If there is a drain in your surgical incision your surgeon might want the bandage and drain removal done at their office. It’s certainly not a job for lay people.
The nurse no doubt has ‘doctors orders’ for your care. Ask her what those orders are, all of them. It’s your right to know. Specifics about the first dressing change will be in there.
Thanks, will do. I was expecting a phone call today about all this home health visiting, but nothing yet.
Gemini explains “low-complex” in this context:
What “Low-Complex” Means For You
- Stable Medical Status: The primary illness or injury has been treated successfully, is stable, and does not require continuous hospital monitoring.
- Minimal Comorbidities: The patient either has no other major chronic illnesses or their existing chronic conditions (like well-controlled high blood pressure) are stable and did not interfere with their recovery.
- Straightforward Recovery Plan: The next steps for recovery are simple. This might involve basic self-care, a brief course of standard medications, or a routine check-up with a primary care doctor rather than a specialized team.
- Independence in Daily Activities: The patient can safely return to their usual living situation without needing advanced nursing care, specialized medical equipment, or complex home health infrastructure. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
Essentially, it is a medical shorthand confirming that the hospital stay was uncomplicated and the transition back home is expected to be smooth and manageable. [1]
Thank you @ThelmaLou. I always knew I was uncomplicated.
I didn’t think of asking an AI about it, I never seem to think of asking AI about anything. Time to get on the bandwagon, I guess.
It just means doing your normal ordinary Google search and then at the top of the page right under the search box there is something that says “AI Mode.” Just click on that and read those answers. That’s all there is to it. That’s where I found what I posted above.
Of course there are the extras you find out about later, like having to sacrifice a black rooster under the full moon while you dance naked around a roaring bonfire. You won’t be able to do that for a while.
This morning (5 days post op) my leg is markedly more stiff and swollen and painful. I guess it’s my comeuppance for being so smug about not needing the pain meds or ice. @Cartooniverse or any others who’ve had a hip done, is it your experience that the swelling & pain got worse several days after surgery? Dr Google seems to think it’s probably ok as long as the swelling doesn’t go past the knee, but i’d like to hear from some real humans (you all are real, aren’t you??)
FWIW, I joined Thelma’s bandwagon about a month ago. Prior to that my attitude was “AI? Who needs it? I’ll do my own searching and digesting TYVM!”
So far the results have been solid and there’s plenty of citations to where it got the ideas it’s digesting for my benefit. Color me a satisfied customer. So far.
IOW:
Come on in; the water’s fine. Pay no attention to the firewood being assembled under the large kettle you’re in though. 
My experience has been that ChatGPT is more accurate than Gemini. However if you tell Gemini that it has given you a wrong answer or just went off in a wrong direction, it will apologize in such an obsequious way that it would embarrass Uriah Heep.
Yes, and yes I am human. And humane !!! 
Swelling below the knee. Mostly pedal edema–fancypants medical term for swollen ankle to the point where, well, it’s hard to find the ankle.
Elevating it a lot more will help. Either by laying in bed or using a footrest/Ottoman/Ottoman Empire type of arrangement.
Very much so that the pain levels increase a few days after Op. Everything is stiffer. The muscles are screaming, having been shoved around AND-- in the larger sense with most of the leg- clamped very very firmly by the device that holds the limb immobile and an an exact angle for femur spike insertion.
The stiffness is helped by the home PT stuff and notably by doing more laps with the walker. I am NOT great at this and am trying to make myself do better. Standing and moving once an hour for 5 min turns out to be HUGE with this. Also, walking to and fro in the apartment helps.
About to do my 3rd virtual PT, hope to show her me on the stairs. Then maybe outside in sunlight and air !
The bruising that is coming your way is also to be expected.
Sorry to hear that, as I sit here on day 3 hoping that I can skip that part. I have eschewed all extra pain meds this morning (tylenol, oxycodone) and just took the Celebrex I was taking before for the arthritis pain. I slept well, got up and took my first shower since coming home, and shaved. I feel bright as a button. I’m wearing the little storage thing for the wound drainage in my underwear, so it is out of the way and not a bother. My leg is very gradually getting stronger, but I still can’t lift it without manual help.
I still haven’t heard anything from any of the home health visit people. I’m wondering now if, being the weekend, I won’t be hearing from them until Monday, when I also have a call with the surgeon. I hope they don’t just show up all of a sudden.
This is good to know. I can start now, and impress the PT. Yesterday I just sat around most of the day. I have a 24’ deck I can walk back and forth on.
Thank you. That is encouraging. I guess. So far the swelling doesn’t go past my knee. Fluid collecting around the ankles is supposed to be more serious.
Yeah, this. I’ve been trying to flex my legs more often, but one of the exercises the PT gave me (“heel slides”) is really painful and takes some will power to get through.
Thanks for the heads up! I bruise quite easily under normal circumstances, so between the blood thinners and surgical trauma I should develop quite a rainbow. At least now I won’t be surprised.
It’s such a cute little incision! Only about 4 in long, glued together plus a few reinforcing stitches. I’m very impressed with the surgeon!
Yeah, I was pretty cocky for a while, forgot to take the ibuprofen and Tylenol and didn’t miss them. I took them both right away this morning though! I still haven’t had to dip into the oxycodone and hope to avoid it.
Isn’t it a great feeling to be clean again? Perks you right up! Brushing my teeth feels so good!
That’s a bit odd. The home health services seem to be contracted separately by each facility. The org UCDMC uses started texting me before I was even discharged. As I mentioned above though, IMO you aren’t missing anything. The first nurse literally just read me my discharge instructions word for word (which I 'd already done several times) filled out her stupid form, took a photo of the incision, and left. I’m pretty sure they are given a script from medicare and dare not deviate. I hope your follow up from the surgeon will be more helpful. Just to illustrate how differently each hospital does things, my follow up appt with the surgeon isn’t untiil Oct 28. By then I should be able to drive myself.
