Dr. Gross hippies routinely use the polar ice machine.  Do they have more swelling and pain than usual because of the minimal invasive surgery approach with the 4 inch incision?  I listened to an interview with Dr. Peter Callander, SF, CA and he describes minimal invasive surgery as more importantly being gentle on the soft tissues rather than a small incision.

Actually many HR patients use ice for pain and swelling, many use frozen peas or frozen corn, but the polar ice machine is just easier to use and it does not give your frost bite feeling because it's cold water being pumped through a pad.

Dr. Gross likes the ice water machine as it's an aid to healing and it does help the pain that you get when the area of the incision is sore.

I never had anything more than what could be explained as a bad cramp, the ice machine helped a lot.  My pain never was any worse than a bad hip day pre-op.  Most Dr. Gross patients never really have bad pain post-op.

My family has used the ice machine a lot since my surgery, my daughter is real active in softball and my wife is always doing something to kink or twist something, when ours breaks I am buying a new one, they are awesome.


Chuck

I used a large cloth covered gel pack that straps around the waist and hip.  The gel pack has small compartments to even the cold distribution.  I had two gel packs that I alternated when one thawed out.  While I was in the hospital, the nurses regularly replaced the ice packs (ice cut in small cubes).

One item that was modern at the Hosital for Special Surgery (HSS) was they had internet, TV and telephone wired to the hospital bed.  The monitor pivoted about the bed similar to the food tray.  The keyboard was extra.  The service was extra and they billed your credit card.  I decided not to use this service as I brought a book "The SeaWolf" by Jack London.  I had meaning to read this book since I bought it a couple of years ago.  Great read!

I jotted down my progress on paper instead on posting on this website.  I had my first bowel movement on the third day after surgery.  It was firm and about 12 inches long, 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  It broke in two.  What a relief!

If anybody wants more details about my immediate post-op recovery at the HSS, let me know and I will provide.

Steve,

Why don't you post your recovery on the recovery topic that Pat setup? It helps all whether it be slow or fast, bad or good.

Yours sounded positive and it would good to hear Dr. Su's post-op protocols.  I think one of the most interesting parts of everyone's surgeries is the varying techniques each doctor uses to get you walking straight lines.

I wish I would have kept a contemporaneous log of my post-op recovery.  I knew of a Dr. Gross patient from Chicago who got the knife one week after me and we became phone/email recovery buddies, so I had to go through all of my emails to him to figure out where I was at each week.

Chuck

Chuck,

Will do.  I will post it under "Recovery Issues" with the title "Dr. Su post-op recovery."  I have about 5 pages (8 1/2" x 11") before I returned home.  I refer to them every now and then but they will be of most value to a prospective Dr. Su & HSS patient, so I will post them.

Sounds good, I'll be looking forward to reading.

I think you'll find your observations, the good and bad of your revovery will help people even if they have chosen another surgeon.

Posting things that helped you and things that maybe you would have done differently helps everyone.  For instance, if I had the chance to go back in time I would have gotten the surgery done much before what I did.


Chuck

Chuck,

I have posted a hip story under Dr. Su's section of this website which chronicles a lot of my pre-op, surgery and post-op experience.  I notice Karen Mitchell, John Crews and Lisa have also posted their story under Dr. Gross's section.  I don't see your story yet.  My immediate post-op recovery (including the day of surgery) details a time log for the first few days. 

Steve,

Very Nice.

Hey, did you just post that recently or have I missed that?

I'll have to talk to Pat about getting my story posted with all of the other Dr. Gross surface hippies.


Chuck

Love your avitar, Chuck   ::)   ::)   ;)   :)   :D
(what a game)

Wait a minute.... a girl who loves the steeler and who is a fellow Gross Surface Hippy?  Will you marry me?   ;)  OOOOOooops!  I'm Married!

Welcome to the board Karen.  We can always use another surface hippy willing to post their experiences and give others support.

Hope your uncemented hip has not fallen out yet.   :D


Chuck

Chuck,

My story was posted in mid December, 2008.  I wrote it and sent it to Pat when I was 10 weeks post-op.

Did you read Karen Mitchell's story under Dr. Gross's section and notice that she is karenj_m?

I arrived home uneventfully yesterday afternoon.  The Polar ice machine was my constant companion on the plane and in the airports.  I think this really helped me to arrive home feeling fresh and pain free.  Of course I took my meds religiously, realizing that yesterday was going to be a challenging day. 

The flight itself consisted of one leg from Columbia to Charlotte (about 40 minutes) and another from Charlotte to Boston (about 2 hours).  A woman on the first leg had had a THR 2 years earlier and told me she went to rehab for 2 weeks after her surgery and left rehab using a walker.  I was already agile on crutches just 3 days after my surgery.

There was a 1-hour layover in Charlotte, during which time I rode the electric skycaps around the airport and then crutched around looking for fresh ice.  The connection was rather tight, and I actually broke a sweat hunting around.  All the activity made me feel exhilerated and not at all ill, which I took as a very good sign.  I was starting to move more easily.  My range of pain-free and twinge-free motion was expanding.  I actually worried that I was feeling too good.  Maybe I would push it too hard and hurt myself?

I made it home, had dinner, and soon felt very tired.  I pushed it a little bit and tried to watch some TV.  But I started to crash and get a little woozy.  So I went to bed early.  I couldn't get the ice machine working right.  Also, I was really tired and just wanted to sleep.  I was worried that, without the ice, I'd wake up hugely swollen, but I was desperate for sleep and took a chance.

