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THR Two New Hips in Six Weeks

Totally agree with @EL11 on the oxy symptoms, mine are the same, almost exact. I think everyone reacts differently depending on your own biochemistry.

I'm sad to report the euphoria balloon of yesterday afternoon has had some air let out today....but I'm still viewing yesterday as a major turning point.

Took my bedtime meds and woke up at 5ish in familiar deep pain so took a 5:30 am Oxy and woke up at 9 in that bad deep pain again, but ....let's try walking. Here's the deal - and overall it's optimistic I think. Hip pain has greatly improved to about 4-5 which is not bad. But... That IT band and that totally whacked knee, and then down the right side of calf to ankle...all so sore, so tender, hurts to even touch it. I think those areas are the pain culprit.

I feel it's musculature and from basic brute handling rather than a result of the actual surgery or cutting. A hunch. The knee is swollen bruised and extremely painful front side and behind and below. Feels literally like someone hammered it! And I have good pain tolerance, even though it doesn't seem so now.

So my take is this will heal in time, longer muscles maybe more slowly, but the hip itself is healing well - it's just hard to notice with all the other very loud pain down the rest of the leg.

Time to call doctor again. Still hopeful but I'm not quite Roger Daltry today!
 
Albert....Meet Etta

Kitty Match.com?

Etta is single, Russian, grey with green eyes, Long legged, athletic and fit, with highly refined gourmet tastes. She is loving, quiet and enjoys lolling in the sunshine, watching squirrels and chasing stuffed mousies. She is intelligent (likes sitting on books...) and loyal and does not like strangers or people on the roof. Available for dinners or friendly romps in the catnip. She prefers not to reveal her age.
 

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Albert is mostly Siamese, has a delicate mew rather than the typical Siamese voice. He also likes sitting on books, particularly my lavender leather writing book. His favorite snack is oat grass, small pots of which Price Chopper sells from time to time. He likes dried catnip but not fresh. His previous mommy gave him away because she adopted some other cats and Albert was not pleased. According to the rescue organization, he sprayed outside the box in protest, a report Albert denies. I think it's possible that he could like another cat if she were sufficiently refined.
 

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You have an excellent attitude and seem to be in good touch with your body/pain areas. I know what it's like, the bad deep pain. Honestly, it does just flip off like a switch sometimes. Hoping that will be the case for you again, soon! But what's with the doctor? Geez.
 
@EL11 thanks, I've found incredible relief so far with the full right side hip to ankle ice packs, the Chatanooga packs. Those big, heavy ice cold ones. I'd purchased them somewhat over ambitiously before first THR thinking I'd try every type of ice pack ...and the humongous one sat in the pantry all these months, since first hip had little pain and leg was pretty good, no major trauma. But hubby just dug it out and froze it this morning, and right now I'm doing very well with just ice. This can save me having to be drugged up all the time, maybe.
 
Saw the PT, 30-day Medicare assessment next Tues. Takeaways:
  • I told him I ached badly and asked him to remind me how long it takes to heal. He said 6-8 weeks for a broken bone and reminded me that they broke my bones. I asked if it would ever stop aching and he said yes.
  • Told him I was still taking 2 oxycodone to sleep and Tylenol/Advil by day. He was pretty sure that in 2 weeks I'd be able to dial down to 1 oxy at night or none. Reiterated that sleep is the most important thing, but did not dispute my contention that even a low dose of the opioid messes with your head.
  • The last hip's PT had been dismissive about use of a cane, like why bother with the intermediary step, but this guy thought I should pick one up, as I'm using the crutch like a cane, not squeezing or anything.
  • He said my stride looked great.
  • He agreed that as we know PT is not required for hip healing, but it does help with strengthening and education, meaning not getting into bad habits walking or climbing stairs.
I know nobody needed all this information, but it fascinates me to read everyone else's, generally and for comparison :)
 
Thanks for sharing.
Sounds credible and sensible to me.
It's always interesting to read other member's docs and PT assessments.
I hope you have a nice weekend!
@EL11
 
No @EL11 we DO need that info! I read everyone's post op visit reports with much interest. It's like we can get 40 different OS opinions on one forum. I find each one helps me to better get a grasp on this recovery thing in some way. So thanks for posting it, I'm interested in the meds comments and the broken bones descriptions! Very useful, thank you.
 
@EL11 I was asking somewhere here earlier if anyone takes both Advil and Tylenol together or in same day. Can you tell me what you're doing with the two, what kind of intervals? . I'd like to try a combo platter (haha, evil iPad autocorrect made that a combover platter!! Don't want that )
 
He told me that I could take both, made a point of it in fact, and did not mention intervals, but I don't take them at the same time. When I first get up, I take them an hour apart. This is partly because I have coffee and then breakfast an hour later, and I feel it's not a bad idea to take the Advil with food. Just to be on the safe side, I only take 6 of each daily, which is half the max dose (1500 of Tylenol, 1200 Advil). I actually take the generic equivalents but am too lazy to type the longer words! Sometimes I have the third dose of Tylenol at night with the two oxy, which translates into Percocet.

Here, it says taking them together may increase the risk of GI bleeding,
https://www.arthritis.org/living-wi...fety/acetaminophen-ibuprofen-side-effects.php

but here it says don't worry:
https://www.goodrx.com/blog/is-it-safe-to-take-tylenol-acetaminophen-with-advil-or-motrin-ibuprofen/

I am hoping that in a month, I'll be able to use little pain medication, OTC or otherwise.
 
Oh, just someone delete my post if what my OS said + the links are considered medical advice.
 
I think relating what your OS said is ok. There are just so many varying opinions on the two, gets confusing. I did hear from Josphine at my thread and she left some articles to read on them. For now, I like ice. Only side effect is frozen thigh syndrome.
 
If I had it to do over again I'd get an ice machine, but I'm OK with the blue ice pillows. Part of the reason for staying downstairs on the couch for two weeks has been my proximity to the freezer. I still give hip #1 a little cold treatment before the pillow is completely thawed.
 
I made a point of asking my consultant if I could start taking ibuprofen again at my 6 weeks check up and he said yes. Have taken it and paracetamol together for years with no ill effect. If you can buy it over the counter I think you're fairly safe. Lots of horrible warnings in the packet of worrying side effects! But they are uncommon. I always take ibuprofen with food though.
 
I took the max dose of ibuprofen maybe 20 years ago for back pain, and wound up having bad stomach cramps, a stern warning. So I'm sticking with half as much now, and I do try to take it with food. Just now, though, I took both OTC meds with coffee. I don't know what happened, but I woke up wicked achy at 2am, iced, got back to sleep, hip and thigh quite painful again when I woke up. So I downed both and am icing and I'm sure I'll feel better in 30 minutes or so!
 
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