Reassurance please!

[Cassidy]

And I've been, not I've be nice - think I'd better get back to my PC and abandon this tablet!!

 

[Layla]

We all do that stupid Googling!
When will we learn? Probably never.
All it does is get us in a twist and f-r-e-a-k us out!!!
Try to take a break. I'd pray about my fears and then try to leave it all behind.
It worked some of the time When I was strong enough not to give in once AGAIN!
You have to laugh about it all or you'll go crazy, lol!
@Cassidy

 

[EmEm]

@Cassidy, I have just read your entire thread and wanted to give you some reassurance. I had surgery last October and I do not feel my hip is any different to the one I was born with apart from it NOT HURTING! I have walked 4 miles this afternoon through woods and along muddy paths and my hips performed beautifully, no difference between natural and man-made. I have a titanium stem, ceramic ball and polycarbonate cup - the surgeon's choice not mine as I couldn't make an informed choice about something I have no knowledge about. It was cemented and I was weight bearing from day 1. I walked unaided into my 5 week check-up and was discharged from the surgeon's care able to work, drive and swim.
The only difficult bits were sleeping on my back and the painkillers I came home from hospital with. The latter was quickly resolved by my GP. The back sleeping improved once I worked out how to get comfy and many surgeons don't require that now.
I'm glad you are going ahead with the surgery and hope you don't have to wait too long.

 

[EmEm]

I forgot to add that I also had to do the 5 pre op days of antibacterial shower gel and .... 5 days with clean bed linen each day and clean towels! All the local hospitals where this group of surgeons operate, both NHS and private have the same protocol. With all that laundry I didn’t have time to get nervous!

 

[Gidget]

Hi, I thought I’d weigh in with my MRSA experience. On a routine nasal swab I was found to be colonised with MRSA..no infection, just colonisation. I was moved to isolation. Fast forward two years and I was still being isolated for every admission and also in cancer care outpatients. I saw my GP and requested a prescription for Bactoban ointment which I applied in my nostrils for a few weeks. After that I requested 3 nasal swabs over a period of a year and was finally cleared of MRSA by Infection Control. If I hadn’t been proactive I would still be considered MRSA positive. In my health region you HAVE to have 3 clear swabs over a one year period to be considered negative. The lack of proactive treatment by the medical staff amazed me, yours sound like they are on the ball.

 

[Cassidy]

You need to get a life @EmEm - as my daughter would say! - to trawl through my entire thread! Seriously, though, thank you for your input regarding the feel of the implant. As you've probably gathered from all the boring stuff I've written, I can still walk some days with very little pain, and on others with a stick/arm and not inconsiderable discomfort, and I can still bend down to reach my toes (although not reach up to cut the nails) - so I'm very nervous about having my malfunctioning joint to be "amputated" to make way for an abnormal feeling one. I'd love to be able to walk more than a few hundred yards without seizing up (roll on Christmas shopping!), but realise that the op is essentially irreversible, so .... But you've made me feel a lot more hopeful about it. I'll have to find your thread and return the favour (mind you, other people's threads are always more interesting to read than one's own). @Gidget, you're being very logical in your thinking about the MRSA situation. Mine is partially coloured by my resentment of past failings. If you can still be reasonable in your situation, then I must try to follow your example and see the good in it. (I see you're going cruising. My husband and I have just come back from a week on a ship, and said how good it is to be moved around without having to walk; I hope you have a really enjoyable trip.)

 

[EmEm]

@Cassidy, if you read my pre-op thread you will see how much I also doubted needing a hip replacement. I could walk reasonably well but if I walked then stopped, moving on would be really painful. The surgeon likened it to a worn out frying pan where things always stick in the same place. My biggest problem was that I couldn't walk up stairs or inclines. At it's worst, the pain made me go upstairs on my hands and feet. Imagine arriving in a hotel (booked by OH) and finding no elevator!
Now I think of my new hip as being my secret. Apart from friends and family, anyone watching me walk would have no idea.

 

[Cassidy]

Well then, @EmEm, just read your thread and, as you say, you had your doubts pre-op, the same as me. I also noticed (rather late, I know!) that you're from the UK too - I'm so used to seeing US, NZ, Canada, etc., etc., that I'm always surprised when somebody replies at UK times! I'm about a year older than you and, like you, still working and not keen to retire yet, so I'm hoping that with a phased return to work, I'll be back up on my feet by the autumn. (Unlike you I don't work from home, so may find it a bit trickier I suppose.) I, too, often go upstairs on my hands and feet - can't do that at work, though, so I lever myself up with the bannisters. My parents are coming to London this week, as I mentioned, and are going on a Thames river cruise. I'd like to join them, but it will involve a fair bit of walking and I may have to decline, or hold them up, which is rather ridiculous when they're in their 80's and I'm twenty years younger. So, hip replacement inevitable I think. Watch this space!

