operation Tues,two days recovery, home Fri morn (stayed in bed on day of op,up next day and use Zimmer frame for walking, and sticks the following day)

got the epidural* I so wanted. Some "able bodied" folk with normal spines did not manage to have the epidural successfully. Go figure

each day has seen a tapering off of the pain. Surgeon fitted the "best materials available" says he, like ceramic for instance...

home today, not slept in 4 nights due to sharing room at hospital with three other guys, two of whom were in their 80s,but enough said about that the better. Both gentlemen incontinent (one double incontinent),and IMO both suffering from urine infections and the resulting confusions, never slept the whole time/stay from the resulting early morning,2/3 am, clean downs, anyways I shall leave this episode. Very distressing

after op could not pee into bed bottle thingy due to the strangeness of such an act or the effects of the epidural on my bladder or a combination of both, so had a tube insert catheter into bladder. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear

already noticing increased range of motion in hip, great! and not much pain at all now.so far so good

everyone who seen me after the op said they could not believe how well,happy and much younger I looked.."the worry appears to have left your face" was amongst the many positive comments

today however, I seem to have come crashing down to the ground...maybe the relief of having the op over with kept me going on Wed and Thurs, but the sight of the catheter "tracks/temporary damage" and op work I saw in the mirror today has stunned me

to add to todays crash down was the attitude of a small percentage of the nurses (the VAST majority were just adorable and extremely helpful) a couple reminded me of the housekeeper in Hitchcock's REBECCA

after the physiotherapists (all lovely) tested me out for independence on the stairs, I worryingly told a staff nurse that the blood was trickling down my leg from the wound.."oh, its normal she said" half an hour later my pyjama bottom pockets were filling with blood and I approached her again and she said sternly" we will deal with it after lunch" after lunch I had to wait a further 40 mins before she eventually came to my aid

a THR with an epidural is like working in the centre of a builders yard, with YOU as the block of wood.NO pain but I don't think it is for everyone

part of this crashing sensation could also be a delayed reaction I suppose to the trauma from this week. I shall write a more level headed report in a few day when I have had some rest and a chance to sort things out in my head. Glad I done it all the same


the physios and nurses were all impressed at the speed of my recovery. That was due of course to all my pre op prep and upper body strength...now for the post op.......

LOUISE, thanks very much


a very tired,slightly battered and bruised Salty

* 3 or 4 mins after administering the eppy the surgeon asked me to lift either of my legs off the op table...lo and behold, try as I might, it was impossible to do so, very strange feeling

Oh Salty,
That sounded kinda awful to be honest. I have only had one surgery in my life and I never want another one...ever!!!

Never had a catheter and your description makes me never want to have one...OUCH, you poor thing.

I hope your new hip makes you feel a lot better, it is nice to hear that your friends said those positive things about you and that you look less worried, I hope it keeps up and I hope you feel better than today in the coming days.
With that said, I hope you have a nice weekend, rest up and take it slow so you recover just the way you are meant to

I know exactly what your talking about.... Every detail
I've had several major surgeries to hip and femur and my experience was just like yours.
The come down is the morphine wearing off that they give you whilst your out.
The worst part as you rightly say was having the catheter removed. Holy Jesus never again as long as i live will i ever let anyone do that to me. I woke up with it and wasn't impressed
Your also right, most of the staff are angels but there are certainly a few who have clearly lost there way and forgotten why they joined the profession in the first place....
I could put up with it myself, but couldn't stand to see the way some of the old boys on the ward were treated. Nothing short of shamefully.

Your recovery will be quick and you will soon be making great progress.
Keep you chin up


Ps, i couldn't pee lying down either! Every fibre in my body resisted as it goes against every thing you have learnt since coming out of a nappy !

I am so glad it is over with for you and that you are doing well. The trauma of surgery on your body can do strange things.
Since my spine surgery 3 months ago today, my forever straight hair is curly!

