THR Spongebob's Recovery Journey

[Spongebob]

Well I had perthes disease as a child and basically over time it got worse to the point where I could not hardly walk so enough was enough

I'm sorry that you had to deal with this condition but I'm happy that you were able to get that bad hip replaced so that you can get better.

Also the first week was horrible not being able get into bed and walk but I got through the first week and now slowly I seem to be getting somewhere

This is true for almost all new hippies...
I think if you take the time to google a hip replacement surgery (I prefer an animated version ) you may better understand what was necessary in order to get a new hip and understand you need to re-set your expectations for how long it takes to recover.
When I was recovering....I would tell myself sometimes...If your hip had been broken in a car accident and repaired, instead of an elective surgery, would you baby it more?

also I was just wondering why the process to get me to the point where I can return to my active life that I had before the surgery takes so long?

You said you had reached the point where you could barely walk, so I think if you can remember how bad it had gotten and realize most likely all of what you are going through is Temporary...it will keep you from being so anxious.

I think you asking the same questions, hoping to get a different answer...but we care how you are doing and unfortunately more healing time is what will equal progress.

So basically all I can say is before the surgery i was living on tramadol or co codomal 500/30mg whereas now I'm living on none so there to me is the difference. I think my issue is because I'm a active person before hand so just want to get back to it all I am thinking in my head is I've had this operation and I'm still in pain and also with knee pain so I'm worse off then I tell myself how many pain killers am I on NONE so better off like you say all the symptoms I have now is TEMPORARY!! just got to give it time and all my symptoms I have now will fade off

 

[Mojo333]

Ice is a great anti-inflammatory and pain reducer so try using it alot when you are resting.

Also, perhaps you can take acetaminophen... (Paracetamol) which did nothing for my pre-op, but worked very well at the maximum dose after surgery)...this may help with the discomfort.

Post-op Blues and Cabin Fever are very common at this stage, so maybe you can find some easy does it times with friends for distraction... as Recovery is Boooring

Yes, all temporary! Keep the faith, friend.

 

[Spongebob]

Also you say MOST LIKELY? all of my symptoms are temporary makes me anxious

 

[Spongebob]

Ice is a great anti-inflammatory and pain reducer so try using it alot when you are resting.

Also, perhaps you can take acetaminophen... (Paracetamol) which did nothing for my pre-op, but worked very well at the maximum dose after surgery)...this may help with the discomfort.

Post-op Blues and Cabin Fever are very common at this stage, so maybe you can find some easy does it times with friends for distraction... as Recovery is Boooring

Yes, all temporary! Keep the faith, friend.

Can I ask a question are you a active person and if so how long did it take to be as I say loosely pain free as in to be able to do active things without restrictions

 

[Mojo333]

Also you say MOST LIKELY? all of my symptoms are temporary makes me anxious

Well, I'm not a medical professional, or your surgeon so I don't know what the OS had to do to or how badly the disease affected the hip. Often, with Perthes (from what I read ) the surgeon might have to work around multiple different deformities affecting the femoral head and hip socket.

Can I ask a question are you a active person and if so how long did it take to be as I say loosely pain free as in to be able to do active things without restrictions

Yes. I have always been very active and still am.
I CAN run, but prefer to walk as I don't like the pounding and want these new hips to last forever. I walk an average of 12,000 steps per day just at my job...and do it pain-free.
I lift heavy boxes often, and I try to do it safely because, again, I want to be kind to my hips.
I like swimming, fishing, riding ATV's, hiking and sleeping finally without pain.
I choose not to be a powerlifter, or runner because I want my life to be happy and active without dealing with possible hip revision.
Many do without issues... I CHOOSE not to.

I couldn't tie my shoes easily until probably month 5, and I had travelling niggles for the first year/year and a half.
All the struggles were well worth it.

 

[Spongebob]

That's amazing to read all that thanks alot so it took you 1 year to be pain free at work etc as you say lifting heavy boxes and walking alot ?

 

[Mojo333]

I went back to work and tried not to overdo it... came home and iced and rested.
Little by little ... I had less discomfort but I never had the kind of pain that I had pre-op.

Try not to worry that this is the best it will be for I do think it is temporary, but you should address concerns you have when you follow up with your surgeon.
Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

 

[Spongebob]

I went back to work and tried not to overdo it... came home and iced and rested.
Little by little ... I had less discomfort but I never had the kind of pain that I had pre-op.

Try not to worry that this is the best it will be for I do think it is temporary, but you should address concerns you have when you follow up with your surgeon.
Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

What do you mean this is the best it will be for?

