Dr. Su - June 11th

[23109VC]

Congrats and welcome to the club!  Like Newdog said, you will get better really fast...just be patient.  Keep up on the meds too!  If you stick with them, as directed, you should have very little pain, if any.  I was told if you try to "tough it out" and get off the pain meds too fast...and it does start to hurt, it's more difficult to knock the pain back....  I took all the meds they gave me...whether I really thoug I needed it or not...you won't be on the stuff that long anyway....

Glad to hear it all went so well!  Except for the room thing.... Stuff happens.  At least the one goof that was made was with booking your room... At least the mistake wasn't made in the OR!  That's what counts!

I'm at about 3.5 months post op and feeling really good.  Follow your drs instructions....take it easy and listen to your body.  Don't try to prove anything, or push yourself...  You have lots of time to get betterr.  The one time I tried to walk too far...at about six weeks post op...I got sore and it took a week for it to recover...if you push too hard you will have setbacks...

Get the raised toilet seat too!  I neglected to buy that right away, and got it a few days after surgery.. i wish I had it as soon as I got home!    Walmart has cheap ones.... You won't need it long...but you will need it.

At what point did dr say you could return to sports?

[KirkM]

I am definitely keeping up on the meds.  I have taken a few walks today already and the nurses have completely disconnected me from everything.  No catheter, no IV, no epidural and no nose oxygen.

Dr. Su called me in my room today from his home to check on how I was doing.  He really is a great doctor.  He remembered everything about our pre-op conversation and said he put the device in specifically to my build, lifestyle and goals.  He didn't know the exact angle of the placement but said he would measure it on the post-op x-rays tomorrow and let me know.  He said he is much more focused on the cup placement in relation to the overall mechanics of an individual's hip system as a whole rather than a selected number.  He also said my acetabular cup is a size 60!  I'm 6'4" so I guess that makes my hip socket pretty big.  I forget what he said the femoral component size was, something like a 54 or 56.

Time for another PT session.  I just couldn't be happier about how this is going.  More updates soon....

[hernanu]

Great news Kirk! Sounds like you're doing well, and are taking the right steps. PT is crucial right now, but so is rest - keep it up, sounds like you're on your way.

[KirkM]

23109VC -

Sorry, I didn't answer your question.  Dr. Su said I needed to be very careful the first 3 months and then SLOWLY build athletic activity back up during the period between 3 and 6 months.  Barring any unforeseen complications, he said I can run at 6 months.

I have already decided to be on the conservative side and not even think about running until WELL AFTER the 6 month mark.  My plan is to get past the 7 or 8 month mark and then, when I get out and walk, inject a minute or two of easy jog every so often.  From then until the year mark, I will just do a little more running and a little less walking as time passes until I am back to running the whole workout.

I did a bunch of walking around my hospital floor today.  It was really great to periodically get up and move.  Learned climbing stairs with the forearm crutches too.  I really like those type of crutches.  For me, they are much more natural feeling.   I should be released tomorrow and will spend another week at the Belaire.  Truly, this has been much easier than i thought it would be.  It's not exactly a party, but my shoulder arthroscopy was more difficult as far as recovery goes.

And the staff at HSS is really incredible.  I really couldn't ask for more from them.

So, tomorrow they release me out into the wild.  Can't wait for that!  This place is great, but I really want to start flying on my own now....

[hernanu]

Well  batten down the hatches, Kirk is going to be on the loose  :)  Really glad to hear you're doing well and that you're being conservative, so was I. How's the pain?

[KirkM]

Really there is no pain to speak of.  Some stiffness and that annoying situation where you think you can just lift the leg up and swing out of bed and it simply says NO.  It is weaker than you think is and keeps surprising me when I try to move it and it just refuses.

They have really kept up on the pain meds so I have had no periods where I felt pain of any significance.  I keep telling the nurse, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, but there is just no real pain.  And, I slept very well last night.  I was under the impression that the second night after surgery was the worst, but it was quite a good night's sleep.  They woke me every 4 hours for the Percoset and I was cruzin'.

They removed the dressing / bandaging a little while ago and I am going to get to wash up in a few minutes now that I have had breakfast.

Still so far, so good.  Dr. Su is going to come by in a little while also.

Will update you from outside the walls later....

[nekko]

Congrats Kirk ! You are now on the other side. Things will go better and better  ;)

[KirkM]

Better and better in leaps and bounds.  Just had PT and they ran me though a bunch of things, including up and down stairs and I was exponentially better than even yesterday.  I am cleared to be discharged and will be heading back over to the Belaire shortly.  They said it is fine to walk as much as I like and just back off when it starts to get a little sore so I don't push past the zone of tolerance for where the hip is at any given time.  I was fortunate that even though my hip was, in Dr. Su's words, "really messed up", I was still highly mobile all the way up to surgery and sort of trained into it.

