Ann B Bilateral Hip Resurfacing Dr. Brooks 2010
April 8, 2010 – 46yr old scheduled 4/28 with Dr. Brooks in Cleveland. I will be traveling roughly 5 hours from SoCen PA. I am a nurse and cracking myself up that I have not met him but feel completely ready to GO! I feel like this is the right surgery for me and need to thank a patient I did a stress test on, who first mentioned this surgery as a possiblity and referred me to this website. And boy am I ready–this was quite a journey to get to this final month. At this point I am walking around with a butter knife offering it to anybody who is willing to cut me and fix it! Well, close to that anyway. The only concern I have would be setbacks or complications considering the distance I will be from Cleveland. I am hoping to go home to PA the day after I am discharged.
May 4, 2010
Day of Surgery went well. Called the night before and found out the time to show up. Everything seemed to go very smoothly. The hospital itself is old and the patients room very tiny and crowded with two patients with the ortho trapeze cage over the beds. Staff was really lovely and worked very hard to stay on top of needs. I was religious about keeping ice on it and pretty much alwys had a bag of ice round the clock. I was discharged in three days feeling better each day. Dr. Brooks d/c you with PT to do at home and the PT at hospital went over all of his protocols. You are also discharged home to crutches for six weeks. Another surpirse to me was being discharged home on the electric leg compression stockings. He uses these for two weeks post op instead of anti-coagulant therapy. I find them comfortable and relaxing but when you are walking around you have to hang the battery back around your neck as your crutch around. It has not been that big a deal except for dressing as you now have these large blue tubes attached to stockings which make fashion a little difficult! I’ve opted to just wear nightgowns at home this week. And left the hospital in a skirt for the long drive home.
So Almost a week. Feeling well. Percocet as needed which is really helping. Doing my PT religiously. Feeling pretty good! Thanks to all for the support. Ann B
June 16, 2010
I just had my six week check up with Dr. Brooks. You will be on crutches with 75% weight bearing till your 6 week check up, you will not be cleared to drive, and will have the compression stocking on at home for roughly 10 days post op. I was done with narcotics by the second week; the really acute operative pain was gone. It takes a month or so to replenish any RBC’s that you lost during your operation and that can add to fatigue. I did not really nap but you are so limited what you can do with crutches that I know I was not moving around as much as normal. (Hard to cook on crutches, carry things, etc etc) If your job is truly sedentary you will probably be okay but I would think that at least 4 weeks might be a better option. Having been cleared to drive, walk etc since I’ve been home on Sunday I have been cleaning and organizing like a crazed lady and by the end of the night I am more tired than at any point in the last six weeks. It is giving me an ideal of how deconditioned I truly am from the months prior to OR when pain was so limiting up to an including the more limited recovery period.
October 21, 2010
I am now 5 weeks past my second hip resurfacing.
My surgeon was very clear and forceful regarding what he wanted from his post op patients: no leg strengthening exercises/running/ till ONE full year after surgery. He said that up to that point there will be an increased risk of fx. At my bedside at the hospital he had just found out that one of his partners resurfacing male patients had just fx femur 6 months out. He told that story with a little too much relish if you ask me! He promised that if I gave him one year my hips would be better and stronger than before. I am an inpatient person who is desperate to get back to the gym after all these years of working out with such pain, but I am going to hear and obey. I am going to walk and go to the pool (uuughh) and be a good patient. So I guess I would practice telling yourself when you get those terrifying thoughts : “This in not real. I am doing all the right post operative things. I am healing.” Don’t let those thoughts become real or overpowering.
I know there are many Doc’s NOT as conservative post-operatively, but as a small boned female I am going to err on the side of caution…..for one year.