Reassurance please!

[Jaycey]

@Mojo333 try search for Victor Meldrew. Classic Brit TV - very funny.

 

[Mojo333]

Meldrew is seen as misanthropic by the many victims of his wrath and misfortune, but he is also depicted as an honest, likeable and sympathetic character who is admired for having the guts to stand up and say something about an exasperating situation.

That sounds like our Cassidy!

 

[Mojo333]

Actually, you don't sound at all like a curmudgeon @Cassidy
But I couldn't resist when I read that review

Hope your day is peaceful

 

[Cassidy]

I definitely can be a curmudgeon @Mojo333, and I'm getting worse as I get older! The series was called "One Foot in the Grave", so I hope I don't entirely live up to the title - but I think that as we age we see the ridiculousness of many situations. Victor Meldrew's favourite phrase was "I don't believe it!" when confronted by many facets of modern society, and I think that's turning into my favourite phrase too. You should try watching an episode of the comedy series and see if you find it amusing - I don't know if the Brit sense of humour is a bit odd though?! (maybe don't answer that one!)

 

[Mojo333]

I'm starting to sound alot like my mother
Especially after a day of dealing with a dozen young people...court ordered volunteers mostly working off their community service hours.
I had a girl who, when asked to mop a floor, said "I've never mopped!"
And another who couldn't file paperwork alphabetically without looking at an ABC chart on her phone!

 

[Cassidy]

Reminds me of my friend's son, @Mojo333, who was trying to clean his room at university in order to get his deposit back - probably three years' worth of dirt - and rang his mother to ask how to make a bucket of soapy water! Frightening - our future!!

 

[AJinNH]

I would be angry too @Cassidy if I had to suffer due to someone else’s negligence, and I have no doubt I would have a hard time letting it go. I would also want to know that a lesson had been learned and that something was changed to prevent it from happening again to someone else. You have every right to be frustrated!!

But @Mojo333 is right, try to let it go, for now. Once you’re through this and healthy again maybe you can figure out a way to present your experiences to the healthcare community so that something productive comes of it. Too often in healthcare we are immersed in the clinical side of a situation but not often enough do we see the personal impact. Your voice can make a difference.

 

[Cassidy]

What didn't help me yesterday was reading the leaflet that the hospital gave me. It cited how many people are likely to get infections, dislocations, revisions, etc., and the figures stacked up! Plus it said something along the lines of "an artificial hip will never feel like your own hip", which I've also read on the Arthritis UK website, and which disappoints me, as I had hoped that over time I'd stop thinking of the replacement as being a foreign body and stop noticing it. Wishful thinking maybe?

 

[jaydub63]

@Cassidy That leaflet and other material was probably written by someone who hasn't had a THR! I can only speak for myself, but my new hip feels and moves just like my original, only without the OA. It has felt very much a part of me since day 1 and I don't feel it as a foreign body whatsoever. I'm grateful to it for getting my life back to normal.

 

[anny]

what's happened to Victoria Meldrew

ha ha.....I've been out of England 12 years but didn't realise he'd had a gender change! Don't worry about stressing to us....look on it as saving your husband's sanity. And yes, my husband always tries to talk me out of being worried with a "it'll be fine'.....when he knows NOTHING about the whole thing I only believe fellow forumites who have been thro the same thing.....and sometimes you just want someone to agree with you, even if you're both wrong (yeh, we're complex human beings )

 

[Gidget]

Oh, I love the Victoria Meldrew reference. What a great user name it would be. I think I’m Victoria’s sister, twins even.

 

[Mojo333]

an artificial hip will never feel like your own hip"

Doesn't feel like the old ones when I replaced them because they felt horrible, but they feel like the ones I was born with!

