Bilateral THR Hello from “the other side”!

[cold_brew]

The little things...

The tightness in my R hip flexor area has gone down a little bit in the last week. Just enough: enough that it seems to have stopped distorting my stride as I toe-off at the end of a step with the R leg. But: big difference! 2 weeks ago if I walked 15-20 minutes that tightness would start to tweak my back and I'd start to feel some pain in my very lower back at the end of the walk. But now that nagging little seed of back pain is gone! Seems fine to walk a half an hour or so without that creeping up anymore.

'Magic'! (and/or: rehab + patience!).

 

[Mojo333]

Love reading your updates and see you double hippy happy, my Both at Once cohort

Magic'! (and/or: rehab + patience!).

We try not to make it a secret, but that patience part of the equation can certainly be majic!

 

[cold_brew]

12 weeks!

Not a lot to report. Tightness in R hip flexor continues getting better tiny bit by tiny bit. But seems to have finally gotten to the point where it isn’t tweaking out my stride. The back pain I’d get from walking 20+ mins is popping up less. Up to walking almost 2 miles and riding stationary bike 30m.

What’s a “cane”? Hardly use it anymore unless I’m knocking on the door of the ODIC or just trying to signal folks that I need some space/time.

Still sleeping with my knee pillow bc it just feels better.

Sitting for long periods is still dubious but getting better at it slowly.

Taking about 4 Advil’s a day but can probably taper off of those soon.

3 month checkin with surgeon this coming Friday, will be fun to see the X-rays!

Time to think about losing a few pounds. Well, it always is

Thanks everyone here for all the good vibes and advice!

 

[Layla]

Thanks for sharing your journey with us! I wish you all the best for you three month post op on Friday.
If we don't hear from you before then, please let us know how it goes. I hope you have a nice week!
@cold_brew

 

[cold_brew]

3 month checkup yesterday!

A bit of a bureaucratic mess up (I’ll take that any day over the medical kind!!). Evidently I was supposed to go to a separate place for x-rays first in advance of the Dr visit but somehow I didn’t get the memo. So some of the updates here are a bit unofficial until doc reviews the X-rays for surprises; I went and got them taken later that afternoon. Titanium glamor shots attached. Looks good to me? <shrug> Next follow up appt is op + 1 year.

Pretty good news all around.

No movement restrictions. Cleared to ride my e-bike (I can go to the office again…yay?)

Some issues with my gait still that he wants to work on, we’ll be shifting PT focus towards sorting out those core and glutes strength issues & I have a fresh PT referral. Says that it’s not super helpful to go on longer walks while gait is still wonky. Recommended getting a roller to work on massaging scar tissue area.

So yeah, things are looking and feeling pretty good. Doc was glad to hear I have no regrets around doing the bilateral. Tough the first 2 weeks but every day since then I have been thankful to not have to look ahead at going through it all twice.

Oh and yeah count one more ‘OMG wow both hips??’ poker face failure from the X-ray tech

Went to the pool this morning for a nice long swim, life is good!

 

[Jaycey]

Great update @cold_brew ! Impressive x-ray! And the good news is you will continue to see improvement for many months to come. Do stop by once in awhile.

 

[djklaugh]

@cold_brew Wonderful update! And yes bilateral is the way to go, isn't it?! As for the "OMG wow both hips" comment ... I stopped counting those at about 50 and I still get them some times even 11 years later,

 

[Layla]

Wonderful update! Thanks for sharing.

Some issues with my gait still that he wants to work on, we’ll be shifting PT focus towards sorting out those core and glutes strength issues & I have a fresh PT referral. Says that it’s not super helpful to go on longer walks while gait is still wonky.

You might want to check out the One Step program. See the link at top right of page. The link rotates between One Step and Active Hydrogel.
Proper gait is everything!

 

[cold_brew]

Well it finally happened, my temporary disabled parking tag expired!

Fair enough I guess, probably plenty of people who need the spot more than me at this point! It was a good run…

 

[cold_brew]

Doc reviewed the X-rays from Fri’s 3 month checkup and all good!

“Everything looks great and the hardware is all intact and there are no fractures or hardware loosening.”

 

[djklaugh]

@cold_brew Excellent report. It always amuses me to see how different things are from year to year and in different places around the world. Back when I had my BTHR I asked about a temporary disability parking tag and was told I didn't need one. Also asked about going to rehab facility for a bit (I was 64 at the time) and was told No because "I wasn't sick enough to need it!" LOL thankfully that statement was true.

 

[cold_brew]

A quick note to all the Bonesmart folks…

Now that I’ve hit the 3 month mark, passed my checkin with the doc, and things are feeling pretty good, I’ll probably be checking in here on the forum less often from now on.

Thanks and good health to all the other people here with me on the hip recovery journey for your kind words and good advice! Thanks especially to the Bonesmart staff for running this whole circus

I hope my “diary” is helpful to others, as much as the other stories I found when I was getting prepared for my procedure.

See you out there in the world and I’ll still be back from time to time with updates!

Walk on…
- Pete

 

[CricketHip]

Oh my gosh, your post makes me a little misty.. thank you for letting us support you in your bi-lateral journey. Members like you are what makes it all worthwhile.

Your recovery thread will indeed help others, especially ones going for the bi-lateral option.

 

[cold_brew]

Just rode my e-bike to work (20 hilly San Francisco minutes) for the first time post op this week.

Rating: 1 Advil on a scale of 10, would ride again

 

[Layla]

Wow! Impressive!
Can't imagine navigating San Fran on a bike with those hills everywhere.
Have a good day at work, stay safe, enjoy and no "look ma, no hands!" ->
@cold_brew

 

[cold_brew]

Well the bike has a nice electric motor so the hills are no sweat (literally)…my only job is to not get run over by an Uber

 

[Layla]

my only job is to not get run over by an Uber

Take extra caution, we don't want to lose you!

 

[CricketHip]

That's sounds wonderful, did you have many bugs in your teeth from smiling so broadly?
I have been researching E. Bikes. Would love one.

 

[cold_brew]

Felt pretty good, not gonna lie.

The ebike is great for taking it easy on the joints. Not a lot of calories burned tho!

On the plus side I can climb 250ft of altitude in 6 blocks to get home without cracking a sweat

 

[cold_brew]

[spoiler: everything is fine]

First scary moment - today I somehow stepped on a mysterious greasy, slippery spot in front of the fridge in my socks today and fell on my butt. As falls go it was pretty graceful (no witnesses, you'll have to take my word for it !?) and I kinda sat and rolled. Half a lifetime of foolishness on rollerblades, skis, and snowboards is hopefully paying off in good falling reflexes. Anyway. Not the kind of scare I was looking for on Halloween but all the pieces still seem intact! Time for some candy