Bilateral THR Replacement accomplished!

[gershom]

gershom congratulations on walking 2 miles yesterday. How are you feeling today?

I felt a bit stiff the next day. My physical therapist decided to switch from icing the surgical sites to applying heat (10min). It seems that inflammation has reduced sufficiently, and the stiffness is relaxed with heat. I have also found that a warm shower first thing in the morning helps me to get the hips and legs going.

Thursday I did quite a bit of walking again, out of necessity. I drove to a convention center to meet my wife for dinner, and it turned out that the most convenient parking was about 3/4 mile from the hotel. That, after being caught in horrendous Washington DC area traffic, and the car I was driving has a standard transmission. Needless to say, the hips and legs got quite a workout!

My single challenge these days is sufficient sleep. I was told by my doctor and the physical therapist that the cycle of hourly discomfort that wakes me up at night and requires a walk around the house is normal. But that leaves me very tired during the day, and so I cat-nap now and again. I've surrendered to it as a necessary part of recovery. "You had two leg bones severed and foreign objects implanted in your body. It will take your system a while to figure out what to do with that," say the surgical team and physical therapist. Perhaps by eight to twelve weeks sleep will become more contiguous. I am hoping so.

Level II exercises are underway, including some using a thera band. Of course, the cat always manages to lay on me as I'm trying to move, and that adds some resistance.

Here are a couple of my latest pics (...the xray is really me, taken at 4 weeks from surgery):

I kind of like how the prostheses appear as aliens bowing to one another.

 

[sansabosa]

"I kind of like how the prostheses appear as aliens bowing to one another."

gershom
İ like your sense of humor!

 

[Kim22]

gershom You are making great progress with all the walking you have been doing and using Thera bands for exercise -amazing so glad you kitty is on hand to encourage you! Wow Selin is spot on your implants do look like 2 aliens bowing to each other.

 

[Katlover13]

gershom I also have feline help when exercising. My tuxedo likes to sit on my chest while I am doing the bridging. Great moral support anyway!
I have been reading your thread all along and enjoying your observations very much. You have made such great progress for having both done at once and your attitude is so refreshing!

 

[Poppet]

Great progress... great photo, great set of bionic hips

 

[gershom]

This week in PT: More Thera band exercises (hip adductors, abductors), and the "big ball." I'm rolling the ball forward and back with the back of one leg (at a time) while on my back, trying to keep the ball moving in a straight line. It's pretty funny to watch, as I have very little stability there as yet. I suppose that the effort to keep it rolling straight is what the exercises is all about. It's also difficult with the cats jumping on the ball, but I digress. I'm also bridging with the ball, and doing left-to-right motion without lifting the pelvis. All of these exercises feel really good, regardless of how much effort it takes. I guess those muscles and tendons like the workout!

So let's see: The first week following surgery, there was a 10-minute exercise routine, 3x per day. In week 5 it extended to about 30 minutes each time, with the new exercises. Now I have standing squats, one-leg balances, Thera band, and ball exercises, in addition. It takes about 45-50 minutes to do each set, 3 times per day. If we continue at this rate, I calculate that I'll be doing about four hours of exercises 3x per day in a few months. So I guess I will wake up, exercise, sleep, wake up, exercise, sleep ....

I'm also back to working out on my Nordic Track, getting the heart rate up for 30-45 minutes, and breaking a sweat. I'm walking about a mile each day, and playing my tuba. I can't wait until I can march in parades again!

 

[sansabosa]

gershom
Hi there. Can you post a short video of the ball exercise? I could not figure it out in my mind=

 

[gershom]

sansabosa - The ball exercises are done with the large 75cm body ball. These are the ones that I am doing per my physical therapist's instruction:

1) Lying on the back, place both heels on the top center of the ball and roll it forward and backward with the heels and legs.
2) Same as one, but with only one leg - while the other is raised and straight (to help you align the forward and backward movement). Switch legs after an appropriate number of reps (per physical therapist's direction)
3) Place both calves on top of the ball and roll the ball side-to-side, keeping the legs straight. This is to increase lateral flexibility of the hip joint.
4) Sitting on the ball with back straight, bounce up and down gently.
5) Sitting on the ball with back straight, march (raise feet vertically up and down, alternately)
6) Sitting on the ball with back straight, tighten quad and so that one leg is straight out; alternate with other leg.

I'll post a video if I can pull it off.

