Hip advice, please

Social Services leant me a big trolley on which to convey my meals from the kitchen - not so easy when there's a step up to the dining room! My GD, then almost three, was very disappointed then next time she came and I'd had to give it back. The best fun I had was in M&S and Sainsbury's when I was able to borrow a powered wheelchair.

DH had his first one done just before the school holidays. After the first two weeks I had four grandchildren to look after as well!!

England were about to win the Ashes so DH amused them by perching at the kitchen table teaching them fielding positions using salt and pepper grinders, bottles of tomato ketchup, HP sauce etc. They then squabbled over who was next to have a go round the garden on the elbow crutches.

Such larks!

Thanks for your comments, everyone. Much appreciated.

I asked my friend about timing last night at book club, she said she was so low over December and January, she recommends that if anyone has a choice of dates, go for soon after xmas. That way you can sleep through much of January and are cheered by the lengthening days when you start to feel better.

She walked across an icy road last night, and felt brave enough to do it. I was impressed. She said only last week she wouldn't have risked it.

Mine play a wonderful game of hide and seek with a soft toy which they grab in the grabber and hide somewhere high where they could not normally reach. The seeker has great fun climbing all over the furniture looking for it. Hours of endless fun!

My OH is quite excited by the idea of cleaning the raised loo seat in the dishwasher and is all set to give it a go!

I have the same problem with my dgds and the grabbers! I have one grabber by my chair, one on top of the washing machine and one in my bedroom. They all end up in the lounge side by side when DGD's come. I think they're trying to breed them.

The grabber is the biggest possible hit with the GC - it is hard to part them from it when it is time to go home!

NotTooOld, we were loaned a lot of equipment from the OT department including a loo seat, loo surround, chair raisers and a perching stool. We were so impressed with the perching stool we bought one for DH's workshop because he spends hours in there and it's the right height for the workbench. He also uses it when he does a barbecue so he doesn't have to stand for too long.

We bought a lot of stuff for Mum from a catalogue. I can't remember the name but I would ask your district or practice nurse as there's bound to be a supplier in your area.

When Mum died we donated some of her stuff to the nursing home but we kept two cushioned seat pads which are useful for garden chairs and the 'grabber' for planting potatoes.

Interesting - it really does vary hugely from area to area then, as although grab rails and chair raisers, loo raiser and stockings were given to my friend, she was only given a walking stick not crutches, a grabber she had to buy for herself. No leg raising thingy. Although I believe she made one.

Raised loo seats are indeed very cheap, and we bought 2 for upstairs and downstairs. I share galen's comments about GP surgeries having such low chairs. Even the Nuffield where I had my hip done (and where they do dozens of hips a week) only has low chairs in both the waiting room and the consulting rooms - and no raised loo seat in the ladies. Having been told not to bend the hip below 90 degrees it does seem bonkers that their chairs etc are not geared up for that.

Other aids that I was given: grabber, crutches, leg raiser and long shoe horn.

I borrowed a loo surround from Red Cross and have found this very useful - and we fitted a grab rail in the downstairs loo. They also loaned me some chair raisers and a perching stool for the shower.

I also bought online a sock putter-on which was very cheap and has been invaluable. I cannot straighten one of my arms as it was pinned after a fracture and this aid is a real blessing.

You can buy a seat raise for the toilet for less than a tenner. I bought one for darling daughter's house for when I visit

DH had a hip replacement a couple of years ago (had it in the February, did the cycle lap of the local triathlon in the July..)

At "Joint School" he was given a prescription for various aids, including a raised loo seat on a frame. So we had those things - they don't want them back - when I had my knee done, together with a grabber (essential) and a leg raising thingy. Is this maybe a local arrangement? I was also given my ice pack, which is an absolute godsend.

I think now they cut down on grabbers and so on - someone in hospital said they'd had to buy them.

It's amazing what you can put through a dishwasher if you are determined enough!

Where did you get it from, merlotgran?

Yes, you do need a raised seat for the loo, NotToOld. Very comfy. I was quite sorry when DH didn't need it any more (I think it was after about 8 weeks) They're a pain to clean though.

A friend told me she put hers through the dishwasher

In my gp's surgery and my dentists all the chairs are low and armless! I can't get out of them unaided! How stupid can you Get?

janerowena - you made me laugh about going commando because today in Sainsbury I bought two t-shirt type nighties ready for my hospital visit. They come down past my knees in case I also need to go commando. It's called 'thinking ahead', I reckon.

OMG annodomini - did you really need a high seat for the loo? I hadn't thought of that. How long before you could use the normal loo?

I have a steep, narrow staircase and didn't find myself greatly disadvantaged when I came home with my crutches. Before I left the hospital, the OTs made sure I could manage getting into and out of the bath - my neighbour had lent me a bath seat and a high seat for the loo.

Sounds like you are doing really well, Ariadne. Good for you. It's at times like this I wish we lived in a bungalow!

Oh, and by the way, I had the op on a Friday and was home on the Monday; once the physios see you can climb and descend a flight of stairs you're off!

Thank you so much for all your stories and encouragement. I am waiting now for an appointment for an x-ray. I will let you know how I get on.

That's the part my friend still feels grumpy about!

She also said to me, try to improve your upper body strength as much as you can in advance, as you will need it to haul yourself up.

She was very cross at having sat herself down in the hospital café without making sure she would be able to get up again, too. She went for a checkup and had to be hauled out of her seat.

Last summer six of my friends had a replacement hip operation and all have recovered very well. This included one friend age 57 who was fast tracked through the system as she was in such pain.
One neighbour who had an epidural for the operation insisted the builders had moved into the operating theatre during his operation.

I understand all hip replacement patients are encouraged out their hospital bed within 24/48 hours of the operation. My DB (a doctor) carried out research in the 1960s in Toronto to improve the mobility of hip replacement patients and he treated half the ward in the traditional manner and the other half were encouraged out of their beds asap. His research showed that it is important to get out of bed asap and to move and do the exercises. Sorry!

I have been very wimpish about reading hip replacement threads because I know mine will need doing eventually, but thanks to these threads and a friend who had hers replaced at the beginning of October I don't feel half as bad now. Although she went commando and really, I want to know your thoughts on that. She says the struggle to put her pants on was just too much, on top of socks and stuff, but I can't imagine it and surely it would increase the pile of washing hugely?

The other thing that surprised me was where the scar is, not where I had thought it would be at all! But at the back. She is still being very cautious about walking through crowds, in case she gets knocked, but really she says that apart from feeling very low for a few weeks when she couldn't imagine every being 'normal' again, she feels wonderful. She is being ultra-cautious, but she says that is because she lives on her own and couldn't bear to have to have it done again straight off.

I asked how she got all the grab bars fitted around her house, and she said the NHS did it all. I was amazed as I know that some people on here didn't have that done for them. They also raised her armchair for her with a system of adjustable metal feet, gave her crutches and things to raise her loo seats. I think it must vary from area to area. The only things she had to do was have her bed raised and buy a grabber.

I have read since that you can hire higher chairs that tip you forwards and out. We don't have armchairs (you need arms on all your chairs to heave yourself up) so that seems a good idea for me.

Half the village has now seen my friend in the nude. This is because she has a bath, not a shower. So in our rota was included shower duty, where she would walk around to use next door's in her dressing-gown, have a shower while we stood guard while she negotiated stairs and things, then help to dry areas she couldn't reach.

Itchy scar - that's her main problem now, but I reckon it's the healing process. What did you all use?