What to expect
Posted , 15 users are following.
I am having a THR late in May I am a bit scared and don't really know what to expect - how much pain after surgery - when will I be able to walk the dog etc
1 like, 48 replies
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Notes on What to expect
steve86482 kaura
Posted
You will be in moderate but controllable pain for the first few weeks then each day you get better. I am a 66 year old male. Depending on the size of the dog ( we have Yorkies and a Cane Corso Mastiff) perhaps as early as 3-4 weeks. Relax. Take your Ned's, do your exercises and walk. You will be glad you had it done. We were all nervous leading up to the surgery
betty07083 kaura
Posted
Hi Kaura,
I'm also having THR in May (May 15) I'm having the anterior approach, which I don't recall hearing much about that approach on this forum, and I am also a bit scared.
What approach are you having & where do you live? ( I'm in the US)
Hope to compare notes with you in May!
Looking forward to having a better quality of life!
Betty
kaura betty07083
Posted
I am having the incision on the side of my hip, don't know what it is called, I totally forgot lol. I am in Hamilton Ontarion Canada. Yes that quality of life would certainly be appreciated. How much pain are you i right now? I pretty much can't do anything without pain and can't wait for the surgery to over and done with. Let's keep in touch and compare notes.
kimberley38758 kaura
Posted
Hi Kaura,
It's called the Posterior Approach. I had the same done 7 months ago. I'm feeling great now and so glad that I had it done. Best of luck!
gary01 betty07083
Posted
Hi Betty and Kaura - I had a hip replacement 4 days ago. I'm a 60 year old male in decent condition. The surgeon went in through the front of the hip (anterior). He said that anterior was less invasive and had a quicker recovery time vs going in through the side of the hip. I was walking with crutches about 5 hours after the surgery and was cleared for discharge the same day. I elected to stay overnight to be safe. The next morning (1st day after surgery) I went home and was able to walk without assitance, although I am using a cane to make sure I can focus on my impaired gait. The 2nd day after surgery I was in a lot more pain and began to experience more swelling. Today (3rd day after), I'm feeling much better and getting to spend a lot more time walking. I'm on two painkillers -- I'm now cutting back on both, and using the stronger of the two at night only. So far so good. Best of luck!
betty07083 gary01
Posted
Hello buckstop,
Thank you for sharing your experience with the anterior approach. I'm amazed that they wanted to discharge you the same day! I would have elected to stay overnight as well, to be safe.
Please continue to post as you recouperate. It will be interesting to "compare notes" to those who have had other approaches. Since I am having the anterior approach on May 15th, I am very interested in hearing how you are recovering.
Hope things continue to go well for you!
gary01 betty07083
Posted
Hi Betty - Update - Day 5 - First, I changed my user name from buckstop (a piece of my email address) to Gary.. (my name). Also, I'm going to switch from referring to each Day as the number of days AFTER surgery to referring to each Day to include the day of the surgery as "Day 1." Therefore, it's now Day 6 (Saturday Martch 11th).
Recapping, I had the replacement surgery early Monday, March 6th (Day 1). Yesterday (Friday, March 10, Day 5), I tried going the day without painkillers and up'd the amount of time walking per hour and the quantity/intensity of exercises (leg lifts, foot pumps, etc). By late yesterday afternoon I concluded that I went too far too fast. I began to experience a high level of stiffness and pain in my operated leg and found it more and more difficult to get up each time after sitting for more than 10 - 15 mins. [On the positive side, my painkiller "boycott" resulted in a muh-appreciated improvement in my constipation issues.] After an early dinner yesterday, I took 2 of the strong painkillers (5mg oxycodone) plus a prescription sleep aid and went to bed around 6:30 pm. Woke up around midnight in pain and took 2 more pain killers and another sleep aid, which got me through til 5am this morning. I got up feelling well rested.
I think I'm going to go back to taking the painkillers more along the lines that they were prescribed to see if that helps in facilitating the more aggressive daily "workout" routine. For now, I'll still reserve the strong painkillers for overnight (2 oxy's every 4 - 5 hours or so) and the milder ones for during the day (1 - 2 50mg tramadols every 6 hours). So far today, I feel like my progress is back to where I was around Day 2. Hoping that by the end of the day, I'll feel more like I've had 6 days of progress. Will keep you posted. Thanks for your interest. - Gary
RichardKen gary01
Posted
Cheers Richard
judith12644 gary01
Posted
Hi Gary, you sound as though you're doing great, but please stay on your pain meds! I took all my prescribed meds for 2 weeks, and then cut them down. My recovery was very smooth, and pretty much pain free. Just a bit achy at times, and the nights were pretty rubbish! All the best.
gary01 RichardKen
Posted
gary01 judith12644
Posted
Thank you Judith! I appreciate you sharing you're experience. Thinking my focus should be on improving my condition right now, not on how quickly I can get off the medications. Your feedback is very helpful as I make these early course corrections, figure out my goals and priorities and measure my progress toward meeting the goals. Thanks, Gary
renee01952 gary01
Posted
great post !!! I think it would be very beneficial if you start your own discussion so more members can read it ...
It seems that you are doing great, albeit too much too soon - you just had major surgery and your body needs time to heal -
slow down, darling, you move too fast -
it is better to do more repetitions than to intensify them - short walks for now, a couple of times a day, instead of one long walk ....
Pain is no gain after THR surgery ....
big warm hug
renee
gary01 renee01952
Posted
Hi Renee - Been away for a while. Thank you for your thoughts. You're right. I'm looking today at my very swollen and bruised left foot and realizing I need to take time to place just as much focus on the other aspects of healing, such as rest, elevating the leg, icing. I'm very much into high reps, low weight when working out. Think that concept applies here. Reading everyone's input is very helpful. Understanding you're own healing isn't easy and requires lots of listening. Also, not sure how to start a new discussion, but I do have an update to post so will try that. Thanks for your thoughts and advice Renee!
Take care,
Gary
RichardKen kaura
Posted
Well of course much depends on the person as there are so many variables involved. I was 65 at the time of my surgery weighed 10.25 stone and was very fit and positive.
I was in hospital for about five days which was about a day longer then would have been the case as three days post op they realized that my feeling bad was the need for a blood transfusion due to loss of blood during the op. It was amazing because within ten minutes of the start of the transfusion I started to feel normal again! I had been feeling weak and had constant headaches.
I had a bit of walking practice with sticks and was managing on just one but they insisted that I left hospital with two. It's just over twenty years post op so the memory has dimmed somewhat but I think it was only a day or two before I was only using one stick and soon after that it was none.
My walks took place on mostly very rough country tracks as I lived in on a hill farm in Wales in the UK and I always took a sheep dog with me but it would not have been on a lead generally. I had to take care that I did not twist my hip for the first couple of months as it was not a cemented one. I think it was about two weeks before I was driving a manual car.
The new hip transformed my life and I do not remember being in pain during the recovery so perhaps I was just lucky. At just gone twenty years of farming and lots of building work etc my hip has failed with no warning and I'm waiting for a revision which is something that I'm not looking forward to!
Best of luck with your surgery.
Cheers Richard
RichardKen
Posted
Cheers Richard