Shooting Pain

[copas1]

My 65 year old husband had hip replacement surgery on December 29. He has had his first checkup with his doctor and had his staples out and the doctor said he was progressing nicely. He has been faithful doing his PT here at home and watching all precautions. His only complaint is a shooting pain from his hip down his leg when he puts any pressure on the leg when he is standing. He has the same shooting pain when he sneezes. What could be causing this? We would call his doctor but we know he would want him to come in and we are in the middle of an ice storm and it will be a couple more days before we can get out of the house. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

 

[Jamie]

It still might not hurt to call the doc's office and talk with them. Sometimes the doctor's nurse can return the call and offer some help until a meeting with the doctor is possible. Or....a chat with the therapist could help too. You need to have someone relieve the concern you are feeling.

 

[copas1]

Jamie, thank you for your response. Of course you are right about calling the doctor's office, I'll do that. We have talked to the therapist about his pain and she tells us it's normal but we don't feel it is. I'll let you know what I find out after talking to the dotor's office.

 

[Jamie]

Sounds like you a doing a good job of helping your husband in the healing process. He is lucky to have a caring partner in this journey. I'll be watching to read how things are coming along. I'm a kneesal (knee replacement surgery) and don't have any first hand knowledge of the hip replacement surgery. But the things we all go through with recovery, meds, pain, hard work....all of that seems to be similar for both types of surgery. So I can relate to your concern. With my knee, I ended up talking to my surgeon's nurse and the therapist several times about strange pains and concerns. Fortunately all turned out to be no big deal and that is what I'm hoping you will find out too. But....that said......even if it is no big deal, if it worries YOU, then it IS a big deal and you deserve to have someone put your mind at ease! The recovery process is tough enough without having undue worry!

 

[Josephine]

Hello, copas, and welcome to BoneSmart! I think it sounds like your husband just has an irritable nerve or ligament which is very common. I'd go more for the ligament myself, This could be from an bit of over-enthusiastic PT. Get him to take some Advil or other antiinflammatory and cut back on the exercises a bit.

 

[copas1]

I called my husband's doctor and they took a message but the Doctor never returned the call. Needless to say I'll be calling again first thing in the morning. Too bad I can't get out (it's freezing rain again) or I'd be sitting smack in the middle of his desk. Josephine, you have eased my mind somewhat for the night at least and I've passed on your suggestions to my husband of easing up on the PT and to take an antinflammatory. He agrees.
I'm so glad I found this group. Sometimes it just helps to have someone listen and then when the moderator has the years of experience that Jo does, it helps greatly. Thanks so much.

 

[Judles]

Hi Copas!
Welcome to Bonesmart!~ You've already seen the compassion of some the members and you have definitely found a marvelous forum, Your husband is very fortunate you are taking such a proactive role in his recuperation! Definitely call your OS or nuse to ask ANY questions you would like to have answered......whatever may seem impertinent to them, may make all the difference in your peace of mind! Keep up with his recovery, and post to let us know of his continuing progress! You BOTH will and SHOULD be feeling better before you know it! Good LucK!!!!!

 

[copas1]

I wanted to give an update on my husband since I received so many kind and useful replies. He is doing much better. We took Jo's advice and backed off the PT a bit. The result is he no longer has the shooting pain down his leg and due to that improvement his spriits have also improved and so have mine.
No, we never heard back from his doctor or nurse but the entire city where they are located is shut down due to the ice storms that came through a few days ago. I doubt their office is even open. I am so grateful for this forum because since we are stranded, we were feeling very much alone. We no longer feel that way and with my husband's improvement, things are looking up. Thanks to all of you.

 

[Jamie]

Copas1, that is one of the real blessings from this forum....that we can all be here for each other and provide information and support. How great to hear that your husband is doing better!! Maybe by the time things thaw out, he'll be feeling fine and you won't need to talk with the doctor's office after all. But if you still have concerns, don't hesitate to be that squeaky wheel until you get your questions answered. Usually a surgeon has office staff (assistants and nurses) that can help. My conversations were usually with the surgeon's nurse and that worked quite nicely. Any major concerns were relayed to the OS and the nurse would call me back. Good luck and stay safe in all that ice!!

 

[Josephine]

Way cool, copas! (sorry - pun UNintentional!) Nice to know we helped.

 

[copas1]

Josephine:
I'd like to donate to this forum, how do I do it?
Copas

 

[Jamie]

Bless you, Copas!!! Making a donation is easy to do through PayPal. Just go to any post that Josephine made and down at the bottom of her post are some paragraphs of administrative information. One of them has a link to donate. Click on that and follow the instrucitons. PayPal allows you to make the donation without being a PayPal member using either your bank account or a credit card. It is a very secure payment system. I use it all the time with eBay and can say I have NEVER had any problem with either a payment I've made to someone or one made to me from a buyer. Please let Jo or me know if you need any additional help. Your donation is very much appreciated!!!