Be good to yourself and don't expect too much out of yourself too soon.

Blessings.

Hello Salty,

Good to hear back home and hip already feels better. Best to you on continued improvement.

I would agree that episode in hospital would leave me a bit distressed as well.

Best to you moving forward.

Tim

thanks all sleeping like a baby at the moment

2 laps, with no pain, around the housing block tonight

if anyone has gone beyond the " I simply can't put up with this anymore" due to their hip/pain issues, I would thoroughly recommend the op.my only regret is I did not have this done some years back and saved my WIFE and I, a LOT of grief

I will wager the above coupla lines have been written a THOUSAND times

well if I put the same sort of effort into the post op preps I should be good to go in a coupla months....but one has to take their time ,and here is why.......

the day after my op they wheeled in a new patient and placed him in the bed next to me and his story went like this....

"I was just getting into the car two days after my THR replacement in Scotland's premier hip op hospital, GOLDEN JUBILEE, when I heard a loud POP! instant, agonising, unbearable, dreadful pain...the suicidal kind. The wife ran back to the hospital and they sent down two paracetamol with instruction to "apply some ice"

he quickly made his way to my little ol' town hospital, and my surgeon, the wonderful Mr McCloud,manipulated the hip back into place without the need of surgery. I learned a LOT that day, take care after a THR for a good few months and never drop "your guard"

Sunday I shall do THREE laps, and on Monday I will advance to the short walking sticks and venture until the onset of tiredness

P.S. re the controversy over dental appoinintments,anti biotics and THRs...let me clear that up for you....

the day before my admission to hospital for my op I had a timely dental appointment where I brought up the subject of ABs and THRs " ach ,it's old hat now and naeboddy usually bothers about it any more, if you are concerned at all take it up with your surgeon"

so I did. I took it up with my surgeon....."ach, it's an east coast west coast thing these days and naeboddy bothers with it any more, but if you are still concerned about it at all take it up with..........."yep,you guessed, your dentist


thanks all
love John


man there is no place like home

I have to wear a rather fetching set of white support stockings for 6 weeks. Perhaps the wife could find a nice little white matching bra for me.............for Halloween

I also have to self admin a single injection every day for the next six weeks...EVERYTHING IS FOR SIX WEEKS!

I was also discharged with a booklet detailing the do's and don'ts for the next SIX WEEKS, and the page explaining the recommendation of abstinence from sex for the next SIX WEEKS was carefully removed/torn from booklet, and discarded in the hospital bin before returning home

Salty

Buster, don't know about you but I am black, blue, and yellow down there at the mo

I think you are an absolutely wonderful example of preparing well for a THR - not just sitting there thinking "it will all be better when..." but actually making sure you stayed in good shape and that you understood everything that was going to happen (well, except for the catheter part, anyway). I don't know many folk who would have been able to do what you are doing already. Keep up the good work.

Yes, know those hospital stories. I just find it unbelievable that people don't complain more often in the UK. No, change that. I do find it believable - having tried myself and not only not got listened to, but made to feel really awful for complaining. Friend of mine just got kicked out of hospital before she had started eating properly after her op, and as soon as she got home she was sick as a dog - totally blocked up non-motile gut for a few days, living alone, couldn't move fast, and just GP to try and help. She got through it more by grim determination than any health care though.

That flat, odd feeling - really common a few days after anaesthetics. Only takes 12-24 hours for the main effects of those drugs to stop, but they are complex chemicals, so you can often get a "hit" from one of the components of it as it starts breaking down in your body. I can remember having ketamine once as a "light" anaesthetic, and it was absolutely awful about 36 hours after the op. Thought I was going off my tree for a few hours.

what a trooper!!! wishing you a speedy recovery, my friend !!! big hugs from the bayou!!! Michelle

many thanks C and M

Hey Saltire,

Good Luck on your recovery!!! Get lots of rest if you can!!!

