?‍♀️Hip Replacement #2 ?‍♀️ (Knees Welcome!) ?‍♀️

Charley girl my physio told me she has no problems with me moving on with sitting and bathing etc. It’s me who is nervous, but I will always take care and thanks for yours.

Me too silverlining. I am now kicking myself for not having the booster earlier. I had read several times that the effectiveness of the vaccine starts to tail off by three months so I decided that maybe it was better to wait until the end of October for the jab to see me through the winter.
Wrong decision as it turns out! Oh well. I’m feeling a bit better today. I’m noticing things around the house which need doing which is always a good sign isn’t it?! My husband has just gone to Waitrose with a list, and I think there might be another household chores list waiting for him when he gets back !

I have noticed that hip and knee replacement operations are often mentioned on the tv news when they are discussing long waiting lists. There’s no easy answer as, despite the pain involved for folk who’ve had a long wait, joint replacements are still classed as non urgent surgery. I’m not sure what the answer is. They certainly couldn’t discharge us any faster could they? I had my op on a Thursday and was scheduled to go home on the Saturday but I nearly fainted when the physiotherapist got me up so I was kept in until the Sunday.
I hope everyone else is getting on ok.

silverlining please, please be careful as you are not out of the woods yet. Somebody ie a physio should teach you this.

I have to be sure the shower is warm enough for me, never mind dipping my toes into near-freezing water.

Hi Jennifer, good to hear from you but sorry about the covid. I too avoided it til last weekend and though I am now dressed and out of bed am still indoors feeling washed out and tired. Woukd love to be able to go fir a little walk, but I don’t so I won’t. Not yet.
However as you say at least we got our operations in and fir that I am grateful.
When I feel up to it I will start training myself to sit on the floor and get up, using whatever is available to help me to do this . I am missing gardening and good walks. Really thought I had got away with covid but no.

Good morning everyone.
It’s ten months now since my hip replacement last December. Thinking back to how much pain I was in this time last year, I am still so thankful that I had it done.

After managing to avoid it over the past couple of years I have finally succumbed to covid.
It was my dread last winter before my op that I would catch it (or that the surgeon would!) and have the operation postponed, but thankfully all was well. I have felt very washed out all week, spending a lot of time dozing on the sofa.
I believe you said you’ve also got it silverlining. How are you feeling now?

Anyway back to hips! Ten months on I can bend my legs enough to get socks and tights on, but when I was struggling, I used the marvellous Sock Aid devices I bought from Amazon.
Apart from that I still need to work on my flexibility to get up from the floor without leaning on something!

Swimming in the sea sounds wonderful, but I’m definitely a warm water only person so swimming here is out!
I can fully understand though how invigorating it must feel for those souls hardy enough to try it!

Ah! Beautiful ? Cornwall

Susie charming-you can choose your friends but not your relatives.

I am amazed it is paddling weather in Cornwall when I am looking longingly at the central heating which is off hopefully until at least mid-evening. That is NW London.

Enjoy your holiday, with or without your brother.

I’m very fortunate in that our local pool has wide steps with bars to hold on to so no problem in the pool. I’m on holiday in Cornwall at the moment - weather gorgeous- with my brother and he has made it very clear that he’s not coming in to rescue me ! So paddling it is till next year, hopefully with my DD and family who will swim with me I know .

Really dislike those narrow sharp stairs into pools. They exclude many people who woukd otherwuse enjoy the benefits of swimming.

I have been in the sea both here ( cool but exhilarating) and the Med (warm, thoroughly enjoyable) and understand your nervousness. I was caught out once here, but managed the med well, by concentrating very hard, one foot in front of the other. I was mostly alone so sometimes if I got nervous I woukd just follow someone who was getting out too in case i needed to ask for help but I was ok. Would have been nice to have a companion. Do you have someone to go with you Susie? It’s so lovely having a swim in the sea.
If it’s not too rough you will be fine. Do you have those paddler shoes which give some support.
Go for it Susie. You can do it.

narrow rather than barrow!

SusieB have you tried to get out of the local swimming baths or like me, can you not negotiate the barrow, steep stairs?

I am not sure what to suggest re swimming in the sea. I am thinking ahead when I say you would probably have to stop at waist height, stand and attempt to walk out of the sea- if that makes any sense?

The next time you go why not walk up to perhaps waist height to feel how it actually is and you can easily walk out again.

Hello hipsters - six months for me too! My aim is to get into the sea to swim again ! I’ve chickened out twice this week, I’ve paddled but feel very anxious about being unable to get out again . I am able to get my socks on and I’ve removed the elastic laces now . So things so much better than 3 months ago and no pain ??
So to all you newbies and those waiting, there is life at the end of the tunnel !

It’s exactly 6 months today since my hip hop op . There are still things I can’t do but lots I can and best of all am no longer in pain so to anyone waiting for an op
Or recovering from recent surgery I say congratulations and look forward to a pain free life.
My goals are to get in and out of the bath and to be able to sit down ( and get up) from weeding etc. Oh and to put socks on without a struggle.
How about anyone else? Is there anything you can’t but want to be able to do?

Thanks.

