Guess they used mostly some kind of surgical mesh/ glue, but there's a few sutures as I can feel then strategically placed. Namely at the very top where one is sticking out and knotted. I can feel the others are under the skin. The ones at the top are really bothering me now. Looks like it is puckering the skin as it is closing up.
I think what you have is a subcuticular stitch like this. Sometimes the surgeon fixes it with a knot at each end if it's nylon which needs to be removed. The nurse just snips the knot off one end and draws it out! Or if it's dissolvable, the knot will be buried under the skin and it's left to melt away on it's own.
But sometimes they don't and the end of the suture peeps out and has to be dealt with by the surgeon, the PA or a nurse but using sterile scissors, not your embroidery ones!
Wish I were done with this recovery thing. I'm tired if it.
Oh dear! This 'thing' can take a lot longer than 5 weeks! Did you read the recovery articles Jaycey left you in post #2 of this thread? There's one of activity progression and his one
Chart representation of THR recovery.
I wondered if it was and I'm assured that it is. My OS said that after he measured and put liners in the socket one of them had a tiny bit of play in it so that is how he fixed it.
That's not
entirely true. Most screws are used because that particular type of hip replacement is designed to be used that way.
Those delicate surgeons use more power tools than a mechanic or a carpenter.
You better believe it! That's why I LOVED orthopaedic surgery! All those love tools and toys to play with! Since I retired, I have actually bought (mostly off Ebay!) a variety of surgical instruments and event a rechargeable drill which is exactly like the one we used in surgery for screws and stuff! It's great!
I should Google when the first hip replacement was done... Bet it's been refined quite a bit.
Joe is correct. I was scrubbing for hip replacements in 1963 no less! And worked with the surgeon who first designed teh modern version of a hip replacement. If you Google it, results will tell you it was 'invented' by Professor Sir John Charnley (a very clever chap, btw) but Ken McKee did it first and was first to use bone cement as well. Charnley on the other hand, was first to use a metal femoral component with a plastic cup. He had a whole slew of other innovative procedures and methods which I won't go into here.
I think I scrubbed for about 90 hip replacements during my time with Ken McKee in the 2½ years I worked there. I never counted how many I've scrubbed for since but it's been a few years about 15 hospitals! McKee also did the first ever knee replacement in 1964 which I also scrubbed for!
Here's some piccies you might find interesting!
The McKee hip
The McKee knee
United States
