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

travelsafar^ silverlining has given a few good suggestions. I also agree that an agency should be the very last resort because although you will not need to pay for somebody 24/7 it still will not be cheap.

Make a list of your anxieties and tell the nurse tomorrow. You must not cancel- you will need it done at some time and it may as well be now when you will be able to cope. There is us lot behind you.

Fanny how are things?

Hi travels I noticed on another thread you might have a date, at last. I was lucky to have my dh around but it’s not heavy work, his major job was putting my socks on and off, though am grateful of course.
Being on your own after the operation is not ideal but manage able. It doesn’t last long but if you had someone around for the first week it would help. I bet if you ask sister and children to come for a couple of days each they would do so. If not please don’t worry, you have read about hiccups along the way but that doesn’t mean you will have them . Please speak to your sister, children or s friend about how worried you are and if there is no other choice perhaps having someone around from an agency might be an idea. This operation makes a massive difference and when it’s over you will be so happy it’s been done. Well give it a week or so, Imagine, no pain!
Talk to your dr too. They may be able to suggest something.
Don’t the Red Cross have a home from hospital service?
Maybe a call to Age UK.
Sending you a huge hug ?

Aww Naughtyneine you bought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. Thank you for your kind words. yours too*FannyC*. Guess I'm just feeling a bit vulnerable at the moment.?

Travelsafar .. Keep focusing on being able to do your gardening pain free once more. It must be hard to read all the possibles on here but try to remember they haven't all happened to one of us. Don't cancel Hunny....I can understand your fears ... It wasn't exactly the same for me but my partner was out of the house for 12 hours a day from the day after I came home 3 days post op and we had only moved into our cottage 13 days before... It's on 4 levels with twisting stairs that I was terrified I'd fall down. Keep your phone with you wherever you go...an apron with pockets or over the shoulder bag are useful for carrying bits and bobs too. If you can eat and drink close to where you prepare them. It really is quite a short time before it begins to get a bit easier. We'll all be here to support you and your Darling Husband will be too... Just out of sight. X

Hello everyone, and thankyou for all of your reassuring words.

travels please, please don’t worry so much.
And its so sad that you are missing your husband; I remember your journey so well.
If I were you I’d start a new thread about your concerns and sorting out a care package.
We both know that you’ll get lots of brilliant advice and support here.
Start a thread and I’ll comment straight away!
Sending you love, and a hug ♥️?
Hannah x

I think i need to stop reading all the posts on here they are scaring me to death!!!! OP due on the 25th, going for pre op tomorrow the 4th. I am so scared of the outcome of operation and all the issues that can happen i am beginning to think is it worth it. I will talk to the people i see tomorrow about my fears as i am afraid that i might chicken out at the last moment. I know a lot of my fears are linked to the fact i will be coming home to no one. Some of you know i lost my husband last year to Covid. If he was here i wouldnt be worrying as although he had COPD he was physcially very strong... did weight training.. so any help i would have needed from him would have been achieveable. I dont want to rely on my children as they all work full time and so does my dear sister. Do you think i should arrange a package of care from an agency for at least the first few days??

Fanny...try not to worry to much. For those of you who have seen Micky Flanagan on the TV you will know his limp drag routine and that was me for a while. Everyday I seemed to be walking differently. I still don't feel my gait is as it was pre fall and I think I'm taking shorter strides but I have told myself it doesn't matter if it stays that way if it means I don't limp. The exercises I was doing did help to a certain extent but I found standing in the shower and stepping to the side and just pushing myself ( not so it was agony) but just to stretch it a little beyond what it felt I could do was helped by the warm water if that makes sense. GrannyLaine is right too...it is a case of one day you feel you are doing ok and the next week like you haven't progressed (you will have done but not maybe realised it). I think most of us post hipsters would say that almost imperceptibly you realise one day that everything feels 'better'. For me it was walking up the garden and suddenly was aware that my hip didn't hurt and I wasn't limping or lurching. I hope you'll be reassured by the comments.

Fanny I remember the first couple of weeks to be hard with lots of discomfort ( including that golf ball feeling when I sat down ).
It’s early days, I am week 11 but still do little steps. hence my brilliant step count on Fitbit.
I think it was week 3 when I started to feel a lot better/less ? ill.

