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THR Second THR only 8 weeks from first

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Hi @Sunny girl ! Welcome!

I am having my surgery next week and the second hip will follow 1.5 weeks later. Am I nervous, yes, but I can't wait to start the healing!

Wow, the hospital sound a bit on the ordinary side! Fancy leaving an ice pack on the floor for ages!

Benefits I see for you having them close together is:
  • Shorter period of 'downtime' - i.e. not prolonged where you have to again take 6 weeks or longer for recovery
  • You know exactly what to expect in hospital - you might 'forget' what it was like if you leave it longer
  • You won't have to live with the arthritic pain until next year!
I simply didn't want to use my leave this year and next for operations - I want to kick 2017 off to an awesome start and I am sick of living with the pain and disability.

In saying all of that, you will know what is the right option for you.

You now know what to expect. You know the right things to do to aid your recovery. You will be OK and good to go

:friends:
 
Yes it is hard to get this info but with research all the time showing different things they couldn't probably print material that may change.

I suffered from blood loss and low blood pressure in my second THR. This I knew because of light headed-ness and I had wheezing and difficulty breathing fully so I actually went to the emergency department once I got home and they said it wasn't a clot and potentially to the blood loss so to follow up with my GP if it didn't improve with rest.

Not sure if I received any blood and if so, how much. They are cutting into your skin so there has to be some bleeding but not profuse i would imagine.

I had to have revision because my implant failed. I had ceramic on ceramic and the cup broke. You can read in more detail on my posts. If you wanted to follow another Aussie @JMACCA is a fellow Aussie due for her first op any day now.

Where abouts do you live? I live in central Vic and had my op in Melbourne.


Candice - 29 year old from Aus
RTHR 1 June 2016 LTHR 13 July 2016 Revision of LTHR 12 October 2016.
 
@SwimGirl thanks for the advice about ice for hip number 2! And the belt is such a good idea, though I mastered the good leg hooked under the bad leg method to transport the bad leg off and onto bed.

I enjoyed my first drive yesterday and a longish walk. I took one crutch loosely held in case of emergency! It was daytime here in Australia ... I was tired at the end, but felt great. My old left hip didn't like it at all, but my wonderful new hip worked beautifully and I had no repercussions today. Ah, progress. Hope you are doing well.
 
@Sunny girl I am doing fairly well. Always want to be farther ahead in recovery than I am but at least I am on the mend. I wondered about your walk and how it went. Last night I went to my daughter's play at a local college
And walked farther than usual using the cane. Seemed to do okay so I am going to go again today. Time to get out and about!
 
I had a 12 week gap but would have jumped at the chance to have the second one at 8 weeks. I just wanted it all over and done with and the second one deteriorated very fast. My biggest concern would be if you decide to wait and then regret it but whatever you choose, the important thing is that you'll have two happy, healthy hips by the end of it all!
 
After I was already scheduled for 8 weeks apart I was told by two different healthcare professionals that 12 weeks would be better. However I am happy now as I said before, I will be getting around for the holidays!
@Zelda did the preferred method. Everyone has a different schedule!
 
Hi @JMACCA! Thanks for your encouragement and good advice. I'll keep you in my thoughts on Friday.

I can see your thought processes re your choice ... 1.5 weeks later, to me that's courageous! But incredibly practical and sensible, and your surgeon clearly has no problem operating with a fresh hip in place. This was my concern after 8 weeks!

Will you have a few days home then go back in to hospital?

Being nervous, yes ... the hard part is to just let go and let it all happen. It's all out of our control, others are now in charge of us! Keep busy and think of the benefits. You will not believe how great your new hips will feel immediately. Then be gentle with your healing process.
 
@dandy_candi Thank you, I will check out your story in your posts, I am curious to know more about what happened to you and heed any precautions you offer. What a setback, I hope you are healing well, brave girl.

Good idea to check at the hospital when you got home. I had up and down blood pressure during surgery too, plus the 2 units of blood. Post op BP during hospital stay was ridiculously low, but strangely I didn't feel dizzy once. No-one seemed too bothered about the low BP because it was 'consistently low' and not up and down (!?)

This forum is wonderful, to be able to seek help, discuss experiences, similarities etc - am so grateful to have found it :)

I'm in sunny QLD, sweltering away at the moment, hope you're a bit cooler.

How is your recovery going? Are you doing okay?
 
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Thank you so much for your input @Zelda. 12 weeks seems to be the traditional (more conservative?) gap from reading elsewhere, and the specialist consults I had previously. It's incredible how deterioration can escalate rapidly isn't it? My original L hip is struggling, my new R hip feels great. I have no idea how I was coping with two like that (well, I wasn't...) My old R was worse, 100% bad, and existing L feels 75% bad. How are you feeling now? Are you back to everything you wanted to be able to do?
 
@SwimGirl, gosh ... it's very confusing to receive conflicting advice like that from health professionals - who should we trust and believe in?! What was their reason for believing the 12 week gap was preferable? Was it based on healing process of the hip, or not putting the body under major surgery so soon?

Lovely to hear you are ready to be out and about, good on you! I had another walk yesterday, I did 2ks (slow) along a coastal footpath (concrete, next to the ocean). With dangling crutch (didn't use, as such). This means such a lot to me! Walking was my thing before my hips gave in - my daily medicine. Being able to do this again is exciting.
 