 

[Spongebob]

I went back to work and tried not to overdo it... came home and iced and rested.
Little by little ... I had less discomfort but I never had the kind of pain that I had pre-op.

Try not to worry that this is the best it will be for I do think it is temporary, but you should address concerns you have when you follow up with your surgeon.
Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

Also how long until you could do heavy boxes and active life with no pain?

 

[myglasshalffull]

Sponge,
As I read, I can "feel" your anxiety. Not sure what your surgeon told you prior to your hip replacement but it seems your expectations were quite different than what you are going through presently.
Like I mentioned in my post yesterday, I was very active before my fall, and I had no clue about hip replacement, no time to plan a recovery or what a recovery even looked like. I had a PT at the hospital tell me in 30 days I'd be doing everything I was doing before I fell. So my recovery expectations were set very high. And when days ticked by and I'm still using a walker 6 weeks later I needed some real answers!
I found this site and asked my questions and I took the time to learn. Then I had to learn the most difficult lesson...patience.
Unfortunately that's part of the recovery. We all wish we could get out of bed and just get back at it, but for most of us it's a lengthy recovery. Doesn't mean you won't realize improvements along the way, just means it might take a little longer than you originally planned.
Stay positive, you will get there.

 

[Mojo333]

What do you mean this is the best it will be for?

I mean that after a hip operation... how you feel at 2 weeks is not how you feel at 2 months and how you feel now is not how you will feel 2 months from now and so on...
It got easier with time and listening to one's body and how it reacts to activity.

Timelines differ for different folks.

.

 

[Spongebob]

How far down the line was you pain free doing heavy boxes and your active life pain free please

 

[Mojo333]

Memory gets a little foggy as it has been almost 6 years.
I had very little discomfort at 6-7 months, unless I did too much.
At 1 year, mostly pain-free, but could still cause discomfort as my muscles were still adjusting...so I knew when to dial it back.
By a year and a half, I was good to go.

 

[Spongebob]

Memory gets a little foggy as it has been almost 6 years.
I had very little discomfort at 6-7 months, unless I did too much.
At 1 year, mostly pain-free, but could still cause discomfort as my muscles were still adjusting...so I knew when to dial it back.
By a year and a half, I was good to go.

Quite a long process then really for me to return to gym and my active life as I'm only 8 weeks in need to stay positive and I'm starting swimming on the 1st April so hopefully that's a turning point for me

 

[Eman85]

I don't think you understand what was done to you during this operation and what your body is having to recover from. You say you were active, did you ever dislocate a joint before? After a dislocation they don't expect you to start building strength in the traumatized muscles right away. To do a THR they dislocate your hip joint, and not just a little, they rotate your femur about 90* so they can work on it. Think how far they stretch the muscles and tendons to do that. If you went to the gym you should understand muscle structure and how easy it is to strain or pull a muscle. You seem to think a few months is a long time.
If you want to regain your active lifestyle heal your muscles using rest and nutrition and find some patience.

 

[Jamie]

Knowing your history helps understand what you’re going through. Thank you for providing that critical key. I’m sorry you had to deal with Perthes Disease as you grew up. It sounds like you did an excellent job of keeping it at bay with a lot of good exercise and activity.

As you probably know, Perthes Disease causes a reduced blood flow to the head of the femur (the “ball” in your hip joint). Lack of blood weakens the bone, causes pain, changes the shape of the head, and eventually results in its collapse and the need for a hip replacement. It’s usually a very slow process. As the bone deteriorates, your soft tissues (muscles, tendons, and ligaments) all try their best to compensate for the changes in the bone to make your hip function. Your exercising through the years probably helped you strengthen your muscles to the point where it delayed the point where you would need surgery.

Now you’ve had surgery and a couple of things have happened all at once. Not only did you have the normal trauma of hip replacement surgery, but all those readjusted soft tissues have been forced back into “normal” alignment. They will readjust, but it takes a lot of time….it’s a slow process and it’s important that you take this transition to a “normal” hip slowly. Trying to push yourself too quickly will result in a lot of pain and it could slow your recovery. You must allow your body time to readjust and normalize itself.

The best news for you is that you now have a normal hip….something you never had with Perthes Disease. The bad and deteriorating parts are gone and replaced by a functioning hip joint implant. Once you’ve healed, your hip should work beautifully…something you may never have known. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this could take quite a while. Mojo333 had it right when she told you it took 2 years for her hips to comfortably allow her to resume her very active life. You need to get your head wrapped around the fact that it could be this long for you to realize the same goal. This may seem unreal, but consider how long it has taken for your body to get to the point where surgery was required. It came about slowly, over time. Recovery will be the same….slowly over time. You cannot do anything to hurry things up. However, pushing too hard and trying to do things when it results in pain can cause you delays in your recovery.

