THR Second THR complete!

[SurreyGirl]

Hi there “Posterior person” too and haven’t yet looked at the wounded area. My meds were all over the place and took two days to sort out during which time was At a pain level of 8-9. At 10 I fainted! Hopefully sorted now. Please keep blogging your recovery. I had a bad case of log leg but now at day 4 can get into bed with supervision using the bandage pull up method. Hurts a bit afterwards at level 4 but soon stops if I lie flat and stretch.

Also getting olamorph in before physio rather than the other way round and amazing how that helps!

Best of luck with your recovery.

 

[dlp]

Hi other posterior person!

Thanks. I'll try to add things here as I think of them. I've been lucky that pain has been fairly well managed - sorry yours was out of control.
Definitely take peeks at the incision area, just to make sure it doesn't look bad or wrong. It's not pretty in the early days, but good to know what's going on with it

My biggest issue this time around - at least my (somewhat) educated guess tells me - is the iliopsoas. Lifting my leg to get into a car, or to try to raise it when I'm elevating, is like lifting mostly dead weight. It moves more than last week, but going to a little while before it's back to normal. Going to make driving a longer-term goal than I had hoped.

 

[dlp]

Hi @SelfHelp
Posterior approach both times, with the same surgeon and at the same Hospital. I would recommend him, and the program. (Added bonus is while in the hospital, you get your own room - no snoring roommate to deal with )

Also, another added plus for my surgeon is he uses internal stitches and surgical glue instead of staples. Much easier to deal with is my understanding.

 

[Mojo333]

Leg won't listen, hug?
I had one of them. Other one was fine. Matter of fact, it was the right one..
Walked fairly well, but as you say...didn't want to lift up when I told it to.
Glad all else has been manageable..
Early days.
Hope today is a good day, dlp

 

[SelfHelp]

Hi dlp, what a coincidence, I know Dr. Littlejohn, my GP recommended him, he is one of the OS I am considering. Did you see any other OS or get a 2nd opinion? Would appreciate any feedback or advice, since you have already been thru it twice. BTW, I am also considering Dr. John Dearborn at Washington Hospital in Fremont. He is a high-volume surgeon and also does posterior.
http://dearbornassoc.com/
That is what I always read on bonesmart, got to go with the high-volume surgeon.

 

[dlp]

Small world! Dr. Littlejohn is part of the same practice as Dr. Cohen. Cohen was referred by my GP. I liked Dr. Cohen - and know 3 other people who he treated - and the first procedure went as well as could be expected. Cohen doesn't (or didn't, at the time) do replacements, mainly arthroscopic work.
He suggested Littlejohn, and I felt comfortable with him after talking with him, and some of the things I read. He runs the joint program at Good Sam, which also helped me feel more comfortable. Approach and implant didn't really matter in any of my decision.

One thing I like is that between the 2 surgeries, there were small differences in place. There were slight tweaks to medications, there were the changes to my restriction timeline (lots shorter than last time), etc. So it shows he's constantly looking for ways to make the program better.

Don't know anything about Dr. Dearborn, but if you like him, good luck! Looks like he's got a decent practice going. I'm all for high-volume, as long as it's not too much volume that you never get a minute with him.

Dunno if that answered all of your questions, but feel free to ask more if I missed anything!

 

[SurreyGirl]

Interesting to hear about the log leg issue. Despite the pain I did attempt the leg slides but the side move was really hard and much better standing up. With the leg slides he physios wanted me to use a loop to help the movement. I felt I was forcing the leg and also read some of the advice here. So what I did instead was to wriggle my heel whilst trying to pull up. This put the leg into position and then I could slide back down naturally. I also just lay there and imagined the movement. One day it just worked but is still lazy.

Getting into a car for the first time yesterday was slightly tricky but ok. The plastic bag trick on the seat worked a treat. I used the loop to help get the leg in. My hubby seeing this for the first time suggested tying my legs together. Humph.

 

[dlp]

Spouses sometimes think they are comedians.... I know I sometimes do

 

[SurreyGirl]

I love my new recovery place. Not perfect but then where is. Looking forward to blogging that after I give my brain a rest.

 

[Layla]

Hi there,
Happy Three Week Anniversary! (One day late )
I see you offering encouragement and support to others
and am wondering how your recovery is coming along.
Better than the first? Hopefully so. Are you happy with your progress?
Enjoy the evening!
@dlp

 

[dlp]

Heh - @Layla I got alerted to your message as I was typing an update, actually

So it's been a fairly boring recovery. Not much has gone wrong, and I'm also getting bored The early lifting of restrictions has been really nice. I'm still being careful - and AM restricted from internal rotations still - but it's been a very nice change to not have the constant worry about "Oh, did I bend too far" and whatnot. Just listening to my body, my hip, my muscles, and playing by ear - and taking it easy.

Was talking to my wife, and I feel like I'm at least 1 week, possibly a little more, ahead of where I was after the first surgery. Checking my drug chart, I've cut back on the opioids about 2 weeks ahead of where I was last time.
Norco mainly in the morning, and before bed - with Tylenol filling the gaps.
The 2 biggest issues in my last surgery were angry glutes and angry adductors. The adductors required quite a bit of PT to get them to stretch out and calm down in the months after surgery.

