Went on the table at 7:40 this morning, woke up in the recovery room at 10:30 all done.
Had a back spasm that fired the pain up to unbearable for a few minutes as they were setting me up in bed. They couldn’t give me any analgesic yet because of the anethesia. Was ready to crawl out of my skin. I got them to elevate my feet to relax my back and the pain pretty much dissapeared shortly after. Other than that incident pain has been really low.
They gave me a shot of Kertolac for inflammation early on, and since then the only painkillers I’ve had to take was acetaminophen.
They stood me up when I got to my room. Went for a hunded meter walk down the hall to practice with my walker crutches.
I can’t believe how well this has went. They will release me tomorrow morning.
The table for the anterior approach is this crazy articulated contraption.
Had my arms splayed out and strapped in Jesus mode. They drop the operating leg right down to stretch the quad out and really open access the work area.
I hope your recovery is speedy. A former boss had the same procedure and being as he was healthy to begin with he got better fast. I broke a hip but just had it pinned, not replaced. Do whatever physical therapy is recommended. I waited and when I did start it it took longer. We need to keep all the Dopers we have!
I had some trouble with blood pressure and pain control on Thursday. I lost consciousness on a trip to the bathroom early Thursday morning. Felt dizzy as I was washing my hands and managed to get back down on the commode chair and call help before I blacked out. There was some excitement. I was being stupid, was not supposed to even get up without someone watching me. Took a lot of saline through the morning to stabilize my blood pressure.
Pain climbed day two and although I was able to manage the practice stairs they decided to wait until Friday to release me. I was on two tramacet every four hours for the day and managed much better when we tried the stairs the next time.
Back home and on one Tramacet and 500mg acetaminophen now. Moving around better and better all the time. Not quite managing all my phase one exercises yet but will get there soon. Im tired and a bit cranky but feel positive and very privileged to have a new lease on mobility.
Sounds like you are well on your way to recovery. It’s amazing to think that people get sent home just days after surgery. And it’s great that’s it’s possible.
I will echo Baker - do the physical therapy. It really makes the most of the joint replacement. Enjoy the mobility and I hope the pain stays manageable.
Wishing you a speedy and complete recovery! I have been reading your
reports with great interest as I may need to have hip replacement also.
Looking forward to reading anything you might post about the healing
process.
@FluffyBob How are things? I just picked up my meds, surgery is in 8 days. I’d like to stay away from the Oxycodone. Any advice on pain management? I admit I’m kinda scared, but after doing 4 hours of yard work yesterday, I can barely walk. I want to get this fixed. I hope you’re doing well!
Man, I can relate to that. I was at the point that even a little yardwork would leave me crippled the next day. I didn’t get the deadwood cleared out of the beds before surgery, so I am currently watching everything come up through the standing old stalks. Oh well.
Pain management has been pretty good, with fairly rapid improvement. They tried me on Hydromorphone + Tylenol, or Tramacet. I didn’t find the Hydromorphone had a lot over the Tramacet for me, so settled into 2 Tramacet every four hours, which mostly kept the pain down to level 2 or even one. I went down to 1 Tramacet and 1 500mg Tylenol shortly after getting home. I tapered off to half a Tramacet today and then just the Tylenol. Was pretty sore when I got up, so back on the Tramacet for now. I think at this point Naproxen and Acetaminophen would probably manage better, but the doctor wants me to avoid NSAIDS.
When I was first out of surgery I was thinking maintaining a pain level of 4 was good enough, but then would get spikes into 6,7 etc. That was just too unpleasant. Aiming for level 2 or even 1 allows you to rest well and get through your physio.
Maybe my imagination is too good. “Face 10 hurts as much as you can imagine, although you don’t have to be crying to have
this worst pain” Pain that hurts as much as I can imagine would certainly leave me in tears, or unable even to cry. So then the others scale down, and maybe the pain of my son’s breach delivery (which left me thinking, “now I know how you can die of pain” might be a 7 or an 8, and the pain of pulling a bandage off my finger, when the finger had partially healed into the bandaid – pain which left me on the ground, I litterally fell to the ground from it – is perhaps a 7. And… yeah, other than that and the time I seared my thumb, I’ve never experienced anything worse than a 3 or a 4.
