5 Days Post Op-Situation Normal?..I hope so.

[Fuzzy8Ball]

 :o
Well today is my second day waking up in my own bed. It has not been easy.  I am now starting to realize why I got the "going off to war"-like comments from all the nurses and PT Techs at the hospital..."you're doing both hips?!...YOU ARE SO BRAVE!"..."Hey John!...THIS GUY GOT BOTH HIPS DONE! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS GUY?!"  I obviously missed the pursed-lipped "poor bastard" looks afterward as I was being rolled toward the OR.

As much as they try to prepare you for being home, nothing can...unless you can afford to bring a couple of them home with you. I tried so hard not to cheat during PT and do all the little exercises..not grabbing the trapeze AND make the bed flat before trying to get out on your own(because who really owns a Craftmatic Adjustable)...but after being home I should've just kept the wool over my eyes.  Seems as if it would be just as hard...and when I say hard, I mean almost disheartening.

Let's see, where to start...eliminations...0 to RIGHT NOW!..this is not commensurate with wriggling forward and slowly getting up out of the chair, opening the walker, walkering it to my master bath...by the time I get there I am lucky if I haven't dribbled a bit...AND every pee is like Niagara Falls...this also happens in the middle of the night when I am much closer to the bathroom but now I have to swing and/or hoist my almost muscularly-dead, but painfully alive legs to the edge of the bed, grab the walker in the dark and "quick-walker" it to the commode...after one night of that...Mrs Fuzzy got me a Urinal like in the hospital...SO MUCH EASIER..I'll leave it at that.

MRS FUZZY WORSHIP BREAK...THIS WOMAN LOVES ME LIKE A FAT KID LOVES CAKE!!

So getting out of bed is hard. I'm a fairly strong guy but lifting my upper body up with no leg assistance is friggin HARD!...on top of the muscle and incision pain.  The first night, I think the absence of SEVERAL pain meds in my system lead to some bad dreams...in which I was running from SOMETHING...and I kicked both my legs for real which woke me up immediately in agonizing muscular and Incision pain...go ahead and laugh...I admit it was funny later...don't forget that Mrs Fuzzy is laying next to all this...worried. Yesterday when I finally got out of bed and into my Recovery Pod(Hospital Grade Recliner Chair..Courtesy of Stryker Medical..Mrs Fuzzy's Employer) it had been about 40 minutes. Ice on and off all day...down my pants all around my thighs...try to take some ice bags from the hospital if you can..then stop by the store and pick up 2 22LB bags of ice. We put ours in our winter fridge...Outside.

My 17 month old son runs around touching everything and wonders why daddy can't get on the floor with him or why he can't play with the pull-switch on the chair.  He loves when I poke at him with my little grabby thingie though so we try have fun with it.

FUNNY MOMENT LAST NIGHT
The moth flies and flits around the room...My Mom takes 2 clap shots but misses...The moths' evasive maneuvers bring it into my crosshairs in my chair...I take the shot...I grazed some dust off of it...forcing its emergency descent and landing onto my very sore post-op right thigh..SLAP..I GOT HIM!...I WON!...but did I? OWWWWWWWW!! Muth@f#C%r!! Sorry but that's how it went down...followed by a fit of tearful, gut-busting family laughter.

TODAY
This morning after a "better" night's sleep I decided I should take a shower. We have a walk-in stall so that's a plus...no room for a high bench or anything so it is good I can stand full-weight bearing, and am able to turn in a circle and grab what I need. I was told to wash as normal, avoiding my new friends...I want to name my scars so badly but I got nothin good...I'll experiment...Tango & Cash. I was told to let the soapy water just run over them and not allow any direct shower contact. Fine but if I get a cut on my finger, I at least use some peroxide or bacitracin...these are healing INCISIONS...and I am not to apply anything for 2 weeks?...seems illogical to me.

BTW
The shower in the hospital SUCKED...and I am working on a strongly-worded letter to the person responsible for the beautiful new wing at Huron Valley Sinai...I've never been chinese water tortured...for real...but the shower there is what I imagine it is like.  So having MY shower was AWESOME but amazingly tiring! I got out, dried off, and for the first time felt really faint...I had to sit down.

