So on that front my stubborn streak is paying off and my ( not so) common sense is keeping me from pushing harder

The down side is slightly more interesting, whilst the muscular bruising is receding I've got a bone deep ache that's breaking through the tramadol. The only way I can describe it is it feels like someone has been hammering at my knees, femur and hips again. I know effectively that's what's happened during the op, so it's most likely some deep bruising coming out, but mentally I can see the gremlins (or little metal robots in the hip) running around there with their miniature mallets whacking each spot repeatedly. I have considered that the PT might be part of the cause, but strangely enough things feel better afterwards, though I accept the endorphins might be part of that feeling. Let's hope the pain eases off today or I'm in danger of becoming rather grumpy!

Sleep wise, baring one night I'm not sleeping through yet, however, the "throw away the clock" approach is working so I'm not feeling as tired. I'm even planning for when I'm awake overnight by leaving things setup for the resealable mug of tea or hot chocolate and books, puzzles, craft bits etc specially for those times. Last night I sat with a hot chocolate, wrapped in a blanket watching our daft cat play like a kitten chasing insects. Being able to approach the dark times with a smile really does help.

Outside of those areas things are progressing as pain allows. I was rather proud of myself last night as I managed to make a cup of tea for my wife and carry it in, on crutches, without spilling it! If I can control the pain enough the plan today it to try and help prepare dinner and/or do the washing up. Small steps but they all help mentally.

Other good news is that come tomorrow I might actually have a nice shiny new wet room to pamper myself in. Woohoo!

Good luck one and all and have a great recovery day



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@AndyH99
I have a lot of respect for you, to do both hips at the same time. and at 3 weeks you are fetching hot tea for your wife!! That is pretty darn awesome.
I had forgotten about the sleeping issues after a big surgery or injury. I went through that about 17 years ago after shattering my elbow. It required 4 surgeries in 4 months and was during the summer months; I just had to learn to enjoy my nocturnal patterns..tried to savor the crickets chirping and the summer breezes.. I was addicted to the Weather Channel. lol the monotone-like conversation and gentle music was so soothing.
Then at some point, I began sleeping like a normal person again.
I think you have the right idea.. doing some of the normal household things will help you feel normal.
Keep up the good work, I bet you see big changes in the next two weeks!!
 
Good day one and all,

@CricketHip Thank you, appreciated.

Not a lot to report from my side over the last couple of days. I appear to have hit a major energy drain phase as it feels like I'm burning through anything I eat in no time at all and spending a lot of time sleeping. I suspect the fact that I'm walking a bit more and I'm able to do odd bits more around the house on top of the PT exercises is playing a significant part in this so I'm not overly stressed and just going with the flow whilst things improve. The only change to anything we are making is to switch my food around to more smaller meals spread through the day so the intake can try and keep up with the expenditure.

The only interesting fact from me today is that this is the longest period in about 15 years that I haven't touched a computer. All my servers and desktops at home are sitting there quietly gathering dust and I'm not missing them in the slightest . I'm sure I'll get back to it eventually but no rush - lol

Have fun one and all & have a great recovery day.


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No rush at all, AndyH99! Computers are very forgiving. They'll act like they didn't even know you were gone... (not like people at all! ;^)

It is a bit surprising how the additional activity can creep in almost without us realizing it. It's just part of the normalization process--at first, we can't imagine doing normal stuff, but then look back and notice we've been doing certain things for a while without even trying.

Continue to take it easy and listen to your body. You're doing great!
 
The title of this mornings post really should be along the lines of "How to be an absolute Muppet in one easy lesson", I could tart it up a bit and try to claim I was following in the footsteps of Descartes with experimental practice but in reality I was just a total Muppet!

So, if you sleep through your pain med time what do you do?
a) Take them on waking and adjust your times for the day
b) Take something to carry you over to the next regular med time
c) Decide to see how much you really need them & how much pain they are shielding and take nothing till the next 6hr interval is up.

