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Revision THR Looks like maybe a revision will be needed...

Yes, I am one day away now. I am as ready as I will ever be, got as many ducks lined in a row at work and home as I needed to so I will have peace of mind. For those who might be following the thread about NSAIDs, I called my revision surgeon's office about the script for Celebrex for two weeks post surgery. I was advised there is no "substitute medication" when I asked, but when I clarified my question to see if I could take Tylenol instead, the assistant said yes, without any hesitation. (Don't quite understand that verbal exchange, but I will take the yes!) So Tylenol it will be, and I will make sure I'm not getting acetaminophen in other meds I am given, or how much if there is. Will get a call this afternoon telling me the time of surgery tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for keeping me in your thoughts and for all the moral support.
 
@chalcedonian1 When you are just post op Tylenol may not control your pain. Be sure and have a discussion with your surgeon. There are other medications you can take to help you regain mobility just post op.
 
@Jaycey Will do of course, but will also be given some opioid pain medication as well, just was focusing on the NSAID piece of it. Am also aware of some hesitation at some hospitals/with some doctors of giving too many scripts for opioids, but will deal with that if/when it happens.
 
Good Morning @chalcedonian1
You'll continue to be in our thoughts.
You have a large cheering squad here. We'll be looking forward to your first post op update.
No pressure, just give us a :thumb: when your able.
Big hugs to you!
 
Hmmm just found out how wonky the mobile app is, hope I can use it properly from the hospital. So, I just found out surgery is at 4:00pm tomorrow, pre op stuff is at 1:00. I think it will be a long day and a short night.
 
:wave:Thinking of you tonight.
Hoping you are relaxed (as is possible) and know that many good wishes are coming your way ! :friends:
 
Sorry you will have such a long day! Take some reading with you or music and headphones. The waiting is the worst part. We are with you my friend!
 
Thinking of you today. You'll soon be in recovery.
Can't wait for your first update. Hope you're ready and feeling at peace.
Sending hugs!
@chalcedonian1
 
zinnia, Layla, Mojo333 and any one else who may be following this thread, sorry don’t have all the names here.

I just got home from the hospital. Lots to say but primarily the most important one is that so far this hip absolutely feels different, in a very good way - my prior implant just never felt right even from the beginning though I kept second guessing it (3years worth).

First night was fatiguing, and I was in some pain but it was fairly well managed. I am still a bit numb over surgery site and quite an odd feeling on Dilaudid so I can’t know yet if it will be success but the surgeon could not have been more positive about the outcome and the next 4 weeks I think will fly by. He knows how little hope I had going in to surgery, but it I thought it had to be worth the shot to have a better life.

Josephine, kudos to you. The cup was also entirely loose, no implantation to the bone really, hanging on by scar tissue alone and of course the stem was quite wiggly, so you called it correctly.

The surgeon said everything was very loose. He just pulled the cup right out. No break in the femur was needed either. The stem was resting on bone that had remodeled under it and that was pretty much what was keeping it going, but it obviously slipped off that bone enough to be very painful.

Everything was replaced and now I also have three screws, I had none before. I feel good about taking this shot to get my life back, I waited so long for the other to heal but it just never got significantly better for any e tended period of time.

I can still lift my leg without help when I am laying down and move it around getting off chair/ bed etc which astonishes me. The leg is quite swollen, but not alarmingly so. Moving around with 2 crutches, 90 degree restrictions for awhile but that is pretty easy actually.

Thank you Josephine so much for all your help, advice and encouragement, you are a national and world treasure!

I am really feeling out of it and need to sleep but that s the urban update. So far, so good and thanks everyone for your encouragement.
 
Wonderful news! I'm very happy for you @chalcedonian1
I love that you're feeling so hopeful. You have every reason to be. Thanks for updating.
It's nice to know you're resting comfortably even if you're feeling a little loopy.
Lots of rest, lots of ice and time to move forward FOR REAL. :yahoo:
I'm excited for you. Big hugs!
 
I have all positive feelings for you, despite your doubts.
Good things coming your way, I pray.
Thanks for the update.
Healing hugs!!
 
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I am happy for you, @chalcedonian1. It sounds like you have the outcome you were seeking. Best wishes to you during recovery.
 
So happy to hear the surgery went well. When you're up to it, I'm anxious to hear more about how this hip feels differently after surgery from the first. I had the same thigh pain I have now upon first bearing weight from the very first walk around the hospital floor following the surgery. I remember the therapist looking at me with a look that said "that shouldn't be". Anyway, that's for later. Time now for you to focus on recovery. Wishing you a speedy recovery and looking forward to hearing of your progress.
 
Hi @chalcedonian1. I have been reading your thread over the past couple of days, and am very happy to hear your positive report back.

I wish you well, may heal and go from strength to strength.

I will be watching your thread for updates.

The power of positive thinking can never be under estimated. You are going to be just fine.
 
I am so excited for you, @chalcedonian1! I was so hoping that you too would feel the hip differently when it was replaced. Your cup was exactly as mine, loose and hanging by a thread. My surgeon also just lifted mine out.

