TEDS

It does vary so from one person tothe next and one surgeonnn to the next.  I guess it depends on the patient's health, etc., as to whether or not they will have wear the much hated things!  My legs and ankles do not swell, but what the operated leg will do post op is aother matter entirely.  In general when legs and ankles swell, you are advised to put your legs up hight than your heart, but this would break the 90 degree rule, unless you had some sort of contraption to use so that you were almost doing and hand stand....!

You will have your leg elevated a lot.  If you're on your back, having your legs supported by pillows will not even come close to breaking the 90 degree rule. 

As for TEDs, The sock assists are great. I recommend getting them before your operation and practice using them so it isn't so awkward when the time comes for you to need them.

I live alone, and got along okay after the first week fine, just by going through the home before my op and pretending the hip had the restrictions.. seeing what I could do and what had to be moved higher/lower etc.

Rob.

I would recommend practising with ALL your aids before the operation, much better to iron out the wrinkles before you actually need to use them.

Graham - 🚀💃

Good Morning Rob:

Since I posted, I have found that TEDS are not always the surgeon's choice.  They seem quite extreme to me, as they are so very difficult to manage on one's own.   I am due to meet with the consultant this coming Monday, and should know a lot more by then.

I am estimating that my op will take place in late Spring, by which time, I will not not be wearing anything on my feet, other than sandals or Skechers.

I have been looking at my home in terms of getting around post op, and it is going to be a nightmare.  I hae a lot of valuable oriental throw rugs and kilims, that I am not prepared to put into storage, and most of my furniture is Arts and Crafts and heavy to move around.  My bed will have to be moved over a tad, but that is easy.  The en suite is close to the bed.  In my opinion bad design, due to its close proximity, but post op, it will be very handy.  New build developers getting as much out of a plot of land as possible!  However, I pretty much know what needs to be done, and have been practising getting in and out of bed.  There is a fair amount of swivelling, which I think is wrong because it may casue a problem with the wound.  So, I am practising lifting myself up with my arms, and that is where the press ups that I have been doing, start to pay off!  The mattress it top quality Airsprung with a built in topper, so not much too push off.  Very comfortable, but post op, not very good! 

 

Many thanks, Maggie.  Those two options sound a better course of action for me.  Without outside help, it would be difficult, and the TEDs are just one example.

I am recovering from a ten year long campaign of stalking, anti social behaviour, abuse, assault and booby trapping on the part of a couple half my age.  Fortunately, due to intelligence that I provided the police, they now have criminal records.  No idea what their problem was, but it was chalk and cheese. For example, they played karaoke all the time, I play piano, and listen to opera, classical and jazz, etc.  My friend, who visits from Oxford is an architect, and so we talk about design, and they have been caught listening to our conversation whilst we are sitting on the patio.  Needless to say, I am still very traumatised, and now the trauma of facing major surgery!  Difficult to maintain friendships with all that going on!

Hi Susie, 

I am so sorry to hear about this .... Were they neighbors,  have they moved or are they still there? - 

Now before you go all over the place, find out your options, just like Maggie suggested - 

I really don't want to toot my horn all the time and I know that we are all different, but I live alone too ... My friends are in Los Angeles and the ones who live here in Holland are not close - don't know  what happened to  my family ---- I had 2 THR surgeries and had to move in between - 

If I would have been so afraid and concerned like you seem to  me, I would have checked in to a Care facility - I know you are dead set against that, but maybe you want to reconsider ?  By the time you go home you will be much stronger and confident ...

In my case I was so ignorant the first time - and I had all the people here the second time around ....

sending you peace, light and love - All is well Susie - it really is..

big warm hug

renee

 

That's interesting, they sound awful, anyway, and from what I have read on this forum, create havoc with the skin.  They do sound rather primitive, too, as there are other means of dealing with DVT.  However, drugs are expensive, TEDs, not so....!

I was not put on blood thinners as my platlet level was borderline when l had op. I did wear my teds for 6 weeks and after my husband doing me the honers for 4 weeks l could manage them myself. My legs or ankles did not swell at all. I don't know how you would do it on your own. But as l have read above there seems to be a contraption to help with them.

Hi again, Dawn:

I have been doing a lot of pre op physio exercises, and have added to and embellished them,   That includes butt squeezes, leg lifts that I have added to by doing foot flexes, and rotations.  Working on upper body and a lot of stretches.  Need to do a Google on post op exercises.  Depeding on how the surgeon accesses the hip, butt squeezes may be a little hard, as those muscles are interfered with,

I did watch the Youtube video of the op.  It is quite awe inspiring, but worth watching as you now know what your body has been through, and what to watch out for.  Some posts refer to the mark of a hand around the knee area.  I am assuming that this is where the surgeon forced the ball and socket apart.  Don't think this was shown.  Probably a bit too much information for some, but I found it educational.  I am quite squeamish, but really did feel that it was important to watch the video so that I knew what was involved.

