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THR Heal first, then exercise, then dance!

Welcome to your new world!! How exciting! Isn't it great that you aren't groggy? Spinals are so much easier to recover from then GA. It's funny how you are ready to take on the world right after. LOL! Here's to a quick transition to your room so you can move on to the next step. So glad you are doing well. :flwrysmile:
 
Wow...You're doing great! @An54
I'm responding here to an update you left on Quiltmoms thread.

Hopefully your pain is well managed and you're able to get some sleep tonight.
I'm shocked surgery began and you could feel something :yikes: Can't even imagine that.

Beer and Pizza?!! That is hilarious :rotfl: Hopefully you feel this good every day.
Wishing you a peaceful night!
 
Hi An54, and welcome to the bright side. Your story mimics mine; contra, ballroom, swing...I danced all through my late 40s and 50s until the OA gradually closed in on me. By my early 60s I was sitting out more than I was dancing. After the first THR, I eased back into contradancing at 4 months. But I was sidelined again a year later when the second hip protested loudly, so back to surgery I went. Once again, an uncomplicated recovery, and I have been dancing again ever since. Alas, I did not get back into ballroom....my partner/SO was having his own health issues and he can't manage dancing anymore. But the beauty of contradancing is not needing a dedicated partner, so he accompanies me to dances and weekends still, and he socializes while I dance. Spent last Sunday afternoon at a wonderful waltz event, with a great band.

So you have many delightful times yet ahead. Just don't try to rush it. When you feel ready to try, do easy stuff at first. Moves with a lot of torque cause a lot of strain; avoid those. Walk step at first, and skip the twirls and flourishes. Yes, I know...that's the great fun of it...and it will come back...but ease your way gradually. I am here to tell you that overdoing it can set you up for tendonitis that will require months of rehabbing. It's just not worth it. Give yourself a full year (yes, really) for full healing, so you get many more years of fun dancing out of your hips.

And for now, just rest. And ice. Walk to the kitchen. Rest some more. Repeat. One. Step. At. A. Time.
 
Congrats buddy.
I used to be really active, so it took me by surprise the first time I was told that I was going to need a the in the near future.

Just as yourself keeping active aided to postpone it but my last two years were horrible I could barely walk and it was tough moving around.

The first few days were horrible for me, I am glad you are feeling good already.
It willdewill defi get better.
Just remember to take it SLooow the first few weeks.
 
:hi:Great to hear all went well.
And you have your appetite!
Congratulations on that new hip and the beginning of getting your life back.
It is a process, but I'm sure you've got this!:tada:
 
I just posted this on another thread and thought it should also go here as it is the big part of my THR story so far.:


I had my THR (right side) done yesterday and was concerned about the whole anesthetic thing too. In fact, it was the only thing that concerned me. Now that I’m on the other side I will share what happened to me.

I agreed to a sedative and spinal . I was nervous about being too aware, or feeling anything ( a friend went through a bad experience, with a different kind of operation) . My surgeon said with the spinal & sedation that I would still be able to communicate and could let them know if I felt anything, and if so they would put me under.

So I got into the OR, and got set up. After those drugs kicked in I felt pretty good indeed, and recall lying on my side, happily babbling away to someone how I had to memorize the feeling and details so “ I could get a short story out if it” .

Then ( and I think this is extremely unusual) , I felt the first incision with the scalpel travelling down my hip. So I said “ errrrrrr, excuse me, but I felt that”, and that caused a pause and a stir as you might imagine. Then an oxygen mask came down on my face, and they gave me a general . Next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery. I became fully awake pretty fast, no grogginess, no dizziness , and in fact was still so awake at 1 am that they agreed to gave me sleeping pills . Finally —around 2 am the night of the surgery I got to sleep.

I was a bit confused yesterday after the surgery, and didn’t realize that I had been given a general anesthetic too. originally I thought they had just topped up the sedation. The surgeon clarified that it was the scalpel I felt, and a general I subsequently got .

For me, this approach worked well. I tried the spinal and sedative, and when that wasn’t quite enough, I got the general anesthetic. The cut from the scalpel I merely ‘felt’ . It wasn’t terrible pain or anything much at all.

