Bilateral story

[Dan L]

A couple weeks or so until my second (right) hip gets fixed.  I'm really eager: the intraarticular injection I got last September on this side has completely worn off now, and the bone on bone, night pain, and pain when doing the home PT for the fixed BHR hip, (ROM exercises and 30 minutes on stationary bike each day) all are causing a sh*tload of discomfort on the unfixed side, very disruptive loss of sleep, etc, etc.   This is occurring with more limited winter-time activitity level as well, so it has continued to get worse just since early last fall.

With the power of all the stuff I have learned here behind me, and all you really, REALLY, REALLY incredible people here at Pat's site, I am sincerely excited about this upcoming surgery, and having none of the pre surgery panic I had before #1.  That would be impossible without all of you, so THANK YOU!!!!

[hernanu]

You'll go through it just fine, you're a pro now. I was so stoked the second time around, I couldn't wait to be fully done. It has been exactly what I expected in the end.

There are always differences, so don't get impatient if the recovery is different, but I had the same issues as you - the fixed side was just so much better than the second, that the second went downhill fast just before the surgery.

I remember taking my daughters and my ex-wife to PF Changs about two weeks before my second, I was lagging as usual, with my oldest with me, we were just talking, my left took a good (pain free) step and my right just couldn't keep up - my foot hit the ground just right and the pain just shot out everywhere on my hip, leg, back. I yelled, (not my style) in pain and horrified my daughter. It emphasized why I was getting the second done, and it has been as advertised for me.

Good luck and good recovery.

[Tim Cunningham]

Dan:  Chip up.  You Have a great attitude.  I know you'll do fine. HOW'S THE PAIN LEVEL on the one you already had done in October?

Tim Cunningham
w/Brooks March 7th

[Dan L]

Thx Hern and Tim, ready to go for sure.

Tim, my pain level on my Oct BHR varies between 0 and 3 or 4, depending on activity level and for me, weather it seems.  The 3 or 4 pain levels are generally brief and at night, after a long day and all the exercises.  It is getting much stronger, and that leg is ready to handle the load for the next surgery.

The unfixed leg also seems to be declining to the point where the fixed leg is taking more load already, and may explain more pain as of late.

Dan

[Kiwi]

Dan, you'll do really well for sure mate. You know when you travel a road to a new destination and it seems to take forever, then taking the exact same route home is somehow much quicker due to the familiarity? I imagine this will be the same for #2.
You are well informed, have a great attitude & a plan to boot!
Good luck.
Kiwi

[Woodstock Hippy]

Good luck to you, Dan.  This second one should go really nice now that you have a good leg to support you.

[Dan L]

Thx Kiwi and Woody,

Getting close and ready to go.   It's such a different experience approaching the 2nd one, excited vs nervous, can't wait for the remaining bad hip to be a bad memory, and one year from now, zero restrictions. 

Thx again for the kind words.

Dan

[Two4One]

How wonderful, Dan!  It will be so nice for you to have that deep stabbing G-O-N-E on both hips!  You are an amazingly supportive man, and we are all cheering you on!

You Go, Dan!

2fer

[Kiwi]

Hi Dan
By my my calcs your op will be tomorrow - although we're 18 hours ahead of you here in NZ.
Best of luck to you & will look forward to hearing how the op goes & your progress.
You'll be done and back walking your hills in no time!
Kiwi

[hernanu]

Good luck Dan!!!

[Dan L]

Shucks Kiwi, 2fer and Hern, you guys are incredible.

Next Week is the 2nd big week for me, ready to do the deed, just hope I'm up early in the morning, like last time, that way I wont miss lunch!  Last time I was worried about losing my lunch, not missing it, what progress.

[othepain4]

my problem was I woke up thinking about a sandwich!

[imgetinold]

Good luck, Dan.  Keep us posted.

[Tin Soldier]

Good luck Dan, Although I think you've already had number 2.  I was looking for a response from you after surgery but not finding it.  I wanted let you know that I had a similar spacing between surgeries and I relied heavily on my LBHR which was 6 months old at the time.  I was really happy to have done it that way, although others have different opinions about the spacing between in surgeries. 

Keep us posted on recovery. 

[Dan L]

Hey everyone, got a late "tee time" today and sitting in the room as the spinal wears off at the moment.  Feeling pretty good, all things considered.  Some similar day 0 pain in the front of the leg near the joint, we'll see if I need the toradol this time.

This time was awake and remember going into the operating room, getting ready to go then out cold.  Awake the whole time in the recovery room too, other than some shivers and teeth-chattering (normal side effect I'm told) which was solved by a odd plastic blanket that was heated.
The leg pump that is used to inflate the calf stockings is almost silent, huge difference from the one before, hopefully will be able to sleep better with this one, for the next 2 weeks.

Thanks to all for the kind words, well-wishes and encouragement, I literally feel like I have a huge cadre of supportive Hippys right around the corner, very, very comforting.

Dan

[hernanu]

That's great, Dan. Congrats.

[Two4One]

Lots of comfort here, I can testify to that. See you on the other side, real soon, hear?

2fer

[Dan L]

Thx Hern and 2fer.

Hey Hern, I think I recall you posting that the 2nd of your 2 stage bilateral was more difficult, if I recall correctly, what did you think that was?  The first 12 hours after the spinal wore off last night was a whole lot more painful, just curious what your wisdom on that may be.

Doing better past few hours, thank god, it was a pissah (beantown spelling). 

Dan

[hernanu]

Thanks for the beantown reference, Dan... It was more difficult in some ways, but not early. I had pain, but it was about the same as before (2-3?) and faded.

My issues were later, late in outpatient PT, when for some reason I started to put too much pressure on the 2d metatarsal in my non operated foot, it got really painful, the bone actually thickened (as seen by a podiatrist) and I think retarded my recuperation for a few months. Much better now, but still some lingering stiffness issues there.

The second time was easier in that I didn't have the 'attack of the vicious hiccups' (TM)  like I did the first. Every time I drank ginger ale, I had these violent hiccups for two hours. It took three sequential sips (about 8 hours of hiccups) before I had sampled enough statistical data to be scientifically sure that this is what was happening. Of course a normal human being would have stopped at the first.

Every one of these is different, but I was on morphine for about a day after the surgery, so probably yours will clear up soon, just use the meds as much as you need and you'll be good.

[hernanu]

Well, you definitely know the area. Hopefully we pick up and you can come back and tour the town with new spanking' hip