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THR Freedom's anterior Lthr

I am day 8 on recovery and was very surprised by the pain/difficulty on side to side movement. I had anterior and I guess they played all sorts of games moving the muscle around. With the help of my 'belt' around my foot, I can scoot my leg maybe 3-5 inches but it's still painful to move. I know everyone is different and recover's at a different pace. But 8 days later it is better than on day 2 when the PT person at the hospital was very surprised I could not slide the surgical let out at all.
 
It is 1am. I am disgusted with this place. Would love to self discharge and go home tomorrow but don't feel I can manage at home alone.

Had that awful pain, screamed, abt 11am yesterday. Loads of people came. By that time, I had moved back to prior position, pain stopped. My nurse scolded me, said this was behavioral and I cannot do that. Said the hospital also said that this is behavioral. She had everyone leave. I was stunned. Here is a patient in pain, no comfort, no effort to learn source of pain, and patient left alone.

I pressed call button and when aide arrived, I asked for nurse. She came in 7 min later. Said I don't understand what just happened, said something along the lines of the last sentence above. She replied ”you disrupted the entire floor people thought you put your head through the window, and you stopped when you had 5 people in your room." " No,"I responded, "I stopped when I had got back to the position I was in and the pain stopped." "Well I didn't know that "nurse said, "I am sorry. " I said thank you and she left.

At this point I was afraid to move and trigger that awful pain. At 3 pm head of PT comes in to do my assessment. We talk , then as she helps me out of bed, that pain! Long story short she determines it is a muscle spasm 0robably the quad the one that was cut. We walk about 70 feet with my walker and she leaves.

BTW then and 7 pm nothing happens. I am afraid to move. Then I have to"go" no choice have to move.

Call button nurse comes (shift change) helps me up, pain, I stand and it stops. She advises NP will be in tomorrow. Isay but that means I have to get through the night. Walk to bathroom, nurse leaves, try to sit pain, I pop up again. Try another time and sit. Now I am crying. And while sitting not moving, pain. I struggle to stand. Pain stops. Now I am crying uncontrollably. I exit, another nurse is there, we review what just happened, me crying throughout. She advises my nurse is on the phone getting ok for muscle relaxer. And at 7:15 I get Flexeril. Can take every 8 hours. So far it is working.

Getting ice has been an issue. They say the gel packs walk off, they have to prepare a plastic bag of ice cubes, put it in a pillowcase. One area of my bed is always wet from melting ice.

I asked for ice about 10pm. Aide returns after a while, says she found a gel packs, put it in freezer, when it is ready one if the girls will bring it to me. At 1am I wake no ice have to call.

This is not right imo.
 
Hope this medication sorts out your pain.
I think maybe your OS needs to see you again today to monitor your progress.
These early days can be scary until things settle.
Hang in there.
Joe....
 
Day 5 post op. Small improvement daily. Left leg is dead weight, awkward getting in and out of bed. Using walker of course, still, put weight on my hands. Due to go home Wednesday.

I take my walker down the hall and back a few times daily; as long as it gets some exercise it behaves.

Today is overcast rain incoming. My whole body is one big meteorologist.
 
@Freedom glad the thigh pain is easing up. Hope this helps though not sure if you're experiencing the exact same issue I had.. my post op thigh pain was brutal, it was the quads and leg was very swollen, didn't have a drain this time. I would get onto the hospital bed in stages. One time a nurse insisted on lifting my legs despite my plea to leave the leg alone and the pain shot up to a 20.

Weird thing is no one called a dr or administered muscle relaxers, pain meds. Ice was hard to get this second time around. I clung onto the walker for dear life and walked by dragging my leg and pushing it forward with the good foot.

To this day, I don't know why this happened. Best guess is I had severely contracted quads and limping before thr; add the combo of anterior method moving quads around plus the forced movements from the hana table?

Tip: If I ever have to do this surgery again I will go to a hospital that specializes in hip surgery. Hospital staff didn't seem to know what they doing, pt and ot was unorganized.
 
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Hi horseshoe,

That sounds rough. My pain is managed,so that is good."

I chuckled at the description of moving with the walker. "Walked by dragging the foot and pushing it forward with the good foot." If pushing one foot forward with the other foot, were you balanced on your hands??

Nap time.
 
Hang in there Freedom. You and I are on the exact same timeline. I had my LTHR June 12 at 8 AM also. It's been a rough week, but I have been under-medicating quite a bit. Was home about 36 hours after the surgery.
I'm getting some side to side motion going and some lifting at the knee, but can't really lift the entire leg at the hip even an inch when lying flat.

