[THR] Over the first hill...ready for the rest

I'd say the intense pain you felt wasn't bone, they threw the bad bone away. I did the same thing with not taking the pain pills, not a smart idea. I went for a walk post surgery and when I got to the room I was in PAIN and sweating! The next morning right after breakfast I took my pain pills and had no problem doing the walk and easy PT of walking up stairs and such.

 

Aloha @kfisher119! Welcome and a BIG congratulations to you. You had a less than positive start and came through. It's tough to wait long hours for an impending surgery but you did it! I know about the pain med thing. I really don't like taking pills and wanted to do with as little as possible. Good intentions but the pain, after surgery meds wore off, was much more than I anticipated. Ended up with pain in the high thresholds and it took awhile to get it under control and for me to find the right "cocktail" to keep it at bay. I'm glad I did that as it made getting up, doing minimal hall walking, etc. going to bathroom, etc. soooo much better. Pride doesn't belong in the hospital!! LOL You won't regret taking them either. It's not forever and today they're your friend.

Take care, continued healing, and malama pono...

 

For some reason I also was surprised by how much my leg hurt once the spinal from surgery wore off. I think I had been looking forward to surgery so much as a result of the debilitating pain I'd had for so long that I really didn't think much about how I'd feel after it was done.

My surgery was at 3:30 and when I took my first walk that evening I felt no pain. They let me take another walk a couple hours later and the stinging pain in my thigh was awful---I didn't expect that at all. And a few days later, I was also taken aback by the knee pain, and the butt pain! And soon I learned that that is how hip replacement recovery goes----a lot of ups and downs, and new/unexpected pains popping up here and there. Things that happen as a result of the trauma of the surgery, some that are common to most hipsters, and others that hit one person differently than another.

And yet, even with the roller coaster---the surprise twinges and pains, it was clear to me within a few days that the hip replacement was a blessing, and even with pain, it was still better than what I had been dealing with before. The first few days.....not much fun at all. I did not have a good start, but by day 5, things turned around, and my recovery went very well!Here's hoping you are now home and things are going well!

 

Meds meds meds!!! Just do it. Stay ahead of the pain monkey, even when you get home. There is plenty of time to wean off. You've made it to recovery land and your future is bright, trust us.

 

Congrats on the new hip! I can't say I had a lot of pain. It felt more like a lot of stiffness. Reading the materials that I was "prescribed" in my recovery thread really helped. There are no steadfast rules except what your body is telling you.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery so that you can get back to doing the things you love. Heck, I love just folding wash now without that pain in my hip. LOL

 

Welcome @kfisher119 It sounds like you have a great set up for recovery!

 

To get your big ol' log leg out of bed without help, try using the belt from a bathrobe. I needed it getting out and into bed the first week or so. Really lets all your leg/hip muscles just concentrate on healing instead of working too hard!

 

@kfisher119 sounds like you are doing relatively well at this point, welcome to the healing side, it does get better! You seem to definitely have a great support system and very lucky to have your own nurse. I'm sure your sis will take the best care of you. New puppy sounds like fun, something to distract you when having not so good a day and animals are really good at sensing when we're under the weather/injured. Have a great Sunday, sleep when you can, ice and elevate!

 

So sorry to hear of your rough day (and even sorrier to say how happy I was to read it and know I was not alone in my step backwards!) I am post op day 5 (R posterior THR) and 2 days ago, would have said "I got this thing- no problem!" Then yesterday morning- boom- thigh pain, butt pain and burning, groin pain - and I thought "What did I do wrong" "Did I get too cocky and try too much!" So I spent all day today on the recliner, discovering this wonderful online community (first time on today and first time joining anything like this!) and am so very comforted to know that all these aches, muscle pains, throbs and burns seem to be the rule, not the exception. I am also learning that there is a maddening diversity of advise about how much to do how soon- I received very little "official" guidance around what to do in the first phase of recovery (the first 3 weeks or so) from my surgeon and the hospital physio , who taught me how to get on and off the bed, walk with crutches and do stairs, gave me 4 bed exercises, 4 standing exercises (pretty straight forward stuff) and walking "as tolerated." May I ask what kind of guidance you received about how much you should be doing at this phase? Would love to hear!

 

Yes it's common, yes on the expectations too. There's plenty of guidelines and Layla always places them in everyone's recovery thread. Generally 6 weeks you see real improvement and 3 mos you're fully functional at 1 year you're close to full recovery but it still can be hurt and it still gets better.