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Husbands Hip Replacement Surgery in less than 7 hours!!

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LawDawg

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My hubby's surgery is in about 7 hours, I'm scared to death!! He's upstairs asleep and I'm wide awake!!! He has avascular necrosis
and is going to have a full hip replacement. I'm mostly frightened of the morphine and the fact I lost a friend because he was allergic to the morphine and vommited in his sleep, aspirated it into his lungs and died. He's never had morphine and I guess I just have pre-op jitters. I also have to work all week (12 hour shifts) and won't get to spend much time with him during his stay at the hospital, I HATE that fact, but there is no other way. I can't have off... I'm probably fretting over nothing, but at 0500 it easy for my mind to wonder in this quiet house...


OOps! I just realized, I posted this in post op discussions! Sorry guys, MODS, feel free to move to correct topic page!!
 
No worries - very soon your husband WILL be post-op anyway.

As regards the morphine allergy, don't forget he will have be having morphine in the OR so any problems will surface there and be dealt with upon the instant. There are prior symptoms in this allergy such as a generalised flush across the face and chest which any nurse or doctor will quickly spot and the appropriate treatment will be given immediately. And if it doesn't develop with the first dose it won't suddenly develop later. Apart from which, morphine allergies are quite uncommon.

Let us know how he gets on. I'm sure you'll have him home and safe before you know it.


 
Hey law dawg, kneester here. Hope all goes weel for your hubby. You love him so ofcourse you worry. I don't know numbers, but just think of all the people taht get morphine and have no problems. It must be more than have a problem or they would stop using it. And if anyone ever has an allergic reaction, the best place would be in the hospital with all the staff and equippment. Your hubby is fortunate to have you pulling so hard for him. Soon he will hurt less and the 2 of you will do more together. Best from a knee, Jen
 
Well, my hubby's surgery went well. He was in alot of pain after, but was able to get up and sit in a chair the next day and was walking with a walker the day after that. He has alot of swelling in his thigh,calf and ankle, but Dr. said it was normal. He has a little discharge at the surgery site but it is clear/yellowish and watery. He is home now and found the recliner chair is a favorite spot. He doesn't sleep much, only minutes at a time and usually wakes up after a muscle jerk. How long does it take for the pain to subside generally? Right now it hurts to even move the affected leg any.
 
LawDawg,
I am 3 days ahead of your husband in having my right hip replaced. sounds like he is doing about the same as me. I was told by someone here to keep up with the pain meds.
I dumbly left the hospital WED without taking any and had to wait 4 hours until I could take my prescribed med. It lapsed during the evening and getting up to pee was really painful.
I have been keeping on a 4 hour schedule now.
I am still amazingly swollen in both legs, more so the operated side. From the weight gain, I fugure 2 extra gallons in the operated leg and 1 extra gallon on the non op.
Can your husband get his leg into and out of bed. No matter how much it hurt I was determined to leave the hospital with that ability.
Day 4 after surgery is the first day I felt slightly like part of the world again. My leg sure lets me know when it is time for pain med. Actually today which would be day 8 my body has let me know at 5 hour intervals.
Of course it is just chair to bathroom and back.
I'll know blame pain meds for my rambling
Judy in Ca
 
Hey Judy!

No, Dalton (Hubby) can't move his leg by himself very well. I usually have to help lift the leg up or down for him. I'm not sure if he can't do it or won't do it because of the pain. He is about as swollen on the op and non op leg as you, but it's alot more noticable in the op leg. Tonight is the first night he has slept for a couple hours straight, I believe it is from sheer exhaustion. It's now day day 6 for him and I don't believe he feels like a part of the world yet. Any touch or jarring of the op leg results in cries and yells from him... he tells me it feels like something is in his leg trying to poke out. Do you have any odd feelings in the leg where the replacement is? Also do you have any muscle jerks in the leg when your wide awake?
 
