Time for the other hip.

[Miguelito]

Spotty is the perfect description. My night nurse was much better. Discharge shortly. I can barely walk, even with a walker. I'm really just dragging the leg. Let this be a caution to people to not overdo it the day after surgery when you are feeling good before the swelling sets in.

[Miguelito]

Back at the hotel. Flying home in a.m.

I just want to make the observation that post surgery has been easier mentally, i am much more "with it". However,my recovery has been harder physically. Though i could do so yesterday, i did not get in or out of bed once today without assistance. I just could not physically manage (for discussion sake) having the the other hip done at the sqme time. I am giving this advice right in middle of recovery and not in hindsight.

[Juno]

Hope you are home and doing ok. Keep updated.

[Miguelito]

Made it home safe. Flight and car ride home were tough as i was nauseous but didn't throw. I paid lip service (pre-surgery) to how hard the initial recovery is. Practically learning to walk again. But all the tricks and tips are coming back again, too.

Mike

[Miguelito]

Rough night last night, T+5, but the worst was a two day headache and nausea, as the hip is not too painful at rest. When i don't ice for an hour it gets hot and painful. Pretty swollen but not concerning. I could not have done this wihout my wife. This is harder than i remember, the hardest thing i have ever done. Have not been out walking yet, am doing just minimal exercises.

Did discover a less painful way of getting in and out of bed. No more side of bed crap. I sit at foot, lie back and use my hands and good leg to inchworm my way up.

Mike

[Miguelito]

What a change on the sixth night! I slept nine hours with one minor awakening and one hour long one caused by my inexplicably putting my water bottle into my bed next to me and flooding it. But since i had yet to sleep more fhan two straight hours previously... this was a huge improvement.

[hernanu]

Great Mike, this recovery is not for lightweights, but it does get better and you're done.

Gotta keep and eye on that water bottle, brother.

[Miguelito]

Finally bored from gorging on tv. Sopranos, The Wire, movie after movie. Thank god everything has gone well and i feel well enough to be bored.

Went for very short walks yesterday and day before. Two houses,  then five. No walk yet today due to light snow. Went to bus stop across the street with my five year old and slid a few feet down an incline. Didn't fall, just skiid downhill on my crutches a few feet. Can do a little more every day. Forgot to use the raised toilet seat today and didn't notice until after.

Slept with ice machine for 3.5 hours last night with ice machine on and icy cold. No harm done i think. I'd been so careful but was tired and just got lazy. Just an fyi: my wife got this small, 3 level wheeled cart for $23 from ikea that is perfect for making ice machine portable. I use it like a walker when i relocate. Space for medicine, etc below.


Mike

[oldsoccerplayer]

You sound so much better than you did a few days ago. Remember there will be ups and downs but you're on the way up.

[Debcoco]

Glad things are slowly becoming easier for you....we all know it will...just gotta go through the motions.

deb

[Miguelito]

Day 12. Have had three or so sideways days in a row. I think I got a little cavalier, did too much, aggravated the joint a little. Now I am back to rest and ice. I sleep through the nights. Am longing for the day when I can sleep on my side. I can drop the right knee to the side while on my back and roll the (left) operated hip a little off the ground and even that slight change of position is an improvement in bed.

The range of motion in the joint that doesn't cause pain is gradually increasing, but the actual pain caused when I go outside that range is still the same (high) level. Until a week or so post-surgery, the only motion that doesn't cause sharp pain is moving the leg forward and back (though the forward part takes a few more days than the back). Now I am able to move it side to side a bit more.

Just for reference sake, today is the first day that I can't recall repeatedly shouting out in pain from some to quick or stupid movement. Scar is pretty healed, but raised and ugly, still swollen a little underneath, but a good deal less than yesterday. So Day 12 (this time around) appears to be somewhat of a milestone day. Maybe the most since Day 5.

Mike

[China Lady]

I know it is not easy but keep cool Mike! don't over do it! sit on the sofa, watch TV, or what ever. cool the scar and relax. there is absolute no need to stretch or move the leg around. your muscle has a deep cut and pain is always a sign that it is to early for anything.

[hernanu]

We've all had and will continue to have setbacks every now and then. Just be aware and chill when you need to (both with ice and physically).

It's great you're getting to better sleeping, lessening pain, etc.

[Miguelito]

Been remiss, haven't updated. Am at T+3 weeks (and a day). Doing pretty good. Haven't been walking as much as I should (or much at all) was real nasty yesterday, ferocious wind all day long.

Have been side-sleeping since just over two weeks (side opposite of operation, of course) - earlier than 1st time. Area under/around incision still a little swollen but nothing compared to what it was. I should have taken photos just to remember. I am 5'11", 175-ish but I had the a$$ (one side anyway) of an NFL linebacker.

I walk around the house without the cane, and have been since just over two weeks. Occasionally forget it when I go out to the street (20 feet) to get my kindergartner off the bus. The bus driver must think I'm nuts, half the time I have a cane, half the time I don't. If I went for walks like I should I would at least need a cane. Note to self/others: get a cane with a comfortable grip. I have a cheap wooden, rounded handle-one and it is uncomfortable on longer walks.

