19 Days R Biomet with Dr. Gross

sdunn4 · November 12, 2011, 11:40:20 AM

Well, today marks day number 19 post-op for me, having had my surgery to implant an uncemented Biomet system on my right side on Monday, October 24. Progress has been good; some starts and stops. I was on a roll earlier this week (days 14 and 15), and had started to ramp up my walking frequency and distance. I am still relying (slightly) on my cane to walk, but had gotten up close to 3 miles for those 2 days. I bounced this off Dr. Gross's office nurse, Nancy, and she came back with the admonishment to not exceed 1.5 miles per day. Like many others on this forum, I have to constantly work to hold back and not do too much! Nancy wants me to keep it at 1.5 miles and focus on gait, stride, elimination of the limp, etc. I tend to go by the credo "if more is good, a LOT more is better". Definitely not so in this case- I will follow doctor's orders!

Right after I received this good advice, coincidentally, the Celebrex prescription ran out (2- 200mg/day for 2 weeks post-surgery to keep away from heterotrophic bone growth), and I am glad I cut back on the activity! I had only been using acetominophen sparingly until that point and now I am taking 2- 500mg tablets once per day. It turns out the Celebrex was actually helping with inflammation as well!

Today has been a "breakthrough" day. My wife and I took a nice 1.2 mile walk in the brisk northern NY 42 degree weather, and then after returning home and resting a bit, I was limbered up enough to walk around the house with no cane at all! I still have a little bit of a limp and will continue the slow recovery. However, I have smiled more since this surgery than I have in the past year! Thanks for the support, great information and positive reinforcement on this site.

Steve

Boomer · November 12, 2011, 11:43:19 AM

Priceless!

hernanu · November 12, 2011, 12:18:52 PM

Awesome progress, Steve! You are doing the right things, very happy for you.

ScubaDuck · November 12, 2011, 01:11:31 PM

Excellent report. I also have to be careful because I share your philosophy of "if some is good than more is better."

Use the extra time to do your other exercises to strengthen lateral movement. I noticed that my big muscles recovered quickly but I am still working on the small muscles in the hip capsule. A lot of balancing on one leg and sidestepping.

Best wishes.

Dan

curt · November 13, 2011, 06:53:57 PM

Dan gives great advice. I have been doing well, but the little movements are perplexing and need work. Turning left with my new right hip is weak. At my check up at 6 wks, my abductors were kitten-weak and need some man-up pills. I'll be working on them. Nice thing is that the limp is almost completely absent and I even notice weakness in small muscles. They used to all be weak while I did my "Com'in Marshall Dillon", Festus walk (for those old enough to remember Gun Smoke). Hang in there. I think you literally get a bit stronger and better at something each and every day.
Hernanu gave me some good exercises for the early weeks and they helped alot. I had no organized PT so Hern is my therapist. Anyway, Steve, it sounds like you are doing awesome. Curt

sdunn4 · November 14, 2011, 07:45:05 AM

Thanks for the feedback, Curt and Dan-

Can you please forward Hernanu's list of exercises to me? I do have Dr. Gross's "phase 2" exercises that I will be starting at 6 weeks (just today marks 3 weeks). I can tell that I am in for a challenge- just raising my operated leg straight out, up from the floor while lying flat is pretty tough right now! I do not plan on "jumping the gun" too much but seem to remember the exercises you mention, Curt, that Hernanu sent in a reply- I just cannot find them now. I agree that the big muscles are "all there"; it's the little guys that are in need of attention going forward!

Thanks,

Steve

curt · November 14, 2011, 07:51:37 AM

Time is right - you'll get to the standing on one leg. I had the following for standing up exercises early on:

Stand in front of a counter (I used the refrigerator) and hold on for all exercises.
Light squats (bend knees, squat down a couple of inches, back up - 10 reps
stand and move one leg sideways as far as comfortable. 10 reps per leg
stand and move one leg beck as far as comfortable. Don't arch back, it's for strength, not ROM
stand and lift one knee up to about 90 degrees or as far as comfortable.
stand and go on tiptoes. 10 reps

Do the above (where applicable) for both the operated and non operated leg. Repeat for 3 sets. I did these from the start per leg three times per day. This was in addition to the lying in bed exercises. When they became too easy, we (home PT and I) ramped up to 15 reps of everything. It becomes a pretty good workout in our condition, I still do them periodically.

Â« Last Edit: October 14, 2011, 11:33:59 AM by hernanu Â» Report to moderator Logged

Sorry about the copyright issues, Hern, hope you don't mind. Curt