Hey LawDawg,
I had my THR on February 26 so I am almost 4 months post op. I have to tell you, those first 3 to 4 weeks are tough. Your leg has been through so much trauma. You may hurt one day in your foot, the next few in the knee and the aching at the incision. Or you might turn the wrong way and scream in pain. All that is very normal. My advice is the pain meds and taking them religiously for at least these first few weeks. As Judy will tell you, everyday is a new ballgame. And I was telling her that you will be all swollen for awhile. Ice the different areas for comfort. You will see the light at the end of the hip tunnel but it will be a few weeks yet. Just have to take one day at a time and do not hesitate to call the doctor if you feel something is not right. Remember, this has been major surgery on all of us...Let me know how it's going....Patty
 
LawDawg, is your husband taking his pain meds regularly and consistently? He needs to do that.

This chart shows how pain dips and peaks and how you need to take pain killers when it is just discomfort and not wait till it's agony. That way, the meds have less to work on.

So take the meds at the blue point, the 'break through' point.
Never wait until it gets any higher, certainly not as high as the red point.

Hope it helps ...

[Bonesmart.org] Husbands Hip Replacement Surgery in less than 7 hours!!




 
Josephine thanks for the graph.
LawDawg, Patty and Josephine are so right, keep the regular schedule with pain meds. Or have hubby keep it.

I do not have the sensation of something trying to poke out. Except my skin about to split open as it is so swollen!!!!

I could not budge my leg one inch in the hospital until the last 2 days. I was there 5 days post op. My strong motivation was to finally go to the bathroom myself. They never let me at the hospital, but at home, my crew would not be there to help me get my leg out of bed. I was seriously thinking I would have to wear depends at nite..........ugghhhh. Thus the motivation. It really really really hurt, but I figure it only takes a minute to do it. Also that is part of my personality. I told myself in the hospital that there are people who feel this much pain but are never going to improve. Also those in the army who no longer have legs to try to move.
The mind is very powerful!!!!!

I do have the jerking muscle thing going on awake and sometimes when kind of asleep. It always scares me because I think I am going to dislocate my hip as there is no control over it.

Tell hubby to keep up with the pain meds, soon we won't need them as often, but I am waiting a full weeks before thinking about a different schedule. Do the pt exercises. I am an obsessive exercisor and sometimes the exercises for now seem lame, but I trust the experts.
Judy in Ca
 
LawDawg,

First, from one wife of a Hippy to another, {{{HUG}}}!!!! <lol>

My DH (Jim) also has Avascular Necrosisis and is at the 1 month mark after surgery today. And has hit several milestones to celebrate. He's started walking more with his cane yesterday and today, but he also drove us to his PT appt. today (it was only a couple miles away). And he was able to sit on his riding mower and mow part of the yard! :-D
But in the beginning, he wasn't able to lift his leg to clear the bed until about the 1 1/2 - 2 week mark after surgery. At least at home. He said that he did do it once in the hospital the day he was discharged, but that the bed was softer there and that helped.
What we did was he would work himself to the edge of the bed and then either I would put my hand under his heel and help it down, or sometimes he would use his toes on his good leg the same way and ease his surgery leg down, depending on his pain level at that point. Then we did something similar getting back into bed. I'd stand there bent over with my hand hovering just below his heel and he'd do his best to lift it on his own. But when he couldn't he'd say, "OK" and that was my que to help.
It did also help that I took the bed frame out from under the bed to lower it a little. His bed was really high though to start so that little bit did help while still not making it too low.

As for what you had said about not being at the hospital, I know that too. Because the hospital was 100 miles away, I had no choice but to stay at home while he was there and I hated it as well. Instead I lived on the phone with the nurses and him and probably drove them all nuts! <lol>

You should go read the thread I started in this section, "He Didn't Think It Would Hurt This Much" https://bonesmart.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1208
I think you'll see we have a lot in common. But I promise you IT WILL GET BETTER! {{{HUG}}}

EDA: Even though it's already a week since your husbands surgery, if you don't have a set of Walkie Talkies, you might want to get a cheap set at Wal-Mart. I got the idea from someone here (sorry I can't remember who) and they have been a godsend. They've also been a curse at times too. <lol> But I'm glad we have them. The one thing I would suggest though is get rechargeable batteries and chargers. Enough batteries to have one set that will last until the next set is charged and enough chargers to be able to charge all the used batteries at once. We have about 8 batteries and 2 chargers. ;-)
 