Surgery was about 8:30 am yesterday, and now I am home , so that makes it about 30 hours i spent in hospital . I have minimal/ no pain . I am very pleased with how it all turned out. So far, so good. Now for rehab.
 
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:hi:Glad all is going well.
Hope your weekend is sweet.
 
An54 said:
I just posted this on another thread and thought it should also go here as it is the big part of my THR story so far.:


I had my THR (right side) done yesterday and was concerned about the whole anesthetic thing too. In fact, it’s been the only thing that has been concerning me. Now that I’m on the other side I will share what happened to me.

I agreed to a sedative and spinal . I was nervous about being too aware, or feeling anything ( a friend went through a bad experience, with a different kind of operation) . My surgeon said with the spinal & sedation that I would still be able to communicate and could let them know if I felt anything, and if so they would put me under.

So I got into the OR, and got set up. After those drugs kicked in I felt pretty good indeed, and recall lying on my side, happily babbling away to someone how I had to memorize the feeling and details so “ I could get a short story out if it” .

Then ( and I think this is extremely unusual) , I felt the first incision with the scalpel travelling down my hip. So I said “ errrrrrr, excuse me, but I felt that”, and that caused a pause and a stir as you might imagine. Then an oxygen mask came down on my face, and they gave me a general . Next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery. I became fully awake pretty fast, no grogginess, no dizziness , and in fact was still so awake at 1 am that they agreed to gave me sleeping pills . Finally —around 2 am the night of the surgery I got to sleep.

I was a bit confused yesterday after the surgery, and didn’t realize that I had been given a general anesthetic too. originally I thought they had just topped up the sedation. The surgeon clarified that it was the scalpel I felt, and a general I subsequently got .

For me, this approach worked well. I tried the spinal and sedative, and when that wasn’t quite enough, I got the general anesthetic. The cut from the scalpel I merely ‘felt’ . It wasn’t terrible pain or anything much at all.

Surgery was about 8:30 am yesterday, and now I am home , so that makes it about 30 hours i spent in hospital . I have minimal/ no pain . I am very pleased with how it all turned out. So far, so good. Now for rehab.
Click to expand...
I'm so glad you're doing well. I'm having minimal pain even after going to PT today...life is good!
 
Sharonslp,
It’s so good to hear from another dancer. I was greatly encouraged to read that you were contra dancing only four months after surgery. I will take your advice to heart and ease very slowly back into the dancing. But of course I have to learn to walk unaided first— so I will take it easy, one step at time.
 
I found your recovery thread!! You are doing really well! So pleased for you :) Wishing you continued good healing and don't be lead a stray by certain forum members, no matter how much fun it may seem at the time LOL!!! :spin:

On the dancing...my husband and I took ballroom dancing lessons before we got married 30 years ago (!) and it was fun...we kept the class entertained!!! LOL. Fast forward years later, we attended a really amazing b'day party of good friends of ours in Scotland and were initiated in the art of Highland dancing...SO much fun! I found that with each glass of wine I got better....funny that!!!
My biggest dancing accomplishment is dancing with my horse! I am an avid equestrian, and although I spent a lot of my youth eventing (loved galloping cross country over big jumps!), I decided that perhaps I should tone it down (also a fall and a slipped disc helped with the decision!) a bit once I started a family, and fell in love with the art of dressage. I have trained and competed in that on and off....but haven't managed to get to what is known as freestyle dressage, which is when you design the movements to music...and are judged on correct movements, artistry, choreography etc. Most of all, it is just amazing to be able to teach a horse to do the movements with you, and that they appear seemingly effortless on both the rider and horse's part. To add music to it is another dimension. It is an amazing partnership and, amongst other things, that is what is getting me through this wretched hip "disruption". I haven't been able to sit in a saddle for a couple of years now due to my hips (but can still manage the barn chores!)...so I'm dreaming of the day when I have the surgery and recovery (doing it "right" and whatever it takes) behind me, and will be dancing with my horse once again! :loveshwr:

Wishing you comfort in your recovery. Wonderful that you are doing well, and are at home. Keep us posted on your rehab journey...no dancing yet...but soon enough :dancy:!
 
