3.5 Weeks Post Surgery

[marco]

I came across the Surface Hippy website while doing my research and it has been an invaluable resource. Thanks Pat! The stories of all those who had gone before me were especially helpful to me. So, here’s my story in the hopes it may help somebody else.

I am 55 years old and have enjoyed running, cycling, skiing and surfing. 5 years ago I started to experience pain in my left groin after slipping laterally outward with my left leg while carrying a heavy box. My hip has never been the same since. I stopped running when the pain became too much to bear. I continued to cycle and walk up until my surgery. I walked about an hour a day right up until the surgery and ran up and down the stairs in my house regularly. It was surprisingly easy for me to climb stairs, in part I think, because I was running up on my toes.

My symptoms were:
1) A dull aching pain in my groin after exercise, especially in the evening.
2) Stiffness in the groin.
3) Limited range of motion compared to right hip.
4) Occasional feeling of catching in the groin which limited the length of my stride.

I decided on Dr. Gross as the surgeon particularly because of his use of an un-cemented device. After reading his research on the subject, it made a lot of sense to me as I am hoping that this will be a lifetime implant for me. When I had my pre-op appointment with Dr. Gross, I knew I had made the right decision. He and his team are top notch.

Day 1
On April 6, 2015, I had my surgery at the Midlands Orthopedic Surgery Center. I purposely scheduled surgery as early as possible in the morning. Surgery was scheduled for 8:30am and I had to be there at 6:30am. My wife used to run an orthopedic surgery center in California and was an operating room circulating nurse. She was impressed with quality of the staff and the facility. It appeared to be very new. After being nervous in the weeks leading up to this day, I just wanted to get it over with. When the initial anesthesia was administered, the last thing I remembered was being curled over to get my spinal anesthesia. The next thing I remember was the nurse asking me if I could feel my toes and then vaguely remember the catheter being taken out. Next, I ordered and ate lunch. After lunch, I walked around on crutches. I was discharged at 2:30 or 3:00pm after speaking with the doctor. I spent the night at the Residence Inn, where a nurse came and visited at 8pm or so. For pain medication, I took 2 of the long acting narcotic Nucynta and 2 Tylenol. I only slept a couple of hours as I am not used to sleeping on my back. It was just hard to get comfortable.

Day 2
Dr. Gross came by the hotel around 8am and gave me permission to go home. My wife and I drove back to Maryland stopping at rest stops every 2 hours. It was a long day and tough to get comfortable in the car seat. As others have mentioned, you can’t move your operated leg easily up and down. So, to get in and out of the car or bed, you need to use a provided nylon strap with a loop in it to drag your foot up and down. It was not fun. I used the provided ice machine every other hour while driving and it provided some welcome relief. My pain medication regimen between now and though day 5 was 2 Nucynta twice a day, 2 Tylenol three times a day, and 1 Mobic (anti-inflammatory). Once we arrived home after 8 hours of driving, I gave in and took my one and only Oxycodone and promptly went to sleep. I was sleeping on my back and waking up every couple of hours. I had no bowel movement today, but took 1 Senna (laxative) in the morning and 1 in the evening.

Day 3
I had my first bowel movement today. Yay. You can clap now. I continued to take 1 Senna in the morning until I was off the narcotics. I set up in a recliner in the living room and iced every other hour. I do software development and primarily work on the computer and talk on the phone. I watched TV and worked on my laptop. I use the term “work” loosely as I dozed off a couple of times. The combination of not sleeping well and the narcotics made me pretty drowsy. I walked for about 20 minutes with two crutches. I got my crutches, cane and a walker from Salvation Army for like $10 each. They looked like they had never been used. I found the walker more useful than the crutches inside the house as it doesn’t fall over like crutches do. Also, I found that I could vary how much weight I placed on my leg by how I held the walker. The walker is also much better when you get up in the middle of the night.

Day 4
Not being able to get a good night’s sleep on my bed, my wife picked me up a up a zero gravity chair to sleep in for $40 from Home Depot. I was able to sleep much better in the zero gravity chair--finally. I walked another 20 minutes today using the crutches. I was moving slowly and finding that it was easy to get exhausted quickly. I made sure I got in at least four hours of icing.

Day 5 and beyond
The following days were more of the same. More walking, more icing.

Day 6-8
Swelling sets in. My thigh got swollen first, then my knee and then worked its way down to me ankle. I just did icing and elevation and by day 9, the swelling had gone away.

Milestones
- Day 6: Stopped taking Nucynta narcotic and all of a sudden I started to feel like myself again.
- Day 7: I graduated to 1 crutch. Walking around 30 minutes a day. Started working at my desk in my home office.
- Day 10: Reduced Tylenol to 2 in the evening.
- Day 14: Discontinued Tylenol and graduated to a cane. Walking 40 minutes a day.
- Day 21: Stopped using the cane except for going up and down stairs and going out in public. Walking an hour a day.

Tips
- Get off the narcotics as soon as you are able. It allowed me to think more clearly and to have regular bowel movements without stool softeners.
- For guys, take the portable urinal from the surgery center or hospital with you. It is easier to pee in than the tall, handicapped toilet seat.
- Ice as much as possible.
- Start taking a stool softener/laxative right away.
- Get a zero gravity chair for sleeping.
- Get a walker.
- Practice with crutches ahead of timeâ€"especially stairs. It was nice to feel comfortable on the crutches prior to surgery.

Currently, I am at 3.5 weeks in, walking as much as possible and seeing steady improvement. I still have tightness in the muscle that goes from the groin to the knee when walking and have a limp. I look forward to the muscle tightness and limp being gone.

I’ll post more as things progress.

- Marco

[Pat Walter]

Marco - Welcome to Hip Talk
Thanks for the update.  Dr. Gross is one of the best! Take it easy in the begining and give your body time to heal.  You will be able to get pretty active this fall.

Good Luck.

Pat

[JHippy]

Congrats, marco. Sounds like you're doing great. And it keeps getting better from here :). Keep us posted.

Some advice I received from a forum member was to watch your form when walking, and if needed stay on the cane or crutch longer so that you're walking with good form.

[marco]

Thanks again Pat. Without this site, I wouldn't be where I am today.

JHippy, thanks for the tip on walking with good form. I'll use the cane more to see if I can straighten out my limp. I've noticed that walking faster seems to help as well.

[hernanu]

Sounds good, Marco - periodically I found it a plus to have someone look at my stride for any issues.  Another pair of eyes may point out some slight glitch that may need to be worked on.