SERIOUS CONCERNS
My thighs are still swollen...as a man should I say Thighs or Quads? Swelling doesn't really concern me at this point but lateral to Tango & Cash they are NUMB..very numb...I could leave the ice on there for hours and not feel it. I can bend my left leg to more than 45 degs at the knee(Tango's Side - 15cm long) but I can barely bend my right leg to 30 degs(Cash's Side 17.5 cm long...more aggressive resurfacing needed)..the muscle is soooo tight and the incision stings..the muscle feels warm but not "infection" hot...no discoloration or discharge(puss) from Tango or Cash...I am clearly going to have to dial back my expectations...I've read a few of your set back Posts due to over doing it too soon so I will honor those people by using them as a cautionary tale.

So Now I am back in my Recovery Pod...Fed,medicated, Arixtra in, rotating ice bags in my pants, waiting for my Patriot's to come on. Fuzzy Jr just went down for a nap...finally!...time to love on Mrs Fuzzy for a few...cause I can see clearly now, that this is going to be a long road...for the both of us.  I welcome any feedback and thanks for your continued support and encouragement.

Fuzzy8Ball

[einreb]

Nothing you mention strikes me as out of the ordinary at all.

I'm going to state the obvious in that you are still so very early in the recovery process.  Both physically and mentally, it can be a bit exhausting.  In some way you almost have to submit to the suckyness rather than fight it... since its not like being tougher or working harder at it will help.  Sort of a philosophical gain by yielding approach.

The bilat is very impressive!

<whispers to himself> Holy crap what was that guy thinking? ;) </whispers to himself>

[obxpelican]

Things you want to worrry about are throbbing, hot areas or any other signs of blood clots.

Swelling is common, ice and elevate above your heart.

Love your posts.



Chuck

[Aerial]

 :) Yeah, what was that guy thinking!  I only had one done but (like you) I would rather go through it once and be over with it.  I think you will find that from 7-10 days you will see a lot of improvement.  Hang in there, the first week takes patience.  In terms of swelling, it is totally normal.  Keep icing and elevating.  I'm not sure about the numbness.  If it is all over perhaps a call to the doctor would be good for peace of mind.  What approach did your doctor use?  Sounds, like you are rocking some good sized scars!  Also, the bathroom thing is totally normal.  Sucks but that is the way it is!  I used Benefiber for about a week post op and it worked well for me. 

Good to see your "shout out" to Mrs. Fuzzy.  My husband pleasantly surprised me with his patience and good nursing ability!

[mslendzion]

Fuzzy
I had major swelling. Today, finally, my leg looks a bit more normal but still a bit swollen (knee area). My scar area feels a bit numb still and sore but seems to be healing well. I'm still very sore.  Wish you the best. It gets better as you go. The feedback from our fellow hippies is true, there are good days and bad but it does get better, slowly for me.

[John C]

Hi Fuzzy,
Great posts. Welcome to the club, but the initiation to this club can be a  *#@%! I can tell you that it does get a lot easier, and by a few weeks from now, things will look a lot better. At three years out, things are great, and it is easy to forget that first week or so. I do remember thinking "how to those people get through having both done at once". Now that it looks likely that I will need to have the other one done in a year or so, I am thinking that you look pretty smart after all to get it all over with at once.
It might be a little late to get the most out of it, but if you can find one of those polar care ice machines that many of us used, I promise that it beats the heck out of ice bags. The cost of a used one might still be worth it.
Keep up that great attitude of yours, and you will be on the happy side of this soon.

[Two4One]

Yes, Fuzzy, you haven't lived until your spouse wipes your but and the back of your legs, everyday for like almost the first two whole weeks.  SO glad you have these tender moments to bring you together! 

I got the "Wow. You're so brave, etc." in the hospital too, and I was feeling real proud of myself walking out of there with my walker!  Then Hubs makes me cry the first night I'm home from the hospital saying "I'm lying when I told you that you were doing so great in the hospital, and those nurses and PTs lied to you too!  They get paid to say that.  You are the most pathetic weakest thing I've ever seen.  You don't have the strength of a newborn kitten!"  To be honest, I'm still pissed at him for that.

However, like Mrs. Fuzzy, Hubs DID step up to the plate.  That man fed me a stream of healthy gourmet treats that would rival the finest specialty shops or high end restaurants, and through his care and feeding I dropped 12 pounds of that gross water weight they pump into you in during surgery and in the hospital.

I advise lots and lots of Docusate and enemas, whatever it takes to do your business.  It is 100% normal to have bathroom issues if you have taken or are now taking narcotics of any stripe.  When your body settles down, and you are done with your meds for a good while, your elimination will get back to normal then.  I'm afraid that happy day will be a ways in the future for me because it takes the time it takes for me to slowly wean off a two and a half year reliance on the hard stuff.

