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THR Hip, Hip, Hooray! There is joy in every day!

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I had my surgery done at Sacred Heart at Riverbend in Eugene, Oregon by Dr Shah from Slocum Orthopedics. This is a wonderful group of doctors who have parking places for people who are " temporarily disabled". I had to travel to get to Eugene because my little town does not have specialists that do the anterior approach. @MountainGirl I just read your thread and see that you are recovering from your second hip as well. I have found that there are lots of people, especially coworkers, who want to push our new hips into overdoing. I take out my hip book and also read the activity guidelines on Bonesmart and stick with the program.

My news for today is that I got on the scale and my weight is up 10 pounds! Left hip/thigh region quite swollen and sore. Rest, ice, medication and elevation along with gentle post op exercises are on the schedule today.

Time for my Lovenox shot! Wishing you all patience and success!
 
@Healthyhip12 I am so happy to read your positive reports. Happy for you, because not everyone has been recovering as well as you and me too. Boy, how tired I got of giving myself those Lovenox shots twice a day! Towards the end of the two weeks, every time I gave myself that shot it felt that my skin got tougher to get through, or the needle got duller. Probably neither was the case, but it felt like it. And those TED stockings! I was so glad when those came off. Now I am taking aspirin twice a day until the bottle is empty. That is so much easier. I just add them to my daily cocktail of vitamin D, multivitamin, glucosamine chondroitin, fish oil and black cohosh for hot flashes. That's practically a breakfast.
Two nights ago I took my last Tylenol for pain at night and only one before physical therapy. Don't know if I needed it, but I read I should do that before physical therapy. As of this time I have been of pain meds of any kind for 24 hours. Wow! My PT yesterday said to me that she has 'known some fast hips, but none as fast as mine'. Really? Yesterday I was four weeks post op. I have not pushed myself hard, just a little bit with lots of rest in between. I am thrilled with the surgeries result. There is still a tiny little bit of wound covering [maybe glue] on the anterior incision and I am in no rush to pull that off. The other incision is completely healed and only one inch. The anterior incision is maybe 2.5 inches.
I bought myself a pedometer so have a better idea of how far I walk at one time. Last Friday it was a little bit over three miles. No limping, no crutches, just like a normal person. Wow!
I did not get on the scale until last weekend. I weighed the same as before the surgery. But I have been paying close attention what I put in my mouth, which is a lot less than typical for me when I ride my bicycle a lot. I am tired of the yoyo dieting and I rather cut myself off before things get too far out of control. It is such an uphill battle, and it takes soooo long to get back to where I want to be. For some reason I don't haven't had the need to overeat anymore. I blame cycling, ha, ha, ha! I love riding my bike.

Sorry, that was kind of a long novel with stuff in it that probably nobody cares about. I just felt the need to share.

I'll keep an eye on your recovery. On Friday it'll be just one week for you. Please, please, please, take it easy. And rest, rest, rest. There will be the so called energy drain, which was a surprise to me. I think I still get it. I also get the blues at times.
 
Oops, little correction: Aspirin is pain medicine too, not just blood thinner. I take one in the morning and one at night.
 
Oh dear, I am still medicated! I meant to send that to you in a private message. So sorry! I stepped on the scale too early with the last hip and had a similar false "gain" as you. It really soured my mood! But kind of like things do after pregnancy, it just melted away a few days later. I wish the same for you! I know Sacred Heart, although Riverbend came along after I left. Glad you like it :-). I lived in Eugene during college and four years after.

I am lucky-- no Lovenox shots, only aspirin twice a day! Also, no TED stockings, although I have to wear the pumps that squeeze my lower legs and wheeze away at night! Such fun :-).

Yes-- we have to keep a firm grasp on what our bodies should be doing during recovery. I have decided that I cannot presume how others feel and I won't ever be pressing people to do things based on how they look. I will listen and communicate. It's the only way I can stop myself from being a fool about someone else's situation. Good lesson I learned!

Still difficult to focus, so I will eat my prunes and go take another nap. :-) enjoy this rainy day!

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk
 
@Briggieride! I love the fact that we can share very little detail. I find it highly interesting, but I'm glad I've got Bonesmart because not one of my friends and even my Mother finds my hip recovery very interesting. I ice my belly before Lovenox and barely feel the shots. I have been resting quite a bit and even pointed out to my husband the importance of not overdoing in the first week. He said I might want to retread the part in the book about what the expectations were. Really? Ok just retread importance of not overdoing. LOL

@MountainGirl! I know this weight gain is all fluid and will go away. All the better reason to rest and elevate at this time. Even ate some chocolate today. (Totally medicinal) I got a new wristband that tracks my activity and sleep (UP). I just weighed so the data would be accurate. I do think the pain medication is messing with my sleep, so cut back today and just iced instead. Happy Recovery to you! Since you just got your hip done yesterday, I don't advise this for you. Keep those pain meds coming.
 
You are doing great. I enjoy hearing about your good recovery and what you are doing.....
 
