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Went to post op today and my xrays showed perfect so some restrictions have been lifted but should sleep on my back a bit longer and be very cautious about sleeping on non operative side. Said to give it a few more weeks or maybe a month or so, not thrilled but I am ok on my back for now.

Only NO NO forever is crossing your legs and also I am going off the blood thinner and narcotic (very low dose as it is now) to see if the bowel issues improve and also going to go to PT to help strengthen the muscles in the hip to help correct as much as possible the limp. I was worried that one leg longer than other but xrays show perfect alignment in pelvis so the problem is the left knee which does not flatten because I need a knee joint replacement next.

Go back in 3 months for xrays and consultation again and he is going to talk about the knee then. Feels I need the time to adjust and also gain more confidence in myself and walking. His resident was with him and pretty much said the same thing before the surgeon came in. My son was with me with all my questions written down so he read them out and being a scientist he understood the technical issues of the joint replacement and took a pic of the xray. Apparently they tried a sightly larger shaft to go into the thigh bone and it was too big so they pulled the damned thing out before it went in too far and put another one in and fortunately the thigh bone did not crack as apparently that is common. Glad I was under a sedative and knew nothing. I had a spinal for this surgery, an 11th hour decision but glad I did it because I heard nothing and was not sick after. I did not like my lower half being frozen so long but it came out after about 6 hours.

I feel liberated in some ways because I know the hip is healing well and he also said continue with the bath transfer till I feel comfortable enough to step in myself over the tub edge but I am going to get a tub rail and also he said I no longer need the raised toilet but I have all this equipment free from the Red Cross till the beginning of August so will use it till I feel better.

One thing for those of you early into the recovery or about to go to surgery, both surgeons said that 6 weeks (I am into the 7th) is still early and this is big time surgery so not to be discouraged with the progress as its early yet so I felt better about that. Some of you I know make leaps and bounds earlier but this is still a young surgery so the muscles are still weak in the hip and thigh area. So glad he referred me to PT as that is not a policy here with THR unless there is a need. Knee goes straight to therapy here and its rigorous but home exercises and walking.

So I came home and in mist and fog of the maritime province I live in I went out and walked about 1500 feet up the street to the grocery store and around the store with my walker and little side bag and picked up a few groceries and then came home.

Not over the top yet but relieved I am healing ok.
 
Things are on the UP then. Good news. I had to wear TEDs on both legs for 4 weeks, so count yourself lucky, but I do agree what a disappointment they are on the fashion scene. I asked if they did anything in pink :heehee:
 
@canoewoman - What a great post-op visit! And now I am going to pepper you with questions that your post brings to my mind. (I could probably search and find the answers throughout the BS forum, but with you having gone through this so recently, I'd love to hear your experience!

First of all, sleeping on your back! How difficult was that to get accustomed to? I'm concerned I'll turn over in my sleep, since I have an aversion to sleeping in any position except my sides! Since everyone has to deal with it (though I'm not sure about anterior approach patients), it's obviously doable - I'm just wondering how hard it's been!

And this "no crossing of the legs." For the rest of our lives??? Will our new hips let us know/would we feel discomfort or pain if we did it by accident? All my life I've been a leg-crosser - and again, we do what we need to do, but what if we forget, and find ourselves having sat through an evening with unconsciously crossing our legs? (I'm sorry if this sounds a bit ridiculous, but maybe someone else might be wondering the same thing! :))

I so appreciated your comment about understanding and reminding ourselves (and our families!) that this is indeed big time surgery! In fact, I'm going to read what your surgeon said to you to my husband right now! I know he won't push me, but he's quite eager for me to be better (and to get stamina up so I'll be ready for an overseas trip that will include lots of walking and hiking next March). I just want to remind him of what lies ahead in terms of recovery, and tell him again what a big a "trauma" this surgery is to the body, even though it's a wonderful life-restoring one!

I pictured you making your way to your local grocer in the midst of the lovely mist - oh, what a beautiful place Nova Scotia is!!! (My mother was Canadian - oh, what wonderful memories I have of visits to the relatives and the sites throughout Canada!)