You don't need to worry about how weak you are right now; again, it's totally normal.  I used the foot noose like it was part of my new religion and could not move my legs at all really that first week.  On top of the normal body slam you to the ground post bilateral whoopin' you volunteered for, I also had a very bad reaction to Arixtra, the anti coagulant you shoot into your stomach.  It made my lower extremities even weaker, if that was possible, AND I had a very rare side effect of short term memory loss and not being able to come up with everyday words like 'remote'.  Thank God, about a week later of me keep telling my home team of RNs, PTs, and OTs about the Arixtra side effects and calling the Huron Valley Sinai orthopedic surgeon on call, they agreed with me that the stuff was driving me batshit crazy, and my surgeon gave permission to switch to Aspirin!  Another week later, I started feeling more myself and quit raging at Hubs!  I swear, these spouses must love us, because they are right there helping us handle ourselves and because they know the meaning of "for better or for worse" and "in sickness and in health".

Now that I'm finally regaining some of my B.O.A strength, I make it my number one priority to pay Hubs back for all the caretaking he did while I was bedridden with undiagnosed end stage OA for over 2 years.  You, too, will take pleasure at being able to cook the Mrs. a simple meal, vacuum your house, and make her bed.  I want to spend the rest of my life making Hubs happy.

I forgot to ask - does your insurance cover having in home RNs, OTs, and PTs?  If it does, my best advice is to get that trio into your house 3 times a week!  It will give you someone to talk to besides your loving wife, and they will give you the realistic picture you need of how well you are doing with recovery!

I'm cracking up in recognition at your creative swearing a blue streak; Hubs says I scare him sometimes!  I say good 'cause now you know what time it is and won't keep being squirrelly!  Seriously, Fuzz, you have the most important thing down cold and that is you got to roll with it.  The recovery has you, and not until a little later will you be having your recovery!

That swelling where you can't see your knees and your feet look like Clydesdale hooves, and forget about having discernible ankles, well you have a least another week of it.  What helped me shed the water weight, puffiness, and swelling is to drink water like it's coming out of a college kid's beer bong.  Hubs got me an adult version of a sippy cup (I'll try and find one like it and post the water thermos thingamabob later today) at our local big box store Meijers that I drink and refill constantly.  Drinking tons of water ALL of the time will keep you exercising if you do an extra lap every time you have to tinkle, and it will shed those sausage legs in a hurry!

Keep up the great work, and I hope my novel helps some.  If you need anything, tell Mrs. Fuzzy to PM me.

'One
aka
2fer

P.S.  I like 'Sam and Dave' for the scars because they were talented scrappers and got their voice out there!  I didn't name mine; by the way they are healing now, I think they'll look like faint stretch marks just like the ones I got at 12 years old when I shot up from 5'1 to 5'9 in one year!

[Dan L]

Fuzz;

Sounds normal, or at least as much of normal I would know about both being done (I had one done only).  The nighttime urinary urgency really rigs a bell, I think it is your body draining out all the swelling, for me that lasted at least 2 weeks, and when it was time to go, it was really time to go.

You bilaterals amaze me, I cannot imagine both at one time.  I'm 4 weeks away from the second one, but no way could I have done both-- like you say, really hard just to get out of bed.

I found these tegaderm 4 x 12 bandages, clear, center is non-adhesive, to use when in the shower, they made it easy to get in there and not worry about getting the incision wet.  Ordered online. I also cleaned the incision right after a shower with alcohol or peroxide-- you don't want to get those buggers infected-- that can really mess things up badly.  I was able to apply them without help, which made it nice and easy, and avoided marital stress via new incision touching.

The ice really will be your friend.

Keep us posted and good luck.

Dan

[mikebaker]