You guessed it, I took option c). For all that supposed academic brain power and practical capability I'm supposed to have, I, in my infinite wisdom, decided to experiment on myself just to see what happened.

My advice following this is "Don't be such an absolute Muppet and take your damned pain meds"

All joking aside, I was curious if I was ready to cut out some of my pain meds as so many people appear to have been doing and basically I wasn't. It hurt like hell and I was a very good practical example of the pain curve in action. So today I will mostly be going back to following the mantras, setting my pain med alarm louder and getting back on track again. Any reduction in pain meds can wait a couple of weeks and I can honestly say I have a baseline against which I can measure my pain levels against, albeit obtained in an unpleasant manner.

Positive pieces from yesterday were - I managed my first half dozen proper steps with only one crutch and Woohoo - my new wet room is in a usable state and it's absolutely a thing of beauty and practicality. For the first morning in ages I feel really clean and a lot more human than I have for a long time.

Have a great recovery day one and all.

ps - I experiment on myself as no one else is daft enough to let me do it to them, I don't recommend it to anyone who still has all their marbles.


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Hi @AndyH99
Far from being a Muppet, you were being human, being enquiring and why not, even though you have had to suffer the consequences. The result might have been the opposite and you would had been posting really happily.
I will think of your wet room when I face my 4 inch step/ hurdle into my shower. Interestingly predictive text changes wet room when done as one word into wartime - be warned.
 
Hi feet on backwards and gnomes with hammers...think that is a worse type of nightmare than being attacked by the nasty gorillas from the planet if the apes. .. I hadn't even had any morphine .

Great about the wet room though and you are nack on your meds
 
Good day one and all,

As I sit here with my lovely warm Maine coon on my lap waiting for the urge to sleep to wander my way I can only classify today as "interesting".

Excluding my return from the hospital I had my first ride out in a car today as I had to get to my first physio appointment. It's amazing how your perception of traffic, cars and most notably braking distances can change after an operation. To say it was a challenging experience is as about as far as I'm going to go!

My first non-hospital PT appointment was sadly as expected, someone more concerned with talking at me and paperwork as opposed to talking to me and listening. Hopefully the next session will be a little more productive, but worst case I should have the wonderful team at the hospital I can talk to.

One thing it did do for me though was to send me to sleep for the whole afternoon, so good can come from absolutely anywhere

Have a great recovery day everyone.


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Glad you got that car ride done. I agree every bump and curve are noticed and you wish you were the only car on the road. Next one will be better. And hope the next PT is better too. That must have been disappointing. I had a nice nap today too :sleep:
 
@pacmac PT is just one of those things, sometimes you get lucky others, well .... Say no more. The positive side is the hospital physics were great and I have some of my old sports physio contacts who will help me out if I get stuck.

Question to anyone in relation to progression, does anyone have an opinion or reasoning for the walking aid progression, should it be?
1) 2 crutches, 1 crutch, 1 stick, none
2) 2 crutches, 2 sticks, 1 stick, none
3) 2 crutches, 2 sticks, 1 crutch, 1 stick, none

Or is it dependant on how confident each option makes you feel?

Also for a minor bit of amusement, as it's stuck in my head at the moment, try the above list to the tune of the banana boat song broken link removed: https://www.metrolyrics.com/banana-boat-song-lyrics-harry-belafonte.html, so

2 crutch, 1 crutch, 1 stick, none
Daylight come and I wanna limp home
2 crutch, 2 stick, 1 stick, none
Daylight come and I wanna limp home

Crutches, me say Crutches
Daylight come and I wanna limp home

Feel free to groan accordingly, I blame the meds and lack of sleep, honest!

Have a great recovery day




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Hi @AndyH99 I love your new words to the song.I would have thought the physio would have given you instructions on your progression with your assistance aids after all this is their area of expertise.I know exactly what you mean about the pot luck game with physios.I must admit I have always got better physio care from the private sector where they have more time and access to more treatments.I didn't have crutches came home with 2 sticks and gradual switched to 1 but it was 12 weeks before I gave this up totally but of course this was only used outside.
 
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