BiLat Newbie with Dr. Schmitt

[Fuzzy8Ball]

Hello all. Okay I am going say a lot in as concise a post as possible.  Okay, so firstly ever since we decided on Dr Schmitt to do my BHR, my wife has been trying to get me on this site. So when did I register?...uh 2 nights ago. After convincing Pat that my user name wasn't dirty...I was accepted.  So here are the stats...39 year old Male, Married, 1 son-16 months, Having BiLat BHR with Dr Philip Schmitt...drove 2 1/2 hrs from Kalamazoo, MI to Novi which is 20 minutes from the hospital...scheduled for tomorrow...noon. Got to the hotel this evening, hit Bonefish for one last meal...before midnight.  Now..about to hit the hot tub and try not to think about the fact that I going to be put under for the first time ever and then incised, dislocated,apple-peeled, drilled, hammered...ALL x 2...but all at once so I am thankful for that. 

So I guess this is my intro. I have read a few posts and will probably read many more between now and 10am tomorrow.  I love how competitive people are about getting back into the sack...hilarious.  I welcome any experiences and feedback and I will try not to lose my nerve before tomorrow...Hot tub, Hibicleanse and one last hit of Tylenol.

[Boomer]

Tomorrow you will get your life back. For the first time in a long time, you will start getting better instead of getting worse. You will wake up in less pain than you have now and if you take your medication, you will never experience the kind of pain you have been facing on a daily basis.

Starting tomorrow you can begin discussions of all the things you are going to do with your life, instead of talking about your limitations.

I had my right hip done about seven weeks ago, and will have the left one done later this year. I was terrified of my first surgery but folks like Tin Soldier, Hemanunu, and many others talked me through it. The surgery was nothing like I expected. Recovery is a challenge, but you can control that. I have no fear about scheduling my second hip later this year.

Fuzzy, go get your new hips and get on with your life. You will like it on the other side. Hippys are having a blast. I look forward to you joining in on the fun.

Godspeed.

Boomer

[Pat Walter]

Fuzzy

Good luck and Godbless!

Pat

[mslendzion]

I'm one week post op with Dr. Schmitt. Your in good hands. Best wishes.

[hernanu]

Welcome, fuzzy8 and good luck. Boomers (as usual) put it well. Go get your life back and be competitive  ;D

[newdog]

Fuzz,
I like your writing style! Funny! You'll do O.K. especially since you have a great attitude. Look forward to your first post as a bi-lat Hippy.  :)

[mikebaker]

Well Fuzzy, what can I say - wow!! I am sure it will all work out as I think attitude is everything especially when it comes to becoming a bi-lat hippy. All the best and I am sure you are going to be happy waking up to the beginning of your pain free life. Keep us posted I am sure you will have some very unique insights of the experience to share with us!!

[Fuzzy8Ball]

Wow, what a cool community this is. I am sitting in the hotel easy chair watching the Mavs @ Lakers by the light of the TV and the dimmer light of my laptop.  My wife is dozing and I am trolling and exploring the surface hippy world. I can only imagine when I am post op and have plenty of time to write about my progress and pain experience.  Your well-wishes are so appreciated. My wife keeps asking if I am okay. I'm not a big sleeper...especially since I have 3-4 mins left to drink the last sip of water I will have for the next 12 hours. Reading about other peoples' experiences with Dr Schmitt has put me at ease...as much as I can be. But I wanted to say thanks...better get that water...Next post I'll be an official Bilat Hippy.  Cheers.

[ScubaDuck]

Best wishes on your surgery tomorrow.  I know I was very high strung the night before but was still able to get a little sleep.  You have made good choices so relax and enjoy the ride.

I look forward to hearing reports from the other side.

Dan

[imgetinold]

Welcome back, Fuzz.  Hope you are doing well upon reading this.  Do tell.....

[Woodstock Hippy]

Fuzzy,  I guess by the time you read this you will be in the world of the Hippies.  Hope you surgery went well and you are feeling OK.

For right now, just keep pressing that button.

