THR Two New Hips in Six Weeks

[Bone-obo]

Well it's only been ... FIVE DAYS!!

True, but I am Optimism made flesh. And Impatience - did I mention Impatience?

I've had very little pain this time around - no complaints there, thanks! Dunno if it's the different meds routine, or a particularly clever nerve-sparing cut by my cutter, but other than the utter inability to support any weight on my op leg, I'm ready to rock n' roll.

 

[Mojo333]

I use a heating pad on my lower back / SI joint and it is truly soothing.
At one point in recovery, it was ice on front...heat on back

Hope all eases soon and have a great Christmas @EL11
:kitty chris::merry christmas:

 

[EL11]

I use a heating pad on my lower back / SI joint and it is truly soothing.
At one point in recovery, it was ice on front...heat on back

Hope all eases soon and have a great Christmas @EL11
:kitty chris::merry christmas:

Hey, that is great advice. I'm ordering a heating pad today.

Yesterday I did an 11h-hour planting of 325 bulbs I'd thought would have to be tossed away, since the landscaper never made it over here before the ground froze, but then lo and behold it was rainy and 50s for two days ... I had to take two breaks to ice my back, as the wind started kicking up again and temps crept downward again (it's 29 at the moment). I thought I'd be in abject pain later from all the bending, but through some Christmas miracle I slept all night with only an herbal sleep aid to help me drift off, and just a mild twinge this morning.

Same to you from me and Albert, @Mojo333 —and to @lovesstars, @1stSurgery, @SurreyGirl, @Layla, @Alitm and all the other hipsters. To those nervously awaiting the big THR event, it's all worth it I promise. Wishing you a healthy, happy and pain-free 2019!

 

[Layla]

Aww, Albert looks so cute, @EL11

Love, hugs and Merry Christmas to you too!
Here's my Christmas kitty > :kitty chris: haha, closest thing I have

 

[lovesstars]

Hugs hugs hugs hugs hugs!!!!!
:re-snowman::re-snowman::re-snowman::re-snowman::re-snowman::re-snowman::re-snowman:

 

[Layla]

Hi @EL11
Just read on another thread about your fall. Slipping on black ice! Such a fear of mine living in the area of the country that I do. Thankfully you're okay. Whew!
Beautiful photo of the NYE Northern Lights in Ireland. Absolutely stunning.
I hope you have a great weekend!

 

[EL11]

Just read on another thread about your fall. Slipping on black ice! Such a fear of mine living in the area of the country that I do. Thankfully you're okay. Whew!

I know. A few years ago I lived in Eastsound, WA (Orcas Island); one icy winter I slipped and fell on some stone steps, and was bruised all up and down my side from hip to knee. That would make me nervous now!

I got a lovely giant heating pad, @Layla, After you said how you loved yours. I almost want my back to bother me again so I can test it out But lately I’m often able to sleep through the night without any pain relief.

 

[NanaKP]

Ohhhhhhhh, falling on the ice is one of my biggest fears now. How are you feeing today, anything worse for the wear? I think I'd be using that heating pad regardless, is it possible for prevention?

We have been having a very mild winter so far but the bottom is dropping out and single digits are now ahead. I've also heard measureable snow/ice next week. Fireplace will be going nonstop here!!

 

[Alitm]

@EL11 So sorry to read about your fall on the black ice! Hoping you are feeling more comfortable now. So scary. I know there is always the first fall...but no one wants to experience it....I certainly don't. I hope I can get through this winter (which is supposed to be milder, an El Nino year) without having to mess around with ice and snow!

I'm impressed on your marathon bulb planting with no ill effects....YAY!!!

I have to ask you, did you get sore quads or hip flexors in around week 4 - 6 that you recall? Also my t bands are sore as well. I didn't notice it after first surgery so much, but after second surgery I have returned to my upright tall status (I was becoming the incredibly shrinking woman with the hip pain in both hips) and the soft tissue has been complaining like mad. It feels like so much is realigning. I over did it on Christmas Eve and Day, walking around with no aids most of the day....generally on my feet for too long. It feels as if the soft tissue has to regroup big time. Did you have that sort of thing going on, particularly after the second surgery?