 

[gershom]

Greetings all -

I've been offline for several weeks as my physical therapist adds more and more exercises to my daily routine. It seems that the lumbar issues I have (L4, L5, S1) present challenges to getting the back, pelvis and hips to work in harmony. The process of regaining strength and flexibility is a long, slow one. My physical therapist has been very conservative about when and how much to add, ensuring that I master a set of exercises without pain before adding challenges. The early rapid post-op recovery has been replaced with a deliberately slow but steady program. I spend hours each day on the exercises, with noticeable improvement, albeit at a snail's pace. At this point I am doing the basic post-op exercises cited earlier, plus a number of exercises with the large 75cm ball, Terra bands, ankle weights, a 4-inch high platform (step-aerobics kind of things), and a Bosu. Balance is pretty shaky, but improving. I am also walking long distances (up to 4 miles).

At 12 weeks from surgery, my left hip feels quite normal in the sense that I don't notice the implant at all. On the other hand, I still often feel like I have a ball embedded in my right side near the hip. My physical therapist tells me that my brain has not come to terms with the implant as a part of my body, hence I feel it. To be sure, there is no leg or hip pain whatsoever. But if I lie still or sit for more than 20 minutes, the hips get stiff. Most problematic is the nighttime, when I rarely get more than 2 hours of sleep contiguously. The hips and legs get restless and tight when sedentary, and that wakes me up. So I get up, walk around, do a few of the PT exercises, and go back to sleep. Some nights are better than others. This will all fade in time, I am assured.

Finally, I returned to my travel routine today and flew from Washington, DC to Panama City, FL via Atlanta. The trip was mostly uneventful, aside from all of the excitement at TSA checkpoint (security). As expected, I set off alarms and experienced a wanding, pat-down, and even allowed them to peek at my scars. For that I was awarded the TSA stamp of approval, shown here (the left-hip posterior scar):

How many people can say honestly that they mooned a TSA agent?!

 

[gershom]

Hello all! I had my 6-month checkup a couple of weeks ago and all is well. I am still doing PT, trying to get the pelvis, hips and sacrum to move in harmony. Other than some residual back issues (that existed prior to the hip issues), I'm going GREAT: Pain-free, and on the move. I jogged around a lake with my grandson (much to the dismay of my wife and son); they were more affected than I was. Life is great. I'm thinking of having more things replaced.

 

[Annette]

Mazel Tov !

 

[bottomshollow]

REPORT, gershom!!!! Now you can just

go out and

Take care, keep us posted, wecare.

 

[bsilvers]

gershom, I enjoyed reading your recovery posts. I too have had BTHR's and my recovery is going great. I feel I can do a lot more daily as far as PT, etc but I am strictly not doing more than instructed as the body does need time to heal. It sounds like you are going to go back to running. My hopes are to be able to go back to my brazilian jiu-jitsu passion after 4-6 months of recovery. Do you feel you might have overdid anything on the PT. I was off my walker I think 9 days post-op and I'm scared of doing too much PT or pushing the recovery and causing setbacks as I want to give my body time to heal.

 

[Runaround Sue]

gershom Now that's what I call an amazing recovery! You are Superman!

 

[gershom]

I graduated from PT!! (BTHR Jan 30, 2013). I have returned to regular workouts, lost 25 pounds, can sustain sprints on a recumbent bicycle with heart rate >175 bpm, my blood pressure has stabilized at the most healthy level ever in my life - and I get the most amazing compliments regarding my "badges" (...from those few who have seen them). Here's to replacement parts!!

 

[Jaycey]

Another Bone Smartie success story! Well done gershom

 

[calikat]

Hello! I really enjoyed reading your thread!

 

[sansabosa]

Nice to hear gershom
How did you loose 25 pounds?

 

[gershom]

Oh my! I missed the last post, over a year ago! I guess we move on and enjoy life!
The weight loss was a function of doing just that: Taking advantage of the gift that was BTHR and getting down to living. It will be two years in January since the surgery. To be sure, I have followed advice and not returned to running of any sort. But things without the pounding associated with running - Nordic Track, recumbent bike, elliptical - are all part of my regular routine. Diet is a huge part of it as well. I've pretty much eliminated anything processed and do not take in simple carbs, only complex ones (so no refined sugar). I'm a vegetarian (for over 35 years), so my diet consists of much fresh fruit, raw or lightly cooked vegetables, lots of delicious homemade soups, and many Asian dishes. The transition away from processed foods showed immediate weight loss...slow, but sure. I feel wonderful. So...nothing remarkable, really. Just good diet and regular exercise, together with some meditation and moment of gratitude for this gift of BTHR.