lando622
junior member
United StatesSorry about not posting for a while...I've been crazy busy during my recovery working the logistics for selling our house and setting up our military transfer. Our sequence has been hectic with surgery/recovery, selling our house (closing in April, thank goodness), setting up plans to travel to VA to look for our next house, get our household goods packed, find a temporary place to live for two months here until kids finish school, etc.
Anyway, enough about that and my recovery is going great. At the two-week mark, my surgical assistant removed my bandages/dressings and WOW, that was a huge step. I'm healing great and with my dressings and most of my steri-strips removed (no sutures were used), I was free to take a shower and get the area wet. Any remaining steri-strips could be washed off. I was on my pain meds and using a cane for most of the second week and since I was home, I was up and about as much as I could be. The insurance side took a few days to catch up so I didn't start my outpatient PT right away and I had a few days off. During this time, I had several hours a day where I felt good walking around carrying my cane and doing stairs as needed around my home. However, when going out to a store or other errand with my wife, I was beat after about 30 minutes and would go back out to the car. Still waking up every couple hours at night with significant sweating.
Fast forward to the three-week mark this week...I am full-on in outpatient PT and they're working me quite hard. Lots of air squats, balancing on foam pads, step ups, etc. It's all good for me as this is the kind of stuff I need. Hips feel great and my biggest challenge is the loss of stamina/muscularity that makes the work challenging. I'm sweating my butt off in rehab and joking with the therapist about "What injury do I need to have where I can just get my muscles rolled out and maybe a massage?" The therapist does spend some time using a thumb to massage/press out my incision areas so they don't bind to the below-skin muscle and become too tight. During this third week, I drastically cut down on my pain meds, taking them only at night and using ibuprofen or Aleve during the day so I can drive and prepare to go back to work next week. Still only sleeping a couple hours at a time, but able to turn to my side a bit easier. I need to get a knee pillow to ensure proper separation of my knees and alleviate strain on my hips in bed. I'm so sick of trying to sleep just on my back but still need to be careful of how I roll over and sleeping on my stomach isn't comfortable yet.
I'm a couple days past the three-week point and now feel comfortable going out without my cane. The past few days have seemed remarkably better in that regard. I made it out to my son and daughter's lacrosse games just prior to the three-week point, and felt strong enough just after the three-week point to go and watch my son's 2-hour practice. My normal/natural gait is back and my military doctor (just saw him this AM) can't believe my progress. I'm definitely not ready nor will I attempt to run anytime soon, but walking feels good. In PT, they have me warm-up on a treadmill, and I did 15 minutes at 3MPH yesterday. I think I'm ready to rejoin my wife on nightly 3-mile walks around our neighborhood.
I still have a little swelling in my incision area but it seems to be gone from everywhere else. My core needs some activity to get back to where it was, but I have lost some weight/size that I had gained prior to my surgery when I could barely walk and didn't get any activity in.
The biggest thing is that at no point post surgery have I felt nearly as awful as I did for the months/weeks leading up to my surgery. Hip pain was gone immediately and the main pain came from the surgery itself and not from the parts that were installed. Overall, the most uncomfortable thing as a bilateral hip patient was sitting down on a toilet as the angle is tough on two sore hips/incision areas. Equally uncomfortable was the effort to overcome the pain med side effects (e.g.- constipation). Thankfully, I expected that and my wife would sneak me a diet/cleansing tea each night that helped put things back on track. Going back over things, icing your hip(s) and resting are key for the first several days post-surgery.
That's about it for now...heading off to PT in 20 minutes. Good luck!!
Anyway, enough about that and my recovery is going great. At the two-week mark, my surgical assistant removed my bandages/dressings and WOW, that was a huge step. I'm healing great and with my dressings and most of my steri-strips removed (no sutures were used), I was free to take a shower and get the area wet. Any remaining steri-strips could be washed off. I was on my pain meds and using a cane for most of the second week and since I was home, I was up and about as much as I could be. The insurance side took a few days to catch up so I didn't start my outpatient PT right away and I had a few days off. During this time, I had several hours a day where I felt good walking around carrying my cane and doing stairs as needed around my home. However, when going out to a store or other errand with my wife, I was beat after about 30 minutes and would go back out to the car. Still waking up every couple hours at night with significant sweating.
Fast forward to the three-week mark this week...I am full-on in outpatient PT and they're working me quite hard. Lots of air squats, balancing on foam pads, step ups, etc. It's all good for me as this is the kind of stuff I need. Hips feel great and my biggest challenge is the loss of stamina/muscularity that makes the work challenging. I'm sweating my butt off in rehab and joking with the therapist about "What injury do I need to have where I can just get my muscles rolled out and maybe a massage?" The therapist does spend some time using a thumb to massage/press out my incision areas so they don't bind to the below-skin muscle and become too tight. During this third week, I drastically cut down on my pain meds, taking them only at night and using ibuprofen or Aleve during the day so I can drive and prepare to go back to work next week. Still only sleeping a couple hours at a time, but able to turn to my side a bit easier. I need to get a knee pillow to ensure proper separation of my knees and alleviate strain on my hips in bed. I'm so sick of trying to sleep just on my back but still need to be careful of how I roll over and sleeping on my stomach isn't comfortable yet.
I'm a couple days past the three-week point and now feel comfortable going out without my cane. The past few days have seemed remarkably better in that regard. I made it out to my son and daughter's lacrosse games just prior to the three-week point, and felt strong enough just after the three-week point to go and watch my son's 2-hour practice. My normal/natural gait is back and my military doctor (just saw him this AM) can't believe my progress. I'm definitely not ready nor will I attempt to run anytime soon, but walking feels good. In PT, they have me warm-up on a treadmill, and I did 15 minutes at 3MPH yesterday. I think I'm ready to rejoin my wife on nightly 3-mile walks around our neighborhood.
I still have a little swelling in my incision area but it seems to be gone from everywhere else. My core needs some activity to get back to where it was, but I have lost some weight/size that I had gained prior to my surgery when I could barely walk and didn't get any activity in.
The biggest thing is that at no point post surgery have I felt nearly as awful as I did for the months/weeks leading up to my surgery. Hip pain was gone immediately and the main pain came from the surgery itself and not from the parts that were installed. Overall, the most uncomfortable thing as a bilateral hip patient was sitting down on a toilet as the angle is tough on two sore hips/incision areas. Equally uncomfortable was the effort to overcome the pain med side effects (e.g.- constipation). Thankfully, I expected that and my wife would sneak me a diet/cleansing tea each night that helped put things back on track. Going back over things, icing your hip(s) and resting are key for the first several days post-surgery.
That's about it for now...heading off to PT in 20 minutes. Good luck!!
Easy does it my friend. It's a marathon not a sprint. Glad you are starting to see the benefits of this surgery.
I stopped taking my Celebrex last week and the pain come on full force, then took it for the last 2 days and I'm feeling little to no pain. I feel like someone's playing a trick on me. Getting nervouse because I don't want to have more pain than I do now after going through all of this. Did any of you stop antiinflamitory meds or pain meds before surgery to find your true "north" ? Do you think I should stop the celebrex and pain meds before I go in? Doc said it didn't matter. Good news..... found out I'm getting spinal block and Iv sedation. 
No anesthesia 