I noticed we were in our usual place after 30 minutes. I do not believe the site was so busy. Anyway we do not get lost for long.

I must go out and see if I can buy crusty bread for under £3! A roll is 60p and zilch to write home about.

A tad different from putting on your knickers!

Hi Charley, sorry, ‘Pop laces’ was just the brand of elastic laces that I favoured.
I’ve just looked on Amazon, and they don’t seem to exist anymore.

Fanny what are "pop" laces? I have never heard of them before.

downtoearth I was about to send you a PM yesterday but it vanished into the ether.

Your picker-upper should help pull your knickers up. It would be so much easier if we wore the size of bloomers my grandmother wore!

We are all here to help and with assistance from a robot you should manage the surgery easily!

Re lifting leg on to a bed or stool. My top tip is to use a walking stick. Turn it round so the handle fits round your foot then just lift up the stick and swivel round till the leg is on the bed or stool. This has the benefit of keeping your leg straight so reducing possible pain or discomfort.

ipadgrandma I second Charlie’s recommendation of stretchy laces.
I’ve been using them for years.
‘Pop laces’ are good.
Yes, socks are most bothersome. One time, when DH wasn’t able to help, I was so frustrated that I got in the bath with them on, and somehow managed to slither them off using my feet ?
I don’t recommend doing that!

ipadGrandma you have had rough time leading up to your THR,so it us goid to hear you are getting better each day.
Thankyou for taking the time to give me some advice.
I will know so much before I have the operation, I should be able to replace my own hip joint if the wait is too long.
Socks,tights,and knickers are a struggle right now so the tips I learn here will all help,I like the idea of a plastic bag on the car seat,simple but sound effective,charleygirl suggested a crepe bandage for hauling my leg on to the bed,I used a scarf last night,so much easier,I already have a long shoe horn,it works well as a back scratcher ,and I will try taking socks off with it,mine has a curved handle I am going to try pulling underwear and socks on with it,it already comes in handy for scooping things iff the floor to put in the washing machine.

iPadGrandma to get your socks off it is a mixture of using the long-handled shoe horn and your picker upper.

For lace-ups it is easier to buy elastic shoelaces and use the long-handled shoe horn.

Re walking- could you practise walking in the kitchen using a crutch but you can hold on to a work surface etc. It is a case of time will heal. When you go out you should use two crutches, much safer for you.

Hello everyone, ‘Silverlining ’ I’m sorry to read that you have been unwell and hope you will soon feel better.

‘downtoearth’ welcome to the hip club. I had my new right hip on 10th August, so it is nine weeks old today. I hope the day will come when I stop counting the weeks!

I was put on the list last October so waited about ten months for my surgery. What a long time you had waited to see a Consultant about your hip.

I kind of jumped any waiting to be seen in the first place, by getting Septic Arthritis in April 2021 and was rushed to hospital and treated over six weeks. Then Avascular Necrosis was diagnosed in October last year after an MRI scan. At that point I went straight onto a waiting list.

The Surgical Rehab team at the hospital, when surgery was getting near but without any date, sent me a list of measurements from around the house for me to complete.
Then they rang to discuss what I would need.

This thread has been so helpful as I had plenty of time to read what others found had helped them, whilst waiting for a date for surgery. I always remember silverlining suggesting a plastic bag on the car seat would help to ‘swivel’ into car. This has been so helpful when getting into the front passenger seat.

I bought a leg lifter which I used before op. and hospital gave me one too. Useful to have one upstairs and downstairs as we live in a house. They also gave me another grabber. I now have a few as I seem to drop everything, in every room.

A gadget for putting on socks is useful too, but I found it didn’t work when socks were a little tight, so I had to send off for some larger ones, then it was fine. But nobody tells you how to take your socks off, when you are not allowed to bend. My husband had to do this every night and I hated my loss of independence. Then he said why not use the long shoe horn and somehow it worked, with some effort!

Most of my shoes are lace-ups so this has been a real problem too. Husband has to tie laces for me and I am so grateful that I have this help. Tomorrow we are off to buy some sort of slip-on shoes for the winter.

Is there any advice out there about when I can actually tie my own shoe laces please? As I said a couple of weeks ago, the nice doctor at my six week check told me hip precautions would always be in place but that is, and must be ridiculous.

downtoearth more information which may help. Part of my preadmission was by telephone, for medical history, medication etc. Then I had to go to hospital for height, weight, BP, MRSA swabs and ECG and blood tests. I think that always has to happen.

I am a little unsteady and unsure of walking unaided indoors
and prefer to use one crutch. I think that is because I could hardly walk after the Septic Arthritis and had to use two sticks to stagger around after my leg went rigid. It did recover a little after six weeks of iv antibiotics but I still could not walk properly. Now the NHS follow up physio has signed me off and I am worried that I will never walk properly again.
Any ideas anyone? Thank you.

Here is a helping hand up the list,I would say leg up but neither are behaving well today

If you are already on the thread, you can access via ‘I’m On’.
I think that most people use that function.
As long as the thread pops up into view occasionally, it should be fine.

silverlining I think we should start to accept our place here.