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Self image post op

Posted , 22 users are following.

DawnDedee
DawnDedee

This is a sensitive topic for me, but I wonder how others are dealing with the body changes post op?  Right now my body is in the worst shape, and in fact, it is in the shape that I fought succesfully my whole adult life to avoid.  I have lost my figure.  I do not think, at my age, that I will ever get it back.  I had to lay around for a year and a half in agony with a failed THR, and there was nothing I could do.

I cannot relax into this, yet I lack the energy and drive to work out and I wonder if at my age, nearly 58, I can even turn this around.

I do not like what I see in the mirror.

Dawn, USA

 

7 likes, 133 replies

133 Replies

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  • DawnDedee
    DawnDedee

    Posted

    All of you have contributed so much to this discussion and there is an added bonus.  Our discussion can be read by many others who are suffering self image issues and they will also derive from all this wisdom, the same as I have.

    THANK YOU EVERYONE

    • rose0000
      rose0000 DawnDedee

      Posted

      Dawn ~ than you for posting this subject it was really interesting ~ one last thing I will say is with increased activity in the long run we are likely to end up much fitter and leaner, as we now have working joints.

      AND three people have said to me how much younger I look in the last few weeks, and I really do now if I am being completely honest, my face is no longer etched in pain every day, so, this operation was two for the price of one! Which was a happy surprise and I am sure you are looking much more radiant now you are not in pain any longer. 

    • DawnDedee
      DawnDedee rose0000

      Posted

      Rose, thank you for being you.  You are such a blessing on this site.  Not to leave out any of the other wonderful people of course, because there is a great group on here.  

      I like what you said that "this operationg was two for for price of one!"  I never thought of it that way but I can see it.  

      Also since I posted this post, I had a chance to see some friends I have not seen in a couple of months and the first thing they said was, have you lost weight?  You look so young.  That lifted me up so much, along with all the great advice given in this post, that I could suddenly envision myself successful in overcoming the colateral damage these surgeries caused.

      So I guess I am more radiant!  And have lost some weight!  I think mostly that I have gained some muscle mass because of the physical job I took at the six month post op mark.  Still have a long way to go, but now I can view this journey through more positive light.

    • DawnDedee
      DawnDedee rose0000

      Posted

      Ha!  It looks like I have typos in my quote of what you said.  I meant to say, "...this operation was two for the price of one!"
  • dawn19789
    dawn19789 DawnDedee

    Posted

    Oh Dawn, thank god im not alone. I waited 8 years for my op. Im 56, so I haven't done much in the way of movement for that long. I didn't even do my shopping. Now I need to get fit. Its going to be very hard. Im starting healthy eating and walking.It a long road ahead, but a pain free one. Baby steps. We can inprove what we have. X
    • DawnDedee
      DawnDedee dawn19789

      Posted

      It is wonderful to know that we are not alone.  I am so glad that I felt brave enough to bring up the topic. This thread is now full of great advice for anyone to read so that they will know that they are not alone. Unfortunately, this post will become lost in the many many other new posts, but for those of us who were a part of this, we feel a bit better I think. biggrin
  • luvinlex
    luvinlex DawnDedee

    Posted

    Why sure you can turn this around! It only takes a lot of work. That's hard, and if I didn't HAVE to go to PT - I'd still be laying around w my muscles wasting away. ( what little muscle there is ) I'm 59. I can't imagine how you'd lay around for that long with a failed THR? That's unheard of!!! I do know about the weight gain. It can happen really fast. I had surgery on my foot to remove arthritic tissue and bone sputs at the big toe. I was off my feet, couldn't walk very far, and I think in a month, I must have put on 20 pounds. I tried on my clothes and was so shocked at how many pounds I'd put on, the spare tire I'd grown. It took a year to get back to my ideal weight. I didn't lose it in a healthy way, I pretty much just starved and survived off lettuce, energy drinks, and doing that caused me to lose muscle. Really dumb.

    Still, losing those pounds, I didn't care about anything else. So, this also goes to show the lengths we'll go to to have a body that we like. I could have died like Karen Carpenter. My friends said I looked sick, like a "heroin addict" and I took that as a compliment. Why can't we just be happy with what our body does as it ages? We know that 18 year old body, it is gone forever. Even the 40 year old body. 

    Love yourself, that's hard. I know, I've looked in the mirror and just hated myself. Life is just too short to hate yourself. Make a plan. Do baby steps. Don't think it will happen in a few months. I do believe in you and think you can get back what you've lost. 

    • DawnDedee
      DawnDedee luvinlex

      Posted

      Well, I did not know that I had a failed THR.  The surgeon could not find what was wrong and in his notes said that when I was distracted, the pain was not there.  At that time, the pain was not consistent, but there.  For a long time after he abadoned me the way he did, I really thought that what ever was causing the pain would "settle down", as he had said.  Who was I to doubt the surgeon who had done my first THR perfectly?  Then the pain picked up speed and never went away, but I was alone not knowing what to do. That is how I ended up laying around with a failed THR for so long.  First strung along with procedures that had nothing to do with the real cause of the pain.  Then abandonment.  THEN I found this site and it took another several months to arrange the second opinion and that was when I found out that the whole device had come loose and was migrating and no wonder it hurt so much.  I think my first surgeon made the mistake of not taking an x-ray with both hips in it.  He always just took an x-ray of the one I was complaining about.

      I think after all these great posts that I have already been feeling better about myself.  It helped also that I met with friends this past weekend who had not seen me in months and the first words out of their mouths were to ask me if I had lost weight and that I looked good.  So, I had some real positive thoughts after this thread and their comments.  Cool.

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