As Mojo suggested, try and focus on the positive changes that have and will continue to take place. You are no longer taking a lot of pain medications. This is HUGE and a thing to be celebrated. The surgery removed your diseased hip and replaced it with a strong new joint. You have improved in your ability to move and do things since your surgery 2 months ago. There may be other things you can list that are ”positives.”

You plan to start going in the pool again in April. This is a step forward. But please be aware that the water will give you extra support as you move and it’s easy to overdo things. Start your time there slowly with some water walking for no longer than 20 minutes your first day. See how that goes for 48 hours. If you don’t experience a lot of pain, then go again abnd try the 20 minutes of water walking with 10 minutes of slow swimming (no frog kicks for now). Then see how that goes for the next 48 hours. Continue like this for a couple of weeks with at least one day in between your swim sessions. You can add time and different water activities if they don’t give you pain the next day. But just do it gradually. You are running a marathon here….it’s not a sprint and there is no hurry for you to get to the finish line.

If you have a doctor you were seeing for your Perthes Disease prior to surgery, I suggest you make an appointment with him/her to discuss where you are with your recovery. This person may be able to better answer your questions and convince you that with your new hip, you have a lot of life ahead of you.

 

[Spongebob]

I don't think you understand what was done to you during this operation and what your body is having to recover from. You say you were active, did you ever dislocate a joint before? After a dislocation they don't expect you to start building strength in the traumatized muscles right away. To do a THR they dislocate your hip joint, and not just a little, they rotate your femur about 90* so they can work on it. Think how far they stretch the muscles and tendons to do that. If you went to the gym you should understand muscle structure and how easy it is to strain or pull a muscle. You seem to think a few months is a long time.
If you want to regain your active lifestyle heal your muscles using rest and nutrition and find some patience.

I eat right anyway well 90% healthy and I'm slowly understanding what actually happend to me but just frustrating but like I said before I feel 100% better than pre op so all good on that in terms of the operation solving the reason why I was in so much pain before the operation

Knowing your history helps understand what you’re going through. Thank you for providing that critical key. I’m sorry you had to deal with Perthes Disease as you grew up. It sounds like you did an excellent job of keeping it at bay with a lot of good exercise and activity.

As you probably know, Perthes Disease causes a reduced blood flow to the head of the femur (the “ball” in your hip joint). Lack of blood weakens the bone, causes pain, changes the shape of the head, and eventually results in its collapse and the need for a hip replacement. It’s usually a very slow process. As the bone deteriorates, your soft tissues (muscles, tendons, and ligaments) all try their best to compensate for the changes in the bone to make your hip function. Your exercising through the years probably helped you strengthen your muscles to the point where it delayed the point where you would need surgery.

Now you’ve had surgery and a couple of things have happened all at once. Not only did you have the normal trauma of hip replacement surgery, but all those readjusted soft tissues have been forced back into “normal” alignment. They will readjust, but it takes a lot of time….it’s a slow process and it’s important that you take this transition to a “normal” hip slowly. Trying to push yourself too quickly will result in a lot of pain and it could slow your recovery. You must allow your body time to readjust and normalize itself.

The best news for you is that you now have a normal hip….something you never had with Perthes Disease. The bad and deteriorating parts are gone and replaced by a functioning hip joint implant. Once you’ve healed, your hip should work beautifully…something you may never have known. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this could take quite a while. Mojo333 had it right when she told you it took 2 years for her hips to comfortably allow her to resume her very active life. You need to get your head wrapped around the fact that it could be this long for you to realize the same goal. This may seem unreal, but consider how long it has taken for your body to get to the point where surgery was required. It came about slowly, over time. Recovery will be the same….slowly over time. You cannot do anything to hurry things up. However, pushing too hard and trying to do things when it results in pain can cause you delays in your recovery.

As Mojo suggested, try and focus on the positive changes that have and will continue to take place. You are no longer taking a lot of pain medications. This is HUGE and a thing to be celebrated. The surgery removed your diseased hip and replaced it with a strong new joint. You have improved in your ability to move and do things since your surgery 2 months ago. There may be other things you can list that are ”positives.”

