Hi,
@Lisa76.....I'm so glad you found BoneSmart and decided to join our community. Please lean on us with any questions or concerns you may have about your upcoming hip replacement. Do you have a date yet? If so, post it and we can get a signature made for you and sign you up for one of our monthly surgery teams. This really helps because you'll automatically have a whole group of people going through surgery and recovery right along with you. That can be very comforting. Of course, our members and staff are always available for you as well.
It's quite common to have doubts about both the surgical procedure and the recovery process. I've been with BoneSmart for almost 15 years and believe it or not, I experienced those doubts myself! It's always different when it's YOUR body and life being impacted.
But this is wonderful surgery that will restore your hip to pretty much normal functionality. You are mobile when you get home, so it's not like you're stuck in bed for weeks on end. I suggest you talk with your surgeon about setting up Home Health for yourself. That will give you the benefit of a nurse, occupational therapist, and physical therapist that will come assist you at home until you are strong enough to do some outpatient therapy, should you desire to do that. Hips actually heal pretty well on their own, so some folks opt to just walk as their primary therapy during recovery. That plus your normal activities of daily living (once you are able to resume them slowly) can offer a great recovery for most patients. Full recovery will be approximately a year, but after a couple of months, you'll be steadily increasing your activity levels, so it's not like you will be incapacited for anywhere near that long.
I'm 4 weeks out from my hip replacement tomorrow and it's a celebration day for me. I have a rather conservative surgeon and he wanted me on a walker at 50% weight bearing for 4 weeks. Tomorrow I get to switch to a cane and I'm pretty excited about that. I live alone and have been able to completely take care of myself (and my puppy dog who came home from the kennel a few days ago) with no problems. I have friends who have assisted when I needed some fresh things from the grocery store or a ride to a doctor appointment. My hip actually felt super from Day One and my post-op issues ended up being non-hip things like constipation and a general "bad" feeling as effects from the general anesthetic I required because of an arthritic lower spine. But those issues have passed now and it's full steam ahead for recovery.
Please don't hesitate to ask about anything that concerns you. You're going to do just fine. We're here for you!