THR Ausman gets a new hip!

[1stSurgery]

Off topic, but... Beautiful doggie!!!
That looks like some good exercise right there!

 

[Ausman]

Off topic, but... Beautiful doggie!!!
That looks like some good exercise right there!

Thank you 1st. That is the real Ausman. Australian Shepherd-German Shepherd mix. My boy. Your kitteh looks like a sweetie too!

 

[Ausman]

Hey gang-

I had to share this happy news because who else would understand it! After the meds scare of the past two days, I was feeling pretty down. But with that straightened out and with some pain control again, I was determined to give myself something positive to go to bed to.

Sooooooo....

I asked my wife to stand close and ready.

I took a deep breath.

I straightened my operative left leg...I raised my hands over my head...and I...very slowly...raised my right foot off the floor.

Then I did a one-leg stand on my operative leg- with no hands- for one minute!!! OMG it hurt like hell but I did it!

Who but our hippies would get this at all...but I am feeling pretty pumped!

Love you all and good night!

 

[SurreyGirl]

oMG! I can stand on tiptoes with two legs and raise my arms above my head but one? Gosh! Hope you don’t get too many after effects :/)

 

[Mojo333]

Hope today is a Good Day.
Still lots of deep healing going on.
It Does get better.
Trying to see improvement can be frustrating but they cause an awful lot of trauma getting that new ball joint and tie-rod in there.
Try to stay patient.
Is going to get there!

 

[Ausman]

Hey gang-

Has anyone else developed a sore shoulder on their cane or walking stick side? I realized after this started that perhaps I was leaning too heavily on the cane. But now it is sore enough that it hurts to turn on that side to sleep. And of course the other side is the operative side, so can't turn that way either.

 

[JoeKnows]

@Ausman not to that degree, but I've been carrying a lot of tension in my cane shoulder for sure

 

[Rouxby]

Checking in on you to see how your foot pain is doing! Hope it is better somewhat.after reading the graphic description of having your leg twisted out of the socket, don’t know that I can ever look at thanksgiving turkey quite the same way again no wonder we have so many odd pains. Hopefully you are walking well and on your way to normalcy.......
Ps, saw the note on the shoulder, me too cannot lay on it, seemed to have stressed it we have.

 

[Ausman]

Checking in on you to see how your foot pain is doing! Hope it is better somewhat.after reading the graphic description of having your leg twisted out of the socket, don’t know that I can ever look at thanksgiving turkey quite the same way again no wonder we have so many odd pains. Hopefully you are walking well and on your way to normalcy.......
Ps, saw the note on the shoulder, me too cannot lay on it, seemed to have stressed it we have.

Ooooh no fair Rouxby- they always make me carve the Thanksgiving Turkey. Now you know what I will be thinking of!

Thank you for checking in re: the foot pain. It is considerably improved. Is yours any better?

And now the shoulder! I had been on and off of my cane since this past winter and well before this surgery. So perhaps there was already some stress. But I've also been sleeping on that side a lot since the surgery and many nights woke up with my shoulder clearly having been in a painful position as I slept under medication.

So, what's next I ask!

 

[Rouxby]

Sorry about the turkey visual, just have to carve with your eyes closed glad to see you are seeing some improvement on your foot, grand news! Me too, no more pain in the toe, still a lot of deadness tho, I have had to return to the walker, too much pain groin to thigh-sigh-why? Look at me rhyming, losing it
Had thought going into week 5 I’m kidding of course.
Continue to keep me posted on your progress!!!

 

[Ausman]

Hey gang-

Oh one more thing. Tomorrow I am seeing my Dermatologist. I am seeking her advice on averting a painful keloid scar at my THR surgery site. I have a history of such scaring since I had a melanoma excised back in 1997. It was on my abdomen, and while painful, was at least not in an area that would be frequently pressed on.

By contrast, my THR scar pokes on everything. Chair sides, seatbelts, etc. So wondering if anyone else here with a THR and a history of keloid scaring has any advice or experience?

Thanks!

 

[1stSurgery]

Sorry, I know nothing about it @Ausman ...but my scars too seem to have been patterned precisely along the seatbelt lines! How do they do that?!

 

[Eman85]

I don't know anything about the scarring, mine looks like a pink pen line now. It did bother me for quite some time as far as tenderness. I couldn't carry my wallet in my rear pocket and sit down for some time. Now it doesn't bother me but I protect it a little as I had 2 previous surgeries on that hip and never enjoyed banging it. It's not tender but lying on my OP side on a hard floor is uncomfortable. As far as the shoulder goes I would do it while sleeping.

 

[Ausman]

Hey all-

Sooo...week 6. Last few days have to say I feel like I've been in a car wreck. Lower back hurting, right knee aching (probably from my limp), right shoulder throbbing (probably from my cane.) All of this is new since my surgery. And of course my new hip still hurting with a new shooting pain that just started. Definitely felt better 2 weeks ago. I've done just a tiny bit of walking to get out of the house, and I feel that my limping gait is doing me more damage than the walking is doing good. Absolutely exhausted on top of all this.

I'm pinning my hopes on starting PT next week, where I will ask them to help me focus on posture and gait rather than resistance at first. I know hips don't need it, but every other muscle in my body needs help after my year pre-surgery.