@Healthyhip12 . Last weekend I called my brother in Germany. He has some health concerns which I wanted to know about. But guess what? He told me right away in the beginning of our talk that he wanted to hear nothing about my hip!!! I could not believe he said that to me. That was hurtful. It's not like I have talked a lot about it with him. For us hippies the journey to the new hip is hard and frightening. It is no less frightening than other serious health concerns. How someone who supposedly cares about you can say such a thing is beyond me. My sister is the same. I think I am completely different than my siblings, because I always want to hear whatever they want to share with me. It helps me feel connected. But I can dream all I want about 'how nice it would be if...'. Truth is: we only have control over ourselves. We can't do anything about other people at all.
Thank God for bonesmart! I find other people's experiences very very interesting and helpful. At this point I almost can't get enough of it, although my interest has been slightly waining as I have gotten better and therefor busier. I must remind myself to be helpful and encouraging to those pre op smarties.
 
@Briggieride So agree with your last paragraph! This forum is a godsend (don't you love that word?) in those moments when you need to vent, have something bothering you, just need advice/support and so on! I wish I had found it before my THR, not several weeks after.
Your brother? Wanted you to listen to his problems but not the other way around? Wow, a new hip is MAJOR surgery - I would have hung up on him!
Best wishes from Old England
Anne
 
Well today my new hip is one week old. Yesterday I graduated to walking with one crutch. My weight is down 5 pounds which I attribute to lots of water drinking and leg elevation. I will celebrate today by getting dressed up in real clothes ( as opposed to oversized sweats ) and going for a walk around BiMart. My job is to push the basket while concentrating on proper walking form (no limping allowed!)

I have been spending some time reading and responding to other posts as recommended by @Briggieride. How true it is that we need to give back and/ or pay forward all the good we have received from Bonesmart. Here is where we read every little detail to which we can totally relate and get the support we need.

Wishing everyone a happy day which is better than yesterday, but not as good as tomorrow! Do I have you singing or dancing yet? Hope so.
 
You have me singing and dancing for you. And it has only been one week? Wow! You are amazing.
I am progressing nicely as well being 4 weeks and 3 days post-op. My physical therapist put me 'through the works' yesterday and I loved it. I think she is giving me way more attention and time than she has to and I told her how much I appreciate that. According to her she has 'seen some fast hips, but none as fast as mine'. I take that as a complement, but I can't take all the credit as my OS had a lot to do with my recovery. Yesterday I finally got to see my brand new grandson at Children's in Seattle. He is doing wonderful, also recovering faster than expected from his surgery. I cross my fingers that this will continue for him. Anyway, last night when I finally got home I was totally exhausted, fell asleep on the sofa, went to bed upstairs and slept like a log. What a busy day I had. It's good to know that I can have those again, but I would like a little bit more pep still. It will come. @Healthyhip12 , remember to rest a lot after doing a lot.
 
I just got on to see how everyone is doing and also wanted to say HI. Glad to hear things are going good. I need to get my leg up so I will write more later. Take care and remember Go Slow. Tashia
 
Today is post op day 12! I officially took my last Lovenox shot this morning. I go for two short walks daily and do my post op exercises twice daily. Yesterday I made it through the whole day without a nap. Pain is worse at night when I don't move around. Now there's a switch! Moving decreases the pain! I am using one crutch to walk. Planning to return to work very part time and on light duty (15 hours for first week ) next Tuesday. All is well.

But that is not my most important news! After careful consideration, my husband and I have adopted a wonderful, sweet and friendly chihuahua. She just had surgery on Monday, so I am being her surgery buddy. Those of you who know me know that I have longed for a furbuddy for some time. Her name is Alexus which means helper and defender. So happy!

[Bonesmart.org] Hip, Hip, Hooray! There is joy in every day!
 
@Healthyhip12, sound like you are doing great. And Alexus is just adorable! I too went back to work week 2 post op and couldn't not believe how exhausted I was after only a few hours. Listen to your body and go home when you begin to feel tired. Best of luck....
 
@Healthyhip12 , So glad to hear you are doing well. Me too. I haven't been able to post lately as I was locked out of the bonesmart website for some reason on my computer. Had some kind of automatic update this morning that seems to have fixed the problem. Also, thanks to @Josephine for her suggestion to change my password. Don't you just love Microsoft:hairpulling:. Anyway, graduated to a cane yesterday and walking without a limp as long as I concentrate. I definitely have a fairly significant difference in leg length which makes not limping an issue. I have my post op appt with the OS next Wednesday and sure hope he has some reassurance for me on the LLD. Still on Hydrocodone every four hours and I take a 50mg Tramadol just before bed to help me sleep. Pain seems to hover between 2-4, but I can deal with that as long as I can medicate. Don't want to try to wean myself off just yet. It's 16 days post op today and I'm pretty happy with progress so far.

How's your weather been lately. I think we've finally turned the corner to Spring here. 66° and sunny today and flowers are popping up all over. Take care!
 
Today is my new hip's 2 week birthday! I read today that an artificial hip weighs about 11 pounds, just slightly less than natural. Yesterday I decided I need to make salad, so spent some time in the kitchen standing and taking one or two steps without my crutch. By afternoon, I was walking with my cane ( short distances only! )
I also told my husband it would be oaky to take the toilet seat riser and handle bars off the toilet! I am doing fine without them. Taking pain medication every 6 hours instead of four. I will start serious PT on Monday. Alexus and I both wish everyone a beautiful day of preparation or recovery!
 
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