THR Hippity Doo Dah!<

[Carriemay60]

Saves her a little bit of legwork @Layla

 

[Layla]

It is funny, made me laugh anyway.

 

[SE Florida]

 

[Carriemay60]

Poor woman runs around here like a chicken with her head cut off being chased by a bunch of frogs and a dog who being chased by her cat trying to help us all. (I was trying to jump the time difference too, lol)

 

[Josephine]

You have a very strange image of me, Carrie.

 

[Josephine]

Here y'go then!

It would be very helpful if you would answer each one individually - numbered as I have done - in as much detail as you can then I'll come back as see where you are

1. what approach did you have for your surgery? Anterior, posterior, lateral? You can look here to see the various types THR approaches or incisions

2. what are your pain levels right now? (remember the 1-10 scale: 1 = no pain and 10 = the worst you can imagine. And don't forget to factor in other forms of pain such as soreness, burning, stabbing, throbbing, aching, swelling and stiffness).

3. what pain medications have you been prescribed, how much are you taking (in mg please) and how often?

4. are you icing your painful area at all? If so, how often and for how long?

5. are you elevating your leg. If so how often and for how long?

6. what is your activity level? What do you do in the way of housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc., and

7. are you doing any exercises at home? If so what and how often?
This is the most crucial question so please help me by using the format I have left as an example
(which means please make a list and not an essay!)

Exercises done at home
- how many sessions you do each day
- enter exercise by name then number of repetitions of each
etc., etc.

Anything done at PT
- how many times a week
- enter exercise by name then number of repetitions of each
etc., etc.

 

[Layla]

That's always one of my first thoughts when I tag Jo, the time difference. I sometimes mention it to people on this side of the world, later in the day, because everyone doesn't notice her locale and I don't want them needlessly hanging around when I know it's 2:00 am her time and she's most likely >

 

[SurreyGirl]

19:49 uk time! Almost time for bed

 

[Carriemay60]

@Josephine

1. Lateral

2. Normally 1-3 with basic moving about, walking during the day. 0-1 in bed at rest. Currently 6-7 at rear of hip if moving at all, resting 4.

3. 300mg Tramadol daily, 300 mg hydromorphone twice daily, tylenol #3 as needed.

4. Trying to ice 4 times a day but often only 2-3 times now. If my pain is over a 3, I ice for sure.

5. Elevating 50% of my waking hours with a footstool. Once daily properly above my nose.

6. Self care, showering, dressing, kitchen prep, mostly seated for all the chopping, no kitchen clean-up, walking in the house 85% with cane, walker when tired or sore, walking outside twice a day approximately 500 steps. I have caught myself reaching from a seated position a few times, possibly pushing 90 degree rule.

7. Only walking. Quit physio and all associated exercises except ankle rotations.

Thank you!

 

[Carriemay60]

@Josephine, this was my post yesterday. I suspected piriformis muscle from other posts but now realise it is maybe higher and closer to the actual hip joint

What the flaming heck?!!
Sitting down I started to move my right op leg slightly to the left and had the most excruciating sudden pain. Absolutely took my breath away. My 1st fear was dislocation it was so bad. The "spasm"? eased after about 2 minutes but I can still finger point it. Feels like @Rhiannon89 's kicked me full force. Still not entirely sure if it was muscle or..? Sure hope I never face that again. I think it was the biggest pain since surgery. Off the charts!

 

[lotus76]

Ouch! hope things work out and the pain settles down.
Frustrating when we are doing so well to have something like that happen.
I love Victoria and was conceived there my parents told me. ha ha
When I moved out of my parents I lived in Kits in various houses while going to UBC and then later. Love the city. My family is there so I go back to visit 3-4 times a year. I haven't been since January and that was one day. Plan to go back in June or July once I am more healed.
Hope Josephine sheds a light on your pain.

 

[Carriemay60]

Happy Mother's Day to you all, including those of you in the UK because I missed Mothering Sunday

 

[SE Florida]

@Carriemay60 Any improvement in pain today? Hope you're able to celebrate Mother's Day!