I just want to repeat to all those out there sitting on the fence about whether to get it done or wait a while longer, GET IT DONE!  You are burning days you can't get back.  Get your hip fixed and get back to living those days instead of just tolerating them.

[newdog]

I just want to repeat to all those out there sitting on the fence about whether to get it done or wait a while longer, GET IT DONE!  You are burning days you can't get back.  Get your hip fixed and get back to living those days instead of just tolerating them.

Kirk,

Welcome to Surface Hippy land. Now you sound like us! Your PT and post op restrictions are very similar to Dr. Gross. That "log" feeling you have now with your operated leg will soon pass especially with the physical condition you are in. The hardest thing is time and patience.

[ScubaDuck]

Great news Kirk!  It sounds like you are doing very well.

I am hoping because I have not waited too long and have been able to continue to bike and swim at high levels that recovery will go better.  I really think that I am doing this at the right time.

I am concerned about pushing too much and too quickly on recovery.  I think if I was 20 years younger it would be worse.  Something about age giving us the experience and wisdom to know that patience is a virtue.

Enjoy your stay in NYC.

Dan

[KirkM]

Yo Dawg!   ;D
Thanks for the welcome.  I am very happy to be here.  I'd like to thank my agent, my publicist, my bookie, my bartender... all the "little people" who made this possible.  But enough about them, this is my moment of narcissism, so I think I'll stand at the podium and tell you all these things about ME that nobody cares about...

Whoa, sorry, had a little stream of consciousness thing kick in there for a minute.

Hey Dan -
Glad to hear you are able to continue to maintain your fitness pre-surgery. That is exactly what I was doing.  I was swimming, biking and deep-water running with an AquaJogger.   Stay in as good a shape as you can.  I always believed that recovery and even the surgery itself goes much better the more fit you are.  Dr. Su confirmed this today.  He caught me jamming down the hall on my forearm crutches this morning with my PT and walked with me a while.  He discussed how key my fitness was in contributing to my highly accelerated recovery and also he said it makes it easier for the surgeon to achieve a more precise and accurate outcome.  He had nothing as a downside of being highly fit for surgery.  So, anyone who is mobile enough (or creative enough) to keep a fitness plan right up to surgery is doing himself or herself a big favor in the less pain, less (or no) swelling and shorter recovery departments, not to mention helping the surgeon to achieve the best possible outcome. 

I just got back from walking to Walgreens Pharmacy and then the grocery store round trip from the Belaire after being discharged from the hospital.  My phone gps shows it to be 1.3 miles and I feel great.  And, I felt great all during the walk.  Maybe I will pay for that later tonight, but it sure felt good to do.  I felt like I could have gone a lot farther. 

A note on the forearm crutches - I had to specifically ask for them and they were a little hesitant at first to give them to me instead of traditional underarm ones. This country is really old-school with that. They did relent fairly quickly when I basically asked them to explain how the underarm variety were going to be better for me than ones that allow you to walk more naturally.  They are still sort of geared into the Total Hip Replacement mentality at HSS (NOT at Dr. Su's office, they are really progressive). They said that SOP was for underarm crutches because the majority of patients are still older, somewhat frail THR cases. Once they actually thought about it they said I certainly had the upper body strength to be able to use them correctly, so that is what I got.  I HIGHLY recommend them.  Right from the beginning, it is a much more natural experience and gait.  You use them to take some of the load away from the operated leg when you walk instead of almost "replacing" your walk with a bunch of mini pole-vaults.  At least, that is how I perceive it.

Well, time to eat some of my gf's excellent cooking after days of hospital food.  In case you are wondering, yes, hospital food is just as bad as it has always been.  I swear, the people preparing hospital food must have to take extensive training in flavor and texture mutilation.  There is just no way you can make food that bad unless you are doing it on purpose.

[Anniee]

Kirk,

I'm very happy that you are doing so well!  Just watch the activity a little bit.  I crutched all over our super Walmart the day after my surgery for probably an hour.  I was still on the strong pain meds and felt super.  Paid for it the day after.  In regards to hospital food, I have to say that I was quite impressed with the food at my hospital ( Providence East in Columbia, SC).  It was not only edible, it actually tasted good!

