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THR Well here I am on the Other Side... :)

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If you wish Fiona - this is the countryside around our place, we are coming into winter now and the mists are just starting - I love them and the mystical affect they can give. These are two I have taken in the past week or so; [Bonesmart.org] Well here I am on the Other Side... :) [Bonesmart.org] Well here I am on the Other Side... :)
 
Wow Bill @fulafoto , those are very lovely photos of another beautiful place! You're right the mists add a certain mystical feel to the landscape. It looks like prairie - is it? :)
 
@fulafoto .. Ah gorgeous!!! Such beautiful photos.. We are starting summer here.. The least nicest time of the year.. Daily temps in 80's. Our winters can get cool fronts but mostly 70's.. 60's at night. Welcome to the tropics:)


LTHR Direct Anterior May 19, 2014
 
Thanks so much Fiona and @psychteach yes I guess you could call it a prairie although here we usually just call them a paddock or something pretty ordinary - I like prairie but and yes - the mist is wonderful.

As you start summer @psychteach we are starting our winter although it is not a bad winter by any stretch of the imagination - temps down to about 35 in your scale but usually only about a week that low. Days are usually pleasant and shirt sleeve weather.
 
For everyone, with a special dedication to @sharonslp ! :flwrysmile:

GOLDILOCKS AND THE TOTAL HIP REPLACEMENT (A fairy tale for middle age)

Once upon a time, there was a not-so-little girl named Goldilocks. She went for a walk in the forest, probably with her walking stick. Pretty soon, she came upon a house. She knocked and, when no one answered, she walked right in, because she was totally knackered.

At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. She tasted the porridge from the first bowl. "This porridge is too hot!" she exclaimed. She tasted the porridge from the second bowl. "This porridge is too cold!" she said.

So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge. "Ahhh, this porridge is just right," she said happily and she ate it all up. But because of her post-operative medications, the porridge stayed in her gut for several days and caused gas and discomfort.

After she'd eaten the three bears' breakfasts Goldilocks decided she was feeling a little tired. So she walked into the living room where she saw three chairs. She sat in the first chair to elevate her feet. "This chair is too high!" she exclaimed. So she sat in the second chair. "This chair is too low!" she sighed.

So she tried the last chair. "Ahhh, this chair is just right," she smiled. But as soon as she settled down into the chair to rest, she realised she couldn't elevate her feet 'toes above nose' without a footstool, AND her ice had all melted!

Goldilocks was very tired by this time, so she went upstairs to the bedroom. She lay down in the first bed, but it was too hard. Then she lay in the second bed, but it was too soft. Then she lay down in the third bed and it was just right, so long as she remembered not to lie on her incision and always kept a pillow between her legs. Goldilocks fell asleep.

As she was sleeping, the three bears came home. "Someone's been eating my porridge," growled the Papa bear. "Someone's been eating my porridge too," snarled the Mama bear. "Someone's been eating my porridge and they ate it all up!" cried the Baby bear.

"Someone's been sitting in my chair," growled the Papa bear. "Someone's been sitting in my chair too," snapped the Mama bear. "Someone's been sitting in my chair and they've left a great big wet patch!" cried the Baby bear.

They decided to look around some more and when they got upstairs to the bedroom, Papa bear growled, "Someone's been sleeping in my bed." "Someone's been sleeping in my bed too" said the Mama bear. "Someone's been sleeping in my bed and she's still there!" squealed Baby bear.

Just then, Goldilocks woke up and saw the three bears. She screamed and jumped out of bed. Goldilocks ran to the stairs, stumbled and tripped, and dislocated her new hip. Poor Goldilocks!

And when the ambulance had taken her back to the hospital, the doctors explained that the three bears were no more than a drug-related hallucination. Still, Goldilocks never quite trusted porridge or teddy bears again...