Yes the op films are good. There is an app you can download caller pocket physio. Gives exercises for various stages of pre and post recovery. NHS approved

Many thanks Maggie:

Have been doing physio for over two years now, and have added a few more exercises.  Now taking me about an hour for a thorough work out, but it is paying dividends.  Post op is going to be another matter, so I will take a look at the app, and see if there is anything that I can add in to the physio - pre op and memorise the post ops.  

Truly, I would pass out, end up on the floor, cold sweats, nausea, unable to rise up from the floor, pass out again....you are braver than me!  My children would like to watch it.  Maybe they should in order to gain perspective as to why our lives changed so much during my three surgeries.  For me, I could feel how much my body went through and that is enough!  

I too did pre-op exercises for my first THR, but when the second one went bad in the first few weeks and gave me ever lasting gut wrenching pain for a year and a half which rendered me unable to do any type of exercise.  So I went into my revision very very deconditioned.  I am still searching within to find some kind of spark that will enable me to work harder at getting back into shape.  I always noticed that when much older people fell and broke a hip that they died soon after.  I studied the ageing population and wondered why there was a correlation.  Now I can glimpse as to why.  I am only in my late fifties and it has taken all I have in determination and will, and the fact that I am raising my granddaughters and owe them my best, to not lay down and give up.  Of course what added to my situation was having the second hip device come loose and migrate around while touching every nerve possible.

Remember that initially post op not only does the 90 rule apply but you are alsoadvised not to let your leg cross the body midline. As someone put it, living in straight lines

Hi Dawn:

I am so sorry that you have had to go through all this.  We all have thos phases in our lives, when we feel that tigns cannot possibly get any worse, and sometime they do.  When we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, it is such a relief.

My daughter has lost her very much loved Father in exactly the manner youhave described.  I a furious because the doctors told her that he had not picked up an infection, and sent him to  a "rehab" hospital miles away from his wife, and very difficult for my daughter to get to as she does not drive.  He had taken a fall and broke the upper part of his femur.  I never did quite understand why the did a THR, though.

I am 74 years, but not typical of my age group.  I come from a family on my Mother's side who have lived very long lives.  My Mother died at age 98, and that was only becaude the doctors thought it appropriate to give her a good shot of diamorphine, putting her into a coma.  The point being that we age at widely different rates, and our ability to come back from traua such as THR differs from person to person, too

I suspect that you are depressed, and that is not surprising, but remember that once yiu are through al this, you will be in a good position to start pickig up your life again, pain free.  It is a journey, and I am only at the beginning of mine, but from what I have heard, it is well worth it.  It is when things go wrong that the despair sets in.

Move forward slowly and with hope.  Do you have any meditiation tapes?  The bog standard, comforting and serene sounds are good, and so are the positive reinforcement ones.  

Remember othr members of the forum have been where you are now, and they will support and guide you through it.  There are some wonderful people on here, so keep posting, even when you feel your worst, the help is there.  

Thanks Susie, and yes I am suffering depression.  I have a depression disorder that has plagued me all my life, beginning in childhood, (I believe that my family situation helped to cause it), like carrying a low grade fever all the time.  There have been life events that have triggered worse spells, but this time when I found myself feeling like it would just be easier to die, I asked my doc for an antidepressant and it has helped me so far.  More good to come I am sure.

My body is in the bad shape that I fought my whole life to avoid and I fear that I will not have what it takes to turn it around and I also fear that my body will never return to even being close to what it was.  However, I remind myself that it takes time and healing is slower after a revision.  At least my revision.  Due to extensive bone grafting, I could not bear weight down on my new hip for two months and that added to being out of shape.  I could not do any physical therapy because my heart rate began to soar up to stroke and heart attack range and no one would work with me.  I felt so trapped.

I do not like feeling this old at the young age of 58.  It scares me.

So sorry for the terrible circumstances in which your daughter lost her beloved father.  

Yes I have an excellent meditation CD, I just do not use it often enough!  And the wonderful people on this site?  Yes, I could have not made it without them.  

 

Hi Dawn:

I thought that I had put my finger on the problem.  I believe that you feel that you have hit the bottom of the pit.  Remember that from there, the only way is up, and although you do not recognise that right now, you are on the way back.  You have started your journey by acknowledging your depression and doing something about it.

