Now I Know Nickel Allergy to my BHRs - On The Path To Healing

[Luanna]

I had nausea too for days 3 and 4 post op. Then it subsided. I think that was the most unpleasant part of my hospital stay. Hope it resolves quickly for you. I think it is pretty common.

You are doing GREAT!!! Keep moving and thinking positive thoughts....and have a wonderful day.

Luanna

[Two4One]

hernanu - That's a tried and true chestnut blaming your mother for everything.  I LOL at your post.

Luanna -  Thanks for the heads up the nausea will pass soon.

I appreciate both of your's encouragement so much and thanks for posting on my thread!  I am going to have a wonderful spring, walking my Bichon Frise, and finally give him some sorely missed obedience traing to improve his manners!   We are so lucky to be alive in a time where the technology exists to get us hipsters moving again; I'm so thankful for that.

[Aerial]

Sound like you are doing great, not to mention had a good breakfast.  I am another who was nauseous after surgery.  It did subside for me by day 4 with an anti nausea med.  I was in the hospital one night and unfortunately when my husband and I left in the car the next afternoon I immediately threw up.  :-\. From that point it got better quick.  Sounds like you are in for long term rehab.  You'll be feeling so much better by the time you leave!  You need some Christmas lights in your room!

[Woodstock Hippy]

Glad to hear that you are up and about.  Try to keep up with your medication though, it will help with your PT.  Have they told you when you'll start PT?  Don't work too hard at this point.  It's easy to overdo it without realizing it.  I just did on Tuesday and had to back off yesterday and now I'm back working it again today.

[Two4One]

Woody -After talking it over with the hospital PTs, I'm thinking I'll go home tomorrow vs. transferring to a rehab facility.  The PTs said that there is no special PT to supervise gait, improve fitness, etc., in the local rehab facilities and rehab's roles was simply to practice life skills so I could go home as soon as possible.

I will instead have an in home nurse/PT coming by the day after I'm discharged; that's Saturday.

Ariel - I will make sure and take a Dilaudid and a promethazine chaser before getting in the car for a 3 and 1/2 hour drive home!  It's good to see the nausea will clear up, and I'm sorry you got so sick:(

[Woodstock Hippy]

Oh, good luck tomorrow.  Be careful on the ride home.  It's always great to get home.  It's still early so make sure you stay on top of your medication.  And most of all Have a Great Christmas at Home!

[Two4One]

We made it home at 4:30pm, stopping several times so I could do one lap around the car.

I'm sore as the dickens, but in 2 weeks or less I'm starting the taper off the harder drugs I was on pre op.  My surgeon said I had been bone on bone end stage OA the past 2 years, and that's why so much of the time even the cancer drugs did not control my pain.  The arthritis was located in an X Ray blind spot, so no one diagnosed it until November 1st. I just wailed and cried so many nights, but not anymore.

I'm lucky in a way because my recovery pain is already less than my OA pain, and I'm doing my PT to the letter.  I can get in and out of the car.  I made it up our flight of 16? steps to my bedroom, 'Recovery Central'.  I'm able to get myself around pretty good with the walker and improving my gait from the 'monster mash' I had going.

[Two4One]

I'll be glad to see the home care nurse tomorrow.  He or she will help me assess how I'm doing.  I think after reading about all the realities of recovery that I'm perfectly normal in my healing at this early date.  Poor Hubs thinks I'm a weak kitten and thinks I was dumb to listen to the PTs in the hospital who told me extended care rehab was only to prepare me to go home and really not necessary.  Now he tells me :-*.

Seriously, do you think I should have a frank discussion with the nurse tomorrow, and ask her if I'd benefit from a few more days of assistance? 

I think he's struggling, and the doctor said this morning that he wanted to do another chest X Ray because I had some fluid in my lungs. I just wanted to leave, so I did.

[Woodstock Hippy]

I'm glad you made it home OK and congratulations for making it up the stairs to ''Recovery Central''.

Now just relax, keep up your PT exerciseses and most of all enjoy the Holidays in your own house.