Hope you have a good rest tonight - you now know all is healing well, and day by day you're getting stronger and healng more and more! xoxo
 
@DizzyBlond ~ Crossing legs (or, never again) was one of the first questions I asked my OS and he said "Of course not...maybe not initially...but certainly not FOREVER!" Maybe he's picking up on my caviler attitude but I think he's putting me at ease also. I think our bodies will dictate....don't you? ~ I, too, am a leg-crosser....and then swing to the side (crossed). That was maybe one of the first indications (along with what I thought was a groin pull) - that I could NO LONGER cross my right leg over my left. I am still presently crossing my left (to be replaced) over my right all the time I sit.
 
dizzyblonde....the first few nights were really hard on my back but I fan out 3 pillows in layers so the top one is about level to how I would usually have my pillows at night. I also put a pillow under my legs just below the knee joint so the calves are supported and one foot to one side and the operated foot to the other. The non operated foot can go over the edge towards the middle of the bed. My right hip surgical hip is on the outside of the bed. i thought I would never get used to this but actually I am fine with it now but some day I will put a pillow between my legs and roll my whole body over to the no op side and thats where you have to be careful not to cross one over the other so I figure putting the operated one slight behind the other will be ok because leg straight on leg is not comfortable. A year from now this may not be a problem but sitting crossing your legs according to the surgeon is out. Another surgeon may say differently but remember you have a piece of titanium there now where you previously had natural material so its no so giving and I am not a leg crosser so it does not bother me.

My son is anxious for a quick recovery so this is why I took him with me to the followup so get your husband to go because he will hear that this is not to be treated so lightly and this is where I really have an issue with the public perception of knee and hip replacements.

"Oh my sister had one and now she is travelling the world....." or "my 80 year old aunt can run upstairs now".....from the observers perspective this is routine stuff and easy but no one truly prepares you for the difficult and trying recovery period when for weeks you think you will never walk properly again or your bowels wont work or you have pain when you think you should'nt. Those of you who have been through this would not have joined a site like this if this was an easy task.

On top of that is the psychological issue. Its not just hard depressing at times recovery coupled with post op depression, its the lack of control we now have and the restrictions to daily living. When he said I can now bend over my son said "fabulous" and I said "cautiously" as I bend now its very slowly and as soon as I feel pulling I stop so small things like bending over slightly to clean the toilet or reach into the second shelf of my fridge is a triumph and this is like having a sudden horrid accident and finding yourself in rehab. You never thought you would have to do this kind of thing.

I think that the public perception has to be changed and the public has to be educated because I have plenty of teaching colleagues who took semesters off for this surgery and the rest of us, myself included did not know what hell they went through. I used to email and phone to see how they were and sent cards but I had no idea how difficult it was for them and they came back to teach in the next semester and many had lost tons of weight and were very different in their outlook to life. They were overjoyed to be doing the same things as before but many of them were facing second surgeries for a knee or the other hip and it takes a lot out of one's life. If public awareness was increased than that would help the people who go through this and I understand there are some 300,000 knee and hip replacements a year in the US and I have no idea about Canada so that's a huge number plus the cost to the medical system.

This is not to downplay those people with life threatening illnesses and years of rehab for accidents etc. We know the people who have been hit by cars with drunk drivers and had to spend years in rehab. One of my colleagues fell down a flight of stairs in a subway station and woke up 6 months later in hospital with some very severe brain damage. His wife had to have his parents come from England because they really thought he was going to die. He had to learn to speak again...gone for 2 semesters...no one knew why and then he was back and used to leave the office and wander the halls and not know why he was doing that. He eventually took a disability and retired but he was young so these kinds of surgeries for us take us out of the loop and we are not prepared for it. Some of you have great attitudes and I understand that is important but some of us simply can't conjure up great attitudes particularly if we have been supporting other people financially or psychologically or through our professions. In teaching we get burn out so I went in with burn out to this surgery but I love teaching so am back at it teaching online for now which is great but I do not feel the same about anything anymore and maybe that will change as I recover more but I am not sure I can put my finger on just what it is I am feeling.

Ok I am between jam making stages and now its time to bring the jam to a boil and then put it in the bottles and I have been able to stand for a long time doing this which is big for me because even last week I could not stand for more than 10 minutes.

Tomorrow I will go to the farmers market on the harbour and have breakfast and pick up a few things and then walk down the waterfront to see the Queen Mary 2 which will be in harbour from 7AM to 2PM tomorrow so that will be my day and one way to get me out of the apartment. I will can there and back but if this hip heals well I can easily walk as its not too far away and before all this arthritis I could walk anywhere.

BTW do any of you have a rheumatologist? I am getting one at the end of July to help me deal with other arthritis pain as the other hip is not bad but mild and I do not want to face surgery on it.

Also for those of you who have had both hip and knee is there a difference? Aside from pain is one surgery worse than the other? People say the knee is bad but somehow its farther away and not so tricky as all the restrictions on the hip.

I hope you all have a great 4th of July. Today is Canada Day July 1 but I prefer to say Happy Turtle Island day because to indigenous people Turtle Island is North America and since I am of indigenous descent I think of it that way.

