Revision THR Now Facing Left Hip Revision

[Beckford]

Thank you , some really reassuring points. I like the idea of a journal. I have made progress but it does seemed to have slowed down now . It’s so hot here today I have done very little apart from a short walk this morning and a bit of pottering around the house. Have to admit I have spent most of my time resting on the bed . Luckily I have a nice view and it’s the coolest room in the house. I am just trying to decide what to do next as I am starting to feel guilty for not doing much. I definitely am not expecting perfection after everything that’s happened but like you say just function and the ability to get out and join in again, just enjoy the simple things in life. I am so very grateful for the support I am receiving from all you lovely people

 

[Jaycey]

I am just trying to decide what to do next as I am starting to feel guilty for not doing much.

Oh but you are doing loads! After all those dislocations and a complex revision your body is in healing mode. Rest when you need to and please do not feel guilty. You will be active again- just give it time.

 

[Hip4life]

It’s hot and humid here today, too. I’m not planning on doing much today in the way of exercise and I’m not recovering from surgery! Lol. Do I feel guilty? Heck, no! So you absolutely should not. Isn’t it amazing that your body is doing so much in the background that you’re not aware of. That’s why the philosophy here is to take it slow and rest as you need. That funk you’re feeling will get better. Just do what you can and add a little bit at a time. Sometimes you have to push through the inertia as long as you’re not in pain. No big decisions here. Just be patient and kind to yourself. The saying “a journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step” is apropos but your journey is NOT 1000 miles before you start to feel better. Hang in there, friend. You’re doing just fine.

 

[Beckford]

Yes very humid. Everything takes twice the amount of energy which I don’t have at the moment. Even local outdoor workers have had to stop as it’s just too hot. We have a small yard where we store tractors and equipment and also our work shop is there, it reached almost 40 degrees.
I think my leg is starting to feel just a little stronger but I have to be very careful because if I push it my back then hurts for days. It’s a real learning curve seeing what you can and cannot do and even though I am almost 3 months post op this surgery really has taken its toll on me . As long as I keep moving forward I feel quite content, it’s those set back days which do get me down.

 

[Beckford]

I have reached the 3 month post surgery timescale. I can walk short distances unaided , only on level even ground.
What I am struggling with now is doing any housework. It’s as if the other movements ie other than straight line walking are much more difficult, like turning circles , bending and negotiating obstacles slowly. My balance just isn’t there to do these every day basic jobs. I am hoping that as the leg gets stronger I will be able to gain better control of the leg.
Has anyone else found this ?

If anyone can help with these concerns I would be so grateful

 

[helenium]

I'm 11 months post op now. and I had the same problems. It's improves with time as muscles get stronger and balance improves.

 

[Jaycey]

@Beckford you will notice I moved your post (above) to your own recovery thread. Please keep questions about your own recovery on your thread so that we have all your history in one place and you don't derail another member's thread.

Considering your history I would say what you are experiencing is normal. New hips do not like twisting or bending. Once you get some strength back in that op leg things will feel a bit more balanced. For now focus on your gait (heel/toe walking) and activities of daily living.

 

[helenium]

It's really annoying though when people tell you to be careful! Yes, I hold on to rails on stairs/steps. I use a crutch or stick outdoors, indoors when my leg is tired. But I found that a lot of the "normal" kitchen activities were the worst. Just a slight twist to get a plate from a cupboard would be enough to throw me off balance. Or to turn to get something I'd forgotten from the fridge.

Fortunately, there have been things to grab hold of in the kitchen. But I have ended up wedged between my wheelie bins, and in a flower bed!

 

[Beckford]

Hi Jaycee,
Yes I noticed my posts seemed to have drifted away from my thread but I STILL cannot understand how I keep them together. If I respond to another members post then it stays next to that one rather than joining my thread. Am I being thick and stupid??

 

[Jaycey]

@Beckford it's fine to post on another member's thread if you have a comment or input on their recovery. But if you have a question or comment on your own recovery, please post it here in your recovery thread.

You might want to bookmark your recovery thread. Or here's a tutorial on How can I find my threads and posts.

 

[Beckford]

Thank you

 

[zauberflöte]

I have reached the 3 month post surgery timescale. I can walk short distances unaided , only on level even ground.
What I am struggling with now is doing any housework. It’s as if the other movements ie other than straight line walking are much more difficult, like turning circles , bending and negotiating obstacles slowly. My balance just isn’t there to do these every day basic jobs. I am hoping that as the leg gets stronger I will be able to gain better control of the leg.
Has anyone else found this ?

If anyone can help with these concerns I would be so grateful

A bit earlier you posted that it was harder to see progress now-- I think it just is that way for real. I saw daily progress for about a week, then half-weekly for a week or two, then weekly for maybe a month, but at about 6 weeks it started being the case that I had to look back 2-4 weeks to notice that I had indeed progressed. After a month or two of that, then I had to wait a whole month to be able to pinpoint progress, and at 6 months I wasn't paying such close attention, but one year was definitely better than six months, and two years was even better than one year! So it can be a very long period of tiny incremental improvement. It's good to relax expectations and just promise yourself you'll "peek at your progress" in a couple of weeks-- and you will probably be pleasantly surprised! The more complex things like balance, bending, turning-- you have been compromised in these for so long that your body has to teach itself to trust itself anew-- and all that happens offstage, or behind our backs only if we're not peeking!! I swear, Uncertainty Principle recovery, right? It's like our hip won't budge if we stare at it and make it shy. I'm beginning to sound ridiculous but I'm having fun. Hope I've entertained you and given some hope-- you deserve it!!

