Numbness, Pain, Anemia

[jeaniebug]

Hey all,

I had my THR on the right side on March 17. While I still had the hose on my lower legs in the hospital, I noticed numbness on my right foot. I assumed the circulation was cut off in certain positions.

So I am 2 weeks out today, and the lower back of my right calf and the side and top of the middle of my foot is quite numb. It feels like I have a tight bandage around the middle of my right foot. (But there is nothing on it). I spoke to my Dr. about it before I left the hospital and he said he didn't think it was anything to worry about. It seems to have gotten worse if anything. I will be going to see my Dr. tomorrow, so I will press him on this again.

Has anyone experienced numbness of the lower leg post THR? Did it resolve?

I am also still having pain, and taking vicodan. It is better, but I still need the painkillers. I have never liked taking pain killers, but I have too much pain still to go without and not feel very miserable. It feels wierd to call to get refills, and I can tell they are reluctant to fill it.

I also lost a fair amount of blood, and found out my hemoglobin went from 14.5 pre surgery to about 9 post surgery. It made me very tired and sort of confused or fuzzy headed, and very dizzy when I first tried to get up after surgery. I am taking iron and it is slowly coming back up, but I hadn't expected to feel the exhaustion and light headed-ness. I also became very light sensitive, and have covered all the windows. I wish I had been urged to donate blood before the surgery so I could have had a transfusion of my own blood. I didn't realize how much that would have helped.

I am 54 and have had hip displaysia all my life. The Dr. said the ball of my femur looked like cauliflower.

Staples out tomorrow! I will try going back to work part time later this week. I didn't realize I would be sitting on my incision, and it is still hard to sit in a regular chair for any amount of time. It is also pretty hard to sleep still.

But things are vastly improved.

Any comments greatly appreciated!

 

[newwheels08]

I too had a bit of strange sensation in both feet post surgery (bilateral THR 2/20)...like something was squeezing them (sort of a numb feeling...mostly like pressure on the tops of my feet), especially when flexing my toes. Could have been residual swelling...not sure but it was a strange sensation. I never said anything to my doctor or family..but it was there.

At six weeks this is almost gone...and did not effect strength or mobility. I was also taking some Vicodin up to the 4th week...seems like an individual thing, but I felt enough pain to need it...especially at 2 weeks.

I gradually cut back over time to half tabs at first, and then just at night...and then just Tylenol (at the recommendation of my OS). When I tried stopping the Vicodin on my own (against doctor's instructions) cold turkey in week 3, my stomach went crazy and I felt queasy and ill at ease all day....plus a dull achy pain came back and P/T was harder. Best wishes on your recovery.

 

[Josephine]

I cannot for the life of me understand why your doctor should be reluctant to let you have adequate analgesics - 2 weeks is nothing! I would expect you to be need pain relief for at least 2 months and maybe more. Depriving you is little short of cruelty.

Sounds like you had a pretty rigorous bit of surgery there and there would inevitably be some swelling which 'could' account for the numbness in your foot. You had a posterior incision which is very close to the sciatic nerve, so any swelling there could be applying pressure on that very large, very important nerve. As the healing gets underway, it's quite likely that the numbness will dissipate.

Do speak to your OS about it though. He should know that this has happened.

 

[jeaniebug]

I too had a bit of strange sensation in both feet post surgery (bilateral THR 2/20)...like something was squeezing them (sort of a numb feeling...mostly like pressure on the tops of my feet), especially when flexing my toes. Could have been residual swelling...not sure but it was a strange sensation. I never said anything to my doctor or family..but it was there.

At six weeks this is almost gone...and did not effect strength or mobility. I was also taking some Vicodin up to the 4th week...seems like an individual thing, but I felt enough pain to need it...especially at 2 weeks.

I gradually cut back over time to half tabs at first, and then just at night...and then just Tylenol (at the recommendation of my OS). When I tried stopping the Vicodin on my own (against doctor's instructions) cold turkey in week 3, my stomach went crazy and I felt queasy and ill at ease all day....plus a dull achy pain came back and P/T was harder. Best wishes on your recovery.

Hey, thanks for your reply! That is exactly what it feels like, pressure on the top of my foot. But I can move and wiggle all toes and it has not affected my mobility either.

I am still taking vicodan, this is week 3 for me. PT is going very well. My PT today said I have doubled my strength each week. I felt pretty well overall today, although I have been back at work part time, and this evening my, um, incision area really hurts. I sit all day at work, although it may also be related to the rather strenuous PT I had today. So I used some cold packs and got off of my, um, incision as much as possible in recliner trying to even out the pressure.

Overall, I am very pleased! I have worked out the pain med issues, Josephine, my doctor does not want me to have pain, that seems to be more of an issue with the nurses. Or maybe it was only my perception. I did speak to the Dr. about it and he said "take as needed," but I have been able to cut down.

I am now using my 4 prong cane which provides enough stability.

So the foot numbness is strange, but it does not hurt. I feel as if the most important parts are all healing and doing quite well, so I am going to wait and see on the numbness.

Happy healing, everyone!