Hi and Thanks to Judy, Jen, and Josephine,

This isn't LawDawg, it's "The HUSBAND", Dalton. I grabbed the Wife's laptop to peruse, and found this in her favorites list. I read all your replies, and thank you personally for the support and good advice. I'm doing a bit better today, I'm able to rise from my recliner (my current bed) without assistance, other than the walker, doing my pt exercises, and noticing improvement every day, but still have a very long road ahead. Jess is being a big help, as well as my Mom, (we're at her house for another couple days because Jess has to go work and protect the streets a couple more nights, then she'll be taking me home to MY house! Love Mom, but miss home...)
Anyway, feeling a tiny bit better daily, but just a couple things worry me. I have a clear, yellowish discharge from a pin prick near the incision site, that flows very heavily, maybe 100 ml every few hours, but it's not milky, has no odor, and the wound isn't showing streaking or redness; I just can't figure out what it is or how long it'll last? Any related stories? The other thing is, I'm going to run out of my pain meds tomorrow or Thursday, and have my first post op appt. with my Ortho Doc/Surgeon tomorrow, and he already said quite unceremoniously, "you're not getting anything else when these run out, so basically, suck it up". This was the day I discharged, and I'm still an average pain level 5-6. I'm gonna go nuts, and drive my Wife even nuttier, if I have to go cold turkey in 2 days... Maybe he'll write me an Rx for Lortab or something less powerful than the Percocet's I'm on now... Oh yeah, I did fine on the Morphine, as you may have already deduced, but had nasty withdrawls for 48 hrs. after discharge...
Thanks for making Jess, (and me) feel a bit better, and we'll both read and reply to any new posts.
~Dalton
 
Oh No, Not the HUSBAND! Hey dalton, glad to meet you. Leaky incision sounds normal, especially if there is no odor and fever. Just be sure to show OS on Thursday. pain meds... ah yes, we all have gone rounds at length about that. I would aboslutely ask for more. Even if it is something else. I was sent home with RX for percs and Tramadol/Ultram. Later I got swithed to vicodins & ultram. At 13 weeks I basically only take one something a day, end of day when I am tired or we have had a lot of rain leately and knees feel that. Lorotab is a type of vicodin i think. It is very important to keep your pain at bay when doing PT. Not that you wont hurt some when being PT, but the less you hurt, the more you'll do the better you'll heal. They say to take the max dose about an hour before. Ask for more drugs. You are not an addict, they cut open your leg, sawed your bones, pounded and hammered foreign metal and plastic things in and then sewed it all together. drugs allowed.
 
OOOPPPSSS!!! Dalton did his hip not the knee. Well, your bone still got sawed and chiseled. Ask for more drugs. You probably won't have as much PT as a knee though.
 
Welcome Dalton,
I did not have any discharge, definately keep it clean and talk to your doc about it. Must be from where the drain was.
Pain meds. How many did your OS discharge you with? Everyone here says to keep up with them. The few times I did not it did take quite a while to get the pain level down again.
I have my 2 week apt this friday and will see what the doc says about pain meds.
I was part of a clinical trial on IV acetaminifin so left the hospital with pain management directed by the anesthesiologist not my os. The guy wrote a prescription for 20 percocet tabs!!!!!!
I had to go back for blood work on monday and questioned him. I think I embarrased him. He wrote one for 50 more and asked it that was enough. He had no idea.
I feel like my huge leap came when I was allowed to use crutches instead of the walker. Since then I do not feel like much has happpened. I am told to just lay around in bed by my pt as she is also working on the crazy swelling.

By the way I am 3 days ahead of you and take 2 percocet every 4 hours. Sometimes it stretches to 5 and at night it may be 6 or 7 hours. Usually at about 3 hours I start feeling various things.

Are you having pt at home? I always make sure I have taken percocet 1 hour before she comes. I am wondering if vicodin will work.
Let me know how your apt goes
Judy in So Cal
 
Hey Guys! Yep, it's the "Husband" again... Just got back from 1st post op visit with the OS, and yep, he said yellow discharge ok, not to worry, but just in case, he put me back on Keflex and Levaquin. Said it was probably dissolving fat. He also saw me hobbling in on my walker in obvious pain, and I didn't even have to ask for more pain meds; he wrote me another 40 of Percocet 10's, and added some Flexeril to boot, so I'm good for another week there. Thanks guys!
~Dalton
 