district nurse came to visit today to remove soiled dressing and clean wound...."these wounds are getting smaller and smaller" she said

I asked her how long the wound was and she gestured with her hand, a max of four inches (one wound only)

no bone pain, increased range of movement, although I am not gonna push anything, sore thigh muscles and sore wound* is about the size of it today

did all my exercises and had my walk. The only downer would be sleeping all night on my back


*nurse says the painful wound is a sure sign that it is healing

Youl be surprised how quickly you make progress and recover. You have no broken bones, the mechanical parts are fixed in well and very strong. All your waiting on is muscle and tissue recovery. Don't push it, but don't be afraid to use it either.
I had some issues with altered sensation and numbness down back of my thigh, still do, its not gone away. But its no real bother.
I thought in the early days I'd make a recovery but it would never be right. Well, it isn't 100% right but I'm more then happy with 90%
I get niggles, aches when its cold or I've sat funny too long .... If i walk too far it some times packs in, but its far better then no leg thats for sure.

Best of luck pal

cheers Buster

is your hip problem AS/OA associated ?

did you have the minimally invasive surgery ? (two scars)

you say if you walk too far you get sore, what gets sore Buster old friend.....muscles or bone, or both?

Louise has gone through this with me somewhat, but I'd always imagined that if the offending hip was removed so too would the pain

I feel confident that if I put the same sort of effort into the post op prog that I put into the pre op prog,i shall be good to go.....but I ain't taking any silly chances

thanks for you reply B

John

PS what about Andy Murray then ?

BBC sportsman of the year Andy V Mo

Hello John,

Good to read you are doing better.. hopefully new hip continues to do well.

Reading so many posts over the years, many seem to say the same regarding new hip after surgery.

Take care,

Tim

is your hip problem AS/OA associated ? Actually my hip and femur was more..... Motorcycle related

did you have the minimally invasive surgery ? One scar for hip, about 100mm long, stapled. It's left a big sunken indent ,looks a bit nasty but its fine.

you say if you walk too far you get sore, what gets sore Buster old friend.....muscles or bone, or both? Muscle, the bone doesn't exist pal. The muscle suffers some trauma during the op, i had mine done twice cos i snapped a screw ! They tell me its un heard of. I walk so far and then its starts to give me some jip. I try to stretch it out as its a bit like a pulled ham string feeling, but it won't go away. I reckon the muscles has a fair but of scar tissue and after a while it just stops working and needs rest.

thanks for you reply B. you are most welcome john.



PS what about Andy Murray then ?

BBC sportsman of the year Andy V Mo. - you jocks and your andy Murray, never heard a peep from you when he was a looser


Hahahahah..... Any questions pal, no worries.

thanks Dot and Buster

surgery a week ago today....had a mile long walk today and constantly found myself having to reign myself in...

not able to play my electric guitar yet.I could I suppose support my back against the bedroom wall and take most of my weight on my "good leg" but my good leg is far from perfect and a hour of so of weight bearing on this leg would quickly leave the good leg in a LOT of pain.result?great hour of guitar playing and many days of pain and immobility due to stressed "good leg"

sitting is of course, for the time being, out of the question and may always be due to the pain in my "sitting bones"

these stockings don't 'alf itch mam

Salty

Play lying down I always do....
Try a stool to just park your bum on the good side....

I can deal with all the places AS has hit me but the one place i truly resent this thing giving me pain in is my hands. I'm a player of 20 years plus , i can feel my hands slowing down
The pain in my hands and wrist is like tooth ache, but until they drop off ill keep on playing.