[WTW15]

Welcome Fuzzy8Ball - hope you are well in to day 2 of recovery by the time you read this and are experiencing all the things the others say are so wonderful. No O/A Pain!  I am 24 hrs away from my first ever surgery, so I know what you mean. 

Here's to the Good Hips!!!   :D

[Tin Soldier]

Fuzzy - Congrats, hope you're doing well.  I couldn't sleep a wink the night before the second surgery.  Oddly, I sort of slept ok the night of my first surgery, might have been the beer.  Your story of sitting there with your wife waiting for the night to end, reminds me of my first surgery.  It's interesting how time makes most fond memories sweeter and deeper.  I recall sitting on the monorail in Disneyland with my 2 4-your sons (many moons ago) looking at them at how excited there to be there.  I get the same deep feeling from thinking about my wife sitting next to me on the ferry as we approached Seattle a couple hours before my first surgery.  Almost makes me cry.  It's a tough and trying journey, but I still have some great memories getting to this point.  That was almost one year ago.  Hopefully you'll have the same sort of memory a year from now, while you're enjoying your new hips.   

WTW - Good luck tomorrow.

[Two4One]

Hey My Man Fuzzy8!

Welcome to other side, and all you have to do is listen to your wife and all will be well ;)!

Now that you are a fellow Schmitty Hippy, you are going to LOVE your new hips.  Take it from me Bilateral is the best way to fly, IMO, of course!  My best advice, other than the obvious of following Mrs. Fuzzy's instructions to the letter (and Dr. Schmitt's), is to ask your PT's at the hospital, ask the in home PT's, and ask the out patient PT's to help you 'walk pretty', or in your case, ask the PT's to make your manly stride your number One Priority!  This way you establish great habits from the beginning, and it is really paying off for me!  Last Friday, Day 24 Post Op, my first out patient PT told me that my range of motion on both hips was in the "normal" range, (not my normal, but we are getting there!).

Note by Patricia Walter: I have been told it is not good to start any kind of massage on the incision area until you get an OK from your surgeon.  Also don't start rubbing anything on the incision for 6 weeks or so.  Again, ask the surgeon when you can use vitamin E or other lotions on the incision. 

My 2nd Best Piece of Advice is to have your out patient PT's start Deep Tissue Massage to break down the lumpy scar tissue; it feels good and it's really smoothing out all the bumps.  If at the soonest possible time post op, you put 'Finest Vitamin E Oil', available at drug stores everywhere, on your incisions numerous times a day, your scars will heal so fast it'll make your head spin!  I think with the way it's going for me my scars may not even show under my summer tan!

OK, that's enough now for you, Mr. 8, you get back to healing and resting.  Please tell your wife I said Hi!

2-4

[Pat Walter]

I made a note in the above reply because:

I have been told it is not good to start any kind of massage on the incision area until you get an OK from your surgeon.  Also don't start rubbing anything on the incision for 6 weeks or so.  Again, ask the surgeon when you can use vitamin E or other lotions on the incision. 

We need to watch what we tell others to do.  You can say it worked well for you, but everyone needs to be very conservative and ask their surgeon about anything different they are going to try on the incision or hip resurfacing. 

Please be cautious while you are healing. 

Pat

[Boomer]

My surgery was over 7 weeks ago and I have not been advised by my surgeon or my physical therapist to have any kind of massage. My PT told me that we need to work on range of motion and strength, but otherwise we need to leave the damaged tissue alone so it can heal. Both have steered me away from massage. My recovery is coming along slowly, but there have been no setbacks.

Two4one, I believe a deep tissue massage will be very painful and counterproductive if done early in the healing process.

I agree with pat's suggestion. You new Hippys need to take your advice from the professionals you are paying to get you well. Your surgeon primarily, and then the physical therapist.

Fuzzy, take it slow and easy.

Boomer

[MGM]

Hi Fuzzy--

As a recent Schmitt hippy, I've been thinking of you since your first post.  I hope everything is going as well as can be expected in these early post-op recovery days.  I'm sure your experience with Dr. Schmitt and DMC Huron Valley-Sinai was as positive as it was for your fellow Schmitt hippies who post on this site.

