THR Reclaiming my Future after THR

[proffrench]

I totally agree with you, which is why this is driving me nuts. I'm trying to find reasons to be up and walking every hour and I've begun to hate my recliner.

 

[proffrench]

Nurse changed the bandage today and she looked a little freaked out by the number of stapled.
#1 I thought SuperPath incisions were 3-4" in length??? My husband, who took the photo for the doctor, said it looks more like 7"????? He erased the photo and didn't want me to see it.
#2 nurse said to take tylenol and then advil 4 hours later before she removes them in 2 more weeks. Said it would be very painful. Advice??? Experiences???
Should I just take a Norco instead? Freaking out!!!!

 

[proffrench]

Husband, a numbers guy, estimates about 50 staples??? He's still vomiting somewhere in the house....

 

[proffrench]

Hi all! Week 2 day 2 post op questions.
1. Why am I getting pain/discomfort in my tailbone on the side of the surgery? Anybody else get this?
2. Using the cane now all day. Lots of shoulder aches and pains, but better than that rotator cuff pain from walker
3. Doing everything PT asks, but I'm exhausted from it and always feels like it sets me back. What should I "normally" be doing during the 2nd week. Where were you all at this point?

 

[Eman85]

You want a reason to get up and walk?, drink more water. Staying hydrated is good and it sure made me walk to the bathroom the first couple of weeks. Normally during the second week the best thing to do is ice and rest.
I didn't have any staples or stitches just a piece of clear tape on my incision so I can't give any insight on the staple removal. My incision was pretty long, posterior no superpath, and I can barely see them now.

 

[AlanInAZ]

Using the cane now all day. Lots of shoulder aches and pains, but better than that rotator cuff pain from walke

A trekking pole or upright cane might help the shoulder pain. My right shoulder is severely arthritic and I found an upright stick type balancing aid removed some of the strain. My next surgical adventure will be shoulder replacement.

 

[Layla]

A simple answer to the tailbone discomfort may be prolonged sitting, if you feel it applies…Doing so can place excess pressure on your tailbone.
This is cold comfort, literally, but it may help….good old icing the area ->

If interested you can use the Activity Progression for THR as a rough gauge of activity in the early weeks to avoid the ODIC (Over Did It Club) I found it useful.
Happy Friday…Hope you have a great weekend!

 

[proffrench]

Thanks for the good advice!

 

[mendogal]

Using the cane now all day. Lots of shoulder aches and pains, but better than that rotator cuff pain from walke

A trekking pole or upright cane might help the shoulder pain. My right shoulder is severely arthritic and I found an upright stick type balancing aid removed some of the strain. My next surgical adventure will be shoulder replacement.

I agree as even a properly sized cane makes me want to hunch. A Leki walking stick has been my upright posture as-needed walking aid for over 20 years.

Many of our members fully come back from hip replacement with just walking and daily life.

Dunno about hips personally, but my post op knee replacement orders were a short walk every hour while awake and like you say it was a welcome break from the varied discomforts of being too long in the recliner.

 

[proffrench]

So I'm using the cane as needed, trying to walk unassisted as much as possible, but always with cane in hand. My lower back on that side is SO tight and it impedes a nice gait. Last xray of my lower spine (I have arthritis in my neck, lower spine, feet and hands) was from 2018 and it showed degenerative discs L3-S1, with anterolisthesis grade 2 ( slipping disc) L4 on L5, along with the usual bone spurs. Anyone else have spine issues and if so, did it impede your ability to walk without feeling like your lower back was cramping up? Before the surgery, when I would walk unassisted, it felt like a fist lodged in my lower back on that side. I'm hoping that the lack of pain in the hip now will ease some of that pressure.

 

[proffrench]

travel question: Last year, my husband and I made plans to take 14 day cruise in Norway, leaving the third week of July. We'd fly from Chicago to Amsterdam, spend a day there, then take Holland America's arranged transport to the port of Rotterdam and cruise the two weeks. It's getting precariously near the time to either pull the plug on this summer and reschedule or hope that I'm up to all that by mid July. I would be a little over 3 months post op by then. Back when we scheduled my surgery, I told my OS about this trip and he was very confident that I'd be able to go and enjoy myself. Ok, I'm only 1 and a half weeks post op right now, on a cane and wobbly, able to walk unassisted for a short way but feeling tight and scared when I do, so my outlook is not positive. It's really hard to picture myself walking confidently without a cane and yet I know we do reach that point, some later than others. What were your experiences at the 3 month mark? Would you have been able to pull this off?

 

[AlanInAZ]

I have not yet decided if I go to Switzerland this summer to visit my wife's family. The only thing holding me back is the possibility of shoulder replacement this summer. Walking every day is normal for our European visits. I am sure that will possible for me in late summer. I am now 4 weeks post op, walk without aids and can comfortably walk about one mile sustained walking. At the two week mark I could walk unaided but only a much shorter distance than one sustained mile. The largest risk could be the long fight from Phoenix [11hours] for DVT. I will wear compression stockings for that flight.