1 Mild
2 Minor
3 Uncomfortable
4 Moderate
5 Distracting
6 Distressing
7 Severe
8 Intense - you have trouble talking. Physical activity is severely limited.
9 Excruciating - you cannot do any of your regular activities. You are unable to converse or are
crying out and/or moaning uncontrollably.
10 Unspeakable - The worst pain you can imagine. Very few people will ever experience this level of
pain.
It also says that you shouldn’t overstate your pain level.
I had a bilateral full hip arthroplasty, direct anterior approach. If you are only doing one hip, things are going to be a little easier. Posterior approach is more invasive so may require more healing time. I do know there are more precautions during recovery for the posterior approach. For the Anterior approach, I have been told to progress with physio and aides at my own pace.
Because I had both hips done at the same time, there is no good leg, and standing up required lifting myself with my arms, grabbing the walker, and rolling a little to stand up straight. Anterior approach stretches the crap out of your quads and for the first three days they were the most painful thing. Getting up was very hard the first few days. Im not back to normal yet, but it is pretty easy now.
Toilet seat risers are made by the devil. I needed one because I needed the handles to lift myself up. The higher you sit, the easier it is to get up, but also the less stress on your new hip joints. It went away as soon as possible.
You will need a two wheel walker until you can transition to crutches. Four wheel is just too unstable. A friend gave us a four wheel walker with a good seat and I thought that would be best. At the hospital I quickly learned I needed the two wheel walker for the stability, and got one rented for the trip home. Im done with it now and just on crutches. The seat of the four wheel walker is great for working in the kitchen for example.
I am at the point now that I can stand very stable on my own and feel safe. I could easily walk a few steps without support, but I don’t. I can even lean over with a crutch or cane for support and pick something off the floor, but I try to keep the grabinator close and use it.
The grabinator and the long shoehorn are really useful. So it a shoulder bag or something to carry things around with. The sock aide is a pain in the ass. Hip cushion is good, but any firm cushion would serve the purpose.
@FluffyBob My surgery is Friday, 5 days from now. I’m trying to figure out how to feed myself after the surgery (I live alone). Any suggestions? Thanks!
I know it will be a lot easier with one good hip, but must say I am a little concerned that you won’t have a helper. Hope there is someone you can call if you get in a tight spot. Wear shorts or something with pockets so you can have your phone with you at all times.
Keep the food simple, have some quick foods you like available. You probably wont be too hungry, but you need to make sure you get regular meals with plenty protein and fibre. I got myself a green bunch of bananas, and a bag of oranges. I had a few carrots, but I wish I had grabbed more. I also had some left over steak and chicken pieces so it was really easy to just eat a few pieces of meat. I also got some instant oatmeal and raisins and dried cranberries for easy breakfast. Some canned or frozen microwavable meals will help get you through the first few days. TMI: I am very regular, but it was five days before I had a bowel movement. Be prepared, cause the anesthetic and pain killers are going to fuck up your digestion.
Be best if you can stick to microwave cooking for the first few days. You certainly need to be careful with anything full of hot liquid that you could spill on yourself. Get a chair or stool for the kitchen, you wont be able to stand for long and will tire quickly at first. You wont be able to carry a bowl of food and walk at first. Have a plan to get the food to where you can sit and eat.
I took a urine bottle home with me from the hospital, not ideal but it was much easier than getting up every time with the amount of water I was supposed to be drinking.
Also make sure you have several LARGE cold packs. I had one already for my back that was about 12x18 and it was really useful. You are going to want a regular supply so you will need two or three. A really big bag of frozen corn or peas works really good. A ziplock bag of ice just all settles to the bottom. you need something that is going to form around your hip and stay there.