Home from hip op

hope you can manage to sit outside or by a window for a little while to enjoy the sun and cheer you up a little.

Bit of a tussle with the wound today. I left hospital with instructions to remove the dressing today which OH did - but lots of oozing, so had to sit tight till DD managed to get some dressings from the surgery which is miles away. I am a bit squeamish, so it has made me feel a bit grotty temporarily. But just had a bit of lunch so will no doubt perk up.

I had lots of visitors yesterday and it truly wiped me out - welcome though they were.

Those stockings are a nightmare, by the time Linda and I have got them on me, we are both knackered. When i had my hip done I bought a device that worked well and enabled me to do it myself, however it does not work with the knee as i can't bend it far enough atm.

Hope you are improving today Mishap.

Those flippin' stockings are a bane.

Glad you're feeling a bit better Mishap.

Glad to see your positive post Mishap you are bound to feel wiped out after all you've tackled today even chatting to visitors takes it out of you as you say.. glad the good wiggling is going on but no harm in napping either...#

take care

Morning everyone.

Bit better this morning and managed a shower - which has wiped me out completely but I feel like a new woman. Two person struggle to get the stockings back on!

Have received two very kind visitors this morning but they wore me out!

Lots of foot wiggling going on - mainly in time to nice music.

I am falling asleep now!

Hi Mishap, as Charley girls says, there is a lot you can do to prevent DVT whilst sitting or laying down. The hospital told me to flex my feet back and forth to work the calf muscles, then clench my bum cheeks together to work the muscles at the top of the legs. They told me to repeat these 15 times every hour. Working those muscles moves the venous blood back to the heart. You can feel it working, if your toes are cold, flex your calf muscles for a while and you will feel your feet warm up as the blood gets moving.

Mishap somebody mentioned to go for a wander 5 minutes each hour which is good advice. When I said that you were to rest, I did not mention that while resting you can also be exercising to fend off the dreaded DVT, You can be rotating your ankles, flexing and straightening your knees as allowed, get your quad muscles moving, move your arms around to mention a few things. While doing this, you are still in your chair or bed, resting.

Hopefully you will feel better each day.

Morning, Mishap! Hope things are improving for you - slow but sure is the theme! Thinking of you a lot.

I am indulging in GN this morning because the hip pain is bad today - have taken the medication in the hope that I can make my Rotary meeting at lunchtime.....

Mishap you need to do both. ie Rest most of the time but have a five minute wander every hour or so. Sounds like you are doing that so keep it up. Don't try to rush it.

Morning Mishap, I hope you are feeling a little better today!

As others have said, take things easy, be kind to yourself and don't run before you can walk.

i am overwhelmed by your kind messages - it is such a boon. They have made me feel so much better, so bless you for them all.

I have had a chat with my lovely GP today - he was in practice with my OH and he knows me well and all my drug foibles. He has put me on what for anyone else would be a homeopathic dose of codeine, but it is just taking the worst edge off the pain without wiping me out. It is also slightly "trippy" and lifts my mood.

I have been in bed most of the day - until about 3 - as my DD was here with her very boisterous nearly 3 year old boy, and it felt like the safest place to be!! I have been getting up and walking about upstairs and doing my exercises though - I have not been totally idle!

The hard thing is that you get mixed messages: one is that you must not sit around or you will seize up and get a DVT; the other that you have had major surgery and need to rest! Never having done this before it is difficult to get the balance right.

Yes Tegan - the foot problem does not help, and also the fact that that injury has upset my balance, so I am quite nervous on the crutches. In fact I have hired a walking frame as I feel safer on it and therefore move about more.

Anno - I am on an oral anticoagulant - but, after talking to the consultant, I suspect that that is not what is wiping me out, so I will keep swallowing them as instructed.

Pompa - special thanks for your encouraging words when you are yourself convalescent. I am so glad to hear that you are making good progress. Your first slightly despairing post about your knee reflected how I was feeling yesterday!