 

[Carriemay60]

@SE Florida Thank you for checking on me, you are sweet! I haven't tried walking much yet today. Still sitting with my coffee but no big pain getting up and washed, etc. I would like to try an outside a bit later this morning. Not terribly appealing with the weather but not being able to do it yesterday really felt discouraging. I think I had my worst night so far post-op last night. Just a combination of pain and discomfort, not finding the right pillow mix, nausea. Thankfully, I woke up much more cheerful!
We are off to a place that is doing a Mother's Day buffet for an early dinner. We have gone there twice in the past and they do a lovely job of it so I'm excited about that! I was hoping for a walk by the lake beforehand, but it's quite windy and cold with a lot of rain expected. Are you doing something a bit different today? Getting to see any of your kids?
I will just have Awstin here and hubby but hopefully will have some nice video calls. I got the new baby cooing & waving his fists on video this last week and he gave me a lovely little smile. The poor little 2 year old came down with Hand, Foot & Mouth disease while they were on holiday and now starting to look like my daughter has caught it too. My kids have never had it and I was horrified to see him, he is absolutely covered.

 

[SE Florida]

@Carriemay60 I think I hear Layla coming down the hallway on your "would like to try an outside (walk) a bit later" since that is exactly what got you in a bad way yesterday.......sneaking out of the house and all! It sounds like you sure paid for it last night for sure! The Mother's Day buffet is a different story though, go enjoy it! Sorry about your daughter and grandbabies, that sounds terrible! At least you can video chat and that makes a huge difference I'm sure. So go enjoy your day......no sneaking around though!!!!

 

[Cecropia]

Carriemay60, sure hope this new pain resolves. You are such a cheerful cheerleader for us all, just does not seem right that you are having a hitch in your get-a-long. Have a nice Mother's Day outing.

 

[Josephine]

I suspected piriformis muscle from other posts but now realise it is maybe higher and closer to the actual hip joint

Don't fix it absolutely on the spot indicated in the image. The piriformis is actually quite a large muscle so pain can be widespread.

2. Normally 1-3 with basic moving about, walking during the day. 0-1 in bed at rest. Currently 6-7 at rear of hip if moving at all, resting 4.

I would expect this to be so

3. 300mg Tramadol daily, 300 mg hydromorphone twice daily, Tylenol #3 as needed.

I would suggest you try a different routine here. Your medication is inadequate anyway.
Tramadol is a darned good pain med, specially when taken with Tylenol. I created this chart when I had my knees done. Why don't you give it a try. You can also just take 50mg Tramadol occasionally is you wish.

I know the FDA has ruled that 3,000mg acetaminophen is a safe maximum but that would be assuming that the patient is taking another medication that also contained it and thereby inadvertently take an overdose. Assuming that this is not the case, the maximum safe dosage per 24hrs 4,000mgs.

4. Trying to ice 4 times a day but often only 2-3 times now. If my pain is over a 3, I ice for sure.

You never said how long you ice for but I'll give you this advice: You accomplish little or nothing in 20 minutes. Ice for at least 40-60mins and more than 4 times a day.

5. Elevating 50% of my waking hours with a footstool. Once daily properly above my nose.

Using a footstool is not proper elevating! I suggest you check this out Elevation: the do's and dont's. The basic rule is "toes above nose"!

6. Self care, showering, dressing, kitchen prep, mostly seated for all the chopping, no kitchen clean-up, walking in the house 85% with cane, walker when tired or sore, walking outside twice a day approximately 500 steps. I have caught myself reaching from a seated position a few times, possibly pushing 90 degree rule.

Okay, good

7. Only walking. Quit physio and all associated exercises except ankle rotations.

That's excellent! And you don't need to do foot rotations either. They're really only for the very early days when you're not very mobile. But judging from what you are doing, you're quite mobile enough and no longer need these!

 

[Carriemay60]

@Josephine I ice a good hour each time, until the ice is warming up really.

So I gather you suspect the piriformis? That's a relief!

My Tramadol is long acting and 300mg tablets. I have been on Tramadol and Tylenol 3's for my RA quite long term so I suspect that will carry on after the hydromorphone is gone. I do have 100mg hydromorphone still for breakthrough but haven't really been using it thinking I should get off some of this.
Thank you very much for putting my mind to rest and all that you do here for us.

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

 

[Josephine]

You are very welcome. And yes, I do think it's piriformis. Very common after THR

 

[Fit4Family]

Hi @Carriemay60 Just checking on you. Glad to see it is expected pain rather than something scary. Hope things settle down for you with a few rest days. Sending healing prayers.