vern748
junior member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2019
- Messages
- 26
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Male
Let me tell you a little about myself and my journey to this fateful event, a THR of the left hip, Anterior approach. Oh, maybe 17 years ago I threw myself off my race bike at Sears Point, Sonoma CA. As a 35 year old guy, you can bounce back pretty well. Not quite as well as an 18 year old, but not too bad. Dusted myself off, pushed the bike onto the salvage cart, popped some Advil and called it a day.
Got home, 2 hr trip, and the hip was swelling pretty bad. The next day was painful, the left hip was severally swollen and bruised. The wife made me go to the hospital. The Dr. said,
"Wow, too bad you weren't taller then you may have broken the leg and not damaged the hip as bad."
Fast forward 17 years and its now time to get the hip replaced. The indicator was that the hip started to lock up more and more. Once a year, 3 time in a year, every other month, and then too often for comfort. The nature of the injury left the hip very damaged but usable. I run a mile a day ( treadmill, road running really hurts), and am an avid CrossFitter. If you didn't know me, you wouldn't know that I had a severe hip injury. I had a slight limp which progressed as the day gets closer to dusk, but when it locked up, it was painful.
As I set the date for the surgery, a year or so out, I started taking steps to be ready. I got myself a trainer and we trained and trained as if there wasn't a tomorrow. I increased my training for 1 or 2 times a week to every other day and the weekends. My goal was to be ready for this day.
I consider myself lucky or luckier than most. I was not racked with pain from the injury, I could still run and jump and dance....at times. Yes, the pain was constantly there, like a burning knife ready to inflict pain if I turned too fast or stepped into a pothole or something else I did stupid. It just did not slow me down any...well maybe I could not bowl, but who bowls anymore anyway. I used my hip for all it would give me up until its last day.
OP - Feb 6th. Dr. Lee leaned over me, after the surgery. I am just coming out of sedation;
"Vern, that was really ugly, but we got it done." The femoral head was 40mm larger than what it should have been. Bone had been growing on the head, been ground down and grown some more. The trauma of its environment produced an ugly piece of anatomy. I, unlike most hip replacement patients, was shorter after the operation.
OP+22
I am up and walking unassisted. My pills are ;
2 aspirin a day
2 Motrin a day
We kicked off the Tylenol and the Tramadol within the first week or so, with the Dr. permission with the assurance that we/I would use them if we had pain of 4 and up.
So far, my longest walk is to the general store and coffee shop in town...a mile away, and back. Longgg break at the coffee shop. Did that a few days ago....too much. Rested for a few days and did it again....much better.
I do have some pain in the t-band, running the length. Feels like I have a wallet full of 1's in my front pocket. A bit of dull pain in the groin area. The incision area is still slightly numb, but that may or may not come back. Ah, my glute, its still round and swollen just a bit. Will be a few months before its back to its normal self.
Overall, I am pretty happy with were I am. I do have more pain now than I had before the surgery, but that should not last...I hope. I'm taking it slow or slowly. All I can do now until week 6 is do more harm than good.
As my Dr. said,
"Vern, don't muck it up."
Got home, 2 hr trip, and the hip was swelling pretty bad. The next day was painful, the left hip was severally swollen and bruised. The wife made me go to the hospital. The Dr. said,
"Wow, too bad you weren't taller then you may have broken the leg and not damaged the hip as bad."
Fast forward 17 years and its now time to get the hip replaced. The indicator was that the hip started to lock up more and more. Once a year, 3 time in a year, every other month, and then too often for comfort. The nature of the injury left the hip very damaged but usable. I run a mile a day ( treadmill, road running really hurts), and am an avid CrossFitter. If you didn't know me, you wouldn't know that I had a severe hip injury. I had a slight limp which progressed as the day gets closer to dusk, but when it locked up, it was painful.
As I set the date for the surgery, a year or so out, I started taking steps to be ready. I got myself a trainer and we trained and trained as if there wasn't a tomorrow. I increased my training for 1 or 2 times a week to every other day and the weekends. My goal was to be ready for this day.
I consider myself lucky or luckier than most. I was not racked with pain from the injury, I could still run and jump and dance....at times. Yes, the pain was constantly there, like a burning knife ready to inflict pain if I turned too fast or stepped into a pothole or something else I did stupid. It just did not slow me down any...well maybe I could not bowl, but who bowls anymore anyway. I used my hip for all it would give me up until its last day.
OP - Feb 6th. Dr. Lee leaned over me, after the surgery. I am just coming out of sedation;
"Vern, that was really ugly, but we got it done." The femoral head was 40mm larger than what it should have been. Bone had been growing on the head, been ground down and grown some more. The trauma of its environment produced an ugly piece of anatomy. I, unlike most hip replacement patients, was shorter after the operation.
OP+22
I am up and walking unassisted. My pills are ;
2 aspirin a day
2 Motrin a day
We kicked off the Tylenol and the Tramadol within the first week or so, with the Dr. permission with the assurance that we/I would use them if we had pain of 4 and up.
So far, my longest walk is to the general store and coffee shop in town...a mile away, and back. Longgg break at the coffee shop. Did that a few days ago....too much. Rested for a few days and did it again....much better.
I do have some pain in the t-band, running the length. Feels like I have a wallet full of 1's in my front pocket. A bit of dull pain in the groin area. The incision area is still slightly numb, but that may or may not come back. Ah, my glute, its still round and swollen just a bit. Will be a few months before its back to its normal self.
Overall, I am pretty happy with were I am. I do have more pain now than I had before the surgery, but that should not last...I hope. I'm taking it slow or slowly. All I can do now until week 6 is do more harm than good.
As my Dr. said,
"Vern, don't muck it up."