[KirkM]

Good food at a hospital?  You're messin' with me, right?  That's, well, unAmerican.  Can we depend on nothing in this world anymore?   ;D

My last pain meds were at midday, it is now 7:30 pm and I have absolutely no hint of pain.  The leg is a little stiff when I get up, but actually I am doing my PT stuff and I am more flexible than when I did them this morning.  Showering was no problem, even though our room has a step-over tub.

As I said in the previous post, I am aware that I may be heading for a pain train wreck later tonight or tomorrow, but right now I feel quite good.

One last thing about HSS - The people working there are phenomenal.  From doctors, nurses, assistants, PA's, housekeeping, et al. you could not find a more friendly, welcoming and efficient crew.  They are just above and beyond.

[Lori Cee]

Happy to hear that you are getting real food very soon!  (Obviously happy to hear you are doing really well - but the good food is going to make you feel even more amazing than you already do :)!)  There is one hospital that I have read a number of comments about (Maybe Euclid or something that kind of looks like that?) and everyone says the food is awesome.  I think maybe that hospital is actually in a parallel universe  ;D

I had the same crutches as you.  They seemed to be pretty common in the rehab centre where I was (in Australia).  They call them Canadian crutches here....  haven't figured out why yet...

[23109VC]

I just want to repeat to all those out there sitting on the fence about whether to get it done or wait a while longer, GET IT DONE!  You are burning days you can't get back.  Get your hip fixed and get back to living those days instead of just tolerating them.

You are SO RIGHT!  After I got my hip fixed, I wished I had done it a year or so sooner....  i spent a year or more just suffering with hip pain.... being unsure if I was ready for hip resurfacing and also being scared of the procedure.... after going through it, I wish I knew then what I know now.. I would have done it sooner!

I feel like I got my life back...and now you have yours back.... it's great!!!

[KirkM]

Funny how the mind works.  One tends to create baselines for things.  Since yesterday was phenomenal, I half expected today to be the same.  Today is only great, so I feel like I'm not doing as well.  Well isn't that just plain stupid?  I haven't had any pain meds since yesterday at noon (about 22 hours ago) and feel pretty good.  I am just a bit stiff from all the walking around, but I figure once I start moving today I will loosen back up.

I really wanted to just stop the Percocet completely from yesterday going forward, but a few of the hospital nurses and assistants said I would regret it when I go to the "hard core" PT today, Thursday and Friday.  They strongly suggested that I at least take it before each of those sessions so I would be able to get the most out of them and not have pain limitations to some of the things they are going to make me do.  Sounds ominous, like I am going to a torture chamber or something.

So I am going to go on it for these sessions this week and see if I can stay off the rest of the time and then discontinue completely after this week is over.

Looking forward to PT and seeing if they try to bend me into a pretzel or something.

[hernanu]

Again, each person is different. I had very little to no pain once I was off the pain meds, switched to tylenol and did fine. PT was not really painful for me either time, it felt more like that extreme soreness you get after you've really worked your muscles hard. I've been doing athletic activities since I was a kid, so that is something you're used to and I never really considered it pain.

My recommendation is to ice and ice again.

The stiffness is something that will stay with you for a while. It only bugged me for the first few steps initially, then went away as you loosened up. I still get it now, but only after long car rides or if I'm on the computer too long. One or two steps and it's gone.

[KirkM]

Excellent way to put it.  That is exactly how it is to me.  Soreness is just soreness, I don't consider it pain and it certainly isn't limiting in any way.

PT today was great.  I did some movements that I didn't think I could do.  I think I will stay off of all painkillers from now on and just use ice on the hip a few times a day.  I really don't feel like I need the drugs.  And, they make me sleepy.

[lori.36]

Hi Kirk,  I did not take any pain killers after I was discharged from the hospital.  I did use a bottle of OTC Tylenol, Max Strength as kind of a placebo pill.  I did ice like a freak I would say for 30 minutes every hour that I was awake.  I had very little swelling or bruising too.  I am happy to hear that you are doing so wonderfully.  At 4 1/2 weeks out, I am walking unassited and not missing my cane.  All in good time, just listen to your body. 
I know that I did swim alot, so I had excellent cardio, but the body was week because of the non weight bearing exercising.  It takes time to build those muscles.

[Anniee]

Kirk,

I didn't like those painkiller drugs either, and felt a lot better mentally once I stopped taking them, about 5 days after surgery.  I did not need them for my PT sessions after those first few days.

I have the stiffness mentioned by Hernan when I first get up after sitting for a while, but it goes away pretty quickly.  I was told at my 6 weeks post-op visit that I'd probably have that initial stiffness for another couple of months.  I actually think the main culprit now is my other hip.  I wish I didn't have to wait until October to get that one done.  My new hip is already so much better!