Alitm,

Wow, dancing with horses— that’s really something!
I am impressed. Now I imagine you living on an idyllic farm with a traditional barn and rolling meadows on beautiful Vancouver island . In this vision I will locate you in the Cowichan Valley, which I imagine has great soil and grazing. ;)
 
Question re: PT

So far so good with my recovery. I am 4 days out of surgery, with no pain to speak of ( taking 1 regular Tylenol every six hours) , not much swelling or bruising so far. No dizziness, and only one short bought of nausea 2 days after surgery ( which may have been caused by too much Tylenol, so I cut back) since I got home from the hospital 2 days ago, I am up several times a day in my walker, and also doing gentle exercise while lying on my living room pillow-filled sofa-nest, such as pointing, rotating and moving my foot, working the leg by contracting and relaxing the muscles up and down... gentle this, slight that... and slightly more each time ... incrementally creeping up on

My question:
I am very ambivalent about seeing a physiotherapist. I may give it a miss— or wait until two or three months have passed. I’d like to hear opinions on this — I have three appointments available to me free of charge, and I can choose the PT. Should I use those sessions? —and if so, when?
 
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I had a horrible experience with aggressive PT so I decided to leave off for about 6 weeks...and was able to go to PT at a place I had previously gone to when I thought and my pain was due to back issues.
Mostly gait training and stretching but I drew recline at added weights and resistance bands as they resulted in unnecessary strains.
 
Day 6 update (posted on another thread, but copied and pasted here too for continuity in this thread)

I haven't experienced much pain, and on the 1 to 10 scale of pain I am usually parked at zero. I'm taking a Tylenol every six hours.

I have expressed in a previous post or two my ambivalence about PT during the first weeks of recovery. I don't mean the PT you get in hospital after surgery--how to stand up, sit down, etc, plus those basic exercises such as foot pointing, a bit of leg lifting and so on. The hospital PTs can never forget you've just had surgery; you are in a hospital surrounded with equipment, medical staff, stands, trolleys, beepings and buzzings and call buttons and the like. Rather I am dubious about going to 'outside' PTs. I have read soooo many threads on this forum, and it seems to me that people continually get into trouble doing too much too soon, and a post about having PT one day is followed a day later by a post talking about increased pain and swelling. I realize that correlation is not causation, but these 'coincidences' appearing again and again gives me pause.

The good administrators on board here continually ask (to paraphrase)--- if you were in a car crash, had a leg dislocated, and had two of the biggest bones in your body broken, and then underwent major surgery in hospital to repair the damage--wouldn't you allow yourself to heal up a bit first before exercising?

So I've decided to wait at least a month before seeing an outside PT. These first few weeks are going to be a 'healing phase' for me. I'll do some walking. Maybe in a month or three I'll segue into an 'exercise phase'.
 
off-topic note:

If anyone is looking for a good crime drama series on Netflix I recommend checking out Babylon Berlin. It's a German production, action takes place in 1929. Very well done. Subtitled.
 
Well, I did it.
Fifteen years ago, I was amazed that anyone would post a photo of themselves online.
But just now, in the badge thread, I posted a photo of my bare bottom!
How our ideas change.
 
:heehee:
I kind of felt the same way when I posted my upper thigh.
All looks very good and clean and ouchy...they all look ouchy to me, especially mine.:ok:
 
Looks nice and clean... and of course ouchy
 
re: the photo portrait of my bottom,
I could have cropped the photo waaay down, so it is less racy (cough!) (...in her dreams...), but I purposely left in some surrounding flesh for orientation and scale. I found when I was looking through the Badge thread, most of the time I had a hard time figuring where the incision was on the body, which way the leg/torso went, and also unless the information was stated, I couldn't easily figure out if the cut was 4" long or 14" long.
 
Hi @An54
Curious about that white rectangular piece on your wound that made those indentations on your skin.
What is that, if you don't mind answering?
Hope you're having a pleasant weekend!
 
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