I got a new hip

[gsdx]

I waved my hand a little and told him, "This is not the hip you're looking for".

I heard Sir Alec Guinness' voice when I read this, and then I smiled.

 

[dpnice]

Ready for some limbo dancing?

 

[Keeland]

I'm glad it went well, Kulindahr.

Don't miss any updates, 'cause then we'll worry.

 

[gsdx]

I just had a thought. Do the operations make us 'hipsters' or 'hippies'?

 

[Kulindahr]

I just had a thought. Do the operations make us 'hipsters' or 'hippies'?

Or "hippos"?

I just finished my first tour around the block -- thank God it's a short one! Two-hundred meter limp, with crutches, total time 819 seconds. That was using the "support the surgery" gait, which moves both crutches right along with the operated leg; the idea is to walk as close to normal as possible and just use the crutches for support.

I can crawl faster than that . . . . which isn't as silly as it sounds. Crawling uses the lifting muscles in the thigh without having to actually lift the weight of the rest of the leg, so they don't get stiff from lack of use. And crawling is the best way I've found to get onto my bed: crawl forward halfway across the bed, lie flat, hold my legs together, then roll to straighten out. For at least several more days I have to avoid rotary motion with the operated hip, and when I try to do it their way I end up trying to rotate, so I'm doing it my way.

Now I'm falling asleep -- that trip around the block drained my energy! Time for a couple of oxies and a mj tab, and so to nap.

 

[Kulindahr]

Ready for some limbo dancing?

I was actually thinking about dancing earlier today. It's been so long since I've been able to I was wondering if my muscles remember how.

 

[gsdx]

For at least several more days I have to avoid rotary motion with the operated hip

Wow. I had a 3-month limit. It ended just 6 days ago.

I wasn't allowed crutches. Straight to the walker. I learned how to walk with a cane, but used the walker until my surgeon told me I could use the cane. I haven't used the walker in over a month now. I don't even need the cane, but I use it for balance. My balance was never good to begin with, and it's even worse now.

 

[LeicsDom]

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".

When I had mine done the surgeon, when he came round to welcome me to the hospital and say hello, drew an arrow on the thigh he was operating on for that very reason. Seems to me a very sensible precaution which costs nothing

 

[LeicsDom]

doing a few minutes of no-resistance stationary bicycle,

I found this was extremely helpful in restoring mobility. I got on my exercise bike the day after I got out of hospital

 

[bankside]

Wow. I had a 3-month limit. It ended just 6 days ago.

I wasn't allowed crutches. Straight to the walker. I learned how to walk with a cane, but used the walker until my surgeon told me I could use the cane. I haven't used the walker in over a month now. I don't even need the cane, but I use it for balance. My balance was never good to begin with, and it's even worse now.

I definitely think there are advantages to planned surgery rather than putting things together after a fall. I hope your recovery is making progress too, even if it's slower.

 

[ronboy]

I am glad to hear that you are on the mend!

 

[gsdx]

^ Mine was a different replacement. Mine was the ball. Kuli's, I believe, was the socket. Mine was much more invasive so they could get the top of the femur outside my leg. I'm so-o-o-o-o-o glad I slept through it all. I heard a few horror stories about people waking up during surgery.

 

[roadtripboy]

I hope you have a speedy recovery. Best wishes!

 

[Kulindahr]

Wow. I had a 3-month limit. It ended just 6 days ago.

I wasn't allowed crutches. Straight to the walker. I learned how to walk with a cane, but used the walker until my surgeon told me I could use the cane. I haven't used the walker in over a month now. I don't even need the cane, but I use it for balance. My balance was never good to begin with, and it's even worse now.

I'm not allowed bending plus rotating for another six weeks, and the amount of rotation I can do is minimal. One I think is related to that: I'm allowed to put the right ankle (not-operated) over the left ankle, but not the other way around. I ended up just barely tipping the left foot outward this morning and nearly screamed.

I got crutches several weeks ago -- the hip was so bad I needed lengthy breaks from walking on it. I'd do bits of yard work and bits of conservation work without them, but the rest of the time I pretty much relied on them. Since I was so clearly confident with them, the therapy guy made me do one trip to the bathroom with the walker, checked it off, and noted I was ready for crutches.

I don't know if the actual surgery had something to do with it or not, but Bammer is definitely respecting the crutches better suddenly. That was one of the doc's concerns, because if Bammer bumped a crutch I'd get rotation and bending catastrophically.

 

[Kulindahr]

I found this was extremely helpful in restoring mobility. I got on my exercise bike the day after I got out of hospital

I'm having a love-hate relationship with that bike. Just a week before the surgery I was ripping around on a mountain bike, not quite tearing up trails, and not getting winded; today I managed fifteen minutes on the stationary and was gasping for breath and dripping sweat.

 

[gsdx]

I'm not allowed bending plus rotating for another six weeks, and the amount of rotation I can do is minimal. One I think is related to that: I'm allowed to put the right ankle (not-operated) over the left ankle, but not the other way around.

Those were my limitations as well, except that I was told 'no leg crossing'. I still crossed at the ankles, though. Never felt any pain when I did. My biggest beef was having to sleep sitting up in bed or on my back, and I haven't been able to sleep on my back for many, many years. It's only been these past few weeks that I've been able to sleep on my sides for short periods.

It's really a life-changing event.

 

[Kulindahr]

^ Mine was a different replacement. Mine was the ball. Kuli's, I believe, was the socket. Mine was much more invasive so they could get the top of the femur outside my leg. I'm so-o-o-o-o-o glad I slept through it all. I heard a few horror stories about people waking up during surgery.

This was my procedure:

[video]http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/health/services/ortho/getting-treatment/total-hip-replacement-anterior.cfm[/video]


Now I should get one of these:

 

[Kulindahr]

I hope you have a speedy recovery. Best wishes!

LOL

Thanks, though "Speedy" is a word that won't apply to my recovery for a while -- everything is slow and careful for weeks.

I know that circling the block on crutches this soon after surgery seems speedy compared to just a few years ago, but, well, I described my speed above.

 

[Kulindahr]

Those were my limitations as well, except that I was told 'no leg crossing'. I still crossed at the ankles, though. Never felt any pain when I did. My biggest beef was having to sleep sitting up in bed or on my back, and I haven't been able to sleep on my back for many, many years. It's only been these past few weeks that I've been able to sleep on my sides for short periods.

It's really a life-changing event.

I'm supposed to sleep unoperated leg down, then a pillow, then the operated leg. In eight nights like that before surgery, I managed to actually sleep three of them. But since I pop some oxies and mj tabs at bedtime, it's not so hard. The hard part is waking up and trying to turn when I need to pee, because I can't rotate the hip upward, I have to roll my whole body.

I'm allowed to sleep on my back, but that's the second choice, since involuntary movement at night can tilt the foot and twist the hip. If I sleep on my back, I have to pack the leg with pillows so it won't roll.

 

[dereperez]

Wishing you a speedy recovery period with your new hip.