Scared witless about hip op

Hi Heather,

I think you’ll be glad you had the operation!

Steve

Dear Heather

Most people are frightened at the thought of it but really it is fine!  I had my first one at 56 and after twenty years due to the poly cup wearing out it had to be revised and that at sixty-five was fine too.   If you are reasonably fit and positive you should make a good and quick recovery.    I was leading a normal life in weeks and had forgotten about it in a couple of months.

I was doing ladder work building and roofing and hill sheep farming and lifting and carrying very heavy weights within a short time.  Just make sure that your surgeon has a good record of this surgery and I would suggest it would be best to have the posterior approach for several reasons quite apart from the fact that both my surgeries were done this way!

Once you have had it done you will wonder what your concern was all about.....really.   Just make sure that you have someone at home to help you over the first few days, a seat raiser for the toilet, a sock aid to help you put socks etc on, a grabber, reasonable height seating and plenty to watch or read for the first ten days or so.  Others will chip in with other ideas.

Good luck.

Richard

Hi Heather

Don't be scared stiff, i'm 58 and had mine done lat February, best thing i've ever done. I have my life back.

You will have a couple of weeks where its difficult but as long as you do the exercises and push yourself to walk you'll be pain free in no time.

Good Luck and son't be scared, 

Brian

Heather,

The vast majority of us are scared about having hip surgery, but it is a very successful operation.

For tips about how to prepare and get through the recovery see my website.  It has loads of tips from hippies on this forum.  

The address is in my personal info here ...

   https://patient.info/forums/profiles/rocketman-sg6uk-907025

and at the bottom of the moderator's "useful resources" page at

   https://patient.info/forums/discuss/thr-useful-resources-487147

Best wishes

Graham - 🚀💃 🤸    ¯\_(?)_/¯ 

Hi heather I was terrified when I had my first replacement but the morning after I could not believe how good it felt not having that terrible pain I had a little discomfort but nothing compared to what I had prior I had my second in June 2017 and I am now well on the road to recovery 

Just go for it Heather, you won’t  regret it. I’m 74, just approaching first anniversary of the op. I can walk for miles, dance and play with 5 grandchildren and have been digging on my allotment for a few months now. Life is great, I’m a new woman and yes I was a little apprehensive to undergo thr but it was totally worth it. Just keep positive and focussed on the end result and you’ll be fine. Best wishes and keep believing and you’ll be able to achieve anything you wish xx

Hi Heather,

?I'm 52 and had a posterior replacement last September. Although I was more than physically ready for it, as I was in constant pain, I had had several months to come to terms with the emotional side of things while I was waiting. I don't think time made any difference and I was extremely scared and worried for all of the thing I might lose. I knew, however, that things would never be better by themselves, so had to trust I was doing the right thing. In the event it was the right thing and I have done very well. You won't be quite the same as before, but you learn new ways. My daughter put it in perspective today, when she commented that it doesn't matter that I'm struggling with my shoes because I am out of pain and 100% happier. I hadn't realised the strain and worry my family were suffering seeing me unhappy and in pain every day, and our social life had slowly ground to a halt. You will be able to resume most of the things in life that you enjoy, even if you won't exactly be to the standard of a 'Strictly' dancer. In terms of the difficulties after surgery - you will get through them. The plus side is, once you have you will have the Hippies badge of courage!! 

Hi Heather,, don’t be scared to have the surgery,, I had injections in my hip and suffered for two years with pain, I finally 2 years ago did the surgery,and although inconvenient the recovery time was, I don’t regret it, I got back to life and back to same activities as before,I forget my left leg ever has a prosthetic hip,but now I had problems with my right hip and knew eventually I would because of X-rays showed it would not be long, well the only thing is for no reason known, I was almost back to good after only 2 weeks, I’m an active 48 year old so that I’m sure helps recovery time,, well I developed a staph infection in myright hip after the THR, had a revision surgery, still had infection so had third surgery to have a spacer put in and awaiting a fourth surgery to have my final hip put in and have a picc line giving myself IV antibiotics every 8 hours till January 19th ,, it’s been almost 8 weeks, it’s been a test of my faith,,hopefully I will get a surgery date soon,, I am actually excited about it because I know after this surgery, the infection is gone and after I heal I can get back to life as usual,, if I would have known I would have gone through all this I probably wouldn’t have done the RTHR but my left side went so well who could have guessed what I’m getting at is if all goes as planed you are going to feel great once you recover and won’t regret it,, there is risk although it isn’t very often, I was one of the unlucky ones the second time with my right side

But even still thank God, my surgeon acted quickly soon as infection was apparent and through it in the end I will be ok good luck with your surgery🙏🏼