Just tonight I seem to have made a bit of a leap as walking around the house has a little fluidity to it for the first time. Slowly of course, and getting up and getting down is for sh$t.

Mentioned this elsewhere, but I still have trouble sitting upright in a kitchen chair for any length of time. I think the discomfort arises from getting the hip near 90 degrees for more than a few minutes. Small things are getting a little easier to do, but there is absolutely no way I could do certain things yet, like take a crowded subway train to work, work a full day (at my sedentary job). I find I can't handle even a little of my young children arguing and I wonder if maybe it has something to do with coming off the drugs.

T+22 days.

Mike

[Miguelito]

Updating at just over one month...

It has been an amazingly incident free and steadily progressing recovery. I am now able to sit in chairs for longer periods of time, and it is probably not much longer until there are no limitations there. I very rarely bother with a cane anymore, only for the longest of planned walks (though I did use one crutch last Friday for a very long walk as I could not find my cane).

I have really gotten away from the icing for the last several days. I think it would still be helpful I just find it is not essential anymore, like it was until maybe a week ago (say four weeks post-surgery).

I can (a little awkwardly) go downstairs using both feet, but going up is still just the good foot first.

As an aside I never bruised anywhere after either of my surgeries. Lots of almost grotesque swelling, but never even a little bruise. I rarely do. And I never had any swelling anywhere but the operated butt and thigh. The incision site is still painful and a little swollen, but it really improved about a week ago. Also a little swelling still mid-thigh (it feels very deep, like bone deep).

I feel really good with just one caveat. I started having a sharp pain yesterday. Have only had it four times, but when it hits it is the most painful thing I can recall (in my life, I guess, but I have a terrible memory so I really just mean the last few years.) It is in the back corner of the buttocks, right where I imagine the top of the long part of the femur is. Twice it has happened when I crossed my legs (unoperated over operated). It doesn't happen every time I do that but I have stopped doing it. I have been able to cross my legs for several weeks without a problem, now suddenly it is?. After the sharp pain (which causes me to scream [not just shout] out loud for a couple of seconds) there is a lingering ache.

I have been ramping up my physical activity, probably too fast. Haven't called the doctor, will wait and see. I think they would (correctly) tell me to just do that for the moment. If I was more worried (and conveyed that to them) I imagine they would just send me for an x-ray.

That's my one month update. To anyone reading this, the recovery from the second surgery has been easier than the first. It's true, you really know what to expect. There is no getting around the awful first five days, but even the still difficult days 5-12 (or a round two weeks) were easier this time around. A lot of that has to do with remembering all the little tricks from the first surgery, plus developing new ones. Hospitals need to do a better job with the post-surgery classes, teaching people how to get in and out of bed maybe especially. I had to figure out the sit on the foot of the bed, lay back, then worm your way up method on my own. It resulted in so much less pain than getting in on the side and trying to swing a leg, that it alone significantly decreased the total amount of post surgery pain. To this day I don't know a way of getting in via the side that doesn't cause significant pain.

Mike

P.S. Just remembered that I spent several hours yesterday sitting in a chair doing a friend's tax return. First time I have done that. Perhaps that is the reason for this new pain.

[Miguelito]

Just had another one of those extraordinarily sharp glute pains that I mentioned in my lengthy prior post. I am not unduly concerned yet, but looking for opinions on what might be causing it. This one happened when I was shifting in a chair. Maybe not as bad as the earlier ones (I am being very cautious with my movements at the moment). I cannot overstate just how sharp this pain is when it hits.

I know, I know, weird pains just happen. But this is soooo painful (when it hits) and it came out of the blue, and this is my second time round this rodeo and this didn't happen last time, yada, yada, yada.

Thx,

Mike

[Debcoco]

Mike it sounds like all in all progress is coming.  Sorry about the shooting pain, tho.  I remember sitting in a chair with a bed pillow for a while and that seemed to help.  Also, having a recliner was a life saver for me as far as getting up and down.  I, too, at first, had a wooden cane. It was a hand carved beauty, but as far as actually being able to use it, no way. I bought one at the local pharmacy for under $20 with a gel handle and made all the difference.  Luckily for you, you no longer need one now.

Hang in there!

deb

[China Lady]

morning Mike!
I have the feeling you describe a bone pain. muscle pains are not that intensive and, mostly, shifting around a little bit. call the doctor today!
when I read your progress report it seems to me that you have fallen into the "to much, to early" trap.

[Jason0411]

I would think that it is a nerve issue, in my experience bone pain is not something that suddenly hits then goes completley. Might be worth just mentioning to your Doc. I quick phone call might put your mind at ease.

[chuckm]

Mike, I posted about this before regarding the restriction of not crossing the legs. My surgeon wasn't that concerned about too much right after surgery EXCEPT no crossing the legs.
That motion pulls on all the tissues that were cut and repaired during resurfacing. ChinaLady did the same thing and nearly dislocated.

Chuckm