would just like to start by thanking all of you here who have helped, advised and generally stopped me freaking out and making numerous trips to the hospital thinking that somethings seriously wrong, you have all been amazing and kept me sane so thanks again!
all the preparing in the world can never truly prepare you for the physical/psychological aftermath of THR at 34 years of age.
everyone's experiences are different so i can only speak for myself. the 1st week at home was the hardest. i was only in hospital for 48 hours, (including booking in and the actual surgery) and i felt extremely vulnerable, scared and totally unprepared to go home. i was told there's no real aftercare apart from a 6 week check up with the consultant, i have had no physiotherapy apart from 3 simple exercises, i say simple but for the 1st week it was running a marathon up a mountain just to do them!! positive thinking and persistence was the key for me.
once i was home, everything was a massive effort, even something as simple as going to the toilet was like a military procedure. in the first few days home, the swelling, soreness and redness increased massively, my knee felt as though it was twisted and was actually more painful than my hip! the good people of this forum assured me this was normal and gave me so much advice and ways to help work through that.
Week 2 was quite a relief!! the swelling dramatically reduced, my staples came out effortlessly and my new badge of honour was looking very neat and nowhere near as bad as i expected, but due to me still being so nervous i kept a dressing on it for an additional 6 days, just made me feel better lol.
in week 2 i noticed i was getting around much better, but as i have lived with such a high degree for pain for so long i found myself breaching the hip rules so that's when i decided to drop my morphine intake as i could do some serious harm without realising and there's no way i want to get a revision any time soon!!
its now 3 weeks tomorrow since the thr and i can honestly say im in significantly less pain than i was in pre-op, im using less morphine, my walkings getting better every day, im still using 2 crutches but that's because i want to try and reduce my limp and my operated leg still feels slightly longer than the other so if i only use 1 crutch i find myself leaning towards my unoperated side. i still have little set backs which can be upsetting, however there are good days and bad days.
on the bad days i think back to my 1st week home and realise how far i have come in such a short space of time. today i finally plucked up the courage to watch a thr, partly to scare myself into making sure i don't over do it and partly to totally understand exactly whats involved, although im massively squeamish, im really glad i did! its made me feel a whole lot better about being so limited to what i can do and much more positive about the speed of my recovery.
insomnia is kicking in now as is cabin fever! but i have made a pact with a friend that i will not step foot out of the front door until i go to see my consultant. being a mother does bring additional challenges to the table but as the days go on you find ways round these challenges.
as much as i really didn't want to have the surgery and put it off as long as i possibly could, i now have seen the light and am sooooo glad i did it and wish i had done it years ago!! i know i have a very long and sometimes very difficult road ahead, but the thoughts of getting my life back, being able to do things i haven't been able to do for over 11 years and getting rid of this doped up, foggy feeling from the pain meds is really something to look forward to. so as far as im concerned the futures bright and its all down to my new bionic hip!!
United Kingdom
, it's more what I can do. I couldn't tie my laces before surgery walk without much pain or move my operated leg in certain ways. I can do all of these things now and it is just brilliant. At first you think you will never be right again, the surgery can make us feel like we are falling apart but full recovery is just a few months away and it will be here before you know it honestly.
It's good to hear you're making good progress. Keep up the good work but don't forget to be nice to yourself and not overdo.
