Hip Replacement - Just back home!

[DougViages]

Any other Hip recepients out there? I had my right hip replaced last Thursday. Hell of an experience. That said, I'm 54, in good shape, and should come through the healing and rehab process well. Waiting for my PT therapist to stop by right now.

Let me Know.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougViages Any other Hip recepients out there? I had my right hip replaced last Thursday. Hell of an experience. That said, I'm 54, in good shape, and should come through the healing and rehab process well. Waiting for my PT therapist to stop by right now. Let me Know.

I haven't, but my FIL did about three years ago at the age of 78. He's doing fine with it and it hasn't slowed him down much, if at all. There are some restrictions, such as he isn't allowed to bend over as much as before, but overall it's a great improvement.

My mother had three knee joint replacements. No, she didn't look funny, one wore out after ten years. They didn't slow her down any either.

[Moemg]

My mother had both her hips done in her late 80's and she's going strong . She just had a knee replacement at 91 and bounced right back .

[jdmorton]

I had my hip replaced last November. Here's my thread about my experience: http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ced-31370.html.

I'm curious - what do you mean by "Hell of an experience"? I'm in my early 50s, and I thought my surgery went very well with no complications. I am pretty much back to normal; and I mean before my hip pain was so bad that it really interferred with doing just about anything.

Good luck with the rehab - I went 3/week for 11 weeks; after a week of in-home PT.

[Dawg52]

My Dad had it done in his early 60's. He could barely get around before the surgery. A couple of days after the surgery, he was walking down the hall like he had no problems what so ever. Amazing what it did for him.

Good luck with your rehab.

[whitestick]

Had my left hip done end of August, and coming up on my 6 month checkup. Significant improvement over what it was before. Only lingering problem is pain in my thigh muscle, which surgeon claims will go away sometime between 3 months to 1 1/2 years. Seems to be related to the area where the bottom of the pin ended up in my femur. The hip itself has no pain, and works great. Best advice anyone will give you is to do the exercises the PT gives you, without fail. Early on the exercises hurt as you are stretching the muscles and working out the scar tissue on the inside. It will pass, and you will forget you even had it.
My buddy had both of his knees done, one after the other, after my surgery, and he is reporting similar results. Hang in there and keep doing the exercises.

[DougViages]

First, as to a hell of an experience: The surgery went well, the basic problems were afterward. They underdosed the pain meds in the first day or so after the operation. My Doc didn't order the pain "button" with a basil (basic dose rate). When PT came to get my up walking the morning after the Op, I nearly passed out. I hadn't really had pain meds in eight hours. After that, pain control got better, but I still had to "order" it myself. Once I started to really get the meds, they made me vomit, but it took a day for the Doc to order anti nausea meds.

I was sent home after 3 days post op, but the Doc neglected to order antinausea meds, and I was vomiting at home for a day and a half until those meds got put into place. I am doing quite well, PTing at home three times a week. I have one real issue, the knee of my operated leg remains numb to the touch, and the muscles right above the knee aren't working very well. We're taking a wait and see approach on this.

I really appreciate the replies from everyone. My DW and I have solid goal: On April 11th I want to walk unaided onto a cruise ship for a transatlantic cruise.

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougViages First, as to a hell of an experience: The surgery went well, the basic problems were afterward. They underdosed the pain meds in the first day or so after the operation. My Doc didn't order the pain "button" with a basil (basic dose rate). When PT came to get my up walking the morning after the Op, I nearly passed out. I hadn't really had pain meds in eight hours. After that, pain control got better, but I still had to "order" it myself. Once I started to really get the meds, they made me vomit, but it took a day for the Doc to order anti nausea meds. I was sent home after 3 days post op, but the Doc neglected to order antinausea meds, and I was vomiting at home for a day and a half until those meds got put into place. I am doing quite well, PTing at home three times a week. I have one real issue, the knee of my operated leg remains numb to the touch, and the muscles right above the knee aren't working very well. We're taking a wait and see approach on this. I really appreciate the replies from everyone. My DW and I have solid goal: On April 11th I want to walk unaided onto a cruise ship for a transatlantic cruise.

Part of your PT should be to go down to the doc's office, and kick his/her ass...

[jdmorton]

DougViages, sorry to hear about your post-op issues, regarding the meds. That's one thing my doctor and the hospital nurses were really diligent about; making sure we took our pain medication on a regular basis (along with all other prescribed medications). Even the physical therapists made sure we took our pain medication. They always asked before taking us to PT, and if we hadn't had any pain medication in awhile, they got our nurse and made sure we got some.

I think HFWR has this one right - you need to let your doctor know how you feel about your experience .

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdmorton I think HFWR has this one right - you need to let your doctor know how you feel about your experience .

I think part of my dentist phobia comes from my childhood dentist, who never seemed to give me enough drugs.

I've been using a dentist mill the past fiftenn years or so, and at first they tried the same thing. So, now, whenever I have work done, i.e fillings, deep scale cleans, root canal, whatever, I tell them before we get started that if I can feel pain, we are going to stop, get more drugs, wait a few minutes for them to kick in, then try again. Repeat as needed.

I've had dentists of various stripes "scold" me: don't flinch or jerk...

I told the guy who did my root canal that I'd grab his scrotum, and squeeze his jewels off, but that he couldn't flinch...

I think we now have an understanding...