This time, the only real issue has been the iliopsoas - so raising my leg to do stairs or other up down motions is a challenge. But that being said, over the past week, it's come along quite a way. I can slowly do stairs the normal way (with a tiny bit of help from bannisters ). Still not good enough to drive, but based on how much improvement I've seen, I think I'll be able to drive sooner than I expected based on initial Log Leg behavior.

I see the Nurse Practitioner in 2 weeks, and will probably also see the surgeon if he's in the office that day, for another follow up. I'm expecting things to be zooming right along by then.

More updates as they happen. And to anyone reading this pre-op, hope you get some relief soon. To those in post-op mode, Happy Healing!

 

[Mojo333]

Great that all is going well.

The boredom is the worst part...but you know this patience paid off.
Last time to do this so thankfully you can get on with life and have great hips to do it with.
No hip pain is worth it!

 

[dlp]

Passed the 4 week mark a few days ago. Feeling really good. Iliopsoas is still a bit of an issue, but lifting my leg getting easier every day. The good thing is that I am finally able to drive! Yay! Going to be great to get back behind the wheel of my convertible.

Have been able to sleep on my non-operated side for a few weeks now with a knee pillow. Dumped that pillow 2 nights ago and no longer feel any discomfort, either with the joint or with any pulling against the incision. Nice!
Even did a short stint on the operated side, which was also nice! I dozed off that way, but apparently didn't stay that way too long. Still, it's progress that I'm happy to see.

Also said goodbye to most assistive devices and aids except for the cane when I'm out in public. Still there for a little stability, as well as a bit of a warning to others when I expect to be in larger crowds. I don't really need it around the house, or on short walks through our neighborhood. Oh, also keeping the stupid sock aid for a few more days, since the aforementioned iliopsoas isn't quite cooperating enough to make it easy to get socks on without a bit of an assist - especially in the morning if I haven't had my caffeine yet

I haven't gotten into some of the nonsense going on with the company my employer outsources short-term disability work to - lots of dropped balls and inaction on the part of my case manager. Things were finally sorted out last week, but not before giving me a bit of stress I didn't need. Maybe stress isn't the right word, but had to spend more brain power on the process than I did for my previous surgery. Did get to vent on some people, and also filed a case with my company's HR department to hopefully help others avoid having to work with the guy assigned to me.

Still icing , and still mostly taking it easy, but each day getting better and better.

Back to work in 2 weeks. Thankfully I like my job!

 

[Mojo333]

Happy one month hipversary.
Great update dlp!
Sorry you had to go through the aggravation of straightening up the disability compensation issues..honestly

You should have sent correspondence to them with your best Sir Ghastly Graves face...that'd straighten them out!

Hope today is a good day!

 

[Layla]

Happy One Month Anniversary! Satisfying milestone and it's the weekend too!
Try to hold back from tearing up the town tonight in celebration, lol.

How fun! A relaxing drive in your convertible in beautiful Northern Cali.

Too bad about the work drama, happy to hear it was resolved. No added stress necessary now.
You're doing great. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
@dlp

 

[SelfHelp]

Congratulations on your One Month Anniversary! Glad to hear things are moving along. I feel so envious, wish I could celebrate. Thankfully I like my job - that is so important, we spend almost a 1/3 of our life at work.

 

[dlp]

Congratulations on your One Month Anniversary! Glad to hear things are moving along. I feel so envious, wish I could celebrate. Thankfully I like my job - that is so important, we spend almost a 1/3 of our life at work.

Thanks! Have you worked out a date yet?

 

[SelfHelp]

I got the recliner, but no date yet. Procrastination!
Are you familiar with this little story? Get off the Nail: https://philipchircop.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/get-off-the-nail/

 

[dlp]

I got the recliner, but no date yet. Procrastination!
Are you familiar with this little story? Get off the Nail: https://philipchircop.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/get-off-the-nail/

Ha! No, but I'm familiar with Les Brown - good anecdote. There's a lot there in just a few words, and it hits close to home. Like my dad , I've tried to live my life according to “If you don’t make things happen then things will happen to you.” It's how I ended up in Silicon Valley. My dad was always working to better himself, got his GED after joining the Navy. Constantly working to better his career with night classes, training programs, etc. I've always tried to do the same. I can certainly procrastinate, though - still haven't put the plates on my car yet

Growing up, I watched a lot of family members fall on the other side. Miserable because of their jobs, unwilling to do anything about it. I had a relative ask my advice on what to do after she found out that her office location was being closed and relocated. She didn't want to move, and was hesitant to begin looking for a new job during the 12-week closing period for 2 reasons - the company promised a severance, and was very aggressive and threatening about taking time away during the 12 weeks, implying that people could be fired if they didn't show up.
I tried convincing her that technically she was being fired in 12 weeks anyway, so if she took a day off for an interview a) they probably wouldn't fire her, because they needed to keep people during the shutdown, and b) they promised a severance, but never guaranteed it. To make a long story short, she stayed during the 12 weeks, had 0 interviews, and was let go with 1 weeks severance. Took her a lot longer than 1 week to get another gig because she didn't get in front of the problem.

Anyway, probably TMI , but thanks for the story!

 

[dlp]

Random update - realized last night before I went to bed that I hadn't taken any pain meds all day. Not even a Tylenol. Nice. And nice to realize that I didn't realize it - healing is moving right along