My daughter suffers from depression, as did my Mother.  I have had bouts, but they are mostly circumstancial. I have been traumatised more times than I care to count, right from the age of 14 months, when my Mother abandoned me, and left me in the driveway on the back seat of my Father's car.  I was just tall enough to see over the back seat and watch her leave with my younger sister carried in her arms.  I knew then, that I was on my own, and had to survive!

By nature, I am something of a Scarlet O'Hara - Tomorrow is another day.  

My gut level feeling is that you should be talking to a psychotherapist, as these feelings of despair and hopelessness need to be talked through with a professional who can support you as you start to repair both body and mind.

Regardng the heart and blood pressure:  are these symptoms related to panic attacks when you anticipate exercise, psychosomatic?  Have you had symptoms like this before, or is this new?  Is there a problem with your heart and hypertension?  If there are problems, either pre-existing or post op, they can be controlled medically.  When I lived in San Francisco, I switched to an Holistic doctor.  However, if you have total faith in your own doctor and he has a good medical background on you, he should know what is the best treatment for you.  Ask him to refer you to a psychotherapist.  If you do not like the one he refers you to, search around.  You may have friends who know of a good one. Acupuncture is very good also, as it will help your body to use its own resources to heal.

Use your meditation tapes, they will help enormously as they will give both your mind and body time to relax.  At times, I would be in meditiation mode for two, sometimes four hours without realising it.  I had some wonderful visualisations and experiences.  Must remind myself to do more of that, too.

Remember, slowly does it.  Do not expect your body and mind to jump through hoops of fire.  It is working for you, and you should treat your mind and body well.    Most of all, listen to what your body tells you.  It will tell you what it needs, as will your mind, if you just stop and listen.

Hope I have come some way to helping you through some of this.

Love and support,

Susie

 

I have done years worth of therapy, have read a library of self help books, believe and depend upon God.  It all helped me.  I was holding my own until that hip device came loose and my surgeon just could not seem to find what was causing the problem.  He put me through a grueling procedure that I did not need and charged me full price for my visits.  Then I was kicked out of his practice because I missed two payments on my account.  In effect, leaving me crippled for life.

I went straight into victim mode.  And that excruciating pain changed me.  My life was stripped down to laying on the couch or the bed because all other movement was unbearable.

Then I found this site and found the courage to go for a second opinion and that is when I discovered that the device had come loose and migrated around to places it did not belong.  The ball had even come unseated from the cup.  

Knowing that I have organic depression, I believe that this bout is situational, but need the antidepressant to boost me up and out.  

The heart racing is called Sinus Arrhythmia.  I had all the tests.  It has been a problem all my adult life, although never this bad, because of the chronic lung disease I was born with and the medications I have to take.  So now I take a medication to control my heart rate and have an extra smaller dose that I can take an hour before strenuous activities.  It took some adjusting of the doses but it works well now.  However I carry with me at all times a pulse/ox meter so that I can measure my pulse and oxygen level.  It helps because I know for sure when to slow down.  I cannot always trust how I "feel".

But I could not help but suspect that this condition was worsened by the sheer fact that I was so out of shape from laying around for so long.  So I challenged myself six months after my last THR and took a physically demanding job for two hours a day.  At first I thought I was going to die, but now, I am stronger for it.

You have been a great support Susie and I appreciate you taking the time to exchange thoughts with me.

Hugs

Hi Dawn:

I think you are in the US, right?  The system there is different what we have in the UK>  I know, because i lived in New York and San Francisco for a major part of my life, and did have experience of US medicine.

It sounds to me as though surgeon one messed up - big time, could not find where theproblem was and decided to rid himself of you because of two missed payments.  In short, he abdicated all responsibility.  You may have legal recourse against him for malpractice and negligence.Right now, you probably feel that you did not have the emotional and physical resources to go down this path yet, but it needs to be addressed before the statute of limitations in these actions run out.  He would be equally liable here in the UK., but harder to proceed in the UK.  You have to prove financial loss!

Right now, you need to concentrate on becoming well again and doing things that you find pleasurable.

Take care of yourself,

Hugs to you too,

 

Unfortunately the statute of limitations did run out while I was in victim mode.  And when I finally did contact some lawyers, I was told that medical malpractice suits are very expensive and in fact too expensive to be pursued, unless one has their own small fortune to pay on their own.  I was told that what the doc does has to be catastrophic. One has to be mamed for life or killed before anyone will take up the case.  I had good contacts too, but to no avail.  It was quite an infuriating ordeal all the way around.