Hey Dalton! :-D My husband is 1 month out of his THR (right side), and he also has Avascular Necrosis.
I'm glad your first post-op visit went well and that the doc gave you more pain meds. My jaw dropped when you posted about him saying, "No More"! I thought, "WTH! OH I DON'T THINK SO!" And I was going to tell you to have Jess raise holy hell about it. I know I would if they'd said that to Jim.
But keep up the good work. Do your exercises and ice as much as you can stand. It does help. And most important, now that you have pain meds again, DON'T SKIP ANY! Like has been posted here, having to play catch up with the pain is not a good thing.
Oh, and one more thing from the "other" caregiver around here, try to remember no matter how crappy you feel to always say, "Please" and "Thank You" to Jess. It's not a big thing, but it'll mean a lot. ;-) <lol>
 
Hey Dalton,
Glad your doc gave you more meds.
I want disolving fat leaking from my thigh!!!!
Judy
 
Hey guys!

Nothing really new to add here; the Wife is doing her street patrol thing, and I'm kinda bored, stuck in the easychair, so thought I'd just write some more on my day in case someone else is bored and wants to read it. Doing "fair to middling" today, and meds are helping alot, but I sure do need to take another if I go 4.5 hours since the last... The Flexeril has also helped in conjuction with the Percocets and Phenergan, but boy, do they make me sleepy! I guess that's a good thing, since I need to rest. I actually couldn't sleep more than 20-30 min. a stretch the whole 5 days in the hospital, and I was on 10 mg of Morphine via pump every hour, and Percocet 10's every 4 hours. The pain was still so intense, that if I shifted an inch in my semi-sleep I'd awaken again. I'm actually sleeping about 5-7 hours a night now in the recliner, and maybe an hour long catnap or two during the day. My pain level fluctuates between a 4 and an 8 throughout the day, depending on if I'm doing PT, up and ambulatory with the walker, or just sitting. I've only had one home session of PT, (my PT is now out of town and one of his peers is going to follow up with me tomorrow), but I am doing exercises on my own 2-3 times a day for about 10-15 minutes. A couple of strange things though, (do these sound farmiliar to anyone?) First, my dominant pain seems to swim around my body 4-5 times a day; one minute the worst pain is in the lateral quadracep, then moves to the medial patella, then to the lateral left gluteus max near the incision, then in the left groin right where my femoral artery decends. Weird. Also, the day I got home from the hospital, (I didn't have much appetite, and still don't), food tasted TERRIBLE! Kinda like bitter, acidic, and like I imagine licking a dirty ashtray tastes. Food was so bad, I rarely ate more than 2-3 bites. A couple of days after that, I noticed in the mirror that my tounge was slick and shiny and pink, like all the taste buds sloughed off, and now food has almost no taste at all. I'm wondering if that's from the morphine sulphate, the antibiotics, or all of the above. One more thing, I'm drinking sprite and water mostly, about 48-60 ounces a day, but my urine is quite dark, almost like a lager beer or apple cider. I hope my kidneys are doing ok. I know all these opiate meds are a stress on them. Ok, I guess I've babbled enough, just trying to pass the time. I hope some of what I write may help someone else relate and/or know what to expect after their THR. Oh, by the way, I've read where some folks said the TKR is alot worse than the THR, (and I haven't had the TKR), but I'm crying "FOUL!" LOL- It's easy for me to say, but I think I'd rather have had the knee done; it just seems to me that the surgery site (THR) is more in the center of the body, deeper trauma, larger incision, has more of a ripple effect, more invasive, and they hammered more foreign objects into my skeleton! But I could be wrong...
~Dalton
 
Hi there, Dalton! Glad you got antibiotics for that ooze. Better safe than sorry but do keep it clean and covered. Also glad you got more pain meds. That would have been awful.

Your tongue sounds like you have a fungal infection called thrush. This can happen from a) so many antibiotics and/or b) the anaesthetic. Either way, it needs dealing with. You could start by having one of those little pro-biotic yoghurt drinks every day to help restore the natural microbial content of your gut that has been decimated by all the antibiotics. Also see your doctor and get him to consider if you need some metroniazole.

As for the hip being more than the knee - well, actually it's the other way around. By comparison, the total knee is about 2½ times more extensive and invasive as the hip and the same amount more painful!


 
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