Ortho Nurse Gets Right HR

[LuvANurse26]

I ran across this site on yesterday. I am 30 years old. I'm an RN on an Ortho/Neurosurgery floor. I have had problems with my hip since I was about 12 years old. I've had 4 operations on my right hip when I was a child. Nothing seemed to work, and I know my hip wasn't gonna get better on its own. I had a very low quality of life. I have been working Ortho for about 5 years now, and finally (with the encouragement of co-workers) decided to have my hip replaced.

I had a total right hip replacement on Oct 28th. It is nothing like I thought it would be. I see so many patients on a daily basis crying, and in severe pain. I have only taken about 3 pain pills during this post op period. The only reason I took them was to go to sleep. I am amazed at how pain free I am. Pain and my age was the reason I prolonged the surgery for so long. I came to the conclusion of what better time to have the surgery than now (when I am young and can get around like I wanna). Why wait til I'm old???

I am doing good with my excercises. My MD said there was about a 4in leg length discrepency, and he brought it to about 1/2in difference. I am
SO happy. I had to walk immediately after surgery, and could tell a big difference when I walked.

I look forward to meeting other people on this site like myself. Sometimes its good to talk to other people who can relate to us. Thanks for reading my blog.

 

[mvo]

Hi there,

Some of us hippies just seem to strike it very very lucky being pain free straight after surgery. I was like that too (had a LTHR 10 weeks ago). My sister had the same operation at the same time and she is only just now pain free and off the pain meds – our pain experiences were so different even though our conditions (hip dysplasia) health and fitness (excellent) and ages (40 and 45) are very similar. Lack of pain is a wonderful thing – I had truly forgotten what that was like.

All the best for your recovery.
Monica

 

[heidi]

Like you I am young (27) and had a THR. I am so glad to hear you didnt have much pain. It is all different for everyone. Once they found meds that worked for me I was much better. I was off all pain meds after the first week but still take some tylenol before bed and Im almost 2 months out. I have 5 year old so I am very active in the day and that has seemed to help

Im glad to meet you!!!
Heidi

 

[LuvANurse26]

Hi Monica,

Being that you're 10 weeks post op, what kind of things can you can can't you do at this point. Are you walking with a limp, etc??

 

[mvo]

Hi there,

I am walking up to 4km (2.5 miles) a day, including up and down stairs and hills. I have a very slight limp at the end of a long and tiring day, but if I concentrate, I can walk properly. I started back at the gym this week with a program designed by a trainer who specializes in Muscular Skeletal Rehabilitation so I figure he can look after a new hip ;) I am doing mainly stretching exercises to start with and some sessions in the pool. Am allowed a whole five minutes on the recumbent exercycle (at no resistance) every day this week and allowed to increase that to six minutes next week.

I was back at work fulltime at six weeks, but am still a bit tired after work. I still need help to tie my left shoelace, but everything else is going well. He in New Zealand we don’t have the intensive follow up PT that seems to be normal in the US, instructions are just to get back to normal life slowly.

Still on my restrictions list are a normal bicycle (at 3 months) gardening (six months) and running (never!)

Hope that helps,
Monica

 

[LuvANurse26]

Thats good. I hope I'm able to do more now that I have this new hip. Before surgery I walked with a major limp, couldn't tie my shoes, had to bend over backwards to put my sock on *fig of speech, and don't let me mention my wrestle with trying to have sex.

 

[UTdave]

Hey,

Another young, dysplasia patient here. I think you'll be pretty pleased with how things go. I'm 6 weeks out today and my main limitation is my remaining bad hip which will be fixed soon enough. It's a pleasure to tie your shoes, put on your socks and wash your feet in the shower again!

My surgeon and PT have me on ellipticals, bike trainers and, especially, walking for rehab. For whatever reason, I didn't get any limitations on resistance like Monica - just "let pain be your guide." After laying in the hospital bed and hobbling around on crutches, it's nice to break a sweat and feel burn in your muscles again!

Pain meds were similar to your experience - I have a cabinet full that will never be used. But you may find as you ramp up your activity that you need an OTC motrin or something, so don't despair! My job is very similar to yours and I returned to work yesterday very nervous as to whether I could keep up, but it seemed just fine. My muscles seem to fatigue earlier than they used to, but I suspect that will change with time and ongoing rehab.

Good luck! I bet you'll be pretty happy in about 3 wks as your restrictions are lifted!

 

[Josephine]

LuvANurse! Oh my! Ain't that the cutest name ever! And a fellow orthopod! Welcome, welcome! Hope you stick around a while and share this amazing story with us and others who need encouragement!

 

[JudyS]

LuvANurse
Welcome. I am 51 and had a right hip replacement on June 6th. I did need pain meds for some time, although my tears in the hospital were out of frustration with a nurse not to love!!! (It was all over my regular prescription meds)
I really did not know my hip was severly arthritic, just that it had bothered me for years and was starting to give out on me.
At 4 weeks I really ramped up my walking and swimming. My body told me to slow down.
I really didn't. By the 3 month mark with restrictions lifted , I started hiking on my local mountain. (I used to be a trail runner). At some point between 3 and 4 months, it was hard to believe I had a hip replacement. It is just great, never felt like anything foreign was in my body. All is great!!! Wish knees were so easy!!

Judy

 

[Stanj]

Welcome LuvANurse26
Your reduced pain experience seems to be more common than you might have thought. I had no pain medication from the moment I got out of the OR and never needed any. I must say that I was an easy patient since I had no complaints so the staff treated me really well, even threw a party for my on my release day and was back walking to work 3 days after release. I did used crutches for a month, but never quite got the hang of carrying grocery bags on my walk home from the grocery store using them but otherwise walked all over the city using crutches. One day I was heading off to Estonia and got 50 yards from my door when I realizes I forgot my crutches and was too lazy to go back upstairs to retrieve them. That was the end of the crutches.
So being as young as you are, I suspect you will recover quite quickly, and have less patience with complaining patients.

 

[JudyS]

As a nurse, lets hope this experince does not affect her dealings with patients. Some of us really are in seriious pain. I was extremely nauseus and spent day 2 vomiting. It also hurt a lot to try to move my operated leg to get out of bed.

We need the compassionate nurses!!!
Judy

 

[LuvANurse26]

I don't think this will affect my dealings with my patients. Everyone is different, and as a nurse I know pain is what the patient says it is.

 

[Josephine]

Amen to that!..