Spoke to consultant yesterday and he said that I will feel tired for some time to come for all the above reasons that everyone has suggested. Even though I had a spinal, it was pretty heavy sedation and after the surgery they infused the spinal with lots of morphine, so that will have been swilling about in my CSF and will take a while to go away.

Again, huge thanks to all.

You might be able to hip hop, but whatever you do, don't do the Twist for a few months.
Which reminds me - when I had my op. in France, the day before discharge (after 3 weeks) a group of us had a session of videos etc to prepare us for post-op. life.
One of the topics was sex after a hip op. Advice for the best positions - shown in cartoon form. Stifled giggles all round, but one lady, who was a Nun, got up and walked out, too embarrassing!

How are things going- hope pain is improving and movement too.

Hope you won't mind- but your thread title made me laugh- and read it as hip hop - hope you can dance soon

Mishap - I hope you are feeling better today. Take things slowly and be kind to yourself. Moan on here if you want to - you know we are brilliant at 'being there'.

Someone up there ^ said they thought this thread was about HipHop, as I did, no doubt you will be hip hopping before too long

Hello Mishap you have had major surgery and it takes at least 2 months to recover from that alone, and sometimes longer, irrespective of what type of surgery you have had. I think that you feel that you should run before you can walk- enjoy the rest but please do your exercises. Also please do not forget that you are no longer 29 so it does take longer, especially as there was blood loss and not every ml. is replaced. You need rest, warmth and good food.

I've missed these posts by being away, but agree with everyone. Take it easy and accept all the help you can get. Whoever said you should be up and doing? Are you having visits from a district nurse to inject heparin into your stomach as I did? Not comfortable, but at least I was able to report progress or not to her. Your body is in shock from the surgery, so try not to force it - just a very little more activity each day will get you there eventually. Keep on posting and we are there for you. ((((hugs))))

A {{hug}} from me too and sincere hopes that you will start feeling better soon. I have heard somewhere that it can take some time for the anaesthetic to fully clear your system and this may be contributing to how you feel. Just because lots of people are having it done does not make this any less of a major op so a period of convalescence is normal! It is difficult to delegate everything but I hope you can get as much help as you and DH need. Is your anti coagulant Tinzaparin/Heparin? You could ask if there is an alternative but it could also be that your whole system is "down" and that you need lots of TLC. Sending you what virtual TLC I can. Take care and be sure not to live up down to your GN name

Been thinking about you, mishap and am glad for you that it is over! But, as everyone else keeps saying, take your time, take every bit of help and care on offer and look after yourself completely. After my knee replacement, I was shattered, but it soon wore off, I promise.

I'm now on the road to a hip replacement too, and, having seen my x ray, I think my hip is the same state as yours was. No wonder they hurt so much!
xxx

Tomorrow's another day Mishap - said in my best Scarlet O'Hara accent - so take it easy and nurture your energies. Keep posting to let us know how you are feeling. Say ten times every morning "Today I will feel better than yesterday".

As pompa said it takes a good while for all the anaesthetics and other stuff they pump into you to clear the body and it's only a week since the op!

There are lots of positive vibes winging your way and your loving family sound to have rallied round so chin up and KBO as Churchill used to say!

(If anyone doesn't know what KBO means I'll give you a hint - Keep ----- on)

Welcome home Mishap.

You have had a traumatic operation, don't expect too much, too early, just rest and recover, it WILL improve, quicker than you imagine as you start getting stronger. I'm just 2 weeks from my knee op and starting to improve daily now.
The anaesthetics and all the other stuff they pump into you takes a while to get out of the system, once they do you will get your spirit back. My hip op transformed my life.

Regarding odd pains, I had all sorts of odd pains/aches/clicks etc. Some in places I would not have put down to the hip, all eventually disappeared.

Keep chatting, all your friends here are rooting for you.

Look after yourself Mishap, we don't want you having any more mishaps!

Mishap Hang on in there it's early days. (((hugs)))

Mishap please give yourself time to recover without thinking you should be up and doing - let those around you have the pleasure of taking care of you for a while.