 

[proffrench]

Thanks, @AlanInAZ . You're a few weeks further than I am-- I'll be 2 weeks on Wednesday. I'm getting really depressed because while I can walk unaided for awhile, my gait is off and upper thigh and lower back are very stiff. I'm feeling like I'll never be normal again. I'd walk miles in Europe every day, but that was probably at least 8 years ago before the arthritis got so bad. Shoot, even as late as Fall 2019, I was walking in Siena, Rome, all over Tuscany. And then covid hit and I slowed down. My husband retired at the height of covid and we lost a few years of traveling and then my body started to poop out. I want those years back! And Switzerland! Where is your wife's family from? I spent a great deal of time in the Lausanne area many years ago. Such a beautiful country!

 

[AlanInAZ]

After writing my post I was worried that I may have seemed too optimistic about recovery limits on travel. We are all different. My trips to Geneva are family visits. We take short excursions and return to the family home, essentially to rest and recover. The streets are crowded and uneven in the town but most of our extended walks are outside the town in country settings that are far less congested. Normally a tourism trip will mean many walks in urban settings that may be too difficult at the three month mark. Perhaps the cruises will require less amounts of walking. When I decided to start the process of surgery we allocated one year to recovery for the combined hip and shoulder timelines. We have no firm plans because of the uncertain nature of both recovery processes.

Best wishes on your continued recovery.

 

[benne68]

I'm getting really depressed because while I can walk unaided for awhile, my gait is off and upper thigh and lower back are very stiff. I'm feeling like I'll never be normal again.

I think you are expecting too much of yourself. This is a long, slow recovery and two weeks is very, very early days -- in fact, probably too early to be walking unaided. I used a walker for the first two weeks, then a cane for another month until my gait was better without it then with it. DOn't try to rush this. Walking aids exist for a reason!

 

[proffrench]

@benne68
its so darn hard to judge my progress!!! I have to remind myself that I'm almost 66, suffered for YEARS with arthritis in that hip and my physical endurance had gradually declined over those years. I'm playing catch up with years of limping, disguising limping, compensating-- all of it! To be honest, it's the stiffness in my right lower back that's the worst and I had that for a loooong time before the surgery because of that downhill slide with the hip. I'm like a child who needs constant reassurance that everything will work out. Eventually. That a turning point is right around the corner. I'm a whiney heinie and I know it. Maybe it's because my mom never returned to a normal walk after her surgeries. She used a cane forever after the first one and then never left the walker after the 2nd. And that scares the life out of me.

 

[mendogal]

Each of us assigns our own life metaphor to adaptive aids.
A wheelchair can be one person's lifeline entree to higher education and another person's humiliating admission of failure.
Same for walkers and canes.

You recognize that you've been primed negatively by your mom's example.

If you can now aim to move past it ... they are tools. Period. They need not carry emotional baggage.

They are the number one best way for you to normalize your structure and gait. And you WILL!!!!

PS: There's no time limit on whining or venting, nor shame! We have all been there before and as life proceeds any of us may be there again. This is a safe place for all the doubts, frustrations, and fears.

 

[Freyagirl]

@proffrench 1. At two weeks I was wobbling and hobbling. At 4 weeks 1 hip and 2.5 month on the other I can walk much more smoothly but get tired. I got some Lexi trekking poles and worked with my PT. They make me stand upright and put weight on my legs not my shoulders. They work on smooth and uneven surfaces. My PT had a set for me to try.
2. If you go, you can save yourself a lot of energy by asking for wheelchair service to the plane and back to the baggage counter. No questions about why you need it and costs only a tip. I used this twice with my preop bad hips. Makes a world of difference.
I think I improved a lot in week 3 and 4. I hope you do too.

 

[proffrench]

@mendogal
Your words brought tears to my eyes. You knew what I needed to hear. And yes, I've been primed for negativity in more ways than one by my parents. And they said it all with a gleam in their eyes--"take a good look. THIS is what's waiting for you." You said what I needed to hear. Thank you.

 

[proffrench]

Ok, a little over 2 weeks post op. Staples come out on Monday. Here's where I'm at and a question about stiffness and limp.
Been using the cane successfully since the end of week 1, mostly because the walker gave me rotator cuff issues in my right arm. I frequently go without the cane for short movements in my kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. No pain to speak of, but when I try to walk without it, I limp because of stiffness in my groin and right lower back. On the cane, my gait us much smoother and I use the techniques that the PT is teaching me. My range of motion through PT has improved dramatically and that pleases me to no end. My OS has temporarily put me back on the oral diclofenac not for my hip, but to ease the rotator cuff strain. Obviously that helps the whole body, including the hip. I'm walking like crazy and it feels good to be active again. I can't believe how far I've come in 2 weeks. So here's my question-- the stiff gait when unaided. How long on average did it take you to lose the stiffness in your upper thigh/groin and lower back? Getting a more normal gait unaided? Been following other newbies' stories and sending them hope and compassion.