 

[anny]

or hold them up, which is rather ridiculous when they're in their 80's and I'm twenty years younger.

maybe we're the weaker generation Cassidy....had to turn back on a walk with my 92yr old dad.....feel about twice as old as him!!

 

[Layla]

I'll bet we all had our doubts at one time or another. Most of us living in denial.
I guess I should speak for myself. I tried supplements, chiropractic, physical therapy
all in an effort to avoid surgery. All I did was prolong the agony and grow frustrated.
But you're beyond that now Cassidy. Can't wait till you're on the flip side. I think you'll be
a great support for all the pre-ops who are struggling as you did. Actually as a great majority if us did.
Hope you have a great week!
@Cassidy

 

[Cassidy]

I think part of my frustration, @anny, is that I used to be a bit of an Amazonian - it was always me that broke the washer on the taps by turning them off too tightly (and I could do the best Chinese burns and hand squeezes at school - maybe serves me right?). I also used to walk and cycle for miles, so I always imagined that in retirement I'd be able to pick it back up again and get a bit fitter. Too much sitting behind a desk and bringing up children to have paid much attention to fitness levels. Hopefully this op will facilitate my plans! At the moment I do feel older than my parents - they stride along man/womanfully. As long as the op is successful, @Layla, I'll certainly keep on about it to others awaiting it. I've been in sales a lot, and as long as I believe in the product I can be quite boring about it!! I've sold children's clothes, chocolates, wardrobes and tea - chocolate took the least persuading, I must say! It's quite muggy here today. I got caught in the most horrendous downpour last night, coming back on the bus with my husband from a night down at the local folk club. I couldn't exactly run, so I ended up like a drowned rat! At least it wasn't cold, but I wasn't exactly a sight for sore eyes. I think the young people at the bus stop were quite taken aback by the old lady (to the bright young things!) with her dishevelled hair, etc. Especially as I was clutching a bottle of (unopened) wine that I'd won in the raffle. Maybe next time I'll be able to run!! Have a great week yourselves

 

[luvsibes]

Josephine, thanks for the photos of the young ballerina! My first ortho doc said I'd never do yoga again. My current surgeon works on the LA sports teams players and says I will certainly be able to get on the floor again and move fine, but it's hard to imagine. The photos were inspiring.

 

[Cassidy]

Hello @luvsibes - I think your comment to Josephine ended up in my thread by mistake. Maybe you'll want to resend it to her?

 

[luvsibes]

Thanks Cassidy. I was looking at too many threads at one time.

 

[Cassidy]

Just looked at your thread, @luvsibes, and can see why your mind wasn't quite straight! Hope things have improved for you now.

 

[luvsibes]

Cassidy, I can relate to that feeling older than others when you've been very active. Many of my adaptive chair yoga students and pool therapy friends are much older and have been through this and more and are sooo inspiring. I worked in aging and disability for 40 years as a social worker and know the resilience and what we can do in aging so I'm ready to tackle it too. One of my yoga students is 93 and legally blind and at 90 did her hip. She told me she went on a cruise shortly after and walked the ship and did her rehab there! Wow!

We can do this!

 

[Layla]

Wow is right! @luvsibes
93 yr old yoga student who experienced THR at 90. Legally blind to boot.
I Am Woman Hear Me Roar!
My mom just had a second THR at 81 and is doing great but this woman has her beat.
Yes....You two can do this!
@Cassidy

 

[Cassidy]

Thanks @Layla. My hip's really been playing up for the last three days or so - every twenty steps or so I get an excruciating nerve pain down the outside of my leg to my knee and down to my foot - I imagine it's a nerve pinching. That then turns into a throb. I'm realising more than ever that the op is definitely due. I'm using a stick at the moment, just to take a bit of weight off the offending leg and to give me support when it threatens to buckle a bit. It still makes me feel really old, but I'm trying to look glamorous enough to offset it (difficult at my age, but I try!). If I had a leg in plaster I wouldn't feel the same, but there's something about being in my 60's and having a walking stick .....!!

 

[Mojo333]

I feel so much younger now I'm not limping around.
Can't wait until we add your surgery date to your signature @Cassidy.
You'll be ditching the stick eventually.

 

[Cassidy]

You are so much younger @Mojo333!!