(c) Fiona Weir 2014
 
Wow Fiona- what literary skills! I laughed all the way to the dark ending! Hope Goldilocks has a good surgeon... In the words of the great cop show Hill St Blues- Let's be careful out there!
Thanks for sharing and have a lovely day
Gill


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Thanks you @miaow27 !
And thanks for reminding me of Hill St Blues, too - I used to love that programme when I was a kid! :)
 
@FionaW, thanks for your well wishes on my recovery report. I'm finally feeling much better and was able to do lots of reading and caught up with your thread too. Wow, you're so brave to decide to stay awake during the surgery. What was going on? Do you remember it clearly? Was it lots of blood? What was the most memorable?

And you have such a talent to write. I enjoyed your little story :)

How are you doing now? How much walking you can do? When will you be back to work? When is your follow up visit to OS? Do you still continue with PT?

I see that things are a bit different in UK and US hospitals and I am curious to compare. I also have had RTHR.
I used to have a boyfriend from UK, for many years, he was a doctor, for us it was long distance relationships, for years, and he saw things here and there, he was very very critical of US medical system. (I live in US though, long distance didn't work out, and I got a different person in my life now, from US :)
 
Hi @allahere , thanks for your friendly message. :) I'll try to answer your questions...

I didn't exactly choose to stay awake. What I chose was a spinal plus sedation. The previous time I had sedation (for another much smaller procedure), I was totally unconscious - I didn't remember anything at all - so I expected it to be the same this time. However, with hindsight, I can see that keeping someone 'under' for a quick 10 minute procedure is much easier than keeping them under for 90 mins or so for a THR. They can't over-do the sedation because that would interfere with your breathing, so they have to give you just enough, and keep it 'topped up' throughout the surgery.

In the early days post-op with this THR, I believed I was awake or dozing the whole time, but now I'm thinking more clearly, I can see that's unlikely; rather, I think I kept 'coming up' into consciousness. I remember some bits of it very clearly: my R arm being put into a strange sort of 'gutter' support; being covered in a silver foil blanket that stopped me seeing anything below my shoulders... I heard a lot of voices and tools... Hearing an electric drill or saw and thinking cheerfully "What's that noise? Oh yes, they're sawing my leg off"! And when I felt hammering, I spoke to the anaesthetist, to ask for more sedative, and was alert enough to realise my voice was quieter than I thought and that I needed to speak more loudly... I said politely "Excuse me, could I have more sedative please? It doesn't hurt, but I don't really want to know"! Throughout it all I was perfectly happy - not at all disturbed by anything I was aware of; they specifically give you 'happy drugs' to make sure you are not distressed. :)

I feel like I am recovering well, though I admit I am frustrated with being so limited! I started off really well, and seemed to manage a lot very quickly - I walked 300-400 yards with sticks on day 2, climbed stairs easily from day 2 and stopped using sticks inside the house from about day 5-6 - but things are much slower now. Still, I'm pleased, because I was in so much pain and so disabled pre-op, so the change is great. :) I am walking 3/4 mile to a mile with one stick (and have been for about 10 days), I am cooking and doing a lot of household jobs, I am socialising a bit, I am doing some gardening (but keeping to my restrictions). I went shopping to a big store for the first time yesterday. I get very tired, so I am limited by how much I can do more than by what I can do. I am doing PT at home, every day, mostly on my own but with 4 visits from a therapist. There are quite a lot of different exercises, but the approach here is 'little and often' so I do just 5 repetitions of each one 3 times per day. Funnily enough, my bruising is taking a long time to come out - I had my first visible bruising on day 9 and my first visible thigh bruising just yesterday! For this reason, I am not pushing myself physically; I am just keeping it up steadily. I am planning to go to the pool for the first time next Thurs (at 6 weeks). I will probably go to a PT 'hip recovery' group at the hospital from around 12 weeks.

