THR Hessian stops cycling to have some Stryker installed (RTHR)

[mendogal]

@Hessian - while recovering I often would walk to a destination the distance I wanted to walk and my husband would pick me up to drive me home.

 

[Hessian]

Day 22 - a lovely day! Did 0.6 mile walk down to the park 2 blocks away with dearest wife to accompany. No complaints w/ pain, just awkward weakness / stiffness. PT will be half mile round trip walking so I feel confident that I can start to get there 2x a week.

Preemptively elevated in the afternoon and slept for a solid 2 hours - chalk that up to my adventurous trot.

Always get a touch sore / inflamed as the Naproxen wears off, but every day is easier and easier.

If I don't wake up feeling like trash I'll try the same again tomorrow.

Loving the new shoes too, so comfy! I am walking pretty smoothly, not 100% perfectly due to the stiffness/weakness, but relative to pre-op it's so different not limping and not disintegrating from pain on short walks like this.

Days like today I start to see glimpses of what life will be like as I continue to progress in recovery and I get very excited!

 

[mendogal]

That's a great update!
Sometimes it's ok to do a new or increased activity every day and sometimes our body says, nope, every other day is fine.
Here's hoping you wake up tomorrow ready to take that walk again!

 

[myglasshalffull]

Great update & see how you feel when you get up today if "the hip" wants to go walking again.
Enjoy!

 

[Hessian]

Day 23 - 0.7 miles outside

Day 24- 0.8 miles outside with a few circuits up and down a half flight of stairs in our local park.

Day 25- 1.15 miles outside with a nasty little hill and some stairs - feeling good, could have gone way more but limited myself hoping to stay out of ODIC. Did several block long stretches unassisted, though cane was ready for a brace if needed.

Gotta say, starting to feel good! I even forgot to use my cane for a trip from desk to kitchen - early AM uncaffeinated and somehow I didn't realize until in the kitchen.

Also noticing I can now pretty easily get my leg onto and off my mega pillow stack without the leg lifter!

Though I have "no restrictions" - the news of that has not made it to my brain. My brain is still guarding my hip a lot when it comes to things that I haven't been able to do in a decade due to OA. Still terrified of, for example, trying to place my right leg on to my left knee, as instructed at OP day PT as a method for putting on socks. OA has prevented motion like this for a decade, I don't think my brain knows how to tell my body how to do that motion. A little anxiety even thinking about it, but hoping a chat with PT/OT and more strengthening and confidence in exploring ROM will help.

 

[djklaugh]

@Hessian Yes it takes time for your brain to "get" that the new hip is working well. Eventually you will forget that you even have a "new" hip. I know I do forget .... until I log in here And last year I even forgot my surgery date!

When my surgeon discharged me I had only one permanent restriction - "no bungy cord jumping". Which was and is perfectly fine with me as it has never been on my bucket list!

 

[mendogal]

@djklaugh - my 78 year old mom was legit crestfallen that two things she'd never get to do after her hip replacement were hangliding south of San Francisco and ziplining between treetops on an Amazon trip (I definitely did not inherit THAT trait from her!).

@Hessian - you're doing great and I especially love that you're being prudent on increasing distance/time! Yes, our neuromuscular systems definitely learn "don't do that" and it's really hard to break the patterning. Your therapist team will be great partners addressing that.

 

[Hessian]

Day 26 - 1.36 mile trot outside with loving partner, some stairs and a steep hill ascent and descent.

Day 27 - First day of PT - WOW, nice experience. Started with icing and a little massage to help w/ the swelling. Then a series of exercises , some were easy, others REALLY had me sweating (in a good way). Given some homework. Felt REALLY good the rest of the day, celebrated with a nice elevated nap in the afternoon.

Day 28 (today) - wooo, 4 weeks out, it's early in the day, going to do my PT homework and do a little walk to grab some lunch. Goal is to go out for a second short walk this evening when my lovely partner gets in. PT tomorrow!

Got 1.75 mile walk in, then a nice nap.

 

[TragicallyHip]

I'm late to the party here, but congratulations on your new hip! How are you doing now--about one month out?

I'm in the same positon as you right now; my hip is so bad and I've and I've had the pain for years. Time for me to get a new hip, too!