 

[anny]

9 weeks today, and it's never crossed my mind to think of it as something 'alien'....if it's making its presence felt it just feels like MY hip acting up

 

[Cassidy]

Thanks all of you - there's nothing like having reassurance from people who've been through it! My hip eased off first thing this morning and I thought "it's a miracle, I don't need the op!", then I went to get out of my car after a short drive to the hospital, and had to sort of unfold myself and stand up very slowly - that's when I realised miracles don't often happen! Second MRSA swab this morning. It's funny, isn't it, in hospitals, how reluctant they are to divulge any information about a patient, even to the patient. I asked what the results were from my first swab and the nurse was really cagey and said she wasn't allowed to tell me anything from my notes - I'd have to write to the Trust! Hopefully I'll get the all clear after the third one next week. I don't know what'll happen if it shows MRSA - if I have to scrub for five days if it's negative, does a positive result lead to a full sheep dip sort of thing?! (Hopefully only joking, although I don't actually know what it would mean.) Anyway, anything to get a date to progress the whole thing - it's the waiting that's killing. It's not helped by the fact that my husband's been having tests for high blood pressure, and now they want to do an angiogram because they think he might have a genetic fault with his heart - once again, Google leads to all sorts of black thoughts! Fingers crossed it's nothing serious. I can see us both being carers for each other at this rate. As my Gran used to say (mind you, she was 98 at the time) it's no fun getting old. But what's the alternative (as was her other saying!)?

 

[jaydub63]

@Cassidy I had to laugh at your sheep dip reference! My sister is a veterinarian and the one summer I worked for her it was my job to do the flea and tick dips for all the cats and dogs. I hope that's not the way they address MRSA for us humans! So strange that they wouldn't tell you the results of your own test.... Hope your husband's tests indicate nothing serious going on.

 

[Cassidy]

Thanks @jaydub63 - you have to try to see the funny side in these things, don't you! By the way, I love the flower on your profile picture. I really ought to put something on mine, although I'm not tempted to put my own face! I see you had your hip op last December - how do you feel now? My OS said 50% after 6 weeks, 80% after 3 months and 100% (or probably as good as it's going to get!) at one year. Do you think that sounds about right for you? Although I see you're a bit younger than me, so maybe you've got age on your side!

 

[jaydub63]

Large doses of patience and humor are needed for this process, that's for sure! I took this picture last summer when my husband and I were visiting a state park. It was this lone white iris blooming along the service road, and it just looked like the picture of resilience and "blooming where you are," so I thought it would be a good avatar. I agree with you, I'm not so into splashing my mug on the internet either.

I feel amazing after my surgery - years younger than how I felt just prior. I think my recovery was a little quicker than your OS's timeline, and for me it's hard to quantify what is 50%, etc. I was walking unassisted within 3 weeks and have resumed all the physical things that I like to do with no issues. I'm still working on increasing the ROM on the op side, but I can easily reach my feet. I've never been super flexible but I'm going to try a basic yoga class next month to see if that helps me along. So life is good - I hope you have similar results when you have your surgery!

 

[Layla]

Getting old is not for sissies
That's the one I always heard, @Cassidy
Just think how much younger you're going to feel with the new hip!
I'm excited for you.
I hope you have a nice weekend

 

[Cassidy]

Thanks @Layla. My parents are coming up to London for the week (they live in Devon, which is 4 hours or so away), and they don't often come up any more (they're early 80s), as I misty try to get down there, so it'll make a change. Luckily the hotel is next to the station, so not too much walking involved. I've be nice googling again - trying to find out what the different joints are made of, and which is best, as my OS hasn't told me what he goes for - another mistake!! I know metal and metal aren't popular, because of fragments in the bloodstream, but it was also talking about black goo around the hip joint from plastic wear and tear. It then went on to talk about amputating the joint! All in all better to listen to you and @jaydub63!! But I won't stop googling. It's probably what got me in trouble with the OS, when I kept asking questions and he told me to worry about getting fit and doing what I was told and let him worry about the op itself. Afraid it's in my nature to be curious (or nosey, as my children tell me).

 

[Cassidy]

Not misty, mostly - this darn predictive text, as my mother is always saying!!