[Two4One]

Thanks, Woody!  You were right about upper body strength being helpful when you are going for the bilateral resurfacing during one surgery.  I didn't have much strength at all after laying in bed most of the time pre op, and yet it didn't bother me to be helpless and immobile, (only the first 3 or 4 days Ha!)  Now, I'm enjoying using my atrophied, non existent muscles so much.

I did cry last night, sobbed really, but it was after a major marital spat that he apologized for this morning ;).  This is a journey of the soul and not only the body, so a gratitude journal, listening to hypnosis, meditation, & visualization downloads on my MP3, has been critical to my attitude.  I think without these tools I'd be a wreck. 

I guess I was lucky enough to seek a great therapist a few months into my 2 year chronic severe pain journey; after 2 months, this great therapist helped me get in touch with my own power and I was OK emotionally ever since.  Going along on 'my own' with an occasional prayer thrown in would have been really tough.  I now ask everyone I know to pray for me or send me best wishes, and I can tell all the good energy is lifting me up.  I was 'Miss Independent' and a fairly solitary person before my hips blew, and I learned the hard way that you don't have to go it alone, and you don't have to be afraid to reach out.  Maybe this was the lesson I was supposed to learn.

I got 6 hours of sleep last night!  That is so much more than my 2 year pre op pattern of falling to sleep at 3 am, waking every hour or so from pain, and blearily ejecting myself from a Vincent Price style of torture chamber - "The Bed".  Even so, 'Recovery Central' was anything but because I managed to knock my PC to the floor, my dog ate a Docusate, I knocked over water, and everything I touched seemed to have built in Gremlins.

This morning brought more clarity.  I'm going to stay on the ground floor in the adjustable rented hospital bed where I have my walker, my sitting chair with pillows, and my bedside table on wheels, organized to the max.  Upstairs will be for showers only for a while.

Jennifer, the visiting RN, said my chest was clear, temperature perfect, blood pressure normal, oxygen fairly normal at '95' when '100' is the baseline, and my sutures have not seeped one drop of blood since I was fileted Tuesday morning. 

No clunking at all, and I can walk without limping or stabbing pains.  I can't get over it.  I've been so majorly pleased with my surgery words cannot express.  Today, pain ranges from a medicated '2' to a '7' when it's time for my next med.  When compared to my pre op range of a '6' or '7', and a '9' level every night, it's like an Miracle.  Unbelievable.

[Luanna]

Hi Two4One,
I think what you are experiencing is normal.... except for the marital spat. Spouses should be extremely non combative and supportive when they are dealing with someone who has just emerged from the operating table and are recovering. That was the unstated rule in our house and for the most part my hubby did well but it was very, very stressful for him. Still is sometimes.

Glad you are reinflated! Hang in there...the first couple of weeks and even months can be a roller coaster ride and calling on all your support systems will be very helpful to you.

My surgeon insisted that I have someone available 24 hours per day for the first 7 days and my hubby was my caregiver. So I don't think it is unreasonable for you to consider having nursing care for a while longer. Get all the care possible. It makes it so much easier during the really early recovery stage. Just my opinion.

Luanna

[Woodstock Hippy]

''I can't get over it.  I've been so majorly pleased with my surgery words cannot express.''

It's amazing isn't it?  I feel exactly the same way and I'm 5 1/2 weeks out.  We all have set-backs, small and larger, but on the whole it's a steady climb back to the lives we want to live.  I'm thrilled with it!

Merry Christmas to you and believe me, it will be a happy new year.

[Boomer]

Two4One,

Your most recent post was filled with important revelations that all of us Hippys come to grips with during the journey. One of the most helpful tips I received early on was from a poster "Curt" who told me to embrace and enjoy the surgery and recovery because it was the most positive thing I could do for myself. It is a long  journey that leaves all of us changed forever. We start in pain, disabled and humbled doubting life holds much of a future for us. Slowly, through the kindness and skill of the people caring for us, we regain hope. Then, when the pain is suddenly gone, we realize that we can work our way through this recovery and get our lives back. And, we do get our lives back, literally one step at a time.