I'm looking forward to hearing how you're doing when you're feeling up to posting again.

[Two4One]

Thank you, Guys for clarifying that any patient must follow their surgeon's instructions to the letter.  When I wrote "soonest possible time post op", I meant the time when your surgeon tells you is the right time.

During my initial consultation with Dr. Schmitt, I asked about scarring and his associate Marcy said they recommended vitamin E Oil.  I was specifically instructed not to bath or rub my incisions.  Dr. Schmitt must have used glue as well as stitches, because the bandages came off while I was still in Hospital, and I had zero bleeding or seeping.  Also, I was told not to rub or soap my incisions until they were fully closed.

I went home from the hospital on December 23rd, and that's when I first had permission to start putting Vitamin E Oil, very lightly over the scars, but soaking, soaping, or rubbing was banned.  It would have hurt like heck had I rubbed the oil in!

Next, the massage was allowed on Friday the 13th, when I had my first out patient PT visit with Kristin, my PT therapist.  In between 12.13.11 and 1.13.12, I was being closely monitored and supervised by a visiting in home RN, PT, and OT.

The massage felt really good and not painful at all, so maybe it wasn't that deep?  I do know that everything my PT does is under strict supervision of my surgeon.  I was having very painful muscle spasms in my hip flexors, quads, and my IT band was a bit painful as well. My PT Kristin lightly manipulated the areas that had the most painful spasms, and over last weekend I much improved.

I did not mean to give the impression that I was not strictly following my surgeon's protocol, and I agree that you should always ask your surgeon when you can use vitamin E or other lotions on the incision. 

[Fuzzy8Ball]

Well, it has been almost 48 hours since my surgical journey started...and what a 48 hrs it's been.  For those of you who have been through it...which I imagine is most, on some level, I will try to avoid the too detailed blow-by blow.
I arrived at 10am and was immediately wished into the pre surgical area.  I got IV'ed and sedated...then on to the surgery...
The last thing I remember before the surgery is the attractive nurse holding me around the neck like we were slow dancing.
THE SURGERY
I woke up to people talking around me but not not being able to respond.  You know...the FOG.
I got up to my suite where me and Mrs Fuzzy are staying...a friend came to visit and say hey...much too early...I was still coming in and out and fell asleep and woke back up again in the 20 minutes he was here...by the way, he brought me Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies...COME ON MAN!!
The next morning I got breakfast and then the PT started...they got me up and out of bed into a chair, then later on up and out of my room with my walker to the hallway and back...which took about 15 minutes...baby steps.
While in bed I have been giving myself, what I am calling the Walt Disney Treatment.  Constantly packed in ice around the surgical area.  VERY SWOLLEN.  Before AND After I have received comments on my bravery for doing BiLateral...which made me wonder at first, if I should...too late now...but as I said before I would rather go thru this...and put my family thru this ONCE.
The nurses here at Huron Valley Sinai have been great for the most part...hospital stays in general are just interruption after interruption...Take your vitals, draw your blood, are you ok?...I need more ice, vitals pills, new IV bag...blah blah. I have been trying to get up and out on my own.  My little loop to the hallway floor is already a lot quicker. 
DAY 2
Turns out though when you do bilateral BHR, you lose a fair amount of blood.  BP was low, pulse was high.  My Hemoglobin has been ridin' low with slight temp so they finally decided to give me 2 units of blood.  I just finished unit 1 and feel better already.  I decided to do PT in between 'cause I wanna get outta here...and I can't really do anything really with the 4 hr infusion so It' will be good TV, Movie Blogging time for me and the Mrs.
Thank you all so much for checkin in on me.  How do I feel?  Good...the top of my right incision stings A LOT when I "walk"...but other than that we( me, the nurse (John is Very Cool and Mrs Fuzzy)) are staying ahead of the pain. 

[Tin Soldier]

Nice job Fuzzy, sounds like its coming along well.