THR Ready for THR!

[K8 Orlando]

After many years absence, I’ve returned to this forum for camaraderie, community, and encouragement. I’m so glad to find it’s still here!
After trying everything from pain meds to PT, my doctor says it’s past time to replace this bad hip. Fear of hospitals during Covid has held me back, along with memories of a truly bad experience with a prior knee replacement - and it was easy to stay home for a couple years and isolate from Covid. Vacations were mostly camping in a comfy RV, so it was easy to deal with a painful hip. But now I’m ready to ‘get back out there’ and be more active!
Surgery hasn’t been scheduled but I think it will happen in late Aug or September. Honestly, I’m excited to begin the healing, and eager to get rid of the cane and the walker.
I’ve heard that the best exercise to prep for THR is walking (heel-toe-heel-toe!). I’m also doing some simple range of motion exercises.
Anything else i should be doing over the next couple weeks?
Thanks!
Kate

TKR (Left) 2011 & 2017
THR (Right) pending…

 

[benne68]

Welcome back, @K8 Orlando !

So glad to read that you found the forum helpful during your TKR recovery. We're here for you as you proceed through this surgery as well. Do let us know once you have a date.

It sounds like you have plenty of time to prepare, so here is some information that will help you get ready for what is to come:
Recovery Aids: A comprehensive list for hospital and home
Recliner Chairs: Things you need to know if buying one for your recovery
Pre-Op Interviews: What's involved?

And if you want to picture what your life might be like with a replaced hip, take a look at the posts and threads from other BoneSmarties provided in this link:
Stories of amazing hip recoveries

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery. While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.

Let us know your questions and concerns!

 

[CricketHip]

Welcome back! I think the walking is a good idea, if you can manage it. the only downside to the walking is if it's painful you might be compensating in ways that's not helpful for you overall.

Strengthening exercises for your upper body would be most helpful. You will be depending on those muscles a lot, especially your arms and shoulders.


Good luck with getting your surgery scheduled...

 

[K8 Orlando]

Thanks for your comments!
I know I was walking in a very awkward way using a cane. More and more awkward as the right hip became more and more painful. So just a couple months ago I bought a rollator walker and it’s made a big difference. I feel like I can walk more balanced now, with less hip strain.

 

[Klassy]

Hi K8! Like you, I was so glad to come back and find this forum still here.

I agree with @CricketHip that upper body exercises are a good idea. Unlike you, I didn’t think about it, and hadn’t noticed how my arms and abs had got very deconditioned during the covid lockdowns. So it was a bit more of a struggle to get myself out of bed in the first few days than I remembered from Hip 1. But I coped, so don’t stress about it if for any reason you can’t or don’t do exercises.

I hope you have an op date soon.

 

[K8 Orlando]

I appreciate the comments about upper body strength. I’ve noticed my upper arms and shoulders get terribly tired even when I use the walker for very long so I need to work on this! Great advice! I found a stretchy band and started on a variety of arm exercises yesterday.
You people are a treasure!

 

[CricketHip]

It was our pleasure!! So glad it resonated with you, anything you can do to help yourself during the first few weeks is so valuable. If you can't, you can't. But it's always worth a try.

 

[Zoebichon]

If you have a sturdy chair with arms, you can sit in it with hands on chair arms, then slowly lift up and hold a bit, then lower. And repeat several times. I tried making my arms and shoulders do the lifting while keeping as much weight off my legs as possible. This really helped me after surgery.

Also you can practice sitting on the edge of the bed and scooting yourself back, again using your arm strength.

 

[barbloki]

Hi @Zoebichon
Do you know how long before we can sit in a regular chair without arms or use a toilet without arms? I hope you are doing well. You had both hips done at the same time? That sounds brave to me!
Barbara

 

[Zoebichon]

I did have both hips done at the same surgery.

Only our downstairs toilet has the raised seat with arms. I am mostly downstairs and use this toilet the most. Our upstairs toilet is just a regular low toilet without arms or elevation. I did begin to use this regular toilet at 2 weeks postop, during the nights only.

The first several times sitting on the regular toilet, it felt a LONG, LONG way down! There is a short wall right next to it that I could grab to help myself back up. For me, getting up is so much easier than going down! I can pop back up easily but getting lowered down is still a little hard. I’m 9 weeks now and really, I should be getting rid of the downstairs toilet riser by now! I don’t need it but it’s easier.

As far as chairs, for 8 weeks, I used an adjustable “perching ” kitchen chair at the island counter to eat my meals. It has arms. Now I’m back to my regular counter height stool without arms. I could have used this stool with no problem weeks ago but I had bought that perching chair so….

When I’m not out walking, or going places and doing things, or eating at the counter, I still prefer to lay flat on my fold out futon sofa, or legs up on the Lounge Doctor, which I still use a lot.