May I ask if you had the anterior or posterior approach? I had surgery scheduled with a doc (well-respected at a teaching hospital here in Chicago), but during the pre-surgical "training day," I discovered that he has had two cases of irreversible foot drop. My heart just goes out to those patients! Foot drop is a relatively rare complication of surgery, and even when it happens, it's usually reversible. So, that game me some pause and I cancelled the surgery, which was mini-posterior.

After doing some more research, I discovered that the posterior approach has a higher incidence (not by much, but still highter) of foot drop than the anterior approach. But the anterior approach has a higher incidence of permanent nerve damage.


IN the meantime, I have a friend who has had two of HER friends have very successful surgeries with another doc at another hospital. That doc isn't a "known name," but these friends that I spoke with directly on the phone had nothing but positive things to say about the guy.

So, now I am on the fence. But I need to get my butt off the fence and choose a side because the pain is really getting to be intolerable. I used to bike 27 miles 4x/week, weather permitting. Last year I could only do 18. Earlier this year I could do 10. Now I can barely do 8. So, it;s time.

 

[raylo]

There are a bunch of us cyclists here, for sure. See also the threads over in the social room. I had the anterior approach and was amazed how fast I have recovered... walking without aids, driving, returning to cycling way ahead of the advertised times. Don't get me wrong, it was still major surgery and the first couple of weeks were rough... but manageable. I am about 12 weeks out and still have numbness on my outer thigh and I would be surprised if that ever resolves completely. That is annoying but probably worth getting rid of the hip pain and having a faster recovery. But it would be nice if a year from now I can say that the numbness has lessened. I had never heard of foot drop. The irreversible type sounds dreadful.

I'm late to the party here, but congratulations on your new hip! How are you doing now--about one month out?

I'm in the same positon as you right now; my hip is so bad and I've and I've had the pain for years. Time for me to get a new hip, too!

May I ask if you had the anterior or posterior approach? I had surgery scheduled with a doc (well-respected at a teaching hospital here in Chicago), but during the pre-surgical "training day," I discovered that he has had two cases of irreversible foot drop. My heart just goes out to those patients! Foot drop is a relatively rare complication of surgery, and even when it happens, it's usually reversible. So, that game me some pause and I cancelled the surgery, which was mini-posterior.

After doing some more research, I discovered that the posterior approach has a higher incidence (not by much, but still highter) of foot drop than the anterior approach. But the anterior approach has a higher incidence of permanent nerve damage.


IN the meantime, I have a friend who has had two of HER friends have very successful surgeries with another doc at another hospital. That doc isn't a "known name," but these friends that I spoke with directly on the phone had nothing but positive things to say about the guy.

So, now I am on the fence. But I need to get my butt off the fence and choose a side because the pain is really getting to be intolerable. I used to bike 27 miles 4x/week, weather permitting. Last year I could only do 18. Earlier this year I could do 10. Now I can barely do 8. So, it;s time.

 

[Hessian]

May I ask if you had the anterior or posterior approach?

I had an anterior approach, cementless stem (Stryker accolade II), ceramic on poly, stryker acetabular system (trident 2) no screws

Day 29- Physical Therapy appointment 2 went well, plus mile walk in total to and from a neighborhood restaurant. Which is another milestone - first time dining out since surgery.

Day 30 - Ran a few errands in the neighborhood next to me, a little more than 2 miles round trip

Day 31 - today - did a walk of approx the same, a little more than 2 miles round trip, feeling a little stiff / sore today , probably overdoing it a touch. This is my 1 full calendar month celebration day - the 29th last month I was milk of amnesia'd by 630 am and in recovery not terribly long after! Was lamenting how, at times its hard to see progress day to day, but the progress week to week really is remarkable ! Keeping up on PT homework.

Current supplement list: Costco daily multi, collagen complex, glucosamine, Thorne advanced bone support, turmeric

As of 4 week mark I am off the 2x daily baby aspirin and off the pantoprazole, only tylenol (1000mg every 8ish hrs) and naproxen (500mg every 12h, sometimes I take another 220mg right before bed)

 

[Layla]

Happy One Month Anniversary!
Thanks for sharing your recovery with us. I hope you have a wonderful week!
@Hessian

 

[mendogal]

Your one month progress is great and I love that the milestones are getting out and about.
I know that (once getting past the early ones like losing the elevated toilet seat and the walking stick) these "real life" ones were the most meaningful.

