Hi. I'm new here

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Eeyore346

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Hi Everyone. I just found this site. I just found out I am going to be having 2 hip replacements. I was looking to talk to people going through or having been through the same thing. I am considering getting them both done at once for work reasons. I am 46 and a single Mom. I don't work, I don't get paid. I can work at home to a certain extent. I have been told I won't feel like doing that for the first two weeks. So that means a total of 4 weeks off if I do them separatly.

If some of you could shed some light on this please do.

I am so looking forward to hearing from you all. I feel so alone and unimformed at this point. I am going to a seminar on hip replacement this week.
 
I am in my 4th week of recovery from min. invasive R-THR. I feel pretty good, but I cannot imagine doing any kind of work after just two weeks, even at home. I would think having both at the same time would make recovery twice as difficult. You most likley will not be able to get out of bed and walk right away with both being done. I would get more than one opinion regarding doing them both at the same time. Good luck, I will watch for your story to unfold.
 
Hi,
Hopefully Andrea will post for you. She is the list simultaneous bilateral "Rock Star". ;) I am 48 and scheduled to do both at once on Aug 12th. Once and done. There are a lot of great encouraging posts on here. Josephine is terrific and always there for you.
The general consensus is get as strong as you can previous to the surgery and never look back. My surgeon told me I could start back to office work at two weeks. I am fortunate in that I can work from home also.
That is my plan - can't wait to have my life back!

Best wishes,
Donna
 
Have you looked at surfacehippy.org. You might be a good candidate for resurfacing. I am ALMOSTcommitted to Dr. Gross in Columbia, SC. The interview on that website are very informative. Also, there are some good videos on youtube.
 
Over the last 10 years I have had six knee surgeries and now they have found out my hips are the problem. They have both degenerated. It was the second opinion doctor who said I am a candidate for the double hip surgery. My doctor originally said one at a time. I am seeing him on Friday and going to ask if he will do both together for financial reasons.
 
So that means a total of 4 weeks off if I do them separatly.

Er ... no! Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news but having the two done together will not necessarily mean that you have the same recovery period as having one hip done. And I cannot for the life of me understand why surgeons still encourage their patients think differently. Some even seem to tell them outright that they can be back to normal in two weeks.

From my experience and from input on this board, two weeks would be the period of time you will need help around the house before becoming independent which is a different thing entirely. Four weeks, maybe even six, is more likely before you can get back to work, assuming your job is a sedentary type thing like secretarial work. If you are on your feet and/or need to walk around a lot - waitressing for instance - then it will be longer. This surgery is not minor and neither is the recovery/rehab period. You will regret it if you try to push yourself to fast and too hard.


 
"Rock Star" here! hahahaha

Oh Donna, you are a hoot, making me blush here, however! I am so glad to hear you are really in a great frame of mind for your surgery. Keep it up.

Eeyore,

My surgeon agreed to do both my hips at the same time, but he had a fairly strict guide line of who he considered candidates for simultaneous bilats. I had to be lean, strong, young, positive and have great home support. As an active athlete, I did not want to have 2 surgeries and 2 recoveries with down time, not to mention that I am self employed so yea, no work, no pay. If you really want to go with simultaneous bilats, you need to do a little work before hand. For me it was by far the best way to go, but I did really work my butt off pre surgery to get prepared. My hard work did pay off big time. I was home in 2 days and forgetting to use my crutches in 4 days. Office work would have been very easy for me within 2 weeks, but I board, groom, show dogs so it was more like a month before I was dealing with the dogs again. I had my college son take over the kennel for me for the summer and my DH was the best at helping me out with day to day things.

But, I want to stress to you that my recovery was far from average. I love to let people know what is possible after THR, but every surgery, surgeon, patient is different and there are no guarentees. You can only control how fit, strong and positve you are going into surgery, then the rest is out of your hands. Hopefully you will have found the very best surgeon you can.

As far as the surgery itself, bilateral is of course longer, although not nessecarily twice as long since all the prep is the same. My surgery did take 4.5 hrs, but that was mostly because my left hip was in much worse shape than expected and took more time.

