I am Hippy

[hipnhop]

Mike, they told me I will need to get second hip done but I am trying to buy time.  What were your original plans? Why did you have both done so close? I think I need a few months off. 

[hernanu]

Just thought I'd blunder right in here with my opinion...  ;D

I knew my right hip needed to be done, as it was painful also, but my original plan was to wait a year. After talking with my doctor, and considering what I felt like, I wanted to get it over with. He felt that it was reasonable to wait three months since that would allow me to recoup and to go through a full cycle of PT. The intent was to have my left strong enough to support my right leg.

Worked like a charm for me, but others here have great stories with other strategies.

[Tin Soldier]

Hipnhop - I was in the same position a couple months ago, bi-lat OA needing HR for both hips but could span it out as needed.  I originally planned on doing no. 2, 6 weeks past firts one.  This was the shortest time span between them that my doc would allow.  The day I left the hospital (about 4 weeks ago), I told my surgeon that I wasn't signing up for number 2 just yet and that I would probabaly wait til the fall of this year (keeping in mind the deductible).  He said I would have been the first to do such a thing and he's done 2600 HRs.  Some of that is probabaly rhetoric, but I suspect it's mostly true. 

I was very impressed with Mike for sticking with it.  Being 4 weeks out, I still feel like I want my first leg (left ) to be stronger before taking the right leg off line.  I recall replacing the weather stripping in the back door and hauling a wagon full of firewood across the back yard, about 4 days post op.  Hey, I only needed 3/4 of my body.  That was my attitude and as long as I wasn't hurting or potentially impairing recovery on my operative leg, then why not?  In short, I felt like my 2 weeks at home during initial recovery was pretty easy because I had the use of my right leg. 

Everyone is different and my right hip may not be as bad off as yours or Mike's, or others and that could well be a major factor in someone's schedule.  So next fall when I'm getting the right done, Mike will be far beyond early recovery and will be reaping the benefits of his more aggressive schedule.  I'll be wishing I stuck with the orginal schedule. :)

I like Hernanu's schedule (3 month's between).  Also, both my surgeon and PT said I will really start to notice the right hip as I gain strength and ROM in the left.  It's true.  I'm noticing it.  Another factor to consider....
     

[LWChafin]

hipnhop,

I'm kinda new here - used to be around here back in the year following my resurf by Michael Mont (4 years ago I think - maybe 5).  Assuming you don't have complications it really does get better much quicker after the forst week or so.  I was driving again on day 9 even though I was still using crutches.  At 3 weeks I drove to Baltimore for my postop checkup - it's a 3 1/2 hour drive from my home - Dr. Mont said full weight bearing and I tossed the crutch into the trunk and never looked back. By 3 months out I was riding my bicycle again and essentially able to do whatever I wanted without pain; there was still some tightness, but that resolved pretty quickly with the bike riding. I have never done anything for myself (at least not from a medical standpoint) that made my life better than getting this done.  

If you're relatively young, in decent shape and work hard at PT I'd bet that 3-4 months from now you'll be ready to go for the 2nd hip.  It's really amazing how nice life is without pain with every step.  

Larry

Dr. Mont - R - Wright Conserve Plus  4/06 (I think).

[hipnhop]

It's the 5th day after surgery and I am having a hard time. Not so much the hip, it's the damn headaches from trying to ween myself off the drugs and lack of sleep.  Seriously, the hip just feels like a bad Charly Horse (you know when someone punches you in the led).  My doc told me "Not" to be conservative at this time with pain meds. Taking Percocet will help with the pain, thereby improve PT, thereby making recovery faster and sleep easier. I get it but I hate meds (and what they do to your bowel movement). Just need to listen to the Doc and stop trying to second guess everything. Just took a Percocet and headache has almost disappeared and I feel goooooddd!!!!! Looking forward to some more PT tonight.

As for other hip I thank everyone for their input.  I just think I'm gonna wait a month before I even think about it again.  Plus, I don't want to spend July in a Hospital and Recovery Bed, although the pain in my undone hip will determine that.

[svanci02]

I had a THR because my bones were so bad by the time ( I thought that hip pain ran through my family and it was something that you had to live with and cracked the neck just twisting my leg a little, that is when I found I had advanced AVN)  I went to have anything done but the recovery in about the same from everything I have read. I had my operations 28 days apart and at day 8 post op of the first operation, "I told my wife to cancel the second operation", she did not listen to me and waited another week. I am post op 19 days from the second operation and doing my exercises twice a day and feeling better every day, I am glad that I did them that close as I working on both at the same time and hope to be golfing by mid May! Everyone is diff but did not want to go though this for three months twice in a year.

[halfdone]

Very impressed by all bi-lats!  I waited 5 years to do the second one.  ;D

Hang in hipnhop.  Still very early days and once things settle down a little more, and particularly when you get past the heavy meds and on to just Tylenol, I'll bet you'll feel much better.  (Also, if you are on anticoagulants they also seem to often cause headaches and other undesirable side effects.)

Good luck with your recoveries!

