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Some questions

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Hi Dingbat, in answer to your question about crutches - they will send you home with whatever walking aides you need. Some go home on a walker and then transition to crutches. I was discharged on crutches.

I know this all seems very daunting at the moment. But honestly it was much simplier than I thought it would be. Restrictions were not hard to follow and I was doing the stairs from day 1.
 
I have now spoken to my surgeons secretary and also BUPA and from what she has said I wont need any after care apart from a follow up ckeck up and the guy at BUPA said I am basically covered for everything as an in patient, ie operation and any consultations with physios and the physio itself whilst there etc, but anything that I take away from the hospital, drugs and equipment I have to pay for myself. I have followed dingbats example and have gone down the ebay route, it is extremely cheap and I'm sure my little boy will have hours of fun playing with my grabber once I don't need it !
Going to see my GP this morning so I will ask her what she thinks regarding the after care and see how it compares to the NHS . Will let you know the outcome ...
 
Got another phone call from my surgeons secretary after she had spoken to him and he said they will provide me with dressings to change myself and it would not be anything complicated, just a bit of protection against my clothes.
Also my GP said that everything after should be fine but if there is a problem then my surgeon would call in a district nurse to see me and she would be NHS. I am quite relieved now I have all my questions answered, although on the negative, the guy from BUPA said that I would be charged for the use of crutches, that sounds a bit much ! ...but will let you kow if this is correct when i receive my bill from them
 
I'm glad some of the questions have been answered and things look like they are lining up better for you. Getting through all the red tape seems to be the hard part about having surgery!

Dorothy
 
I did think that was how it worked but didn't like to say as I wasn't 100% sure. As for the crutches, before you accept from him, do check out Red Cross and St John's Ambulance as they hire out things like that. Actually, I bought my own as my arms were too fat for those awful forearm grips on the NHS ones!

Evolution Elbow Crutches They weren't that expensive at £16 per pair (exc VAT which you will be eligible for)

[Bonesmart.org] Some questions
 
brit1chick said:
Got another phone call from my surgeons secretary after she had spoken to him and he said they will provide me with dressings to change myself and it would not be anything complicated, just a bit of protection against my clothes.
Also my GP said that everything after should be fine but if there is a problem then my surgeon would call in a district nurse to see me and she would be NHS. I am quite relieved now I have all my questions answered, although on the negative, the guy from BUPA said that I would be charged for the use of crutches, that sounds a bit much ! ...but will let you kow if this is correct when i receive my bill from them
Click to expand...

Charged for the crustches yer having a laugh, they are all heart maybe better goin for Jo's option brit chick.

Billy
 
thanks for that Jo, I have my pre op meeting 19 jan where they will tell me what equipment I will need etc, but i will certainly bear in mind your advice.
Another question has occured to me, I am thinking post op...what kind of shoes are best to get, I normally just wear trainers in the day, but I realise they will be hard to get on, even without the laces issue, ie manouvering leg around to get foot in. Any advice is gratefully received :thumb:
 
Hi brit1chick, get yourself some slipon shoes and a long shoe horn. That way you don't need help with putting on your shoes.

Others have tried elastic shoelaces (and the long shoe horn) as well but they never worked for me.
 
I went to the trouble of getting some granny slippers but my feet were so swollen, I had to cut them down the side to get them on! I hated them as I normally use mule type slippers and sandals (born of a lifetime in theatre where we always wore Dr Scholl type wooden sandals). But I thought, better be a good girl and buy something they won't get shirty about ....... when I was in hospital, almost all the other patients, male and female, were wearing everything from Dr Scholl type sandals to flipflops! All the time! :DOH:
 
Just to echo what Jo and Jacey has said a shoe horn is a life saver when putting shoes of slppers on.
And there is also a gadget to help you put socks which is also very helpfull

Billy
 
Hi brit1chick, if it's any help I bought the sock putter-onner, the long shoe horn and a couple of grabbers from Amazon. Of all those, the sock putter-onner (a weird-looking contraption) is the most useful - it even works for tights. After 6 weeks I'm nowhere near being able to manage without it. The grabbers are useful to begin with but if you learn the 'golfer's reach' (somewhere on this website) then you don't really even need those. The shoe horn I didn't use after the first couple of days as I wear mostly slip-on shoes - the Clarks UN-structured range are very good if you're looking to buy some. When I was in hospital I noticed that most of the nurses were wearing them too!

HTH and good luck!
 
Thanks Britchick + others

Not fussed if get charged for crutches as can always re-sell them with everything else when recovered ......

Re shoes I have trainers with velcro fastenings again I got them on Ebay or via the Chums website they also do smart shoes (not sure what they have for the girls)
Re the sock thing haven't used mine yet , still have the 5min fight in the mornings to get them on

I spoke to someone at a dinner party who happens to be a NHS district nursing matron she says GP can requests visits even if a BUPA operation, I will probably have to have some as on warfarin and will need daily blood tests following op until levels sorted.

From what I have heard the recovery is not as difficult as it seems and can't be any worse than the pain and immobility I have now.

I should know next week when I can have first hip done so looking like Feb or early March, would rather not have bad weather to contend with
 
Thanks welshjane for your reply, I have got one of the sock putteroners, not tried it yet but great to hear that it works for tights too, I like my wooly tights in the winter ! I've got a grabber too and I think I will be fine with the golfers reach as I have been doing the ballet dancers reach for a while now ( thats my version of it ) lol, when putting things in dish washer etc ...
Just wondering, is there anything that can help you put clothes on, I am thinking I will be wearing sweat pants / jogging bottoms for a while after surgery and I don't want any help in getting dressed, I want to do as much for myself as possible
 
The HH (helping hand grabber), that's the 32inch yellow one is great for pulling up / taking off tracksuit/jogging bottoms I have used one to pull up clothing to knee level ( works best with joggers not elasticated at bottom) then grabbed it from there also used to flip over velcro fastenings on trainers / shoes.

I think the golfers reach was mentioned as useful for getting into a shower, mine is in a bath so will have to climb into it , , not a big problem as have a bath lift but would be intersted to know how one climbs into a bath tub , I would need to lift knee over bath even with a step.
 
They will teach you how to dress using the grabber brit1chick. But in case you want a preview here's a broken link removed: https://oasis.vch.ca/education_media.htm to a site I used pre-op. Scroll down to the section on Managing Everyday Activities. There are videos on everything from dressing to getting out of the car.
 
No problem. I was very worried about restrictions and how I would be able to do things post-op. Several of my hippied friends here recommended that link and I watched the vids over and over. By the time I had my op I was an expert!

You will be fine!
 
Great Video's especially the bath one just been seeing if I can do the getting into/out of the bath using my existing (Ebay) secondhand bath lift , was a bit awkward but seems to work Ok , if anyone needs the bath bench a company doing one on ebay for £49 identical to the one in the video .
Was wondering when one leaves hospital do they give you a booster cushion for a car journey home or do you have to make sure your lift has one or take one to hospital with you.....

Still pondering the respite care home and offer of an ambo but the more I speak to people the more they are saying not to bother as you need to be as mobile as you can in home environment...decisions decisions
 
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