I am so happy for you. Get some rest and update us when you can. You are doing so well. So pleased. :yes!:
 
@TerryB_TX It is hard to describe how this leg/hip feels, which is probably a very good sign. It is really painful near the incision area and down the side/back (I had a posterior lateral revision, first surgery was anterior and the recovery was not particularly hard). It does also feel like my operated leg is a bit longer than the other, but it feels like I would get used to that, no big deal, or more likely, my body will adjust its posture as time moves forward. (The revision surgeon told me, with my old implant, my leg was actually a little shorter than the other as it turns out, and I never perceived that as a problem.) It is swollen but not as badly as some I am told. This swelling feels like I have a blood pressure cuff around my upper leg. But the biggest note of all: I do not feel those thousand other large and small pains I felt when even lying completely still with the loose hip. Sure, I am on pain meds which dull my perception, but when I have gone 5 hours without such meds I still do not feel those constantly shifting pains. I think that is the worst kind of pain to have, because one always has the expectation it will go away ("it is just my tissues adjusting", etc.), and then indeed it does go away as one predicted, BUT THEN ONLY to come back a week later. This new hip so far has none of those issues, the pain is consistently in the exact same spots, doing the same things--I have by accident turned and reached to get something off a side table, and I screamed in pain, so will not do that again! I have zero groin pain, any thigh pain which is minimal now feels it is related to the incision and wound. I can actually see how an original hip implant person would wake up from surgery and feel so well compared to bone on bone pain. My hip area does feel "snug", which is not a term I would have used to describe the old one. But mostly I don't feel a lot, nothing alarming so far, nothing to complain about (except the usual issues for recovery, I am NOT a patient woman and this HURTS at times like Hell). I can say that right now, I have no regrets for having this surgery, I am glad I am taking this chance because I do have more of a sense now that it might actually turn out to be OK. And BTW, I too had all those pains oddly from Day One, but everyone was reassuring me that all was OK, the x-ray looked great, etc etc. It does shock me that the cup pulled right out, yikes, but it makes sense as another cause of some constant pain issues. I have none of those pains now. Also btw, I waited 6 months, during which I researched and interviewed surgeons and did a lot of work from home with my leg out straight. I needed to go into surgery with my work and home life at least in order! I'm actually not sure I could have walked around regularly during that period of time, this would be a good question for your revision drs. to answer you re: timing of surgery.

Everyone else I will come back and respond, I need to nap now, PT came today and I am truly exhausted... no real sleep in the last 5 days.
 
It sounds like you may finally be on the way to a successful outcome. Good to hear you're not in too much discomfort and not having all those other mysterious recurring pains. My first surgery was a posterior and I remember some incision pain, but not too bad. For a long time I had the feeling of a sore lump like a golf ball or tennis ball in my butt. I think that's pretty normal from what I read on this forum. Nevertheless, I was very happy when that finally went away. It was all the thigh pain - burning, aching - deep in my thigh from the first weeks that lasted months and just ever really went away. Those aches just morphed over time. I thought it was part of the normal healing process. Maybe some of it was, I don't know. But now at 14 months PO, I know it's not right. Your story sounded a lot like mine, and you helped me realize where I was headed, much sooner than I would have otherwise.
Your growing optimism is encouraging. I know all of us following you are cheering you on to a full and successful recovery. We'll be looking for updates as you're able, but ask that in this critical period you put your needs first.
 
I am so happy that you are feeling some confidence in this new hip.
Hope you are resting lots...you deserve it and hopefully you are keeping that ice on all you can!
Hip, hip, hooray for getting better!
We are all rooting for you!:yahoo:
 
@zinnia @Layla @Mojo333 @Harryn1 @Gypsy @clodaghcov @TerryB_TX Just wanted to give an update after a week. The pain is subsiding, but of course still present. I feel it now across my leg horizontally across the top of my thigh (inside that area and outer groin) and down the scar. My bandage was changed yesterday, there was no fluid and very little blood. The scar looks really great according to the nurse. I am glued not stapled, and there are a bunch of steri-strips running across the incision horizontally. I will be bandage free on Sunday if all goes well.

The PT came yesterday, and of course she is encouraging ankle pumps, heel slides etc. I can actually do all these, I still have muscle control in my leg which is only swollen in the upper thigh now, and I can get on and off my bed without physically lifting my leg with my hand or using a bathrobe strap, which still astounds me. But there was an increase in the pain slightly after the PT left, and I know just because I can doesn't necessarily mean I should. BUT I also violated the no twist and bend rule again--and that may also be why I am a bit more sore in that area--it was totally non-thinking and accidental, and I am trying to be more aware to not do this; there was no popping or any odd movement, just intense pain, and when I stopped, the sharp pain stopped. Accchhh. So just soreness at this point, and I realize I can easily exacerbate the pain by doing more than I am supposed to. There is no throbbing pain or burning when I am still, lying in bed.

Interestingly so far I have had no pains in my thigh; things/pains/twitches/micro pains I was attributing to "healing" over the last 3 years are simply gone--I hope it stays that way. I am using two crutches and have called my surgeon's office to clarify whether I am to do toe touching or partial weight bearing, the instructions given us are confused on this point, so I am now just dong toe touch until I hear back on this point. I do want to move more, but I want to get on one crutch because I also have a torn rotator cuff in my right arm, and the right crutch is not helping that.

I am still taking dilaudid but far below the maximum that was prescribed. BTW, I also wanted to say that I avoided the digestive tract issues that come from opioids and anesthesia, I had a liquid diet for three days before surgery and this worked for me (surgery 3 years ago was BRUTAL in this regard). I was pleased that the hospital really pays attention to this point, too. I did clear the liquid diet with the NP beforehand. Also I had a spinal with an overlay of sedative and remember nothing, just the way I want it. I believe the surgery itself took about two hours.

Obviously the proof will be in the knitting of the bone and implant over time, so I remain guardedly optimistic. BUT this surgery definitely feels different from the last one, it is not just my wishful imagination. It is a bit intimidating to think of having 3 good size screws in my pelvis, but if I never feel them and they do the trick, I will be grateful.

Hope everyone is doing well.
 
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