June 18, 2013

out of surgery for 3 hours. All went well, pain is managble so far. Was a 2 1/2 hour operation as there was a lot more wrong then good

June 22, 2013

I would have checked in sooner. Been figuring out which position is best in the hospital bed, PT, icing, resting, debating with the nurses on pain medication, and more icing, has just been so much fun, I couldn’t get away from it. 

This is day 4 ½ post-op, and following are some brief notes. I would like to expand more on pain management later on, and share with you my experience, and welcome feedback all.
1.   Minimal swelling in thigh
2.   Very little, almost no swelling at all in ankle/calf
3.   Using Ankle Pumps for 2 weeks and taking aspirin 325mg 1 month for DVT
4.   PT 3 times daily, won’t go into the details on this post
5.   Sleeping a bit tough as I am not a fan of sleeping on back. Tried sleeping on non-op side and that didn’t go over well at all
6.   Medication (in hospital)
o   Every 4 hrs, 2 pills, Oxycodone 5mg, 2 pills
o   Every 4 hrs, 2 pills, Oxycodone 5-325 mg, alternating hours of 5mg
o   Twice daily, 325mg aspirin
o   Twice daily, stole softener
o   Once daily multi-vitamins and 2000 unit D3
o   As needed, Ativan to fed off any anxiety I may get
o   Basically taking pain pills every 2 hrs

Regarding pain management, or maybe I should say medicine management, starting day 2 post op the nurses were trying to increase duration of time with no pills. They “accidentally” move to 3 hours, and then tried going to 4. When I questioned them on it, they stated they either forgot to give them to me, or was waiting for a call from me to remind them. Fast forward to release day and what the doctor prescribed. WOW, it was a large reduction, meaning I would have to really increase the time between pills and reduce the qty. To put it in perspective, I would run out of the 5mg Oxycodone in 2 ½ days and the 5-325 Oxycodone in 7 ½ days if keeping to the hospital schedule. So here I go, trying to figure out how to make these pills last as long as possible while keeping the pain to an acceptable level. We shall See!

To sum this all up, and assuming all this soreness and etc. goes away, which I am sure it will, I am please with the progress to-date. All the pre-op pain is gone, Yippeee, and I can tell the pain that I have now is the typical post surgery/muscle soreness.

 

June 27, 2013

9 days post-op for me I have not had any swrlling past the knee, and hopefully don’t. Sounds like your just about at the same level of recovery as I. Below are the key items for me, just for reference.
– Taking meds at 6 hr increments, Percocet at night and extra-strength Tylenol during the day. Trying to get off Percocet 100%
– Can only sleep on back so far. Tried to sleep on non-op side last night, after 10 min(even with pillow between legs) the pain got to be 2 much. Sure miss having options on how to sleep
– mostly muscle soreness, knee pain,and incision pain. about a 1 to 2 level. Sometime a 3 when I just wake up in the morning, but I walk and work it out.
– sleet 3 – 4 hrs at a time at night, and stiffness sets in than
– Still a little constipated
– On the emotional side, feel alone and insecure at times. This Site REALLY helps out (Thanks Pat et All)
– Doing PT 3 times a day. all lying down exercises, at 2 weeks (next Tue), can starting standing ones
–  Next Monday get staples out and stop using ankle pumps if check for blood clots come back negative.
– Surgical bandage removed 2 days ago. Took shower just before removal, and it felt GREAT!
I do a lot of icing, and try to walk every hour troughoutthe day.

July 9, 2013

I am 21 days post RBHR and all is well as far as I can tell. The question I have has to do with a throbbing pain that occurs every 15 seconds on my operated hip. Here is the scenario, the incision is on the side of the hip (direct lateral trans-gluteal approach), and directly under the end (bottom) of the incision a throbbing pain to the knee occurs every 15 seconds. It also feels like there is a muscle in that general area as I can feel a tightness/band from the incision down to knee. Maybe it’s the IT band? During the day it’s not that bad, but at night it is difficult to sleep.

July 15, 2013

Tomorrow is 4 weeks for me. Anyway,within the past week I am now able to sleep on my non-operated side for a couple hours, and what a relief that was. As far as balancing and walking with/without a crutch or cane, I am still on 2 crutches as my doctor has a 6 week restriction and only allows 75% weight bearing so as not to risk a femur neck fracture. I have tried walking with one crutch, and can go a couple of steps, and even a couple without a crutch, I then get scared because I for one do not want a fracture. I did start to work 20 hrs a week from home last week (desk job), and my goal is to go to work Aug 1st. I am probably progressing slower than a lot, but I just feel that my body is saying to go slow, plus I still get that darn pain from the bottom of incision to the knee every now and then, which is why I am still on the narcotics. 

July 30, 2013

Had my 6 week checkup today, and was given the nod to get rid of the crutches, Yippee. Was informed everything looks perfect, and to start gradually building on exercises. I.e. bicycling, swimming, and other standing/laying down exercises. No 90 degree restriction, and was said to get on with my life. Only restrictions are, no impact sports/work-outs for one year. I did ask about the shin pain and he feels it is muscle spasm. Was given a muscle relaxer, shall see if it goes away sooner than later.

August 11, 2013

It will be 8 weeks in 2 days, my how time flies. Anyway, I started going into work last Mon. Aug 5th (office job) and had a ton of meetings which meant walking more than I wanted. Came home and was dead tired. By Thu, I couldn’t take it anymore and worked from home, on Fri worked 1/2 day at home and had to go in for a afternoon meeting.

The point of all this is, I DIDN’T do any exercise Mon thru Fri, and my thigh, hip, leg just felt like crap. Really sore and very tight. I even had to go back to crutches for a short time. So, I started exercising again Sat in hopes I get back to the point I should be at. I have nobody to blame but myself, and should have known better.

My last point, and some may remember, I still get that shin pain but mostly at night. Talked to the PA and he just says my body is adjusting. Geez, it’s going on 3 weeks with this shin pain.

October 26, 2013

I had a BHR June 18th, 2013 by Dr. Brooks. I do check in every now and then, and wanted to share with you all that I still appreciate ALL of the input/support provided before and after the surgery. I was searching for a specific topic and one of my old post’s came up from May 24, 2013, and it mentioned all the pain I was in and how I was hoping I wouldn’t become fully disabled prior to surgery. That one sentence really made me think on how this site helped me get thru daily living for many months, truthfully!

Sometimes I/we forget what we went thru in the past, so in retrospect I have made a promise to myself to stay in touch, as I want to give back and show my support for anyone going threw what a lot of us have already.

Pat, thanks again for this wonderful site.

January 9, 2015

It’s been almost 19 months since my right BHR, and I still am very happy with the results. For you newbies, I can’t say enough how much help this site has been before, during, and after the surgery. It amazes me that people are still on this site months/years after their surgery and willing to offer their support for us all. I know I am appreciative for it.

January 8, 2016

I just want to share I am still thinking of this site on a weekly basis and of all the ways you supported me thru the process, along with the valued input received that helped me in making a decision. I see there are the same senior members helping newbies, and new senior members also helping. You folks are AMAZING, keep it up!

Bottom line, thank you for being there, and to all those folks having difficulties post-op my prayers go out to you for a successful outcome.