I will see the consultant for my first check-up at 6.5 weeks. Nurses came to my house twice in the first couple of weeks, but discharged me when they were happy with my progress. I am expecting to have a total of 16 weeks off work - 12 as sick leave, and then 4 as holiday. I know that I would find work now impossible, because I get so tired, because my sleep is still very broken, because I would be very uncomfortable sitting all day, because I wouldn't be able to do my PT, and because I would use all my energy doing it and it would be impossible to manage the rest of my life - e.g. cooking for kids, shopping etc. I'm looking forward to being able to drive again, get out and about and enjoy my time off when I'm a bit more able!

I don't know much about the US healthcare system, except I know that it costs a fortune! We are so lucky here in the UK to have free, universal health care - and my experience with this THR is that the quality is very high. :)

Right, the sun has come out and I'm going to go for my little walk. I hope this answers your questions! Take care! :flwrysmile:
 
Oh that story is priceless Fiona and I laughed and laughed at it - absolutely brilliant!!!
You continue to do so well with your recovery and I guess you would be getting frustrated too but remember how long it took your hip to get that bad and take your time. Easier said than done I know.
 
Hi @FionaW I loved your Goldilocks story it is very funny Thanks for sharing it.I also enjoyed looking at your photos of Yorkshire I live in County Durham which isn't far from you and like you I really miss hill walking. Wishing you an excellent recovery.
 
Fiona, in the past two weeks, I've been struggling with the sudden cardiac arrest of my significant other. After a huge scare in which it appeared that I would lose him, he somehow managed to survive and still have an intact brain as well. He is now scheduled for bypass surgery next week, and while the recovery may be daunting, the prognosis for a full return to a real life is excellent. This has been complicated by happening away from our home, so I've been on an emotional roller coaster this whole time. Oh, did I mention my daughter is getting married next weekend? In another state?!!!!

I'm a pretty resilient person, and I have a good support network as well. But I've still done a lot of crying during this ordeal. So when I read your Goldilocks, it felt so wonderful to laugh so much!! I am honored to have inspired this piece of very creative writing (and I have been a writing teacher....you have a voice!). Are you considering a series perhaps? Little Red Riding Hood....Cinderella.....Hansel and Gretel.....oh my, what fun you could have.
Hippie Tales. :)

Sharon
 
Sending very best wishes @sharonsip....thoughts and prayers to your SO for his op next week...hoping your daughters wedding is a fantastic day for you all. Chrissie xxx


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Oh goodness @sharonslp , how difficult all that must be for you! Crying is good - it is part of your resilience, I think, to have an outlet for emotions that would otherwise be overwhelming. I am glad to hear the outlook is good for your SO - best wishes for his speedy recovery. Congratulations on your daughter's impending marriage, too... I hope that gives you joy without too much extra stress!

I am very glad to have made you laugh, and thank you for the compliment :) I already have half a dozen other 'fairy tales for middle age' that I wrote several years ago; one of the worst things that chronic pain did to me was to 'dry up' my creativity: I stopped writing and taking photos and felt-making and doing many other creative things that I used to do... Here's hoping that some of that is on its way back. :)
 
@FionaW - I certainly hope your recovery spikes your creative juices again - your photographs and writing are terrific and I look forward to seeing more of both if you choose to put them up.

Also @sharonslp so sorry to hear your news and please know I am thinking of you during this difficult time and sincerely hope it all goes well for you, your husband and family.
 
@FionaW & @fulafoto you both have stunning images!!! I thoroughly enjoyed looking at them thank you for sharing!! @FionaW I hope your recovery is moving along well and you're not feeling to frustrated - sounds like you're doing really well. I know at only 2.5 weeks post op, I've certainly already had my moments of having had enough and wanting it to hurry up! Unfortunately there's no magic way to make it happen sooner other than doing whatever exercises you may have been given and learning to give your body the rest it needs (that's a hard one!). I keep trying to look ahead even a month from now to stay positive & motivated but there are times it's challenging that's for sure!
@sharonslp. I'm so sorry to hear about your spouse! How terrifying!! But thank god he pulled through and has a positive outlook for post op. Prayers to you and your family and I hope you are both able to enjoy your daughters wedding !


Sharri -LTHR May 28th 2014 13 inch incision on side
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