You plan to start going in the pool again in April. This is a step forward. But please be aware that the water will give you extra support as you move and it’s easy to overdo things. Start your time there slowly with some water walking for no longer than 20 minutes your first day. See how that goes for 48 hours. If you don’t experience a lot of pain, then go again abnd try the 20 minutes of water walking with 10 minutes of slow swimming (no frog kicks for now). Then see how that goes for the next 48 hours. Continue like this for a couple of weeks with at least one day in between your swim sessions. You can add time and different water activities if they don’t give you pain the next day. But just do it gradually. You are running a marathon here….it’s not a sprint and there is no hurry for you to get to the finish line.

If you have a doctor you were seeing for your Perthes Disease prior to surgery, I suggest you make an appointment with him/her to discuss where you are with your recovery. This person may be able to better answer your questions and convince you that with your new hip, you have a lot of life ahead of you.

This is brilliant really helped me understand what's going on and what's happened to my body to get to this point and you don't know the relief I had to be off painkillers I actually cried when the surgeon finally agreed to do the operation but I have 1 question for you hoe long with the right care will this hip last me?

 

[Spongebob]

Knowing your history helps understand what you’re going through. Thank you for providing that critical key. I’m sorry you had to deal with Perthes Disease as you grew up. It sounds like you did an excellent job of keeping it at bay with a lot of good exercise and activity.

As you probably know, Perthes Disease causes a reduced blood flow to the head of the femur (the “ball” in your hip joint). Lack of blood weakens the bone, causes pain, changes the shape of the head, and eventually results in its collapse and the need for a hip replacement. It’s usually a very slow process. As the bone deteriorates, your soft tissues (muscles, tendons, and ligaments) all try their best to compensate for the changes in the bone to make your hip function. Your exercising through the years probably helped you strengthen your muscles to the point where it delayed the point where you would need surgery.

Now you’ve had surgery and a couple of things have happened all at once. Not only did you have the normal trauma of hip replacement surgery, but all those readjusted soft tissues have been forced back into “normal” alignment. They will readjust, but it takes a lot of time….it’s a slow process and it’s important that you take this transition to a “normal” hip slowly. Trying to push yourself too quickly will result in a lot of pain and it could slow your recovery. You must allow your body time to readjust and normalize itself.

The best news for you is that you now have a normal hip….something you never had with Perthes Disease. The bad and deteriorating parts are gone and replaced by a functioning hip joint implant. Once you’ve healed, your hip should work beautifully…something you may never have known. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this could take quite a while. Mojo333 had it right when she told you it took 2 years for her hips to comfortably allow her to resume her very active life. You need to get your head wrapped around the fact that it could be this long for you to realize the same goal. This may seem unreal, but consider how long it has taken for your body to get to the point where surgery was required. It came about slowly, over time. Recovery will be the same….slowly over time. You cannot do anything to hurry things up. However, pushing too hard and trying to do things when it results in pain can cause you delays in your recovery.

As Mojo suggested, try and focus on the positive changes that have and will continue to take place. You are no longer taking a lot of pain medications. This is HUGE and a thing to be celebrated. The surgery removed your diseased hip and replaced it with a strong new joint. You have improved in your ability to move and do things since your surgery 2 months ago. There may be other things you can list that are ”positives.”

You plan to start going in the pool again in April. This is a step forward. But please be aware that the water will give you extra support as you move and it’s easy to overdo things. Start your time there slowly with some water walking for no longer than 20 minutes your first day. See how that goes for 48 hours. If you don’t experience a lot of pain, then go again abnd try the 20 minutes of water walking with 10 minutes of slow swimming (no frog kicks for now). Then see how that goes for the next 48 hours. Continue like this for a couple of weeks with at least one day in between your swim sessions. You can add time and different water activities if they don’t give you pain the next day. But just do it gradually. You are running a marathon here….it’s not a sprint and there is no hurry for you to get to the finish line.

If you have a doctor you were seeing for your Perthes Disease prior to surgery, I suggest you make an appointment with him/her to discuss where you are with your recovery. This person may be able to better answer your questions and convince you that with your new hip, you have a lot of life ahead of you.

Also shall I carry on with the stretches the hospital give me or not also do I do strengthening exercises ?

 

[Jamie]

Stretches are great. I don't know what strengthening exercises they gave you, so I cannot say for sure. If you'll tell us what they are we can give better guidance. At 2 months out, you normally shouldn't be worrying about strength...just movement on a regular basis. Walking is best for this.

 

[Spongebob]

Stretches are great. I don't know what strengthening exercises they gave you, so I cannot say for sure. If you'll tell us what they are we can give better guidance. At 2 months out, you normally shouldn't be worrying about strength...just movement on a regular basis. Walking is best for this.

I just do squats, standing leg raises, and knee to chest and leg backwards. Also timescale on hip, what do you think?