I figured there had to be a place like BoneSmart.org. So thankful I found you today. Started the day off crying, and it went downhill from there. Then I found you, cried again. But knew I was ok and this was normal. I also learned how to elevate my leg. From you, not the vague, cookie cutter materials I was given before surgery.
My surgeon was good, the facility was good, but I was NOT adequately prepared for this reality. Every person I talked to about THR said, "oh, it's wonderful! can't believe I waited so long..... It's really easy to recover from, my 84 year old mother did it!, yada yada". Nothing but raves and positive feedback. Pretty sure they forgot all about the first few weeks.
I'm so disappointed with the vague, ambivalent information I got from the PT visit ahead of time. Why would they not provide patients with useful and real information in the fancy spiral bound notebooks? Just pages filled with cartoon people doing exercises. Nothing preparing you for the trauma this really is. I don't even have anything in my materials about elevating my leg. How to, or even that I should.
My husband has been wonderful. But I have no idea what meds I was actually getting for the first 2 days - I just took what he handed me. By day 3, my stomach hurt so bad I said enough. What am I getting and when? I took over my own meds. And stupidly made my own trial and error adjustments. "Take as needed every x hours...". How about some specifics? Do I need to take this until it's gone? I stopped taking what turned out to be a once a day anti-inflammatory thinking I would be better off taking ibuprofen a couple times a day in between Tylenol and the dreaded "opioid". By evening yesterday my entire leg AND hip were so swollen I was scared.
Day 5. Today. As I said, started it crying - I don't know why. Found your forum. Found the forum on Post Op Depression, and posted my first post. I've been looking at all the helpful articles here for the entire day. It's been more helpful and informative than anything I got from my Orthopedic Surgery Center before surgery. So - thank you.
After finding BoneSmart: Been keeping my leg elevated today, have stopped feeling like I need to be up and racing around the house in my walker because I should be fine by now right?, and I'm going to take whatever meds I have as long as they are needed, including the opioids. And if I need a refill, so be it. I'm completely constipated, yes, have taken many things to help. But - this too shall pass ;-) If I'm not in misery over it, not going to worry.
So I guess this takes time. Thank you for being here. Thank you for validating what I intuitively knew - this is a really big thing that just happened to my body. It will heal, but it has been very traumatized. My own best friend hasn't even been here for me - she has no clue how hard this has been. "Hey, it's no big deal anymore I guess, it's same day surgery now - no biggie.....".
I'm sorry for any person I couldn't help through something like this in the past, but I will dam well be there for those in the future. And understand what they need and are going through.
Here's to a better day 6 on this journey. Thanks for letting me vent. And helping me understand, I don't need to be up walking around, standing around, or something other than resting on the couch with my leg truly elevated. With ice.
PS - I only took one week off work - "hey, not a big deal, right? back in my chair in a week". I'll be changing that Monday.
My surgeon was good, the facility was good, but I was NOT adequately prepared for this reality. Every person I talked to about THR said, "oh, it's wonderful! can't believe I waited so long..... It's really easy to recover from, my 84 year old mother did it!, yada yada". Nothing but raves and positive feedback. Pretty sure they forgot all about the first few weeks.
I'm so disappointed with the vague, ambivalent information I got from the PT visit ahead of time. Why would they not provide patients with useful and real information in the fancy spiral bound notebooks? Just pages filled with cartoon people doing exercises. Nothing preparing you for the trauma this really is. I don't even have anything in my materials about elevating my leg. How to, or even that I should.
My husband has been wonderful. But I have no idea what meds I was actually getting for the first 2 days - I just took what he handed me. By day 3, my stomach hurt so bad I said enough. What am I getting and when? I took over my own meds. And stupidly made my own trial and error adjustments. "Take as needed every x hours...". How about some specifics? Do I need to take this until it's gone? I stopped taking what turned out to be a once a day anti-inflammatory thinking I would be better off taking ibuprofen a couple times a day in between Tylenol and the dreaded "opioid". By evening yesterday my entire leg AND hip were so swollen I was scared.
Day 5. Today. As I said, started it crying - I don't know why. Found your forum. Found the forum on Post Op Depression, and posted my first post. I've been looking at all the helpful articles here for the entire day. It's been more helpful and informative than anything I got from my Orthopedic Surgery Center before surgery. So - thank you.
After finding BoneSmart: Been keeping my leg elevated today, have stopped feeling like I need to be up and racing around the house in my walker because I should be fine by now right?, and I'm going to take whatever meds I have as long as they are needed, including the opioids. And if I need a refill, so be it. I'm completely constipated, yes, have taken many things to help. But - this too shall pass ;-) If I'm not in misery over it, not going to worry.
So I guess this takes time. Thank you for being here. Thank you for validating what I intuitively knew - this is a really big thing that just happened to my body. It will heal, but it has been very traumatized. My own best friend hasn't even been here for me - she has no clue how hard this has been. "Hey, it's no big deal anymore I guess, it's same day surgery now - no biggie.....".
I'm sorry for any person I couldn't help through something like this in the past, but I will dam well be there for those in the future. And understand what they need and are going through.
Here's to a better day 6 on this journey. Thanks for letting me vent. And helping me understand, I don't need to be up walking around, standing around, or something other than resting on the couch with my leg truly elevated. With ice.
PS - I only took one week off work - "hey, not a big deal, right? back in my chair in a week". I'll be changing that Monday.