I think we all need to arrange transport to recoup with the Doper Roderick_Femm with the 24 foot deck. Just saying. “OrthoDopeFest '26” !!!
On September 21 I hit 26 years of chronic pain. Around 2pm that day I had a ladder slide out from under me and I suffered what is called a vertical compression fracture. Cracked open the L-3 like a pita bread. Anyway, Celebrex worked for a LONG time for me. Just sent my Sturgeon a few notes and asked if that was an option for me. I figure, 2-3 months and the pain will be gone, I’ll be moving ever so much better and I can ditch it. But for now? Gotta be able to sleep…
The Home Health people work 7 days a week. I’m surprised there’s a gap in communication there!
bobsmom101, I’m no expert but I’ve had enough deep injuries and surgeries that in my limited experience, there is the initial shock. You fall asleep looking at an ungainly heap of medieval hardware and wake up wondering if the ceiling is really crawling around the room. It takes the body a while to process the amount of insulted ( a genuine medical term of use by the way ) or severed nerves. First hip, 2018. Cervical neck surgery, 2024. Now this other hip. In each case, my body took a day or more to really get angry. Muscles have been clamped and moved around, bones have been dissected away and replaced with state of the art hardware. Broken bones hurt a TON, right? Stands to reason that surgically severed bones hurt too.
Trust me, I’m not all sanguine about this. Like some of us, I get cranky with elevated AND unending pain waves. But it is a part of the post-op cycle.
Heel slides. We all have our Waterloo. That one hurts. My wife, recent 2x hip patient, is spotting and adjusting me. Turns out I was dropping my knee off to the side a bit and so the heel slide wasn’t doing what it was supposed to be doing for the new hip socket. Now I slide slower, and only as far as I can till it hurts- but make SURE my leg is straight. My Waterloo right now? Doing Sit-To-Stands. Just killing me. Both legs, both KNEES screaming. ( Being morbidly obese really is doing me no favors in this situation. In fact, in any… ) So, I am helping myself up with BOTH palms a tiny bit. Gotta do them, gotta get the leg and hip happy. But need to protect the sad knees as well.
Wait, how the heck did you only get a 4 INCH incision !?!? That’s incredible. We just opened mine up this afternoon. ( I mean, removed the waterproof gray covering. Not opened opened ). That cut is easily 10 inches long. Hmmmm. Fascinating. Yeah, the use of blood thinners freaks the docs out. How many days before did you have to stop them? The written instructions demand stopping all NSAIDS 2 weeks before. Ahhhh well. They booked my surgery on Tuesday for a Friday procedure. But I do not take any traditional blood thinners.
That first shower was a gift !!! I’d also not shaved and so did that before the second shower. That alone made me feel less grubby. Last time I went even 1 week was when we fled NYC for Lake Winnepesaukee in mid-June of COVID 2020. Hid out for a solid month. Did not shave. Bathed in the lake with camp soap/shampoo.
My follow up on a Sept. 11th surgery is October 20th. Likely could drive myself by then but I know my Dearly Beloved™ has cleared the morning to go with me.
Retired nurse here with 20+ years of home health nursing experience. The communication gaps don’t surprise me at all. Every one always thinks the other co-workers have done the communicating.
Yes, we do work over the weekend but he doesn’t need hands on care like skilled nursing procedures every day or help with self care like eating or bathing. The nurse will probably show up Monday or Tuesday to check on the dressing and incision but not deliver any hands on care. Because he doesn’t need that level of care and insurance will only pay for the level of care needed and prescribed by a doctor.
Yeah, it’s the width of the house. Not much privacy, though, because there is 0" between houses here. So come on down (or up or over). Maybe we can do a very slow conga line.
Wow, @Cartooniverse , you have been through the wringer!
Here’s wishing you a quiet, sedentary life from now on!
No 24’ deck here but I did venture down two steps to the back yard to refill the hummingbird feeders. Got dizzy, had to sit down again. It was about 40’ round trip.
Oh, no, no, no NO Just no. I have to ease the footrest on the recliner down very slowly, then scoot forward, then stand up.
Hey, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours-- if I can get imgur to cooperate. The width of my hand just about covers the stitches.
I have to put in a plug for DEI here. I met 5? or 6? members of the surgical team and except for the anesthetist, all were young women (to me under 50 is young). About half had a lot more dermal pigmentation than I have. All were positive, professional and exceedingly competent. So thank god for DEI!
Let’s see if this works. Well almost – I have a really hard time manipulating uploads/downloads on the phone. The image is distorted, but as mentioned above, I can almost cover the incision with the width of my hand.
I think mine was supposed to look like that, but there was just too much seepage so he had to put a drain in it. That really spoiled the sleek symmetry.
Wow. Tiny ! Because my cell phone takes a mind of its own VERY infrequently and embeds a photo from my gallery into a chat I’m having with someone, the few shots like that have been taken, viewed and immediately deleted !! Next day or two I’ll get my Dearly Beloved™ to shoot another one.
And hey BippityBoppityBoo, thanks for that. I didn’t think that through well. With the first hip, I had a Visiting Nurses of NYC person stop in 2 or 3 times. With the average bandage situation nowadays, it’s clear that the layers are SO tightly sealed that examining the wound really isn’t necessary in the first week. Yes, surely a drain situation is quite different.
Roderick_Femm the t-shirt possibilities alone make this a compelling concept.