Miigwetch,
Canoewoman (so named because of my ancestral grand and great great grandmothers who were experts at handling a canoe)
 
Sorry meant to say I will cab to the market and Queen Mary 2 but with good knees and hips I could walk there an back no problem and its about 2 miles return. I live in Halifax actually and its absolutely packed with tourists so I consider myself very blessed to live here and not have to pay to see the scenery and historic sites. The fog and rain do not bother me as I am a former Torontonian and its muggy and smoggy there. I can also get lobster cooked at the local supermarket and its very inexpensive. They cook it while you shop and its all fresh so now that I can bend again I will go back to making my own bread and nothing beats a lobster sandwich.:loll:
 
Oh my goodness @canoewoman ~ Now you have my mouth watering for a lobster roll! The best I ever had was in Harbor Town on Martha's Vineyard.....but I've never been to Nova Scotia to taste yours. I'm so impressed that you are making strawberry jam! I made freezer strawberry jam years ago from fresh-picked berries. Nothing like it! A rare treat. Yum.
 
Nova Scotia is Canada's best kept secret. Next year in July 2017 the tall ships are coming to Halifax so it will be very busy here but worth seeing this province. The whole province has just under 1 million people so lots of wilderness and wild shorelines and every changing weather. I do not mind paying for fresh fish here and its really not expensive compared to major cities which fly it in but what those men and women have to do out there on the ocean is very dangerous so its worth the money if you can support local people who fish.
 
@canoewoman how lucky you are to live in such a beautiful place! I drove to Nova Scotia once from Boston over a long weekend in FEBRUARY. Everyone we met looked at my boyfriend and I like we were crazy. Most people would have gone south. But I loved it. I think Peggy's Cove which I'm sure is very touristy is one of the most beautiful places on earth.
 
Yes Peggy's Cove is beautiful and very touristy even in winter. You can find it on the Nova Scotia webcam and see what the weather is like and some people take chances and venture out onto the rocks not knowing about those rogue waves but there are so many small hamlets along the coast which are very similar to Peggy's and I just marvel at how their houses stay on the rocks.

Hurricane Juan went through here a number of years ago and tore up Halifax and the parklands and many small villages so we are mindful of those storms that move up the coast from the US. We have been spared some big ones in recent years like Sandi.

The people here are incredibly friendly and kind. No matter where you go they talk to you and chat on the sidewalk and help you if you need help. I met a priest walking down the street today with his walker who is in terrible condition because of severe osteoarthritis in his spine and he said he now has to get a cart to get around but in about 20 minutes he gave me a history lesson on the city as he was a history teacher for many years before he entered the priesthood. He said he is in 24/7 pain so I think that arthritis is a terrible disease and one that few of us can really overcome. Now that hips and knees are fixed what else will get impacted because of arthritis?
 
when we were in peggy's cove it didn't seem too tourist because we were the only ones there. I was amazed that one could get all the way out on the rocks. in the US, there would have been ropes and barricades etc. thanks for the tip on the web cam. I need to look for that! It will be a nice distraction
 
Thanks so much for sharing your current experience, @canoewoman! It is indeed a HUGE undertaking, but I am counting on the fact that in the long run, our lives will be so much the better for having done it! My once-full life of just one year ago has been reduced to existence in the 4 walls of my home, with occasional outings that mainly consist of dr. appts. I'm prepared for some hard work in recovery in order to get back to the business of living, no matter how long it takes! My husband will be going with me (and has been at every appt having to do with this hip issue of mine) - so I'll let him hear the OS himself say what will and will not be appropriate for me activity-wise, as the recovery process unfolds.
Halifax is absolutely breathtaking - oh, please take in some of the gorgeous scenery for me, if you don't mind! I'm out in the desert of a very warm, rain-thirsty Southern California - What I wouldn't give to have just a bit of time in the green, coastal surroundings of your city!!!
 
Your experience being housebound was like mine and still is except I force myself to go out. I use the walker but today I tried my hallways in my building with the cane and was very disappointed. I have a terrible limp from side to side and have no idea how this can be corrected so it was a letdown.

Early this morning I went to the Halifax farmers market, did a bit of shopping, had a delicious breakfast (eggs benedict) there and then called a cab who drove me down the wharf a bit farther to see the Queen Mary 2 which was docked all day and left the harbour at 4PM our time. Its an incredible ship. Beautiful design and hundred of cars were pouring into the area and people were getting out to take pictures and I just sat in the cab and enjoyed knowing my ride home was only 10 minutes away. It was uplifting but the walking this evening was depressing. I fear I will never be able to walk again without a terrible limp.

In the meantime I hope you get rain in California. Actually Halifax is rather like San Francisco, all hills and sloped streets running down to the harbour and the fog and mist comes in in the evening and lingers in the morning and then it clears off or just remains a foggy wet day but the temperature is moderate.