 

[Beckford]

I am still feeling concerned about my balance issues. A brilliant way of explaining is that if I were to walk through the middle of a room of people, keeping to a straight line passing each person I would make it to the other side. If on the other hand the room was very full of people and I had to navigate my way around slowly and carefully without bumping into anyone I just simply couldn’t do it!
I can’t make sense of this at all.

 

[zauberflöte]

@Beckford balance is so frustrating, whatever the reason! General anaesthesia messes with my balance, and somewhere I've read that that can take longer to clear out of your system than you'd like.

I have something called Vestibular Migraine (it has a different name in the UK I think). It is a processing disorder in which my brain tells my body that this or that (actually stationary) object is moving, and my body compensates for the perceived motion, thus making me lean, tilt, walk cockeyed...you name it . The effects can range from comical (you should see me walk slowly down the road in the dark...you should see me run into Every Single Door Jamb I turn a corner around) to tragic-- some people have severe cases, and can't drive in case they should get a"hard spin" at 65mph. I've dealt with this since the winter after my first hip, and specialist opinions to the contrary, I believe the GA from the hip surgery may have had something to do with activating it.

How I got this diagnosed was my PCP listening to my weird symptoms, and sending me to an ophthalmologist who then sent me to a balance center, where I had all kinds of non-medicated, non-invasive, and loopy-making vision and hearing tests. My eyes work fine, my ears work fine, my brain not so much lol!

Not saying this is what you have, but a balance clinic might be someplace to start after discussing your concern with your regular physicians.

 

[Schaargi]

I'm at 10 weeks and I'm a complete chicken when I go out of the house. I'm just not strong enough to withstand jostling or sudden surprising movements from other people or dogs.

Not only is your brain still feeling the effects of the anesthesia, but your muscles are still getting over the trauma. They just aren't sure how to act now. It might just be that your body needs to get used to the way you now move and your brain is slower to process the movement around you, so it is disconbobulating all around.

I have been taking tiny, thoughtful risks to test my control and balance. When you are doing housework, sometimes your mind can wander. (OK, my mind wanders a lot, which is sometimes a good thing when doing housework.) I have really had to slow down and concentrate now.

See if you can focus for a short time and do the bending and twisting deliberately and slowly. And then try it again a couple of times to practice. And ask your doctor if it continues.

 

[Beckford]

Thank you both for your help and concern for me, it’s such great to have this support. I think I am possibly still not explaining myself probably. When I call it a balance issue, it’s more to do with strength and control of the leg. My balance goes out of shape when I put more demands on the leg. It’s much harder to walk in a circle than it is in a straight line. When I used to vet horses for soundness ie. no lameness, a horse could trot a straight line and look 100% but then trotting a circle would show up if the animal was lame. So basically I feel I am almost sound in a straight line but lame on a circle. I often apply my horsey knowledge and experience working with vets which is why I strongly disagree with physio too soon. You would simply never excercise a horse with an injured limb. You would wait, rest and then bring back into work very very slowly otherwise you end up with the horse going lame yet again and back to square one. I hope nobody thinks I am mad but I often ask my vet about my hip , she just takes everything logically!

 

[helenium]

I think you're learning for yourself the effects of hip replacement on postural stability / proprioception, and that you'll find it all improves with time as your brain re-learns and the leg gets stronger. Rehab protocols often include exercises for this (balancing on one leg, wobble board, mini trampoline, etc).

My take on this is that balance is easier if you can look straight ahead as in walking in a straight line. I bet it's more difficult with eyes shut, but I don't think we should try it! The same as the balance test of standing on one leg with eyes open, then repeated with eyes closed. I guess we lose that bit of help from our eyes when we walk off at angles, in circles, bend about ...

 

[leejaa]

We are all animals of a sort so why not apply what you know to your hip. We also tend to be nicer to animal rehabbing than ourselves were we tend to expect more.

 

[Hip4life]

I LOVE your analogies with the horses. I think it is spot on! Balance-I understand everything you are saying here.
I think one of the things I found most surprising was how far adrift my balance got and I wasn’t even that aware. The first encounter was right after I got home. I had a weird little thing happen while using my walker and almost went down except for a table right there to grab. I was so shocked that I couldn’t recover over such a minor thing. I realize that I had just had surgery but yikes! I had ongoing reminders during daily activities for a while that my body was still recovering as I would “bob and weave” unexpectedly.
Then when I thought I was pretty much recovered, on my own I started a post THR strengthening program and it had some balancing exercises to do. I thought: “Really? What’s that going to do for me?” Oh my goodness! They were the hardest ones to do! Some were similar to what you see the police do for suspected DUI drivers. Put the handcuffs on me now and haul me off to jail! Lol. I was again shocked and humbled. So, I did the exercises and I improved immensely. It took some time but once I got them mastered, I rarely would lose my balance.
Also, we’re usually almost always moving in a straight line. I also did exercises to help with sideways movement. As my strength improved, I noticed my overall balance in different directions did as well.
Bottom line: relearning muscle movement and regaining balance will take time. Be patient. Keep yourself safe by moving purposefully and being very aware at these early stages. You will get there.

 

[Layla]

I strongly disagree with physio too soon. You would simply never excercise a horse with an injured limb. You would wait, rest and then bring back into work very very slowly otherwise you end up with the horse going lame yet again and back to square one.

Love this!
You've taken the long way home, with many detours, but I believe the day will come when you’re not feeling as though you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. Hang in there and focus on a brighter future. Slowly, but surely you’ll get there.