Hey Fuzzy, great post. Trust me when I say this "I am laughing with you" so many of your experiences rang true for me as well. My wife and I have 18 month old triplets so I can relate to having some limited fun with the little ones and more than one time I was stranded on the couch as they took off with my crutches. I have had both of my hips done but not together (about 4.5 months between surgeries) so it is difficult for me to imagine what you are going through. The pain I had with each hip during the healing process was different which I chalked up to experience in some part and also in part due to the fact that one of my hips was much worse than the other. I have one scar that is larger than the other and I had some numbness around my incision, all is good now. Now one has to consider that I had some post op protocols to follow which was toe touch weight bearing for 6 weeks which may have limited my pain early on during the recovery process as I was only doing my stage one exercises for the first 6 weeks. After the six weeks it took me about another 6 weeks to not walk without a limp on my first hip and I think that time frame will be much shorter on the second. I have to admit getting to the washroom was hard but man I found it hard to use the toilet for number two as I am a big guy and my thigh was swollen and lets say it was really difficult for me. Now I have progressed very quickly and as they do not have raised toilet seats at work etc. let's just say I have improved my camping skills dramatically and I can hit the smallest piece of toilet paper with a gentle squat hovering at 30,000 feet above the bowl. It will get better trust me and take your time, get the pain under control and try and do the exercises. 5 days out is very early and in a few short weeks you will be truly amazed with the progress. Keep with the great attitude and try to see the lighter side of things which I can tell that you are very good at. All the very best and good luck to your Pats, hopefully the Superbowl will be as good as the divisional championship games. Mike

[Woodstock Hippy]

Hi Fuzz,  all the physical stuff sounds normal to me.  Make sure you stay on top of your pain medication.  Make sure you keep icing to keep the swelling down.  It's tough but every day will bet better.  Do you have a PT and a nurse coming to see you?
Lot's of work to do.  You can do it.  You'll be back on your feet Pain Free in no time.

[hernanu]

SERIOUS CONCERNS
My thighs are still swollen...as a man should I say Thighs or Quads? Swelling doesn't really concern me at this point but lateral to Tango & Cash they are NUMB..very numb...I could leave the ice on there for hours and not feel it. I can bend my left leg to more than 45 degs at the knee(Tango's Side - 15cm long) but I can barely bend my right leg to 30 degs(Cash's Side 17.5 cm long...more aggressive resurfacing needed)..the muscle is soooo tight and the incision stings..the muscle feels warm but not "infection" hot...no discoloration or discharge(puss) from Tango or Cash...I am clearly going to have to dial back my expectations...I've read a few of your set back Posts due to over doing it too soon so I will honor those people by using them as a cautionary tale.

So Now I am back in my Recovery Pod...Fed,medicated, Arixtra in, rotating ice bags in my pants, waiting for my Patriot's to come on. Fuzzy Jr just went down for a nap...finally!...time to love on Mrs Fuzzy for a few...cause I can see clearly now, that this is going to be a long road...for the both of us.  I welcome any feedback and thanks for your continued support and encouragement.

Fuzzy8Ball

Hey Fuzzy, all the normal stuff that I saw my first week or so. No way to avoid it, just take the ice, the PT and all the good wishes, face it and go forward.

You're doing well, it's just tough to do with one leg, not being a simultaneous bilat, I can't give you bilat kind of tips, but just on the hippy front you are dealing with something that passes comparatively quickly (may not seem like it now), you'll be rid of the swelling in reasonable time.

The swelling made my incision more sensitive, since it puts pressure on it, so that went away as the swelling went down. You're also dealing with scar tissue, etc that will be twitching there for a while, so that's normal.

I had numbness on both thighs (quads to the he men among us), just a strip on the top and outside of the leg. It went away in about three weeks mostly, still there in a very thin strip later and felt for a few weeks after that. Not sure what it was, I just attributed it to my muscles being Pi$$ed at me for allowing this.

The tightness will go, but again, it's not normal workout tightness - your muscles and tissues have been compromised and need to be allowed to regenerate. I have had several hamstring and other pulls from martial arts, and those took about six weeks to two months to heal when severe. This is actually less time than that to be functional, with a lot more insult to your muscles and bones - that's why we are not really fully done until about a year goes by.

You're still early on, but love the attitude and definitely the spirit. Keep your chin up, all of this is worth it and you'll be running around throwing the (Patriots logo) football to the little guy in no time flat.

[Hippyliz]

Fuzzy,
Thanks so much for the hilarious posts! I feel bad about benefitting from your frustration, but you made my day! Although your situation is more challenging than mine (I did not have both hips done), there were several times this week I wondered how the heck everyone was breezing so easily through recovery. I'm not a guy, but I too found myself hustling to the bathroom a couple of times a night wondering if I'd make it in time. I've got osteopenia, and am only 10% weight bearing on my operative leg so it has been pretty difficult to get around, and I spend a whole lot of energy freaking out about the possibility of dislocation or fracture.

I will offer, however, that it indeed DOES get better. I'm 8 days post op and for the past few days have only spent a couple of hours in my "recovery pod." Your wonderful sense of humor ( and loving wife) will certainly carry you through!