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THR Well, I made it....but it was a rough ride

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I sure feel for all of you with hospital issues…I think all rooms should be private…our New Hampshire hospitals are moving that way. My surgery was this morning…got to hospital at 5:30 am, eating lunch in my private room at 1 pm with hubby and son visiting…headed home at 5 pm and now I'm comfy…leg elevated, iced, had my Miralax and lots of pain med. Friends left us soup and fresh fruit salad for supper…I am blessed. I realize that tomorrow may have more pain…I will take all the meds prescribed. Visiting nurse will come to the house and I am lucky to have a husband who is a wonderful caretaker. With the walker, I am quite independent for lots of things. I did discover, after his back surgery in October that heating the prune juice makes it even more effective…Don't let the problem get ahead of you! I was also encouraged (ordered) to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Drink lots of water…it's so good for us.

Betsy (THR 1/27/2016)
 
Well, the swelling continues apace, it's worse at the end of the day, to the point where its almost impossible to do my exercises, but in the morning I feel pretty good and can do a few rounds before I get out of bed.

The stool softeners have worked well, I have become fairly regular again, but still have some pain from the nonsense on Monday. I'll take them as long as I'm taking pain meds, and on that note.....

I have started back on the pain meds, as the physio guy told me that that will enable me to stretch and do my exercises, but I'm only taking them a few times during the day and one pill when I go to bed. So far thats worked well, but today I had something strange happen. After I did my second set of stretches, I came downstairs and sat and talked for a while with a friend who had dropped by. For the whole time of the conversation and ever since I've felt odd, spaced-out in a way. This is very similar to the day after surgery in the hospital when I was drugged up and sleep-deprived. The only difference today from yesterday is that I took a pain pill at about 10am, and I'm thinking its just a funny reaction to the pain med. I have a normal appetite and everything else seems about the same as yesterday, but this feeling is very odd. Anyone else get this from their pain meds?

Thanks
 
@Johnster This could be Energy drain for THRs It hits you like a ton of bricks and there is no fighting it. This will soon ease but your body is telling you to slow down a bit. Don't worry if you aren't doing every exercise PT has prescribed. You are only 7 days out from a very major op. Easy does it!
 
My PT gal said standing could cause low blood pressure…walking is better. She also said doing just 4 or 5 reps of the exercises a few times a day is better than pushing too much at once…take a nap…your body needs to heal from major trauma…even tho you feel good.

I don't feel loopier than usual yet from the pain meds, but not doing much oxycodone…I have tramadol & voltaren with Extra strength Tylenol for pain, aspirin to avoid blood clots and MiraLax & prune juice for regularity…all seem to be working so far!

Johnster, do you have a visiting nurse you could call or your Dr's office…just to check?

Good luck! We're wishing you well! Betsy
 
Well, a bit of a lie down and a large glass of water seem to have helped immensely. Thanks for all the suggestions!

On another topic, how often were you told to change your dressing? We were sent home with one extra pad and told (by the nurse) that she wouldnt change the dressing more than 2-3 times in the 2 weeks until I get my stitches out. That seems like way too infrequently for my wife and I, what was your schedule for this?

Thanks!
 
@Johnster - My aquacell dressing stayed on the whole 10 days -- the amount of time it was to stay on before I was able to take it off. I never changed it.
 
I changed my aquacell after 7 days, then left that one on for 7 days. After that they took my staples out, and I was done with that part.
I know NORCO 10/325's are potent meds, and I only took those for 4-5 days, as they were so strong it affected my balance.. so yeah..meds affect everything greatly. I found taking Extra strength Tylenol every 4 hrs on the dot worked fine at about 5 days post op...and I'm a big guy, they still worked well. I used them regularly for probably 3 to 4 weeks..then it was as needed.. funny thing is I didn't need them much, if at all. At this point about 11 weeks post op, I haven't taken anything in several weeks.. any and all pain is gone gone gone. Good luck on your journey, I wish you well.
 
Johnster said:
how often were you told to change your dressing?
Click to expand...
After both THRs I never changed the dressing. It came off when my staples were removed post LTHR and at my check 10 days out from my RTHR (that one was glued). Less chance of getting any dirt in the wound area if you just leave it on.
 
I remember when we(wife and I) had to change the dressing... we thought it was really critical, it ended up a real nothing thing. We just removed the old dressing, wiped the incision with a wipe, put new dressing on, and done. The incision was very clean. It's almost totally disappeared now.
 
You probably only need to change dressing once while staples in unless not sealed properly or if you have a lot of discharge. My wound has been discharging quite a bit of fluid since staples removed. I have been changing daily as I don't want the surrounding skin to become affected
 
Well, the staples are out and I'm past the 2 week mark now, so I have a couple of new exercises to do daily. Things are going pretty well, and I have literally no pain, just what feels like the occasional swelling in my hip joint after walks or some exercises. I think things are going well, however I'm still under restrictions for another month, and that's the biggest issue at the moment. I think everyone is familiar with the standard restrictions; don't exceed 90 degrees, no crossing the center-line, 50% weight bearing on the operated side, etc., and for the most part I can get used to them, but so far I'm unable to sleep on my back, which as far as I can tell is the only way to sleep without my legs crossing each other. I know I can put a pillow between my legs, but my PT told me not to as he's had a few patients who had a real problem when their legs slipped off the pillow while they were sleeping. I've tried pretty much everything I can think of, but I simply cant sleep comfortably on my back, it doesn't feel natural and my lower back really aches after a few hours in that position. Does anyone have any tips or advice on how to make this more comfortable? I'm up for any and all advice on this!

Thanks!
John
 
I cannot sleep on my back due to sleep apnea. I had a terrible time for those first 6 weeks when I wasn't allowed to sleep on my side. I ended up having to put lots of pillows behind and around me, and I slept sitting up. I couldn't sleep for more than an hour or two at a time, when I'd wake up, go to the bathroom, and try again later. With daytime naps, the total for the day usually added up to about 7 hours. It didn't feel like nearly enough, but was the best I could manage. Hope someone else has a better idea for you, since maybe you don't have apnea. Perhaps just getting your back propped up a little would help you sleep better. I needed to be sitting most of the way up.
 
John try a dog bone pillow , you can get them at a med supply store . I was sceptical but tried it as well as a pillow between the ankles . Works great .


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@Johnster - I'm not a back sleeper at all either, but in the past two days have returned to sleeping at least most of the night in bed. My lower back also hurt the first night- it forced me out of bed after waking up 3-4 times in pain. The 2nd night, I put a pillow under both knees to keep the pressure off my lower back, and also put a wedge of pillows under my head (so I wouldn't feel so 'flat'). To keep from turning over - I put a long body pillow next to me in bed - in the middle of the bed, from chest area down to my feet. It's pretty puffy and makes the bed narrow so my sleeping area really doesn't leave any space for me to turn over. Adding that knee pillow last night seemed to help a lot with the back pain. Sleeping flat really helped with the stiffness I felt when I got up in the am (not nearly as bad). Let me know if elevating your knees helps at all.


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@Johnster - I'm a stomach sleeper and have found sleeping on my back so hard. I was so uncomfortable and read here that someone had put a rolled up towel under their knee. I tried that for a while but now I use a long body pillow and elevate my leg on that. I also prop myself up on a couple of pillows.
 
Try a pillow between your legs and then one in front of your lower body while you sleep on your side. Your PT may have had people fail at this but the pillow in front would catch that knee if it fell.
 
Thanks everyone, I'll try the suggestions here and (hopefully) report back with stories of a decent nights sleep.

Cheers!
 
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