My right hip has been replaced with an uncemented Zimmer prosthesis as of yesterday and I’m on the mend. This is my 4th joint replacement, as I also have had both knees and my left shoulder replaced.
Yesterday was a bit rough as they were not able to give me the spinal anesthetic that we had planned. There was too much arthritis in my lower back and the tiny needle just couldn’t find space to do the job. I don’t know if that was an overly cautious anesthesiologist or my back is worse now than before, but I ended up with a general anesthetic. That meant that I didn’t get all those wonderful benefits of good pain management right after surgery.
I really hurt when I woke up in recovery around 2:00pm. The pain finally improved once I got to my room and put ice on my leg.
Then I developed pretty severe acid reflux that got worse into the night and was waking me up constantly. Finally one of the nurses figured out it was my position in the beds they use. The beds are made to raise and lower in the middle. I was keeping the head of the bed elevated to help with the reflux. The way I was positioned, was putting too much pressure on my tummy and abdomen, causing the reflux. As I had eaten more during the afternoon and evening, it put more and more pressure on my abdomen and that’s why the reflux worsened. It stopped immediately once I got higher up the in the bed and I got a really good 4-hour sleep.
Today has been good so far. Pain is controlled with the NSAID Torodol. I’m not even needing Tylenol right now. I took a pretty good walk after lunch and climbed some stairs. I did the normal ankle pumps, quad sets, and short arc quad sets, plus about 6 minutes on a bicycle. All felt really good as my hip feels the need to move fairly frequently. The therapist said my goal will be to move in some fashion every 2-3 hours throughout the day.
My surgeon takes a very conservative approach to weight bearing. He wants to ensure good bone growth into the prosthesis and I’ll be on 50% weight bearing with the walker for 4 weeks. At that point, I will be able to switch to a cane if I want to. My new hip feels amazing and I can already tell that it’s going to be so much easier to get my gait and balance back. My other joints, who had obviously been picking up the slack are saying, “Thank you! Finally!!!”````
Yesterday was a bit rough as they were not able to give me the spinal anesthetic that we had planned. There was too much arthritis in my lower back and the tiny needle just couldn’t find space to do the job. I don’t know if that was an overly cautious anesthesiologist or my back is worse now than before, but I ended up with a general anesthetic. That meant that I didn’t get all those wonderful benefits of good pain management right after surgery.
I really hurt when I woke up in recovery around 2:00pm. The pain finally improved once I got to my room and put ice on my leg.
Then I developed pretty severe acid reflux that got worse into the night and was waking me up constantly. Finally one of the nurses figured out it was my position in the beds they use. The beds are made to raise and lower in the middle. I was keeping the head of the bed elevated to help with the reflux. The way I was positioned, was putting too much pressure on my tummy and abdomen, causing the reflux. As I had eaten more during the afternoon and evening, it put more and more pressure on my abdomen and that’s why the reflux worsened. It stopped immediately once I got higher up the in the bed and I got a really good 4-hour sleep.
Today has been good so far. Pain is controlled with the NSAID Torodol. I’m not even needing Tylenol right now. I took a pretty good walk after lunch and climbed some stairs. I did the normal ankle pumps, quad sets, and short arc quad sets, plus about 6 minutes on a bicycle. All felt really good as my hip feels the need to move fairly frequently. The therapist said my goal will be to move in some fashion every 2-3 hours throughout the day.
My surgeon takes a very conservative approach to weight bearing. He wants to ensure good bone growth into the prosthesis and I’ll be on 50% weight bearing with the walker for 4 weeks. At that point, I will be able to switch to a cane if I want to. My new hip feels amazing and I can already tell that it’s going to be so much easier to get my gait and balance back. My other joints, who had obviously been picking up the slack are saying, “Thank you! Finally!!!”````