11 Days post op Dr. Brooks Cleveland Clinic

[fenceman]

Hi all,  I am totally new here and am on day 11.  I had the BHR done by Dr Brooks at the Cleveland Clinic.  Today is the first day I feel somewhat human.  My pain has been in the front of the thigh with a lot of cramping type pain in the leg.   I am only allowed to put 75% of my weight on the leg for 6 weeks after the surgery.  I was surprised to hear you say that you were still on crutches.

I did not do well with the oxycondon and viocodin and have stop using them although I am having trouble sleeping at night.   It is also painful getting in and out of bed and car.  Everyone keeps telling me have patience but I guess I did not expect how tough it was going to be. 

I guess what I am saying is that I am not that far from you in what your experiencing. 

I am 44 and was very active, 12 lbs over weight but in pretty good shape.  Does any one know what the BHR adds to your body weight?

[obxpelican]

If you're asking about the actual weight of the device when I went in the day before surgery they showed me what they were going to put in me.  I would say the biomet device weighed about a pound and a half to two pounds.

[Pat Walter]

Hi Fenceman

I wanted to welcome you to Hip Talk. I gave you your own topic so people can see your post easier.  Sometimes the posts all get in a long line under one topic and are difficult to read.

I have had a  few people ask me about Dr. Brooks, so I wanted to put your doctors name in your post.

Some people have very easy recoveries, some have very difficult long recoveries and the rest are in the middle.  There is no way to predict your recovery and nothing else to do but to go with the flow. You body will control the recovery and you might as well decide to go along with the it patiently.

Hopefully, you will feel better and better every day.  It just takes time.

Why don't you ask for something for sleep like ambient.  I took Advil.  Doctors will often let you take up to 4 at a time for bad pain.  I have done that many times for my back.  I take 4 advil, vicoden and a muscle relaxant - that really knocks you out yet still won't kill siatica pain.

Ask the doctor what else you can take to help with the pain and get something for sleep. Just call the office and ask.  If they don't help, try your family doctor. 

Being in pain makes things feel much worse and your recovery seem to go much slower.

I hope you will keep us updated with your recovery.

Pat in Marietta, OH

[stevenp]

Hi fenceman,

Your experience sounds similar to mine (RBHR with Dr. Su in NY, 7-10). My thigh felt like a huge sore bruise, which began letting up a lot during the third week post-op, as I recall. I also had trouble sleeping, and was sleeping better by weeks 3-4. The first 2-3 weeks were the roughest, and then for me, things became noticeably better and I felt like I was finally 'healing'! After that, I mostly felt tenderness in the hip area itself, and gradually felt comfortable putting more weight on my right leg as I also went from 2 crutches to one after about a month. I also had litle energy and was exhausted after a walk around the block for the first 3 weeks or so,and gradually built up some energy and endurance. Right now (6 weeks) I feel about the same level of minor pain after walking for a while that I did pre-op, except that it's getting better and not worse with time!

Hang in there--you should be feeling noticeable improvement over the next couple of weeks.  ;)

[fenceman]

Thanks for your support.  I did try Tylenol PM last night and it did help me sleep a little better.

Dr. Brooks is a VERY confident Doctor.  I liked him and his assistant Phil. I was told that the surgery could take 2-3 hours, but mine only took 1-1/2 hours. I was his second surgery for the day. He scoffed at the hospital PT that treated me like a THR patient. The PT was telling me not to bend past 90 or do not cross your legs.  I was surprised at the lack of knowledge of the hip resurfacing by the nurses and PT's at the hospital. 

Care at the Cleveland Clinic was very good but it did slip a little around the weekend.  My first day of PT they stuck me in a small wheel chair that was squeezing on my incision.  After sitting in PT for 10 minutes in excruciating pain (my med were late) they ask if I was ready to start working on my knee???  They had mixed my chart with my roommates who had a total knee replacement.  Once that was straightened out the rest went smooth. 

[brett]

Fenceman,

Im on day 15 , 47 yrs old and probably 15 pounds overweight but not for long.I feel your pain, this whole experience has been a living hell.My wife and kids flee at the site of me.However we will come out the other side soon.I plan on swimmimg pool work this week as should you if your scar is healed like mine.I went for a 2nd pt session and he massaged the hip and iced it and used 15 minutes of electrical stimulus,it was very soothing.Unlike you I am still downing the oxy and vicodin cause I have nerve pain in the lower back butt area that has been driving me nuts.

We are on the same timeline here lets stay in touch and help out

[ginnie]

sleep was pretty much out of the question for the first 2 weeks for me also,, I use tylenol PM now its pretty good. But for the first 2 weeks I made sure to DVR some shows I like so I could watch them at 2am when I woke up.. I only slept 2 - 3 hours at a streatch,, and the small walks I took in the beginning would wear me out and I would have to nap. it got better about week 3 when I finally felt better. good luck