THR Frustrated

[Mojo333]

Hi @anny
Hope all is well with you and things are still moving forward.
Hope you are staying toasty...101F today here so I've been "toasty" also.
Unloaded over 120 trays of bread and served over 100 people a good meal...and gave out 20 emergency food rations for families.
I'm beat, hips good though!
Wishing you all the best!

 

[anny]

Hi Mojo....thanks for checking in, yes it's toasty here (courtesy of our overworked heat pump!) but a chilly 6degC outside. Glad to be in, cuddling the dogs and looking at a beautiful rosy sunset over the sea Wow, you have big 'family' to feed.....don't make those special hips of yours overwork, or they'll want to shut up shop and ship out take care

 

[Gidget]

Glad you’re having a chance to snuggle in the cold. Since I got back it’s been about 22-24 here during the day and dropping to 14 at night. It sounds ideal but it has been grey and gloomy a lot and not our normal sunny winter skies.

 

[Mojo333]

Glad to be in, cuddling the dogs and looking at a beautiful rosy sunset over the sea

That does sounds lovely..
I'm blessed though...hips are good!

 

[Mojo333]

@anny
Hoping all is going well as you near your 5 month hipversary.
Noticed earlier there was someone on pre-op side trying to find surgeon to do hip replacement in NZ.
MelHipster I believe.
Maybe you could help as they were having issues navigating healthcare system and I'm guessing you have some insight on that?

Hope your hip is being good to you!

 

[anny]

Thanks for looking in @Mojo333 .....I'll see if I can follow up on MelHipster, there aren't many Kiwis on BS so we need to stick together My hip is being fairly well-behaved....it likes to complain when I first put weight on it but then it remembers who is in charge and pipes down. My other one is also being pretty good.....that's a bit of a mixed blessing when I'm only 5 weeks from having it done and getting to the stage of wondering if it's 'bad enough' (again!)....shouldn't complain tho, too many people on this forum suffer really badly, and I shouldn't tempt fate! Hope you're still issue-free, I can't wait to get to the stage where I never think about my hips

 

[Mojo333]

My hip is being fairly well-behaved....it likes to complain when I first put weight on it but then it remembers who is in charge and pipes down.

One of mine had trouble on start up for the first 5 or 6 months. It gets "stove up"(southern slang) after periods of inactivity.
You will get there..
I forgot you are so close to number two. You have a ready made fan club for this one, so no worries!!
Hope your day is sweet.

 

[Bumblebee]

I can't wait to get to the stage where I never think about my hips

Me too, Anny!

Wishing you well on Hip #2!

 

[Crisps]

Strange how at times when surgery gets near, the " hip" settles down making us doubt if it's bad enough what we like. I doubted myself twice recently postponing some metal work removal , only to quickly regret it as started up again as soon as I delayed. Good luck

 

[anny]

thanks @Bumblebee and @Crisps ....I'm sure we'll get there in the end but there's a lot of guesswork and patience involved! Hope you are both still improving

 

[Alitm]

Hi Anny, decided to get over here and have a read. I think I did when when you first said hello about our surgery dates, but it is all a blur with reading all the other threads.
Was mulling over the ITB issues you and others have been having and had to share my experience thus far on this journey, to see if it sheds any light on your ITB issues. So my right hip is worse than my left at this point, generally speaking. Sometimes my left has to have a say in all that. Anyway, the one thing that has really been noticeable in the down hill slide to the OR, is that my right ITB has been kicking up holy you know what! The physio that has been helping me with my back and hips suggested I go and see a RMT, which I did just recently. I found the massage quite helpful and lasting, more so than anything else. I thought I was starting to have right knee issues, and as she hit THE spot on the outside of my right knee, she said it is where the ITB joins the bone. She thinks my knee pain is due to my bowed legged walk and strain on the ITB. Not only do I walk like a duck, but also like a cowboy (I bet they have ITB pain!). Now I can also feel pain at the top of the ITB on the right side.
To continue, with all the reading here, I am learning that re-training one's gait post-op is part of the whole walking rehab process, as well as ditching old favourite shoes and hiking boots that have the "wrong" wear. So in paying attention to my gait as per the RMT and BS, I realize that I've gone from landing slightly on the outside of my heels and rolling onto the middle of my foot (which I knew I did and was working on I thought) and completing the step, to almost not only landing on the outside of my heel, but rolling down the outside of my foot to complete the step! It is amazing that I'm walking at all . I'm sure that is what is irritating my ITBs at the knee join. I'm trying super hard to walk heel to toe in a straight line. I get an amazingly longer stride that way too....not that it is actually long, but better than what it has been, as long as I pay attention! It is hard though to fight what the OA has done to contort my hips/legs . It seems to be helping the knee pain when I focus on heel toe. Wanted to share that in regards to the ITB pain, the massage has helped release the ITB tension and the heel-toeing properly has also helped the ITB pain. I have not iced the ITB as yet. I'm hoping that post bilateral op, the walking with properly aligned hips and focusing on my gait and foot fall etc., the ITB issues might fade into the distance! I would imagine once you are a double hipster you may find the same improvements . We'll see what September has to hold for us

 

[anny]

Hi @Alitm .....yes it's fascinating (tho somewhat annoying!) how one problem can produce a whole lot of further ones, and it's only when the initial one is pinpointed that everything else falls into place! I first had troch bursitis about 12 years ago....chalked it up to walking on very cambered pavements....then ITB on left side only followed a couple of years later. I saw a physio each time, she did massage on the outside of my left thigh (until I stopped cos the trigger point thing nearly sent me thro the roof!). Since I had the right hip done, I get less ITB pain, tho it still stabs me at the knee sometimes, so hope getting the right one done will see it off completely, tho after so many years it might have become chronic.