@FannyCornforth

It's disappointing isn't it when you feel as though you are making progress and then you don't feel so good? But recovery isn't a linear progression, there are peaks and troughs and your body still has a lot of healing to do. Pain is generally a sign that you have perhaps overdone things and you need to rest more. Is your pain control good? Its tempting to try and ditch the analgesics too soon when you start to feel better. Play the long game. It will get you to full recovery quicker I promise.

Thank you for sharing your story NaughtyNeine, it’s so good to hear that you are at such a great point in your recovery

Good morning Hipsters! ?
Thank you for your kind wishes May

I have an IMPORTANT QUESTION!
(Hence the capitals)
(I’m exactly 2 weeks today)

I haven’t mentioned this before; but at present, my main concern is the lack of range of movement in my hip.

For the first week I had nice, quite long steps.
But for the past few days, my steps have been really small, and it’s more painful to walk.
As I’m typing I can feel a pain in my groin.

When I went to see the nurse on Tuesday regarding my dressing, I went in a wheelchair from the car to the treatment room because of this.

The nurse didn’t seem concerned. She said it was just things settling down.

Can anyone please share what their walking situation was like a few weeks after the op?
Thank you, as ever ?

Here's my tale of woe ..in November 20 I fell over going downhill and
so gathered momentum as I tried to stop myself. In the end I crashed on both knees then outstretched hands and only my inbuilt airbags stopped me face planting the pavement. The damage initially was bruised knees and the usual aches and pains from bits of me that had been jarred in the fall. A few days later however I turned to the left and an excruciating pain shot through my groin on the right side. It was intermittent over the next few days but floored me when it came. I went to A and E and an X ray showed no fracture and mild osteoarthritis but I was referred for an urgent scan which 5 days later showed a labral hip tear. In fact I actually cried whilst being scanned it hurt so much. I was referred for physio when it did not improve and in Feb 21 I had a zoom physio and when that didn't help was referred to an Orthopedic surgeon that I had researched. In June 21 eventually I saw initially his registrar who after we had discussed at length what could be done concluded that a THR was the only option. The consultant however felt that my hip at that stage didn't warrant major surgery. I was offered a steroid injection and given that we were moving nearly 200 miles in 13 days I agreed. The injection saw me through the move thankfully but then wore off within a week or so. I had a telephone appointment in October and had another injection in November to prove that the pain was coming from my hip and not my back. Again the injection worked briefly but long enough to assure the consultant that it was my hip when I saw him in January (I begged for an appointment as by then I was getting more incapacitated... Still ttying to work and struggling to either drive up to London or travel by train).. Again at this appointment he reiterated that my hip wasnt too bad but the only way to cure the problem was to replace my hip and I was placed on the waiting list. The next 10 weeks were probably one of the most miserable periods of my life. I was on morphine in the end but probably like most of you nothing touched the pain and sleep was practically impossible. I kept thinking if my hip isn't that bad why am I in so much pain and thought my pain threshold must have diminished to almost non existent (having been very high following 2 previous spinal ops and various gyne/obs procedures). In fact when he operated the consultant found that I was grade 4 and as he said...'it was very nasty '. Apparently the area that was bone on bone hadn't shown up on the x rays. That did actually make me feel better knowing that and being told I must have been in excruciating pain. I certainly was but now 11 weeks today life couldn't be more different. I can move pain free (odd ache and stiffness initially if I've sat too long). I'm back to all my usual activities.. housework including hoovering the stairs and under furniture? I'm unpacking boxes from the move we made 13 days before the op. walking up lots of stairs easily..gardening ( lots of visits to garden centres)? and no problems trying to dress. I have been lucky in finding a way to get into and out of our bath and I think my overwhelming urge to get back to being me (I can't lie...I was scared during those last few weeks before the op that this was going to be my life) has spurred me on every day. I do tend to be an optimistic person and go through life thinking all will be well and I think it's stood me in good stead these last few weeks. I really hope all you ladies who are going through the awful wait will be heartened a bit by the stories of us post op hipsters.

FannyCornforth

Hello! ?
Welcome to ? 2!

A huge thank you and well done to Silverlining for creating the first thread (which I’ll link to shortly)
It was an amazingly successful thread; which was remarkable considering that most of the time it was invisible!

