My husband had total hip replacement on Wed, Nov 10th. We reported to the hospital at 6 am and he was wheeled into surgery at 9:23 am. I received a call at 11:06 am the procedure was complete and he would be out of the OR and into recovery in about 30 minutes. It is so cool they are using cell phones to contact people wherever they might be! He was in his room by 1:00 pm. He was goofy from the oxy (20 mg given during the procedure) and the after-effects of the anesthesia but, otherwise, he was fine.
We were home (which is 15 minutes from the hospital) by 2 pm on Thursday, 11-11-2021. The nurse recommended he take a 5 mg oxy about 1 pm because his nerve block was fully wearing off and he was starting to feel more pain. He turned into a goofball and actually hallucinated the nurse had done a procedure she had not. More oxy was going to be the absolute last resort! Luckily, 1000 mg of acetaminophen every 6 hours has done the job. He is also taking 325 mg of enteric aspirin twice a day to keep blood clots at bay (no history).
He used his walker on Thursday (indoors) and Friday (indoors and during his outdoor walk) but by Saturday he was only using a cane (indoors and outdoors) and by Sunday he was only using the cane when he went outside to walk. He has walked 6,500 steps today. Buying a Fitbit for him just prior to his surgery (I don't need that!) has turned out to be very useful. He can see his progress in the numbers.
The only limitation for the anterior method seems to be, "Don't do anything stupid!" Falls are really the biggest danger. DH (72) is of normal weight, fit, and strong so his quick recovery is not unexpected but the anterior method is amazing. I have a friend who had both hips done anterior method with quick recovery and we found DH's surgeon based on a recommendation from someone in the neighborhood who had both her hips done anterior by him. DH has kept regular Medicare and a supplement (Plan N) so, if the need arose, he would be able to pick the best provider for whatever he needed. That's exactly what he was able to do in this case with no in-network/out-of-network concerns that might come with a Medicare Advantage plan.
DH went to PT today and the work will focus on getting his gait back to normal by strengthening muscles he has ignored as he altered his gait (swinging his leg to walk) over the last 2.5 years in an attempt to manage the pain in his hip. We didn't know it was a bad hip until about 2 months ago. The surgeon had an opening in his schedule and things progressed very quickly!
We were home (which is 15 minutes from the hospital) by 2 pm on Thursday, 11-11-2021. The nurse recommended he take a 5 mg oxy about 1 pm because his nerve block was fully wearing off and he was starting to feel more pain. He turned into a goofball and actually hallucinated the nurse had done a procedure she had not. More oxy was going to be the absolute last resort! Luckily, 1000 mg of acetaminophen every 6 hours has done the job. He is also taking 325 mg of enteric aspirin twice a day to keep blood clots at bay (no history).
He used his walker on Thursday (indoors) and Friday (indoors and during his outdoor walk) but by Saturday he was only using a cane (indoors and outdoors) and by Sunday he was only using the cane when he went outside to walk. He has walked 6,500 steps today. Buying a Fitbit for him just prior to his surgery (I don't need that!) has turned out to be very useful. He can see his progress in the numbers.
The only limitation for the anterior method seems to be, "Don't do anything stupid!" Falls are really the biggest danger. DH (72) is of normal weight, fit, and strong so his quick recovery is not unexpected but the anterior method is amazing. I have a friend who had both hips done anterior method with quick recovery and we found DH's surgeon based on a recommendation from someone in the neighborhood who had both her hips done anterior by him. DH has kept regular Medicare and a supplement (Plan N) so, if the need arose, he would be able to pick the best provider for whatever he needed. That's exactly what he was able to do in this case with no in-network/out-of-network concerns that might come with a Medicare Advantage plan.
DH went to PT today and the work will focus on getting his gait back to normal by strengthening muscles he has ignored as he altered his gait (swinging his leg to walk) over the last 2.5 years in an attempt to manage the pain in his hip. We didn't know it was a bad hip until about 2 months ago. The surgeon had an opening in his schedule and things progressed very quickly!