 

[Hessian]

Day 37 - 2 days of PT since last update and I've been increasing my walks about 0.1 miles daily, I think I have mostly managed to avoid ODIC. PT sessions now include at least 15 minutes on a modified cycle thing that is more like a seated eliptical than anything else. I've been enjoying it, as I miss anything vaguely "cardio".

Swelling has started to be much more manageable - as judged by the degree to which I can see the vascularity in the top of my feet, the degree to which my knee cap resembles a grapefruit and the definition of muscles above the knee (or lack thereof).

Feeling a lot more stable in general, which is great. Wake up every morning feeling great and it seems like every day is a different "niggle".

I still have a painful kind of pinchy feeling at the top of my ROM when I try to raise right knee high as is done in "high march" PT exercise for example. Hoping this is just weakness of some sort as I haven't been able to do a motion like that in general for many many years. Similarly, I could barely put on my socks on right side, and still struggle with that from a strength / flexibility point. Can't get that right foot rested on the left knee or just get myself close enough to my right foot to do it without a sock aid device.

To pass time I've been watching the Tour de France coverage on Peacock.

 

[raylo]

I never could cross my right leg over onto the left like that to put a sock on. Never. But with the new hip I am just able to bend over from the waist and slide one on over the toes and then lift the leg and pull the sock on from behind. Another trick that has always worked is to sit on my bed and put the heel of that foot on the bed frame and then install the sock. I expect to improve that ROM a little when I start working on it, but it will never cross over because I am not a flexible person in the first place.

The TdF could be epic this year, assuming crashes don't take out a ny ofthe contenders. The last week with 20,000+ meters of climbing is going to be brutal

. Similarly, I could barely put on my socks on right side, and still struggle with that from a strength / flexibility point. Can't get that right foot rested on the left knee or just get myself close enough to my right foot to do it without a sock aid device.

To pass time I've been watching the Tour de France coverage on Peacock.

 

[Hessian]

I never could cross my right leg over onto the left like that to put a sock on. Never. But with the new hip I am just able to bend over from the waist and slide one on over the toes and then lift the leg and pull the sock on from behind. Another trick that has always worked is to sit on my bed and put the heel of that foot on the bed frame and then install the sock. I expect to improve that ROM a little when I start working on it, but it will never cross over because I am not a flexible person in the first place.
. Similarly, I could barely put on my socks on right side, and still struggle with that from a strength / flexibility point. Can't get that right foot rested on the left knee or just get myself close enough to my right foot to do it without a sock aid device.

To pass time I've been watching the Tour de France coverage on Peacock.

re: not being flexible, I feel ya, I think I am in the same camp but I always assumed that my lack of flexibility in that limb was due to OA because I can do the same action with the non-OA leg, I can easily place my left foot on my right knee in order to put a sock on, for example, and can also raise the non-OA leg much higher / closer to chest when standing. So I assume that the asymmetry is due to the OA and associated changes in surrounding / supporting tissues. IDK if true tho. It's very apparent to me in differences in my pedal stroke between OA side and non OA side. my non-OA side has a pedal stroke that manages to keep the knees nice and tucked and with little side to side travel during the whole stroke (stays very linear from my POV), whereas the OA side was a total mess by comparison.

 

[raylo]

We had a similar discussion not long ago. @trailrunner and I both seem to have had flexibility asymmetries between left and right hips, forever. I recall in college I could easily cross my left leg over right knee but doing right over left was difficult or impossible. That was waaaay before I had OA. Just the way I was built and I never worked to correct the imbalance. Maybe I should have?

 

[Hessian]

Day 39 - 24 hours without use of the cane, feeling pretty spry but decided to take the first "rest" day in many days, no long walk today, did test out how the hip could stand the NYC subway system for the first time. All went fine, lots of small victories.

Day 40 - (today) accompanied dearest partner to the gym and did 40 minutes of upright bike at very low resistance level (2) just to feel things out. No pain, a little awkwardness / stiffness. Relatively low on steps since I took the rest of the day easy, but I feel fine hours later. 48 hours no cane !

 

[mendogal]

Great progress!!!!

 

[myglasshalffull]

Wonderful update!