I hope that you have been enjoying the holidays. Here's wishing you great health and happiness for 2019!

 

[Mojo333]

Hope those new hips are helping back issues.
Your body has had a stressful year.
I think you have handled all so Well and things will continue to get better and better.
No falling it's against the rules!

Hope 2019 will be Your Year!

 

[EL11]

Hope those new hips are helping back issues.
Your body has had a stressful year.
I think you have handled all so Well and things will continue to get better and better.
No falling it's against the rules!

Hope 2019 will be Your Year!

What a lovely wish, and I hope the same for you!

Yes, I know, I hesitated to post about it right after for that very reason, haha. Bad, bad, bad. I think is was the visiting physical therapist who first reassured me that if I were to dislocate a new hip, I'd be screaming so loud they'd hear me on other planets, or WTTE. But I know that reassurance has been stated here as well.

No back issues the past few days. I woke up today with both hips aching, the aches meandering down to the knee area, but I took no acetominaphen last night or in the wee hours. I'm trying to keep it to 3000 mg a day. The aches disappear once I am caffeinated, up and moving. I took some just now, coming up on 8am, and often when I do that I forget about it till close to bedtime.

As I've said, even if this intermittent discomfort never went away, I would be 100x better off than I was with arthritis, the nasty burning pain that was so depressing and fatiguing and prevented me from standing up straight. What a gift.

 

[EL11]

@EL11 So sorry to read about your fall on the black ice! Hoping you are feeling more comfortable now. So scary. I know there is always the first fall...but no one wants to experience it....I certainly don't. I hope I can get through this winter (which is supposed to be milder, an El Nino year) without having to mess around with ice and snow!

I'm impressed on your marathon bulb planting with no ill effects....YAY!!!

I have to ask you, did you get sore quads or hip flexors in around week 4 - 6 that you recall? Also my t bands are sore as well. I didn't notice it after first surgery so much, but after second surgery I have returned to my upright tall status (I was becoming the incredibly shrinking woman with the hip pain in both hips) and the soft tissue has been complaining like mad. It feels like so much is realigning. I over did it on Christmas Eve and Day, walking around with no aids most of the day....generally on my feet for too long. It feels as if the soft tissue has to regroup big time. Did you have that sort of thing going on, particularly after the second surgery?

I hope that you have been enjoying the holidays. Here's wishing you great health and happiness for 2019!

First of all: Horsey!!!! What a wonderful photo of you two, aw!

Yeah, it scared the life out of my boyfriend and our handyman/friend who was hosting the party, who called the morning after my fall all worried. I am OK, see my reply to @Mojo333 ... I was wearing boots with a one-inch heel and no tread on the bottom, but also, I need to pay attention and keep my center of gravity forward a little and legs a little spread in that penguin-walking way recommended for greater stability on ice.

I know what you mean about the soft tissue. I would not say quads per se, but often it's the right hip, which was done first—five months ago—in which I feel twinges toward the end of the day when I'm sitting watching TV, feet up/legs bent on the coffee table. Both my thighs are somewhat numb. I have been so focused on my hips per se and on how well I can walk and exercise, I almost didn't notice it, weird as that may sound.

I just checked again to refresh my memory as to when you had your surgeries. Your first was within days of my second. My second hurt more; I was on prescription meds at least an additional two weeks. The first/right was bone on bone, but my left hip always gave me more pain, more damage to the femoral head apparently. The surgeon did not seem overly interested in geeking out over the differences with me and running over into his next appointment, but he did remind me that every healing is different.

As I've mentioned, I mis-titled my recovery thread because it was two hips exactly seven weeks apart, not six. The still-arthritic left hip started bothering me quite a bit just as the right hip was healed enough to allow me to walk half a mile to the supermarket, which was at six weeks. Everything is so interconnected, hard to say how much hip #1 was overstressed by having to be the "good side" a little too soon. In my obviously nonprofessional opinion, three months in between might be ideal if one is having both done at different times, but everyone is different.

Health and happiness to you too in the new year!