My biggest mistake was not buying a power lift/recliner chair which my surgeon thought was a waste of my money.

He was wrong. Even with a step platform next to my bed, getting in/out has been horrific, and 90% of my pain has been derived from that activity alone. I ordered a recliner today especially since I have to do my right hip in August.
 
OMG @Rocker, I can't imagine doing this without a hospital bed. That is what I am thinking about for returning home.
 
Question. Pre op, my gait was off because I couldn't properly extend the upper left leg. Just took walker down the hallway and, same problem. But now it seems the muscle is just tight, rather than the pain off this movement which I had pre op.

Of course I immediately decided the surgery was unnecessary as it didn't fix the problem. Calmed down and asking on here.
 
Zinger. That feeling of electricity lightening zipping down the outside of the hip and thigh. Oxy and Tylenol don't help. Cold seems to help.

About an hour ago, winding down for the night, in bed reading, and a zinger hit. I have not been able to jump out of bed like that in some time. .

Yes, I know it's nothing to do with the bed, just reaction to move away from that electrical shock feeling. I hope this stage doesn't last too long.
 
Hi Freedom.
Rest assured that everything that your feeling at the moment though uncomfortable is completely normal at this point in your recovery.
Take things slowly.
Take time to ice.
Take your meds on time.
Over the next few days these issues will settle down.
Your doing great so far.
Joe......
 
Just informed not going home Wednesday. Would have been surprised if I was. New projection is Friday.

Was just speaking with a knee reb person. Like me she is constantly having to beg for ice. I understand ice is a standard protocol for joint replacement recovery. I just don't know why we have to beg like this. Last year for my knees, I had the cryo cuff, made things easier, plus I was at a different location. Once home I will investigate how to complain about this. If they can't provide basic care they should not take in joint replacement patients.

Been a busy morning , lunch is done now nap time.
 
@Jaycey I think you will know where best to share this. Someone in a support group just posted, her husband tied helium mylar balloons to her reacher /grabber, and to her cane. What a great idea! Mylar balloons last longer than the regular helium balloons.

I've been on various support groups 19 months, first time I have ever seen this suggestion!

I plan to put 1on the reacher and on TV remote. My cane has a quad tip.
 
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HOME! It feels SO GOOD to be home! And of course my 7 cats and 5 dogs are thrilled to have me back. Started right out getting them back in to routine: my friend got us here just after 12 noon, got me settled and left, I fed the dogs (they eat once daily at lunch), fed me (thanks Sheila for bringing my lunch with you!) and then we all went to bed, NAP TIME!! Just now up, over 3 hours later.

Hip recovery is so much easier than knee. That said, there are some differences. Of course, I am still using the walker. I am not yet able to 'furniture walk" as I put a LOT of weight on my hands on the walker. This is making getting in and out of my bathroom a challenge. It is a tiny bathroom, and I did check the walker at the door and hold on to the vanity to get in and out with each knee. Home Care wasn't thrilled with that; but wait till they come tomorrow and see my new shuffle- shimmy since I am not fully weight bearing! They may wish I COULD do the furniture walk ha haaa.

That is the biggest difference, at least for me. Bending at knees, hips, no issue. Balance, no issue -- all my weight is on my right most of the time and I'm lightly touching the walker for steadiness. But as soon as I have to take a step and put weight on the left, I only have about half of it on the foot, the other half is on my hands on the walker. Which in turn means, I am probably going to have to keep the pet sitting service on once a day to scoop the 9 litter boxes. Pre op, my surgeon had said he didn't care if I bent at the waist, legs straight, and scooped as of Day 1 post op -- "you may not FEEL like doing it, but you can with no harm to the new hip." And if I had 1 or 2 boxes I am sure I could manage. But tight fits in both the bedroom with 4 and the bedroom with 5 boxes is pretty much saying I need help for a bit longer.

I'm using the loveseat, not tried the recliner yet. And I don't need the raised toilet seat; the arms on either side of the toilet are enough. I have the:
MedMobile Stand Alone Toilet Safety Rail from Amazon.
I bought this in Feb when the hip was deteriorating to the point I couldn't get up myself.
 
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Reality check: I am no longer at REHAB. It is now up to ME to remember to take pain meds on time! Ooof! Been home 7 hours with not taking any pills! Need to get up now.

Recliner is usable, hooray! Sitting here with Willy on my left (pillow between us as that's the sore area), Tasha on top of him. Riley is on the pillow on my lap. Frankie and Belle are on the elevated foot rest. Nah, the 5 dogs didn't miss me! He he heeee.
 