If I could figure out how to load a picture I would show you the Queen Mary 2 anchored in brilliant sunlight with the harbour behind.
 
Hi, @canoewoman! I'm so sorry to hear that walking with the cane is proving to be a challenge. Are you in any sort of physical therapy program? It just might be something to get addressed, either by your physical therapist or OS office, so that you can continue and progress in your healing. I haven't gone through the post-op experience yet, but it seems that many people deal with an unexpected period of let down. (In fact, I think Josephine has an article on that very thing.) After being so disabled and in so much pain for so long, I think it's going to be easy for me to expect my upcoming surgery to be an end to my struggles - but recovery is going to take time, and keeping realistic expectations will be a challenge, for sure.

It sounds like you had quite a day on Sunday! That's a LOT of activity!!!! A farmer's market, shopping, and a delicious breakfast out? How lovely!!! And to top it all off, a perfect view of an amazing ship! I would think it would be normal to have a rougher evening than usual after all of that - I hope you've had a couple days of rest and recovery, and that you're feeling a bit more optimistic about your recovery. Again, because I haven't had my surgery yet, I can't speak from the perspective of experience - but if you are dealing with a pronounced limp that you don't see improving, it might be time to check with the OS.

Thanks so much for the rain wishes! Oh, how we need it! I had the opportunity to visit Halifax several years ago - I loved it, and I can't think of a more beautiful place to live! Take care... remember, it's still early in your healing process!!!
:flwrysmile:
 
Thankyou for your kind words. My surgeon has referred me to a physiotherapist but if it comes from him than my government plan covers it and if not than I have to pay for it privately and that is beyond my budget so I may have to wait a few weeks. With a cane I am not band in stocking or bare feet but put shoes on and they are orthotic cushioned shoes than I have a limp. Yes I was very tired and sore after the weekend but lay low yesterday and today and I do not have much pain at all. Since I was so housebound all winter because of the hip pain and arthritis and then through these first 7 weeks of recovery I have to get out or I go a little crazy. I have a very small apartment so these walls close in on me after a while.
 
So....today I have my 'clearance' appointment with my regular Dr. ~ hope nothing surprising pops up! And tomorrow, I expect to have my molar extracted...and will tell the Dr today, just in case it will necessitate another appointment with him.....sorta as a 'follow-up'. This 'being at the mercy' of various appointments really becomes a drag.....is it any wonder we are anxious to get this over with? With that said, let's a cross our collective fingers here that there are no delays!!!
 
Fingers have been crossed and prayers said ALL day, @Nana2-8 - NO DELAYS if at all possible!!!!!!! Can't wait to hear about the info you received! (You DID wear your lab coat into the appointment, didn't you? You just might get preferential treatment once they see you're a colleague! :eyebrows:) What did he say about tomorrow's extraction? Do any of these doctors want you on antibiotics ahead of time?

(You may have read on the other thread - I got a call from the surgery scheduler this morning wondering if it was still available, did I want to have my surgery next Monday, July 11? She never called me back, so I'm assuming it was already filled. Oh, good grief, the waiting is SOOOOOOOO hard!!!!!!)
 
So far, I'm good to go! Had reports back on all of last weeks blood work - check! Had an EKG today - check. No surprises....he knows about the extraction tomorrow - check. Says this is far enough ahead of time that the follow-up antibiotics should clear anything up. While there, my cell phone rang....DDS office calling to tell me they'd called in antibiotics for me, and pain pills. Yes, I will take antibiotics an hour before my DDS appointment. So, picked up more probiotic while at the pharmacy as well. ~ We also talked about the constipation that goes along with taking these meds after hip surgery.....(can you believe how easily we all slip into this conversation?). I had asked my OS of it was okay to take a Colace the night before surgery and he thought that would be fine. Todays Dr. advised me to take one for a few days before (at this rate, why not do an over-due colonoscopy while they're 'in the area' - I'll surely be 'ready'!!)
So, by this time tomorrow night, DH will be in Canada and I'll be prone on the sofa looking like a chipmunk! And...I'll have 'Dentist chair bed head' - got the picture?
 
Glad it went well. I ended up emerg today. My surgical leg below the knee was incredibly swollen and the ankle so got treated well and was taken up in a stretcher bed to the ultra sound and no blood clots thank God but the doctor in emerg said it all the new pressure on the operated hip, walking, maybe all that standing making jam etc that is creating fluid build up and it will come and go so must work on the at home exercises but good news is I got an appointment to see the physiotherapist tomorrow so can get help with this fluid issue and the wobbly gait.

Yes all these trips to the doctors etc are exhausting and take a lot out of you when you are trying to recover. I did my walking today but not as agressively but insomnia still plagues me hence a 4:30 am post here as I simply cannot sleep.
 
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