Oh- five days left of pain meds and my OS says no more after that. In preparation, I've tapered myself down to just 2mg/day of Dilaudid at bedtime, so hoping that the pain isn't significantly worse afterward.

On top of this my dear wife is fraying a bit too and I don't know when I can say this will be over. I know that my disturbed sleep patterns and social isolation are affecting her too and I feel terrible about it all. Very ready for this to start feeling like it was a good idea.

Well, I know I'm unloading, and sometimes it just feels better after you do! Sending healthy healing thoughts to all the Bonesmarters.

 

[1stSurgery]

Hey @Ausman, so sorry to hear about your recovery road setbacks. You need @Mojo333 to post that recovery map to find which squiggle you are at now. I feel for you, and your aches, but try to remember...week 6 is 6 out of the 52 weeks they say our bone takes to encapsulate that new shiny hip baby and then fully heal. So the twists and turns in the road are an inevitable part of the process.

Your right knee might well be what many of us experience around week 4-5 of recovery on the other unoperated side. That Unoperated side has to take a hard month of additional weight-bearing labor while the operated side toddler leg is just getting its first ginger steps down and all the burden is shifting to your right side joints during those first weeks. Most of us end up with our other hip taking the beating and find to our dismay we need to set THR surgery #2 earlier than expected. You might be having a similar extra burden on the right knee that took a month or so of extra weight bearing to begin feeling pained. If so, you may want to walk a little less and see if the knee calms down. And ice it a little more. The shoulder is probably as you say, cane walking. And the back could be from back sleeping without a support pillow (sayeth the pillow queen!!) or just in general after what all the body has been through!

As for your wife, show her the recovery map graphic too!! This is not like getting a tooth pulled. It's a long run ordeal. Hate to remind you, but... you kinda have been in a car wreck! Broken bones, twisted, yanked, reamed, hammered, sawed, cut open, Sewn back up. It's trauma with a T. You are now in post trauma. It will get better, hang in there!!

Can't you guys have friends over at home instead of going out for socializing? I've really enjoyed house visits from friends during all these months of being back and forth in various states of recovery.

Hope you have your turnaround in the pain-diminishing and healing direction very soon Ausman!!

 

[Mojo333]

It was one that was shown to me..probably about a little over a month out
Remember your post op guidelines left for you early on in recovery...(so many of us are too hoped out to read them and absorb it)
Good time to re-read. Especially this one
http://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/post-op-blues-is-a-reality-be-prepared-for-it.7591/
Hope today is a better day!

 

[Layla]

Unload all you want, we don't mind. We've all been there.
Sorry you're feeling a bit down. Have you tried heel-toe walking for the limp?
My PT recomended it and it works -
Let your heel hit the ground first followed by toes.
It takes a concentrated effort but I believe you'll notice a difference. Give it a try.

I agree with 1stSurgery on inviting friends or loved ones over. It may be enough for your wife until you're able to get out more. Encourage her to get out of the house and away from the recovery scene of home, herself, so she can re-charge a little. I'm sure she understands what you've been through physically and that healing takes time. If not, there are always a few online videos you could pull up and show her. Gross, bloody, scary, surgery scenes, right in time for Halloween Just trying to add some levity, lol.
I'm too chicken to watch them, myself

I hope you have a good week!
@Ausman

 

[Layla]

Happy Two Month Anniversary!
I sure hope things have improved for you over the past two weeks.
Please let us know how you're doing. We here and we care,
Wishing you well as you move forward.
@Ausman

 

[Ausman]

Thank you Layla, Mojo333, 1stSurgery and everyone!

You've all been in my thoughts, and I apologize for having stepped away from the forum for a bit. As I finish week 10, my recovery remains quite rocky. As the pain at my surgery site seemed to get worse from week 6 and beyond, I saw my OS about 3 weeks ago (actually his PA, as my OS was unavailable). The site seemed to have healed well, but it felt for all the world like it was "burning" and very painful.

They did more xrays and she diagnosed bursitis and IT band inflammation. She amended my PT orders to include bursitis and IT band protocols, and recommended high-dosage ibuprofen (800mg 4x daily) and additional icing.

None of this seemed to help, and so last week my OS prescribed a 6-day dosepak of Prednisone. It was miraculous! I had my first pain-free weekend since my surgery! I really thought I had turned a corner!

I finished the prednisone on Tuesday, and am so disappointed to say that today, two days later, the "burning" is back full force. I went from a nearly normal gait over the weekend, back to my slow painful limping.

Does anyone here have experience with post-THR bursitis? My reading indicates that a steroid injection may be the next step, and my OS indicated the same at our last visit. So discouraging that at this point I'm back to the band-aids (i.e. steroids) that got me through the year leading up to my THR. I also don't want to continue with so much Ibuprofen as my blood-pressure has predictably shot up at that dosage.

Thanks gang and sending hopeful thoughts and prayers to all for a great recovery!

 

[Mojo333]

Jeez Ausman!
I'd like to tag @Josephine for you because she would be the one to give you the best information on this.
Hopefully some others with bursitis issues will pop in to comment.
For some reason I didn't envision burning to be the description of bursitis...but I certainly don't know.
I feel badly that your bouts of relief have been short lived!
I sincerely hope they get this squared away so you can get on with life.
Good mojo coming your way