Wow...glad you're home! For me each day brings a slight improvement. I received the power lift recliner chair I ordered last week. It's very nice and would have been perfect for those first brutal 10 days. Day 11 and I'm on a cane around the home a bit.

Get your rest. That many pets takes a LOT of work. I only have one cat, and she keeps me busy.

Hope you are feeling better with each new day!
 
I came home Friday, today is Monday and I am FINALLY able to focus on rest, healing, recovery. WHAT a crazy weekend!

Saturday: I've had a sebaceous cyst slightly right of the middle of my chest, about 3 years. Mostly I don't know I have it. Naturally it decides to get infected, woke up with an abscess. VNA PT arrived, I had her look at it. "With 3 metal joints, you do NOT want to take chances with this bacteria, get thee to the ER!" Called around for a ride. (Note: Urgent Care also would do; however the nearest one which takes my insurance is a 22 mile one way drive, and the hospital is just 2.2 miles from home, so the friend driving and I agreed to go to ER.) When we arrived, just 2 people in the waiting room. Even though we knew I was going to be very low in terms of triage, that seemed fine. Well, you know how ERs go: unpredictable. The place suddenly became a crazy place, and we weren't even seeing the ambulance arrivals! Finally I was called, after 4.5 hours of waiting. In and out in under 10 minutes. The Nurse Practitioner did send a sample off to the lab; he said as I spent the last 12 days in facilities, best to test for MRSA and other stuff. Got a prescription for Keflex, 1 tablet every 6 hours for 7 days. I guess once I am past this hip recovery I will have to see about having the cyst removed, now.

Sunday: Of my 7 cats, I still had not seen 3 of them, one of which needs a daily pill. Pet sitters hadn't seen Tommy for his pill since Tues, and the other 2 hadn't been around Thurs or Fri. My cats are indoor only, and as the house is a ranch, this is one floor living. The cellar is off limits just now as it is not cat safe. I've lived here 2 years, but been in post op recovery mode for 17 months, so it just has to wait for me to heal so I can clear it out. I go down there for the laundry. I don't think the cats even knew we HAD a cellar. Sunday morning, trying to figure out where those 3 kitties could be, I opened the cellar door. WHOA! They had been on the upper steps, me opening the door or maybe my walker, something spooked them and down they went. I jumped back. Ebony (another cat) was in the hallway, raced over to see what was up (curiousity and cats you know?) and decided to go down too! I shut the door. Now I had FOUR of them down there! Called pet sitter, I was fuming. Long story short she brought over a trap, and all 4 are now up here, as of this morning (Monday). Three of them were quite hungry so went in the trap Sunday. Ebony of course was the last to get trapped. I know there is cat pee and poop down there now, so I am NOT happy. The sitter had washed the sofa cover and a few other items pet related; she's done it other times, and always closed the door behind her this time she didn't. And now the cats know the cellar is there, they have become door darters. I will have to close cats in bedrooms prior to opening that door for a good few months, until they forget all about it. I have added "find a new pet sitter" to my To Do list.

So as of 8:30 this morning Monday, when we got the last cat up, I am in to recovery mode instead of addressing some craziness or other! Calm and peace AT LAST! (I hope I didn't just jinx it!)
 
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I had my first post surgery visit with the surgeon today, at 2 weeks post op. All looks good. He removed the aquacell dressing, and put on steri strips. I can remove them (if they haven't already fallen off) in 1 week. And I can shower with them. Restrictions for anterior remain in place for 2 more weeks. I return in 1 month.

I can stop the iron supplement. My count is not up yet, though improved; but the iron tablets do a number on my gut. He said things will continue to improve to normal, just at a slower rate without the iron pills. Yesterday I don't think anything stayed down. I keep up with the aspirin 325 mg for 30 days from surgery.

Blood tests from Saturday were back, no mrsa, in fact no infection showing at all. White blood cell count is normal. I am surprised considering the size of that abscess! I guess this means it had not reached the bloodstream yet, to attract any action. Anyway, the news is good!

I'm taking 5 mg oxycodone am and pm. I take Tylenol ES and Ibuprofen during the day, mostly as needed. Had tried stopping the oxy Sunday night, woke miserable on Monday morning; so ok, it's a bit too soon, will try again later in the week.

The difference between this and my 2 knee surgeries continually amazes me. This is not easy; but it is nothing near as hard as the knees.

[Bonesmart.org] Freedom's anterior Lthr
[Bonesmart.org] Freedom's anterior Lthr
 
@Freedom fwiw.. for the second thr I took veggie iron supplements before and after that were stomach friendly (no bathroom side effects) and found these helped a lot -I recovered well and didn't have much fatigue.
 
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