Look forward. Always look forward when the dark thoughts are drifting about. The dark times are behind you, and every day they become fainter. 2012 is going to be a year on wonder for you and many recent Hippys like me.

Your recovery is moving along at a normal pace. Your health is good. No worries. Once you are cleared to get to work on your PT, you'll be back in control. Then life really becomes interesting.

Stay posted. Stay positive. You are going to love your new hips! You have no idea, because there's no way to describe how good it feels. You have to experience it. Wait for it. That awesome rush is coming.

Boomer

[Two4One]

Christmas Everything 12.24.11

I did NOT lean hard enough on the walker today and stood on my own way too much.  I have learned my Lesson:

NO FULL WEIGHT BEARING - Doh!
NO TWISTING, (even the littlest bit)
AVOID REACHING ACROSS WITH MY ARMS
DO THE FORMAL PT TWICE ONLY until my pushback pain subsides

I will get my IT Band more relaxed, and stop the hip cramping by investigating PT on Surface Hippy.

I will rest enough to get meditations instead of sitting up the entire day watching videos, emails, computer time, during the day.

R Knee Pain subsided nicely with a few moments of massage.  Thanks Husband.

Happy Christmas Everything to All Hippies everywhere!

[Two4One]

Christmas Day 12.25.11

Thank you, Woody!
Thank you, Luanna!
Thank you, Boomer!
Thank you every Poster, because I'm reading 'em all!
(Almost. I need to work harder on RESTING.)
Thank you, Husband, for working your ass off and taking fantastic care of me.  Today, he brought me a big bowl of fresh berries and has all kinds of unspeakably Yummy treats coming all day long to celebrate Christmas.  (Healthy Gourmet Food) OMG
Thank you, GOD.
Thank you, Friends and Family.

A Beautiful Sunny 35 Degrees!  Yay!  Snow Free from Michiana.

7isham    Woke up after sleeping EIGHT full hours.  Man, sleep is the Best Christmas Gift Ever!

7:35am   Pain Med
Pain 3 (In Bed still) 

9:30am   Chair Time:  Ankle Pumps/Sitting Knee Extensions/Seated Side Leg Extensions
Pain 7 (In Chair)  IT Band & Hip Flexors Recovery Muscle Pain (Burning on the Outside)

[Woodstock Hippy]

Do you have the exercises from Mcminn?

http://www.mcminncentre.co.uk/rehabilitation.html

I go through this routine every day that I don't go to PT

Merry Christmas

[Two4One]

Very Cool, link Woody.  I will compare and contrast to my current PT protocol....you saved me some me some work I was planning today.

[ScubaDuck]

Sounds like you are doing well.  Slow and steady wins the race.

Best wishes.

Dan

[Two4One]

12.26.11 December Monday

5:20am    8mg Dilaudid
(Pain 7 when I got back to Bed)  Ankle pumps/Bed PT exercises

7:30 to     Chair Time: Ankle Pumps/Sitting Knee Extensions/Seated Side Leg Extensions
8:30am     

9am   7.5 mg Norco
11:00   8mg Dilaudid

10:43am    Chair Time:  Ankle Pumps, IT Band & Hip Flexors Recovery Muscle Pain - 
                (The burning 7 level pain is on the outside of my thigh.)

2:30pm    7.5 Norco

Went up and down our flight of stairs, took a shower, washed my hair, brushed my teeth!!

4pm   8mg Dilaudid
5pm      2.5mg Valium
5:30pm   Pain 4

WEIGHT:   170 lbs - I have lost 7.6 pounds of water weight since
                coming home from the hospital last Friday.  (pre op 163
                lbs, and 2 yrs ago my pre end stage OA weight was 145 lbs)

We, Hubs and I, have pushed the RESET BUTTON:  We are working together as a team.

[mslendzion]

Two4one. Glad you were home for Christmas and sleeping. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. Wishing you the best.