As some of you may know, I’ve been in a walker for most of the year. After a failed steroid shot, the doctor ordered more mris that came back suggestive of avascular necrosis. Apparently there’s much damage to the femoral head, I was referred out of physical medicine to an orthopedic surgeon almost immediately. I see him sept 26. I turned 60 in August.
My questions generally, especially to those who have had hip replacement, is how long did you have to have someone with you after the procedure? How long did you have to spend at the hospital? How long did it take for the pain to go away?
I took dilaudid for 1 day and it made me so groggy I could barely function. I did my pain control with the Tylenol they supplied me. Plus the prescription laxative (which still wasn't "enough"), and Colace. The level of constipation was astonishing (also because you're not physically active like normal).
If your medical team offers you a Game Ready automated ice wrap... TAKE IT -- it is 100% worth the price of rental. It was an awesome piece of medical equipment that I feel sped up my recovery. Here's info (also see their basic website at GameReady.com) :
https://gameready.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Game-Ready-Wrap-UM-HipGroin-EN-704580B.pdf
And definitely do the rehab like a boss. PT works and you will recover so much faster. I was back playing tennis after 3 months (you will be back sooner if you're not rehabbing for a specific sport or activity). Make sure your pain is at a comfortable level or you won't do the PT enough. Take whatever pain meds necessary in order to make doing the exercises comfortable. Pain should not prevent you from doing the PT.
I know 2 friends who had recent hip replacements and it went really well for them. Wishing you a full and speedy recovery!
Of course everyone is different, but my friend (about your age) was in hospital about 4-5 days then home. That is a typical stay for my city but I've heard in another city a 3 day stay is expected. What is US like?
Pain was well managed by medication. Obviously the surgical site will be sore to start but the wound healed quickly. Was some tighness/stiffness in the muscles, but Physio started straight away & helped with that.
My friend lived with spouse (who was home fulltime) but my friend was fully independant on crutches to go home & able to do most things - just needing help with putting footwear on (to avoid bending). A pickup stick was useful, an over toilet seat was hired & a chair in the shower suggested.
If living alone, if he had many stairs inside or needing to build up more strength, he may have considered 7 days or so inpatient rehab stay. (Depending on insurace coverage I guess).
My daughter did come and stay with me for 10 days as I was still in the throes of caring for my late husband, and that was when he'd really taken a turn for the worse, but after that I was on my own to take care of myself and my husband.
And he ended up in the hospital for a week shortly after my daughter left, which was quite interesting because I still couldn't drive, so had to depend on friends and neighbors to take me to the hospital so I could spend time with him as I had to be his mouth piece because of his aphasia....but that is a whole other very long story.
Bottom line, you'll do just fine. Just make sure that you're doing your PT, and continuing to move.
I am not one who likes to take pain pills, as I don't like to be constipated, so I only took them the first couple days and quit after that. And honestly I don't remember the pain being that bad at all.
You'll do just fine, as most doctors now do the anterior hip replacements and that recovery is much easier than the posterior ones(which is what I had)and in which I couldn't bend over more than 45 degrees for quite some time as my new hip could have come out of joint.
I wish you well in getting your new hip.
But I know quite a few people that have had hip replacements the last few years, and I have been amazed at how well they do and quick they recover.
At all ages also, one in later 50s did amazing, and actually my friends mom at 95+ did super!!
My friend lost her husband and dad, this year. When her mom broke her hip , I was just thinking, ok time for hospice. She recovered, and then some!
Sorry your going through this Peggy, but you got this!! 🙂🙏
https://www.reddit.com/r/TotalHipReplacement/comments/1bxfbnf/avascular_necrosis/
https://www.reddit.com/r/TotalHipReplacement/comments/187a785/got_the_hard_word_from_the_doctor_and_its/
My healthcare network has a Pain Clinic in the big Tria Orthopedic complex. Not sure if you have access to such a service where you live. I'd start talking to your surgeon sooner rather than later so there are no surprises during your pre-op. I had to have a full physical at almost exactly 1 week prior to my surgery. Results went to the surgeon for review.
Most recently I had an elbow tendon surgery this past spring. I showed up and could not get my wedding band off. They cut it off my finger or else they would have cancelled the surgery. This is how militant they are about liability.
An alternative to replacement might be nerve ablation:
https://health.ucdavis.edu/pain/specialties/knee-hip-ablation-osteoarthritis.html#:~:text=Knee%20and%20hip%20ablation%20for%20osteoarthritis%20is%20a%20minimally%20invasive,nerves%20that%20transmit%20pain%20sensation.
It is minimally invasive with very low risk or side effects. They basically "cauterize" the nerve using safe sound waves. The only downside is that the nerve can regenerate and the pain can return, but then you have the ablation again. Not sure if this is covered by Medicare or not.
Like you for my daughter pain's an issue, and isn't on Kaiser so just to let you know NO ONE but those still outlaws in some So. States will give opiates anymore sadly. It's a nightmare to try to get help with pain and they want instead to fill you up with all sort of stuff that knocks you for a loop while on the PAIN remains. I sympathize with your plight and it's the plight of many.
For my daughter, when finally the MRI was done showed two muscles torn away from femur anchor, tendons a mess, bursitis, and I could go on. But this apparently is not total hip work and she was told that muscle repair at this point likely unsuccessful, is going on now to sports med referrals.
My sympathies. Wait and see if total hip in offing for you, and my friend Diane being s/p TWO of them will tell you even with the fact one dislocated when she got on commode wrong soon after OR, overall the pain was light for her compared to all she had gone through with the bad hips, and the recovery went VERY well. Still some problems with age, two repairs, fallen arches that need bracing and three cat little boxes, but she is overall doing very well, and did lightening fast in recover I think.
Thinking of you and keep us updated as you go!
Yes, sports med is what handles these injuries apparently, no matter your age. They do some fine laproscopic surgery. But as to whether it lasts? Up to your body. With muscles torn from attachments any amount of time sometimes need to be roughed up, reattached, and pinned in. The body is quite amazing in its determination to heal, or not heal.
At 82 I am also very active. Gardening, walking and etc. So yeah, I could get sent to sports med at some point too, odd as that may sound, ha ha.
Great docs there and great PT people but they are absolute slave-drivers who will cut you no slack and listen to no amount of pain, ha ha. My experience of them anyway. That said, they can patch up Steph Curry, why not US?
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