My recovery was awesome however. Up walking with crutches the next moring without the grinding hip pain! Doing stairs that afternoon, then home the next morning. The first week is really tough, you are on drugs for pain, really tired and struggling to figure out how to do things with 2 legs that don't work so well. But every day brings some improvement along with some plateaus and even setbacks. My very good friend (boxer breeder/exhibitor) had one hip done the day before me, same surgeon. She is thin, but not strong. Not only was I out of the hospital before her, I continued to recover faster and better. I was back in the ring showing my Siberian Huskies 6 weeks after surgery, while it took her almost 4 months to be able to show her dogs again. To this day (3 yrs later) I have better range of motion, gait, strength etc than she does. The biggest difference between my friend and me was that when I was in the pool working out, she was content to sit in her recliner, when I tried to get her to come to PT gait training with me, she said walking around was enough exercise. So I have to believe the difference is not in having both done at once versus one at a time, but how hard you work both before and after surgery.

I truly believe the best thing you can do for yourself if you are considering THR, especially simultaeous bilat, is to get as lean and strong as possible before your surgery. And have a positive attitude. Great home support is a big plus too. Then after surgery, you have to work hard at your recovery. The more you put into it the more you get out.

I was in very good physical condition before I found out I need 2 new hips, but I had to kick it up a notch and change my workouts after I was told my hips where shot. I backed off my cardio and concentrated on strength training. Anyone, even the very non athletic, can do strength training and even a short amount of time can make a big difference in your strength and body fat. Working out in a pool is fantastic especially for anyone who is carrying extra weight thanks to the bad hips. You can get an incredible workout with no stress on your joints.

I don't think you can think of your surgery as "a total of 4 weeks off". It is more of a journey. It may take longer, it may take different routes. Even when you are starting to do things again, it will not be at 100%. You will continue to improve for months, up to a year. You need to take time to prepare. You need to plan on time to heal.

OK, so now that I wrote this "book" I need to get out of here and ride my lovely mare!!

Andrea
 
Whether THR or resurfacing, almost ALL of what ripanco said is spot on. Get as fit as you can, have a positive attitude and plan on time to prepare and time to heal. Excellent advice!
 
I do not think I would be a candate for the resurfacing as there is practically nothing left of my ball on the end of the femur on either side.

I do work in an offfice and right not I am working in a wheel chair ( I just use it to sit in as my computer chair just makes me miserable) I walk everywhere I go. When I work at home I can sit in my recliner and use my computer which is next to my chair.

As far as being in shape to have 2 at once, I am not. Both my fist and second opinion doctors believe my hips are fused together and have not moved in over a decade. They believe the muscles have athrophy and will need to be streched after surgery. My surgeon says one at a time. The second opinion said I am a candidate for both together. I am overweight. I do not move very much or vary fast from the years of not moving well. I have continually been to doctors and this new guy that did my last knee surgery is who figured out that it is my hips and not my knees. He could not believe the other knee sugeries were preformed and no one figured out it wasn't my knees.

I am in a huge amount of pain and my tolerance is very high from the constant pain for so many years.

Part of me is excited at the fact that I have finally been diagnosed and by next summer I will be a new person. But part of me is scared that this won't work like all the other surgeries on my knees. The doctors all said I would be good as new but nothing has worked so far.

I want to thank all of you who have commented. It helps to know I am not the only one going through this!
 
I had bilateral THR 11 weeks ago...and with no other frame of reference, I do not know how I would have done with a staged procedure. I do know that my stronger leg became dominant very quickly, so I felt like I had just one done by week 2. Then it was a progression to cane and then driving and then back to work by 4 weeks. I like that it was just one surgery. I would not have wanted to go through the rehab twice, but that is just me. Not every surgeon will consider doing a bilateral procedure. Mine seemed to specialize in it.
 
NewWheels- Are you in good shape? Other poster who had both done and did well said that being in good shape really helped.
 
NewWheels- Are you in good shape?

Well not exactly...At 55, I had put on 20 lbs in 2 years due to the major joint pain on both sides and lack of mobility. As an example it took me several; minutes just to stand up after sitting, and I had to wait until no one was looking to hide my restricted ability. I rated my pain at a solid 9 (out of 10) in the pre surgery appointments.

I did lift weights and ride and exercise bike 20-30 minutes every day...but the pounds kept coming. There should be studies on the effects of chronic pain and weight gain...but anyway, I was toned and had fairly low resting pulse..56...but good shape... no way.

The better news is that I started losing weight immediately after surgery and am still losing. Not sure why...maybe I am a bit more active now...but I really think it is the lack of stress response and pain of the disease that are causing this reversal of weight gain. I am not complaining. I also regained 1" in height and leg length. People I was eye to eye with pre surgery are now looking up when the see me.

The lack of pain has also caused my co workers to comment on my facial expression (relaxed and smiling most of the time now) and dramatic weight loss. Anyway..enough about me. Best wishes on your decision and procedure.
 
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