I only wish I could have my hips replaced but the Osteoporosis had made my bones SO porous over the years the new hips would not have lasted long, so I was told.

I broke the first one in 2004 and my other one in 2015 in three places.
My second never healed so now I have to have a built up shoe. I can only get about now with my trolley in the home and I have to go in a wheelchair when taken to appointments such a the Zelandronic acid bone infusions to help build my bones up, but to me they have left it too late because I am 92 now and I doubt if I will ever reach the Marathon level.

Its nice to know that many can get on with their lives after having a new hip so make the most of it and enjoy life to the full.
God Bless All.

That bath chair does look a good idea if a tad expensive. After I broke my ankle I got rid of my bath and have used a shower since 2009 and it was a Godsend when I had my knees replaced in 2012 and 2018.

I hope never to have a revision knee as the first time for me was hell on earth. A THR is more straightforward surgically.

Thanks Fanny for the bath information.
Susie it’s a good idea to have busy and quiet periods while doing the 24 hr heart check as a comparison.
I made sure I did some uphill Walking then on the flat when I had mine done.

Very pleased with myself , I managed to walk back from our local high street . Nothing to do with my hip but the palpitations and breathlessness I have had following what I think was a non Covid virus three weeks ago . My 24 hour ECG monitor is in place but feel much better anyway!
I also noticed the other day that my other hip is complaining a bit but I hope once my new hip is completely recovered ( 11 weeks post op) that it will relieve things. I know my muscle tone needs more work as I still struggle to use the resistance bands . I’ve also lost 5 kgs which will help too. Now I can walk further I will reset my step counter - it was too depressing before !

iPadGrandma Silverlining SusieB50 thank you all for sharing your stories, goodness what a time you've all had!

My THR was 24/2/22 so 4+ months now, the day that Russia invaded Ukraine ?

My own journey has been much more prolonged and some of it I outlined on the first thread so won't repeat myself. My OA started to be apparent about 13 years ago but I didn't recognise the symptoms - groin pain, hip feeling unstable/ giving way, unable to get comfortable in bed. Absolute inability to sleep on a firm mattress etc. 2016, the night before we flew to Iceland, we were in a restaurant and I couldn't sit on the dining chair. Literally sat with my right bum cheek off the chair. Also began to realise that I physically couldn't cross my right leg over my left. First went to the doctor at that point, she did all the correct things and offered referral to Orthopaedics which I declined at that point. From that point, there was a gradual decline: worsening limp, pain at night and any significant walking, difficulty sitting and rising from chairs. My sleep was constantly interrupted with pain and having to move despite heavyweight analgesics. My life became smaller and smaller. And I too became smaller and smaller - lost a great deal of weight. With absolutely no effect on my osteoarthritis, but great deal of benefit to my overall health and self esteem.
Despite several kinds of physio from various practitioners, my leg and bum muscles got weaker and weaker which is what happens when OA progresses: no amount of exercise would have changed that according to my surgeon.
I finally grasped the nettle, booked an Orthopaedic consultation and I've never looked back.

We all come to this surgery from such different places, so I think its really helpful for any newcomers (and lurkers) on this thread to get a wider perspective.
Anyone else want to share their journey to surgery?

Thank you! Hang on a mo…

Yes, that was the impression that I got too. And it’s not entirely satisfactory, is it!
I asked a nurse something about wound care, and she said that her answer would depend on which surgeon I had.

FannyCornforth

*Laine*, if I give you my email by pm, could you send me that JPEG please? (Btw - well done! ?)

Yes of course, please do.

I think the difficulty is that surgeons seem to have differing views of post op rehabilitation. Some keep to strict precautions and others are much more relaxed ? and some presumably take a middle ground. This does make for confusion for patients and the physio working with them

Silverlining you are spot on there. But its NOT good enough - care should be based on good evidence and audit of practice. That's not a new concept in the NHS or the private sector for that matter ?

Here it is:Drive Bellavita Lightweight... www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009DZNYO2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share&tag=gransnetforum-21

Silverlining
BATH INFO! ?
Riverwalk (a retired nurse, I believe) recommended to me a bath lift chair.
It’s absolutely brilliant!
I got it from Amazon. I will find you a link…

Fingers crossed ? Aveline but st least we know the surgery helps, it’s just getting it that is the pain.
My other leg is also taking The strain so understand, ?