 

[Alitm]

Thanks so much for the feedback @EL11. My surgeon didn't chat much on the differences in the issues the old OA presented when removed either....which I was fine with...I am so thankful for the OA pain to be gone, and I am thinking forward about getting back to life. He told me that the first hip looked "dreadful", "horrible" when I asked about it. I didn't even bother to ask about the second hip at my ten day post op visit! I am thinking forward, and have no desire to dwell on what was!!! I found the swelling post op second hip to be much greater and requiring a bit more attention than the first. I find right now that my first hip (also my right hip), is more complaining than my left!! I did really extend myself in terms of being on my feet all day, two days in a row, over the holidays. I see my surgeon on the 7th, and will be seven weeks by that point, so hoping this week I can get back to a more normal schedule of walking (and icing as needed etc), and I'll be 100% back on track when I see him. It all shakes out in the end, but supportive to hear how you found various things, also having had the two THR closer together.
Albert is so darn cute. He has such a lovely expression . I'm having a serious cat covet moment!!

Here is trusty, thinks he is a dog, Zenith, waiting in the shade by the side of the riding ring, until I finished working one of the horses in hand this summer! Not a great picture, but gives you an idea of his faithfulness!

 

[EL11]

Thanks so much for the feedback @EL11. My surgeon didn't chat much on the differences in the issues the old OA presented when removed either....which I was fine with...I am so thankful for the OA pain to be gone, and I am thinking forward about getting back to life. He told me that the first hip looked "dreadful", "horrible" when I asked about it. I didn't even bother to ask about the second hip at my ten day post op visit! I am thinking forward, and have no desire to dwell on what was!!! I found the swelling post op second hip to be much greater and requiring a bit more attention than the first. I find right now that my first hip (also my right hip), is more complaining than my left!! I did really extend myself in terms of being on my feet all day, two days in a row, over the holidays. I see my surgeon on the 7th, and will be seven weeks by that point, so hoping this week I can get back to a more normal schedule of walking (and icing as needed etc), and I'll be 100% back on track when I see him. It all shakes out in the end, but supportive to hear how you found various things, also having had the two THR closer together.
Albert is so darn cute. He has such a lovely expression . I'm having a serious cat covet moment!!

Here is trusty, thinks he is a dog, Zenith, waiting in the shade by the side of the riding ring, until I finished working one of the horses in hand this summer! Not a great picture, but gives you an idea of his faithfulness!

Faithful Zenith! So sweet.

Albert does have the cutest face, and he is very tolerant about being smooshed and smooched, which can cause some cats to draw blood, or at least hiss and run away,

I think you're wise not to look back. Sounds like you did extend yourself a bit. When I overdid it myself, I was surprised me how less predictable the price was than straining a muscle at the gym or in aerobics class used to be.

It'll be good for you to see the surgeon a week from Monday. You must report in!

 

[Alitm]

When I overdid it myself, I was surprised me how less predictable the price was than straining a muscle at the gym or in aerobics class used to be.

Yes, you hit the nail on the head @EL11. I will report in for sure. In the meantime !

 

[lovesstars]

Happy New year, darling @EL11 !!

 

[EL11]

Back atcha my friend!
xo

 

[SurreyGirl]

Happy New Year. Just catching up and hope all good for you @EL11

 

[EL11]

Hey there @SurreyGirl , Happy 2019 to you! All is well, healing in a good place. Thanks for checking in

 

[EL11]

So last night I had a “cocktail” of Tylenol Arthritis and Luna herbal sleep aid, and I slept 9 hours. I had put the TA aside in case I wanted to take 6 tablets of acetaminophen a day, which would mean the extra-strength, but I’d forgotten to bring it upstairs and I usually forget to take the midday dose anyway ...

Anyway, it felt so good to get that much sleep. I went to the gym early, did some elliptical and recumbent bike, light upper body weight machine stuff and floor stretching - including the second position stretch as in years past. It wasn’t like when I was an Uber-flexible young woman of course, but the PT has said it was fine and each time I gain another little bit of stretch. Yay.

So that’s my report, almost 4 months out from LTHR and 5 1/2 from RTHR. I still have that outer thigh tenderness/partial numbness/occasional stinging.