I got a new hip

[Kulindahr]

It's my own fault, really: in high school and college, playing sports, I treated my hips with very little respect. So they got beat up pretty bad one of them bad enough that the top of the femur looked like a chunk of rotten concrete.

Anyway, two days ago it got replaced. They manage to do it these days without cutting any muscle or ligaments, which means it will heal faster, but it still hurts like crazy because they twist the leg here and there to get at the end and at the hip bone.

So the pain now is a more familiar pain, like from really over-used and abused muscles. That's a much friendlier pain than the sharp jabs and electrical-shock-like things from the hip before it was fixed. It's also better because the pain is in the one place instead of all up and down my leg and even into the other one.

Bammer keeps checking on me and stays really close. He keeps wanting to curl up against me -- right on the hip! but the surgery area is supposed to have ice, not warm dog.

And it's about time for another ice treatment, so off I go at about 0.5 m.p.h.

 

[bankside]

Oh wow. Congratulations. Well, I suppose we should congratulate the surgeon - ha! Well, actually we should probably let you be the judge of that....

Did Bammer get to visit you in recovery or anything like that?

 

[BillyT]

I am glad that the operation is finally over. Now the healing so you get back out. Take care of yourself.

 

[ravenstar]

Hope it heals nicely and quickly. Mum has had both her knees done and said the healing pain was the best thing because she knew it was limited after years of constant chronic pain. Wishy you a speedy recovery

 

[JohnnyAnger]

My partner is having this done at the beginning of next month, so I get the joy of being his carer for a bit - get well soon

 

[kallipolis]

Better days ahead with a wish that the pain subsides rapidly.

 

[Pianist]

Yay for modern medicine! Glad you're on the mend, don't push it.

*pours out*

 

[unloadonme]

So you're at home after two days? That must be a sign that everything went well. Hope you get back to normal very quickly.

One question if I may. Did you have a general anaesthetic or an epidural?

 

[dpnice]

I seems to be a current trend here on JUB; I am waiting for someone else to decide to have one done.

Do you think it is becoming a gay fashion item?

Take care! Heal quickly.

 

[peeonme]

I wish you a speedy recovery, take care

 

[palbert]

Congratulations on the new hip! Take things slow and easy.

 

[gsdx]

You said your operation was different from mine. It must have been if you're home after 2 days. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

 

[eastofeden]

Congrats on the new hip...everyone I know who has had one or both replaced are very happy with the results. I hope you have a speedy and easy recovery.

 

[jdcnow]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

 

[Kulindahr]

Oh wow. Congratulations. Well, I suppose we should congratulate the surgeon - ha! Well, actually we should probably let you be the judge of that....

Did Bammer get to visit you in recovery or anything like that?

Bammer was with me right to the door of the operating room, and was waiting when I got back. He did a very thorough sniff inspection while I was bobbing my way back out of grogginess.

The moment his uniform came off so he could relax, he went to protective mode. There was one nurse he insisted on barking at, so he had to spend the night over at the guest house across the street.

So you're at home after two days? That must be a sign that everything went well. Hope you get back to normal very quickly.

One question if I may. Did you have a general anaesthetic or an epidural?

They did a spinal plus a light general, just enough to put me under. So I came back pretty fast, but had to wait until the spinal had worn off until I got to go to my own room. Fortunately I'd taken a good novel, though Bammer kept pushing it away so he could lick my face.

 

[Kulindahr]

Be careful with it, friend. Do you have friends/family/neighbors who are checking on you for safety until you are strong?

Definitely being careful!

It's kinda weird, 'cause I moved here to help take care of elderly parents, but now the mom is taking care of me. And for things she can't help with, there's a renter/friend who set up his cot about fifteen feet away. I also have a former physical therapist friend who stops by to check on things -- he shakes his head at how different things are even after just five years he's been out of that job, but he has fun pointing out with glee that things he and colleagues as PTs were telling the doctors they should be doing are now standard practice.

Today I work on range of motion stuff in forward/back plane -- that means straightening my leg and then pulling my foot up toward my butt (not that I can pull it even halfway), doing a few minutes of no-resistance stationary bicycle, and (this is humbling) crawling on hands and knees (I can't keep from laughing at the thought that crawling like an infant is a serious accomplishment). I also get to try a minimal leg lift, not going for height but just seeing if I can actually lift that foot off the mattress.

 

[Kulindahr]

You said your operation was different from mine. It must have been if you're home after 2 days. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Part of that was because I practiced everything beforehand. They have a checklist, covering getting off the toilet, getting into and out of a shower, going up and down steps, getting in and out of a car, and of course the use of "assistive device(s)" for all that. I know when to back through a door, how to use one of my crutches to hold a door when I have to go through forward... I even know three different "gaits" with the crutches, and when to use which. Anyway, the O.T. and P.T.s shook their heads and checked me off, with wishes that all patients took it as seriously beforehand. I still had to be wheeled down in a wheelchair to leave the hospital, though (wish I could have brought the two nurses home!).

 

[Kulindahr]

There's one thing I did that got lots of grins: at the pre-op visit the week before, the surgeon wrote his initials on the hip to be replaced. They wore off during the week, which gave me an idea, since teams doing the wrong hip isn't all that rare (never happened at this hospital, but there's nothing wrong with being careful). So when I got wheeled in and they checked my hips, the right side had this:

C A U T I O N
* please open other side *​

When the anaesthesiologist tapped it and pointed it out to a nurse, I waved my hand a little and told him, "This is not the hip you're looking for".

 

[oakpope]

Speedy recovery and hope your hip is well. Next : high jump world record

 

[FPNY]

its amazing what the doctors can do these days....soon you'll be throwing those legs in the air like a rocketette!