Recovery Timeline

[teakea66]

@anna127 Hi and welcome. Today is my 3 week, new right hip, anniversary. My surgery and recovery have been easier than I could have imagined pre-op. I had the posterior approach so there are precautions but you do get used to them quickly. As far as a timeline goes here's a glimpse into mine - I've been to church and grocery shopping twice ( with my DH) out to breakfast with friends and dinner with family. One more week and I can drive again - yay. In two weeks it's back to work 1/2 days. To sum it up I needed the most help during week one - I tried to milk it longer but DH wasn't buying it. Fear not you will enjoy summertime.


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[anna127]

Thank you @teakea66 - that sounds great. I'm glad to hear you're doing so well after your posterior. That's the procedure I'll be having too, so your experience definitely adds to my optimism

 

[psychteach]

@anna127 Are you a teacher? I am guessing from your summer comment! I have decided to leave right after my students AP exams and start my summer a little early ( 2 weeks + 1 week half days) so that I can do just what you said...HAVE A SUMMER!!!!! I am planning that by beginning of july I can go away for a weekend and start doing some of the things I love again.. ( maybe end of JUNE???) My surgery is May 20th

 

[anna127]

@psychteach I'm actually a student myself - I'm in vet school :D I'm a little later starting than most of my classmates by 6 or 7 years, but I'm halfway through!
I'm wishing you all the best to make a smooth and efficient recovery so you can have enough time off to really have a nice summer before getting back to your AP students.

 

[Jaycey]

Well @anna127 , not sure if you noticed but we have 2 vets currently active on our forum - both hippies! I'll tag them so you can share their stories. @doggievet has just had her surgery and is heading home soon. @Vetgirl is a true fighter and has just had the first phase of a revision.

 

[psychteach]

Good for you!!! School is never a bad place to be no matter if we get a late start or not!!! I am currently 50 and working on a second graduates degree.. I have been in school since I was 5... 45 years..lol. And I love it so much I went back to work in one... Haha. Good luck in vet school!! Awesome career


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[anna127]

Oh cool! Yeah - I find myself wondering about how my own surgery will go as I sit through my anesthesia and surgery lectures. I'm going to have a list of questions for the anesthesiologist and my surgeon when I see them on the big day. Hopefully I'm not too much of a pain!

 

[Vetgirl]

Hi @anna127 welcome to Bonesmart. I'm a vet nurse. I came to this later in life. At 40 when my youngest decided to go back to school I started studying and working in the role. It's a very rewarding job!!!!

Now recovery.....not nearly as bad as I (and you) imagined. I left the hospital on crutches but many others left on a cane. I had to be on crutches for 6 weeks which is unusual, but I could do most things myself....shower, dress ( with help of my grabber or kids for undies and pants but even that got better after a week), get a cuppa, stairs etc...

I was out for coffee the first week home...pretty much just walk to coffee shop from car, drink coffee the. Home. By second week I could stay out longer and walked further around the house....third was having lunch and maybe go with hubby for a few things at shops....just for the exercise.

The worst thing I found when out was the restrictions for sitting etc. I took my own pillow and found I leant my butt on a table if I needed a rest and the chairs were too low. I avoided the toilets when out till about 5-6 weeks. When home I stood in the shower rather than sat.

The worst thing for me was how super tired I was all the time. But I think that was due to something else and not 100% just the surgery.

Ask any questions you have but I hope I've helped a little

Xxx

 

[busymum]

I'm having surgery June 10th! :D

I was wondering if I could get some ideas about the general timeline of when things happen during recovery. I have the whole summer to recover, but I'm trying to get a rough idea of what I'll be physically capable of doing at certain points along the way. I'm having a posterior approach (left leg THR), so I understand there are some more restrictions with that.

What is it like when you first get home? I know I'll have a walker when I get out of the hospital, but are you actually moving around with it at home, or are you pretty much parked in one spot for the first... couple days? Week? In general, when do people start leaving the house and going to the store etc? My parents are staying with me for a couple weeks after the surgery to help me - what kinds of things do you think they'll be needing to do for me? I'm guessing at least doing all my grocery shopping. How long till you can drive? How long till you feel like you can very tentatively go sit at a coffee shop for a coffee - or similar outing?

I know that everyone recovers at different rates so it it hard to pin these milestones down on a timeline, but I'd really like to get a general idea if people could let me know what they think? Thank you!

Thanks for asking this question - exactly the question I had got! Good luck for your operation! X

 

[doggievet]

Hi @anna127. I'll be 3 weeks out tomorrow from my anterio-lateral left THR. I was up and about with a walker same day of surgery and progressed rapidly to crutches. I was driving at a week out and for the past 2 days haven't used anything at all for support (even managed to scoop the kitty litter boxes today!). I've tried to post a lot in my recovery thread (I think you can find it by searching for me or clicking my tag).

Tomorrow I start back up to work...trying to restrict myself to seeing just cats and small dogs. But already scheduled a large golden for booster vaccines (he's a sissy though and sits on mom's lap the whole time...all 100 lbs of him!). My tech is very protective of me, so I'm not too worried!

I have to say, I was just like you with the anesthesia questions and worrying about all sorts of things. Are you having a spinal or general anesthesia? I had the spinal and it was a super quick recovery. I was freaked out about things before hand, so the doc gave me 0.25 mg alprazolam and that worked wonders. They got the IV in, started fluids, and then gave me some midazolam which is golden--I remember the nurse saying something about a bump in the floor as they wheeled me to surgery, but don't remember saying goodbye to my hubby (which I did according to him) and then I woke up in recovery. I asked the doc later if I was a talker during surgery and he said no (or he's got some great footage for x-mas parties!).

Definitely don't fret--it'll be over (and worth it) before you know it. Now I know why I was limping while running up and down the halls of vet school for all those years. If I'd have known then, I would've done it sooner! Though probably would've ended up at a teaching hospital and not sure I could've stomached that! Shands (at UF) is good, but I guessing I would've known some of the students working on me! What vet school are you attending? Assuming you are first or second year if you get the summer off. Definitely enjoy it (and let your parents pamper you as long as possible!).

Always happy to answer any questions--hip or veterinary related, no problem! Keeping my paws crossed for you