THR Megsmum75's Recovery

[Megsmum75]

Hello! Well, it is 5 months post op and generally things are great apart from my hip is still so inflexible! I cannot sit cross legged and struggle to get up from the floor - I have constant low pain in my hip and resort to painkillers at night on a regular basis. I know I did too much too soon - but I reckon 80% of the time I don’t think about my hip, until I try and get in/out of the car (it is a low estate car), or bash my hip against a table (my lab benches are just the wrong height!) or try to get comfortable in bed.

I could always sit cross legged - now I cannot move my new hip in that direction hardly at all and it really hurts if I try. I assume it’s just
Muscles that have tightened? I am no gymnast but would like to get back to moving freely and not feeing 20 years older than I am.

Guess I thought I would be 100% now - I have come so so far - am back rowing (which causes no pain - apart from blisters on hand!), but I have no idea what is right and what isn’t. Have signed up for a 13 mile charity walk in Sept along the Jurassic coast (very hilly!) - thought I would be fine but have now accepted that as long as I try my best that’s good enough - those hills seem a little bit too much at the mo.

Should I always expect a degree of pain? Do folk ever completely forget that they have a new hip? Does the tenderness around the scar disappear with time? Can anyone else do a clamshell type
move?!!

If patience is what is needed so be it - I am very grateful to be able to get on with life - it’s just I am fed up with constant pain and aches!! It’s a bit wearing.

However - it has given me a wake up call and have handed my notice in for Easter as recognise this job is not my life - I want to find something with a better work/life balance, which in turn will help me rest up a bit more and just give myself some time not running around like a headless chicken!

Best wishes to everyone

Em

 

[Eman85]

I can relate to the banging my hip on the table deal. I don't have that with my new scars from THR but I had 2 previous hip operations through a lateral area and it never failed I would bump it and see stars, still do on that spot. My posterior scars from my THR are nowhere near as sensitive and not in a bony area.
I could never sit cross legged in my life due to my bad hips but I have more ROM now than before and it's been a slow go to stretch everything to get full mobility. It took a lot of gentle stretching and it tightens up again if not stretched regularly.
I'll never forget I have replacement hips completely, I don't think about them all of the time but they have a way of reminding me. Sometimes it with stiffness or pains other time it's just the awareness that I shouldn't do certain things. I can do clamshells but to be able to do them were greatly different time schedules for each hip. Left was easier, right took many months.
Aches and pains are part of life and getting older. The trauma to our muscles is just like an old injury that kind of stays with us forever. I have aches and pains now in places I didn't know could hurt, part of getting older I guess.

 

[Layla]

Guess I thought I would be 100% now

Not so quick, Em! You're only five months into a year long recovery, on average. Even longer than a year, for some

Should I always expect a degree of pain?

Not necessarily, but do realize your prosthetic hip will never match your natural hip before it deteriorated.
As far as forgetting you have a new hip - Personally, not a day goes by that I'm not reminded of it for some reason. However, it is no longer in the forefront of my mind like it was for the first months and first couple of years actually. That's been my experience. The tenderness around the incision does ease over time, but it can take awhile as can any numbness and by that I mean it can take months...possibly.

Can anyone else do a clamshell type
move?!!

Is this really necessary? I mean that in a friendly way, not sarcastically. There were a few movements that I found difficult if not impossible for different lengths of time and would ask myself if it was really necessary I had to master that particular movement once again. You are still pretty young and if you have kids or grandkids I can understand wanting to get up and down off the floor, but sitting cross legged did take me some time. Honestly, I never tried it until I was about one year post op and someone else on the forum mentioned they could once again do it, prompting me to try it.

I hope the aches and pains improve soon and you continue to enjoy more progress with each passing month.
Take good care! Thanks for the update!

 

[myglasshalffull]

I stay off the floor as much as possible, I will get down on hands and knees to clean something but on floor, cross legged...uh, no.
Take it easy on yourself, you are still recovering.

 

[Megsmum75]

Thanks everyone! Xx

 

[Megsmum75]

Hello! Long time no see but I have come back to my trusted Bonesmart to ask a question!

Hip is amazing - did a half marathon walk on the Jurassic coast (very hilly) a few weekends ago and it was fine - I took it slow and steady but confirmed to me all is working as it should. I now row twice a week on the sea and honestly feel like I have my life back and am making the most of it. I still get aches and niggles that need an ice pack or a few painkillers, but I normally know why (lots of standing or sitting down for long periods - a killer!).

But - I have felt an annoying itch around the scar over the last few days but honestly haven’t really looked at my scar in a
Long time. Tonight I ran my hand over it and there’s a big lump that is hot and raised on the site of what I think is a stitch that hasn’t dissolved. I am assuming it’s like a boil and I probably need to get it checked out but it’s scared me a bit as I have read too many horror stories about infection, sometimes months after the op (mine was 7 months ago). Do stitches stay in that long? It’s always been like a pimple so something must be in there!! Trying to get a docs appointment here is virtually impossible so I might have to go to
Minor injuries which is very embarrassing for a boil, but I am worried with any infection in that area. Would be devastated if I went backwards now!

Has anyone else had this?

Many tjanks

Em x

 

[Hippie Chick]

Hope the bump turns out to be nothing to worry about. Have you managed to switch careers?

 

[Jaycey]

@Megsmum75 If you don't think you can get in to see a nurse or your GP, I would go to the minor injuries clinic and get this checked. Sounds like you might have a stitch that did not dissolve. Please keep us updated.

 

[Clairebella]

I’m way behind you, just at 4 weeks but you sound physically like you are doing amazing! I’m not even off crutches and can’t wait to stride along normally again.

Scar - definitely go to GP, although I understand how awful it is getting appointments these days in the UK. So minor injuries may take a look but you could call ahead and check.