" these stockings don't half itch"

Keep the stockings on, but You can take the suspenders and frilly knickers off now mate

heh heh heh

every morning upon awakening I have a kinda sore/tender spot on my left ankle.as I HAVE to lie on my back (for 6 weeks) this is a point of contact with the bed and my weight and friction is causing some mild and short lived discomfort. Oh boy, long term bed stays MUST cause some awful and deadly issues.

you think I could place a pillow under my lower calves at night
so that my ankles are "free floating"

in all my pre op research this is an issue that I have never come across before, neither was it mentioned in the hospital

get one of those soft squishy travel pillows filled with microbeads, saltire. They are great for taking the pressure off areas like that, and because they kind of mould to your body shape it supports it really well. I use one under my neck and its been the best thing out. You probably don't want my lovely pink one though.

I agree with cemc, them beady pillows are great.
I used to sleep on my good side with a foam block between my legs, works really well for me.
The foam block was a big PVC orange thing they sent me home from hospital with, it was designed to cradle my right leg under the femur.....being orange it was affectionately known as my "cheese".
I can't lie on my back for long either cos my chest and back ache, so i reverted to putting the cheese between my thighs and lying on my good side.
This splint type affair helps great with moving in and out of bed to... I kind of used my good leg to cradle my bad one and carry the weight of it so i could swivel out....

Try a pillow between your legs and see if you can shift onto your good side

been using that between the legs technique for years Buster, pre op.....funny the wife insists the cushion smells like cheese

can't roll on to my good side/leg for the time being as I can feel/imagine the stitches straining INSIDE my operated leg ,oh sore. Thanks all the same B

John

Hi John: If you walk in a circle around your house you will never be further than maybe two blocks away from home if you choose two blocks to be the distance away from your house. If you feel you have overdone the walk then you know you only have two blocks to walk home. Ease up. If you mess up the good works done by your surgeon he will be ticked off and have to fix it then you will have to begin rehab all over again. So go easy, Rome wasn't built in a day...Tom

good call Tom, thanks

the further I get from the day of the op the more pain I am beginning to feel in my leg muscles, soft tissue and scar. Swelling above knee is quite pronounced but Docs at hospital (start of op week) and district nurse (yesterday) don't appear concerned

no calf pain...so tired and a little fed up

so far no OA bone hip pain.....:)

The other option to the microbead pillow is the type my hospital used to make sure the issue you describe would not happen. It's called an "egg crate cushion" because it's shaped like the box that eggs come in, with round indents every inch or so that will gently cup the foot and help prevent bed sores. I'm very surprised your hospital didn't include something like that as part of your post-op treatment along with the white stockings, as EVERY surgery I've ever had I was given an egg crate cushion for my feet because I was at higher risk of bed sores than the average patient (because as a severe AS patient, they knew I likely had less circulation in my feet, which put me at higher risk).

Brad

Brad
you think it will be OK to have a SLIGHT elevation, via a pillow, to raise my ankles just an inch or two off the mattress ?

PS calves on the pillow?

In my opinion, yes, it absolutely would be ok to have that amount of elevation if you put a pillow under your feet or even under your calves (I was told that was another option if I didn't have an egg shell cushion with me at any time--putting a pillow under the calves to raise up the feet a bit was better than nothing). Just always remember to never do anything that causes you any kind of significant discomfort and don't put your legs in any position they put on the "no-no" list (crossed ankles, knees above the hips when you sit, etc.--those things can really cause problems if the hip isn't healed fully).

Good luck!

Brad

thanks Brad...tried it last night and it worked a treat!

John

staples/stiches to come out Monday

I knew a THR was not going to be a walk in the park....but I never knew it was going to be soooo tough

bit down today after the initial elation of a successful op during the 1st week

some of the post op exercises are getting a little easier, so leg/muscles must be getting stronger I guess
John

Hi John - it's all over with and now back home, facing the long haul rehab. Yes, rehab takes a time, so the time it takes is the time you take, so take the time it takes (a Parelli'ism).

You have received good advice so, keep a goin.

Take care - glad to see you back on the boards -

(Taken a time to write a note as up to my eyes in this an that...term time has restarted for ALL the projects I'm involved in, and just can't keep up, plus taken on another project! So forgive my tardiness in writing.)