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4 weeks - good and bad news

Posted , 17 users are following.

melody39324
melody39324

I had a physio appointment today, 4 weeks exactly from my THR. The good news is that he’s happy for me to progress to just using a walking cane instead of crutches. Hooray! I managed to walk over 1.5km yesterday so am feeling quite positive about my progress, as I haven’t been able to do that without pain for a long time. 

The bad news is that I have to keep wearing surgical stockings for another two weeks. I really hoped I’d get them off today as I’m sure a nurse told me 4 weeks. But the physio said no and I’ve just checked with the consultant and he says 6 weeks as well. Boo! It’s very disappointing.

I’m not sure quite how I am going to manage as my daughter has been popping round to help me get them on and off but she starts a new job on Monday and won’t be able to come as often. Ah well, have to take the bad with the good, I suppose.

0 likes, 34 replies

34 Replies

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  • jomary
    jomary melody39324

    Posted

    look at the you tube video of "compression stickings made easy" using a plastic bag it is brilliant.

    • melody39324
      melody39324 jomary

      Posted

      The only video I found has someone helping to put the stocking on. Is there one showing how to do it yourself without breaking the 90 degree rule?
  • arlowood
    arlowood melody39324

    Posted

    Hi Melody

    Not much comfort to you but here in the UK some healthcare providers have moved away from those dreaded elastic stockings. After my THR last November I was prescribed a 30 day course of heparin injections - initially given by the hospital staff but later self administered once I was back home.

    Some folks might be squeamish about self injecting but it's way better than struggling with those horrible stockings.

    Might be worth enquiring about that as an alternative.

    • melody39324
      melody39324 arlowood

      Posted

      I was supposed to be BOTH doing injections AND wearing the stockings! I had a terrible time giving myself the injections 10 years ago after I had my other hip resurfaced. I was hopeless at doing it. My stomach ended up so black & blue with bruises I couldn’t find anywhere to put the needle! I mentioned it to a nurse when she was giving me my injection before I left hospital this time and she got me a prescription for rivaroxaban instead. I still have over a week’s supply so I’ll keep taking them.

      i would be prepared to wear the stockings but find it impossible to put them on myself. I can’t see how you can do it without breaking the 90 degree rule. I can get them off using a long shoehorn, but on ... no. I’ve been told of a special gadget but don’t think it’s worth getting one just for two weeks. So I have decided any day my daughter can pop in, I will get her to put them on me, and keep them on until I next have a shower, then they will have to stay off until she visits again.

      From what I’ve read surgeons have very mixed opinions about surgical stockings these days so I don’t think I’m taking too big a risk as I’m pretty active again now.

  • RichardKen
    RichardKen melody39324

    Posted

    Dear Melody

    There seems to be a very real benefit in using both crutches until you are able to walk strongly with a good gait and without any sign of limping!

    The crutches should help you to recover to normality faster and reduce the possibility of unevenly loading your back. It is very easy to end up with a bad back which naturally none of us wants to do!

    I'm not a doctor, (but then how many doctors have experienced a recovery from a replacement hip I wonder) I'm just someone who has had a hip done and a hip revision and been on this forum sufficiently long to realise that this is an important factor in a fast and trouble free recovery.

    Cheers, Richard

    • melody39324
      melody39324 RichardKen

      Posted

      My physio told me I had to use both crutches until the 4 week point. Then he made me walk up and down in a big gym, First with just one crutch, and then with a walking stick, so he could check I was walking properly, putting my weight evenly on both legs, and not limping, Only then did he say he was happy for me to move to just a cane or stick.
  • sjhips
    sjhips melody39324

    Posted

    At four weeks in I made an executive decision to stop using the stockings despite a six week recommendation. They were a complete pain to get on, get off, and to wear. I'm still alive 4 months on, yay! Obviously it has to be your decision, but in the end it is your decision to make.

     

    • sylvie123
      sylvie123 sjhips

      Posted

      Same here, in fact I didn't even last four weeks.  I reasoned that my mother had survived 4 hip replacements and was never given white stockings to wear or made to self inject.  I was also up and about pretty quickly and had read somewhere that their real purpose is for those not mobile.   It also became apparent that only some of the consultants at the hospital I was in, asked their patients to wear the things.  Lastly a very fat lady who lives next door to my mother and goes everywhere on a mobility scooter was not told to wear them when she had her hip replaced. So I just thought, I've had enough of having to find someone to put the one I couldn't manage back on.

    • melody39324
      melody39324 sylvie123

      Posted

      From everything I’ve read there seems to be a real difference of opinion among  surgeons as to whether the stockings are important. Like you, I think they are more use for those who aren’t very mobile but I’m almost back to the same activity levels as before my op and I didn’t wear them then.
  • diannesk
    diannesk melody39324

    Posted

    Great that you are now using the cane. Each change is a step to full recovery.

    I think it's different for some doctors how they choose to deal with the possibility of blood clots. My surgeon had me on injections for almost 2 weeks and then high dose aspirin for 4 weeks. I wore the stockings for a short time after returning home from 1 night in the hospital.

    Sorry about longer with the surgical stockings. Two weeks will go by quickly. Focus on improvements in the way you feel.

  • tom50748
    tom50748 melody39324

    Posted

    I was never given nor recommended compression stockings.  For a couple of days post op I had massage booties on my feet, a pest because the kept me awake but then I left the hospital with nothing but low-dose aspirin for the blood clotting.  I chose to buy and use a compression stocking for my lower leg because it became swollen.  It helped for a couple of weeks until I didn't need it any more. Regular walking and elevating the leg kept the swelling down.

    Could be that if you weren't wearing the stocking you'd suffer swelling too but maybe they're on for longer than necessary.  The physio could be covering herself, understandable but ultimately it's up to you.

  • breeze61
    breeze61 melody39324

    Posted

    Hi Melody, 

    The dreaded stockings, Yes, my partner found it very hard to get them on as her hand is not strong and I would have struggled too. I used to wear them for a few days before changing them to take the strain off her putting them on. I jettisoned then after 4 weeks but was taking blood thinners for 6 weeks. 

    I watched an interest video about 20 years ago were Derek Mcminn, the developer of the birmingham resurface device,  was showing the advantages of a hip resurfacing over a standard hip replacement. There were cameras in the knee and in one of the Heart's arteries and when Mcminn was pushing the stem into the femur [standard hip replacement], you could see the pressurised fat/marrow being squeezed down inside the femur and out of the knee. This fat was then seen flowing through the heart some time later. So, that, I suppose is the reason for wearing the TEDs.

  • jomary
    jomary melody39324

    Posted

    it is not possible to put on compression stockings without  breaking the 90 degree rule but the video by Leigh Tracy shows how to make it easier for a helper. ordinary socks are ok with a cheap sock aid.
    • RichardKen
      RichardKen jomary

      Posted

      Dear Jomary I accept that you do not find it possible but the fact that I can suggests that others may well be able to do so. Perhaps your stretch stockings are incorrectly sized?

      All the best, Richard

    • melody39324
      melody39324 jomary

      Posted

      That’s what I found too. I can put ordinary socks on myself with the aid I’ve got but not surgical ones. They are too tight for it. Even with a plastic bag, I can’t for the life of me see how you can put a stocking over your toes and pull it up without breaking the 90 degree rule. Maybe someone who can manage it could make a video for me?

      My daughter can put mine on me well now, after 4 weeks, and I was measured for them in the hospital, so I don’t think they are the wrong size. I did think about showering in them, as someone suggested, but have decided to wear them when I can and when she can’t be here to help after a shower they will just have to wait until the next time she comes round.

       

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