@Sunny girl The 12 week gap had to do with the healing process of hip. Nonetheless when I asked about 8 weeks I was told based on my individual case that I would be fine. No questions asked. I had already scheduled.

I am happy for you that walking was your thing. I was at the point in the last two years where I could not comfortably walk down my driveway. Therefore, swimming became my thing. For last two years I have been swimming for half an hour a day. My only cardiovascular workout. Was swimming until 2 days before my first
Surgery on September 1st. Nervous about the thought of walking distances. Think I will use cane for a while longer till next PT evaluation. More comfortable being under water!
 
I completely get that walking down the driveway was a major feat. I had to stop all my fitness and outdoor nature/hiking stuff. I really felt like a shell of a person because it was 'what I did and loved' and I was a very active person previously. The year before surgery I was pretty well housebound, every move I had to grit my teeth! Others who don't suffer OA in the hips have no idea of how excruciating it is - people seemed genuinely surprised I was going in to have two hips replaced, as though it was overkill! (that's just my impression)

Those days are behind us!

How amazingly fortunate we are that this surgery exists, has been refined and perfected so much since its first inception, that we have skilled surgeons motivated to help us, trained in the latest methods to improve our life and wellbeing. I feel so lucky.

So good that you found respite in the water @SwimGirl! and that this continues to be exercise and freedom for you - so health-giving. Daily swims - that's wonderful! You stay underwater and build your strength back :-) As long as you're getting a little light walking in, don't push it. You are after all riding on two shiny brand new hips, and all that 'incidental' walking builds up (around the house and garden).

Time for me to step out again today, such a novelty.
 
Sunny girl said:
I completely get that walking down the driveway was a major feat.
Click to expand...
Me too. One of the things I'm enjoying about having my new hips is the way previously insurmountable distances (the end of the drive, from the car park to the shops, the length of the high street) have shrunk and shrunk until I barely notice them.
Hooray for THR!
:happydance:
 
Yes, @Zelda - isn't it wonderful. I am just over 6 weeks post op and already enjoying a sense of freedom (though I need my left doing). So pleased you are enjoying such liberation, what a transformation. Good to hear such positivity.
 
Hi everyone :-) An update on my potential 8 week gap between surgeries which was causing me some indecision, looks like the decision is actually out of my hands ...

I heard from my OS's right-hand nurse/admin lady. Because my original surgery was scheduled as bi-lateral THR surgery, (but I only had one hip replacement due to complications) the OS apparently has to re-apply to Queensland Health to get permission for another surgery (I am a public patient = free surgery). Because as far as Queensland Health is concerned I've already had two done! This can take one week to one month to get into the system from scratch, then all the paperwork has to get sent to me. Then I imagine all the regular appointments/scans/xrays would need to be squeezed in (even though I had them done not long ago, it's a new surgery). And with only 9 days left it may not happen on Nov 24 as proposed by OS (he had time to do it that day!). If it does happen it will all be a very last minute rush!

Shall just have to let go and now see what happens. Next opening for OS would be 'sometime' after Feb, but he is a very busy man, so I could have quite a wait.

What will be will be :-)
 
Sunny Girl
I declined bilateral and had the 2nd RTHR at 7 months. You need to pay attention to your cell blood count (CBC) to decide timing for your 2nd hip. I lost 450 - 500 ml each surgery which dropped red blood cell count and distorted WBC distribution. Also they take 6 blood samples at 6 ml each preop, and 2 samples each day (hospital) at 6 ml each post op. All this blood loss affects your blood health and time is required to restore it. Pay attention to your CBC results to decide timing for the second hip. Patience is a virtue!
 
Thanks for that great input @Clipper. Particularly relevant as I lost blood during surgery and needed transfusions (2 units). That's why bilateral didn't go ahead as scheduled. Maybe a good idea to ask my GP for a blood test to see where I'm at right now with CBC. I haven't heard from the hospital, so it seems unlikely my second surgery will now take place at 8 week mark from first surgery. But I feel a solid recuperation on one new hip will be very beneficial. I am so enjoying some walks again. Today I did 3.4ks - made me feel so happy, and new hip loved it.
 
@jaymo and @Miss Muffet I've discovered that now I am able to walk more smoothly (without limping, rolling onto side of foot, favouring one leg, swinging bad leg out etc) - I am getting blisters I never got before in identical places (arch of foot) in an old pair of Birkenstocks which I always used to wear, and never got blisters in! (if you get my drift) It is like wearing new shoes, my feet are obviously better aligned and rubbing a part of the shoe that never had proper contact before. I find that fascinating!

I completely identify with you @jaymo re the benefit of walking, the feeling of having the 'best walks in years', sensing the natural adjustments that take place and rejoice I am now able to enjoy this part of my life again! I am inspired now to tackle slightly more hilly terrain like you.
 
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@Sunny girl I moved your post above from another member's thread to your own recovery thread. It was a bit off topic there and pertains directly to you so better on your own thread.
Sunny girl said:
I am getting blisters I never got before in identical places (arch of foot) in an old pair of Birkenstocks which I always used to wear,
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We recommend buying new shoes post THR. Old shoes have an old wearing pattern and you are seeing the result - blisters. Besides, who doesn't want an excuse to go shoe shopping!
 
Thank you Jaycey, sorry about that. There was a discussion on gait, so that's why I chipped in - but yes, very much pertains to me! Goodness, who would have thought about that aspect?
 
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