[FlbrkMike]

Mike, they told me I will need to get second hip done but I am trying to buy time.  What were your original plans? Why did you have both done so close? I think I need a few months off.  

Sorry I didn't respond earlier.  Like I said, I'm back at work.  A lot of stuff I thought I was covered for last week didn't get done, so now I'm swamped trying to catch up.

I knew about 3 or 4 years ago that I'd need a hip replacement at some time.  I thought I had tendinitis in my left hip and just was not very flexible in both hips.  I finally went to see an orthopedic surgeon and he told me that both hips had pretty advanced OA.  The doctor I was seeing didn't do BHR, in fact he never mentioned it.  Just told me that I should wait unil I couldn't handle the pain anymore and then sign up for a THR.  I finally got tired of decreasing activity level and increasing use of pain killers and decided to do something around last September.

A neighbor across the street had a BHR done by Dr. Chao in San Diego and also a knee replacement a month later.  He couldn't have them done together, and his reasoning for having them close together was that it decreases the total recovery time.  This was about a year before I talked to him and he was very happy with his results.  About the same time I went to a class at our small local hospital for joint replacement (hip, knee, shoulder) candidates.  The class was put on by the practice that my doctor at the time was part of, the only orthopedic practice in town.  The didn't mention any resurfacing, so I asked about the BHR.  They said that they don't do it and don't generally recommend it.  I also noticed that I was the youngest person in the room, besides my wife, by about 20 years.  

After that class I started to do some research which is when I found this site and Vicky's site, which have been a godsend to me as they have to a lot of otheres, and decided I definitely wanted to consider a bilateral BHR.  I went to see Dr. Chao and he told me that I was a good candidate for the procedure.  I then went to see Dr. Ball and he agreed with Dr. Chao.  This was in November of last year, and I decided to go with Dr. Ball for several reasons.  There was never any question that I would have both hips done, just a question of timing.  

I had noticed that some people had same day bi-lat procedures and asked Dr. Ball about that.  He said that he had done some but preferred not to do them on the same day.  It's harder on both the patient and the doctor, especially on somebody like me.  I'm fairly large (5'11", 230 and large boned).  Thinking of my friend across the street I asked about a four week turnaround and he said that that was a fairly reasonable break, so I signed up in early December for my February - March bi-lat.  Dr. Ball told me that if I didn't think I was ready after four weeks that he would have not problem if I wanted to  reschedule.

By the time my first surgery came around I was really anxious to get it done.  Once I made the decision in December I just wanted to get the first one done ASAP.  After the first one I was pretty sure I wanted to go through with the second and never really thought about putting it off.  My recovery went well.  I was very agressive in my PT and exercises knowing that I needed to build the strength in my left leg.  I was off crutches and mostly off the cane in two weeks.  I still have some obvious weakness in my left leg but now I rarely even think about it because I'm concentrating on my right side.

I was afraid that I'd lose a lot of the progress on my left side by having to cut back on exercises like squats but I really think that having to depend on it as my "good" leg may actually speed up my strength recovery.  Hopefully in a couple of weeks my right leg will have caught up and I'll be able to return to some agressive outpatient PT treatment.

So, my reasons for doing them so close together:

Speed up total recovery time
Get them both in the same year so they come under one deductible
Why get one fixed and then have the other still holding me back?

[LWChafin]

Hey, hipnhop,

Pain is a personal thing.  My wife is like you - hates meds and suffers UNNECESSARILY with headaches from too much computer, car, reading.  If you progress like I did (and like it seems most folks without serious complications here progressed) within a couple of weeks unless you have those complications you'll be off anything that's not OTC, will have a clear colon and will be a happy camper.  I took 2 of the percocets that Dr. Mont sent me home with - ditched all the rest - really just to help me sleep.  Ibuprofen was plenty to control the post op pain (and I really don't have that high a pain threshold).  By day 7 I never took anything other than Ibuprofen - and not very often at that by day 10 or so.  Trust me on this - it will improve.  BTW, if you're having problems with BMs because of the meds, I'd rush down (send someone) to CVS and try one of the colon cleanse products they're pushing for weight loss - I can't say that they work for weight loss, but I can say they do one heckuva job as a persuader for a reluctant colon.   ::)

Larry
Mont, R, C+ 4/06 (I think)

[gary2010]

Ask for tramadol, it doesn't have all the horrible side effects of codeine.

[hipnhop]

AND I AM STARTING TO FEEL GREAT!!!!!! 

[newdog]

hipnhop,

It even gets better! Wait until you put the crutches and cane away for good!

[hipnhop]

14 day post op done. Staples out and moving forward. still on 90 degree restriction.  Started driving - a little uncomfortable but with a few adjustments to the steering wheel and recline and a knowledge of how to get in and out the car (really works), feeling much better.

My Son just caught a nasty infection in his elbow. He is 19 and had an open would which he left untreated. One bad game of tackle football with his college buddies he is up in the hospital with a elbow the size of a cantaloupe.

Lesson for me- ain't nothing worth catching an infection. My desire to go swimming is going to wait a few more weeks. I want to make sure my would is airtight. I'm not trying to damage my metal.