My dad (age 65) went into the hospital this week for what, I was told, were supposed to be just some tests. They did a ton of them and determined that he needs a hip replacement.
What scares me a bit about this is that he’s in really bad health (heart failure, diabetes, horrifically bad blood pressure and so on). They still plan to do it the first week of April, even though all of those things are usually enough to at least delay the surgery.
I’m not sure exactly what I’m expecting from posting this, but maybe some stories of people in a similar condition having few or no complications would help.
My father had both hips replaced at the same time, about 5 years ago. He was 65ish.
He’s diabetic. Overweight. Out of shape.
They did minimally invasive, bi-lateral complete hip replacements. He was up and full weight bearing for short periods of time in under 24 hours. He did have to use a wheel chair for a while, and a walker for a while. He spent a few weeks in a live-in rehab facility.
No after-effects. In some ways, he’s noticeably better. He thought he was going to need two new knees also, but after this surgery, his knee problems went away.
My father has had LOTS of surgeries…broken orbital rim…broken collar bone…separated pelvis…and those are just the horse back riding ones. He often has complications.
The hips? Easy. No issues. It’s a well understood science.
Good luck to your father.
-D/a
I worked 15 years in physio as an assistant (glorified nurse’s aide). About 99% of the hip replacement patients said it was Great! and they wished they’d had the surgery YEARS ago.
The other 1% were born cranky SOB’s.
an seanchai