Interesting what you said about heel-toeing....I've been trying to be aware of that for a few years now (off and on). I found that before my last op it was really difficult not to just slap my feet down like slabs....even tho I was trying hard, the 'roll' from heel to toe totally eluded me. After my right hip was done, I can now h2t perfectly with my right foot but still can't do the left. Incidentally, I'm the opposite of you legwise....I'm slightly knock-kneed, which was pointed out to me by an orthopod about 25 years ago ("why are letting your knees go together.....push them apart"....as if I had sideways control!) As a passing comment, I didn't take any notice of it.....I had no leg problems.....it's only now I've had the Of course, being wise with hindsight, all these revelations make me think the oa started way back, rather than just the couple of years I've been diagnosed....now everything gets blamed on it!

The good thing about all this pain, anguish and soul searching is that it makes you much more aware of your various body parts and how everything interacts and affects everything else.....I might not be healthier for it but I think I'm more proactive about it now! We'll compare notes when we're both up and running again

 

[Mojo333]

Won't be long now @anny
One of the double hippy club.
You have a passel of well wishers already on board.
Hope your weekend is peaceful!

 

[BeBe]

@Alitm @anny

My bursitis and ITB issues on right side were my first indication of hip pain with my right hip, 18 months ago.
I chalked it up to digging an entire garden of perennials and moving them to our new house.
(Something like 150 plants and shrubs.)
Even though I had been told I had bone on bone OA on both hips and to have them both done 4 years previous, I did not have joint or ITB/bursitis pain on the right side hip until that gardening deal.

My left hip joint was quite painful (old labral tear) but right hip joint was not. Everything else about the right side pelvis was painful. Plus my spine issues...one too many horse falls...
One month in with the bursitis and ITB and the horrid joint pain started on my right hip.
Multiple cortisone pills and injections later and surgery was decided on. Then postponed for months.
All while I limped or couldn't walk and ate Aleve like candy.

Right hip surgery brought no relief initially to bursitis/ITB. Although both of my OS told me it would help.
It was not until my second hip surgery corrected my LLD that the ITB/B issues began to go away.
I would say I have had about 4 weeks total of relief since the second surgery.
Until I started becoming more active beyond just walking.
Currently I have ALL of the ITB/B issues back with a vengeance, and my spine issues are joining the fray.

I have an appointment with my OS on Tuesday to try and sort out this relapse of pain that was quiet
until I started to do more bending, lifting etc.
This is all on my right side - 5 months post op. Newest Left hip is holding its own.

Just one woman's experience FWIW.

Oh and my OS said my hips were "20 year hips". As in it took them that long to wear down to the point they were before surgery. He said "no way does this just happen in the last five years" as he gazed at the X-rays...
Apparently I should have had them done in my 40's!!

 

[Mojo333]

I know you are getting anxious but I am certainly rooting for this to be a great recovery.
Secondtimearounditis
It IS nice to know what NOT to do..so that's definitely a plus.
Hope today is a good day!

 

[EL11]

Oh and my OS said my hips were "20 year hips". As in it took them that long to wear down to the point they were before surgery. He said "no way does this just happen in the last five years" as he gazed at the X-rays...
Apparently I should have had them done in my 40's!!

Yikes. I remember people asking why I was limping maybe 10 years ago. I was living on an island in WA and specialists were a ferry ride away. At the time, I had decided it was sciatica and that's what I told everyone.

Rooting for you to figure this out too. I'm flabbergasted by the perennials story. I would imagine that some of them had root systems beyond the minimal.

 

[anny]

Yes we're all wise after we've been told the cause For about the last 20 years I've been unable to flop my right knee out to the side (foot against opp knee, tailor pose) and always put it down to pulling a ?tendon/ligament at the top inside thigh when I did yoga in my early 20s.....was quite convinced that was the cause. Now I no longer have my original hip I can suddenly flop with nothing catching.....I had oa 20 years? who knew? I'm gobsmacked....that'll teach me for being so smug about being in good shape, who was I kidding Several other little niggles I've had over the years I can now assign to gritty joints, but when my gp said oa, would I consider a THR 18 months ago I was totally shocked. Just shows what our bodies get up to when we're looking the other way

@mojo.....thank you for the booster.....somehow 7 days seems a lot nearer than 8 days and as life generally suddenly got a lot busier I'm starting to panic we won't get everything signed and sealed before I'm under the influence! First time round had the novelty value, and diverted my mind with organising everything for hospital and recovery....now I'm an old hand and already sussed that stuff out, feel a bit at a loose end (as well as rushed off my feet with the other stuff). Ah well, in 9 days'time I will lying in that hospital bed, waited on hand and foot and biggest problem will be whether the nurse will come to help me to the loo in time

 

[Layla]

Wishing you comfort as you wait.
A few more sleeps and it will be behind you.
What a great 2019 you'll have!
@anny

 

[Mojo333]

Thank you @anny

 

[Alitm]

@anny and @BeBe Being told that you have "20 year old hips" (OA in the making) and hindsite are so enlightening! My daughter was exclaiming that she couldn't understand why my hip issues had come on so fast. I took her back through some family activity scenarios and she was dumbfounded.
@BeBe I also have lower back issues, from falling off of horses! The hips make everything worse. My phsyio and OS feel I'll have less back pain once my hips are sorted. I had a lower back MRI on Friday, and I'm not sure I really want to know the results!!