I woke up at 6 this morning.  I had slept through the night!  What a relief it was to sleep!

But I was swollen and in pain.  It had been nearly 12 hours since my last pain pill, and I had had no ice to relieve the swelling.  I quickly took a hydrocodone and got some ice on my butt.  The pain was deep and real.  It was approximately the same as what I had felt waking up in the middle of the night with arthritis pain after sleeping with my leg twisted.

After about an hour and a half, the pain subsided and I got on with my day.

Today has been great.  I'm a little tired, but otherwise fine.  I took a walk outside with the crutches, up and down my street--not quite 1/4 mile.  It felt great going downhill.  Uphill on the way back was more challenging.  There was a bit of slightly painful tugging in the front of the hip.  I slowed down and took it one step at a time.

Now I'm looking forward to a relaxing evening.  I hope my kids cooperate.

Of note, I have no "tennis ball" or "monkey fist" in my butt.  Okay, that didn't sound right ;).  What I mean is there's no huge, hard, localized swelling.  My right butt cheek is certainly larger than usual, and it projects further out to the side as well as behind me.  But there's no hard spot that makes sitting or lying down painful or uncomfortable.  I can sit just about anywhere, even without a cushion.

My only source of concern from the past days is that there's been a little leakage from my incision.  Some of it is bloody, some just looks wet.  I may have tugged at it a little too hard when sliding across the bed two nights ago.  The incision doesn't currently hurt, and it isn't especially hot.  I'm not running a fever, so I figure I'm probably okay.

Overall, I can't believe I feel this well.  I still need two crutches and can only manage to be fully weight-bearing on the operated leg for an instant, but the days keep getting better.

On the downside, my Polar machine isn't holding up as well as I am.  Maybe it's clogged.  It just doesn't seem to pump water anymore.  I'll have to look into it.

Bionic,

Usually it's a kinked hose or the water level is too low, I've had both things happen.  Follow the hose both ways make sure you find no kinks or awkward bends.


Chuck

Bionic,

Sounds like you're feeling pretty good!  I didn't get that monkey fist feeling in the hip until a couple weeks post op once all the swelling seemed to be gone.  Glad to hear you're moving around well.  Each day will get better as you've heard...just remember to give yourself time to rest and recover.  Most of us have pushed too hard at some point in recovery, forgetting that it's a marathon, not a sprint.  Slow and steady.  Nice to be home I bet!
todd

Too Funny Chuck .... hahahahaha....(Troy  #43 is my favorite, I call him Spiderman...he is EVERYWHERE)

Right now, I'm waiting oh so patiently for Bass fishing weather....winter is soooo long here.

As for as posting, I usually post on the Yahoo Surface Hippy Group alot, but this website was my "go to" when I was trying to get hip resurfacing....it IS the ultimate info site (I believe).

Karen
(Karen Mitchell)

Quote from: obxpelican on February 14, 2009, 09:35:48 PM
Wait a minute.... a girl who loves the steeler and who is a fellow Gross Surface Hippy?  Will you marry me?   ;)  OOOOOooops!  I'm Married!

Welcome to the board Karen.  We can always use another surface hippy willing to post their experiences and give others support.

Hope your uncemented hip has not fallen out yet.   :D


Chuck

I was asleep by 9pm last night and managed to stay asleep until 5am this morning!  Not only that, I managed to sleep on my (unoperated) side, nearly the whole night.  I tried that the night before, but only managed it for a short time before I started feeling some uncomfortable tugging over my greater trochanter.  Last night I used a fatter pillow between my legs and had no problem at all.

Today, I'm feeling more like myself than ever since the operation.  I woke without pain, despite not having had any medication for nearly 12 hours.  Swelling is down.  I still took a pain pill and iced for about 45 minutes.  Now I'm looking forward to a shower and nice walk.

OMG she fishes too!  Ok Karen, I'll fall over and die if you tell me you like surf fishing too.   ;)   Maybe this is my long lost twin sister?

Troy is one of my ultimate favs, although it would have been really tough not to have had Hines Ward this season too, I love his smile when he hits someone.... now in Pittsburgh we have to wait 9 months before we have "sports" again, our Pirates have stunk now for 17 years.  We used to be season tix holders but gave up after the fire sales of the late 90s.

Ok.... all kidding aside.

We're so glad to have you here Karen, and yes, I consider this the best site for information on hips in the world, we also have the best posters of any site I've ever seen anywhere.


Chuck

Hey, maybe your day 9-11 is going to be your day 5, wow, you sound like you're doing VERY well.  Must be the water in New England.

Keep up the good rehabbing dude.


Chuck

Quote from: Bionic on February 16, 2009, 09:24:10 AM
I was asleep by 9pm last night and managed to stay asleep until 5am this morning!  Not only that, I managed to sleep on my (unoperated) side, nearly the whole night.  I tried that the night before, but only managed it for a short time before I started feeling some uncomfortable tugging over my greater trochanter.  Last night I used a fatter pillow between my legs and had no problem at all.

Today, I'm feeling more like myself than ever since the operation.  I woke without pain, despite not having had any medication for nearly 12 hours.  Swelling is down.  I still took a pain pill and iced for about 45 minutes.  Now I'm looking forward to a shower and nice walk.

Bionic....

There is only butterfly stitches on the "outside" of your wound...so maybe that's the reason for the little leakage. Did you get the silver bio-bandage put on by the nurses before you left? That stays on I believe for about 10 days...and it draws out the yuck from the incision.

Yeah...make sure to get the ice machine working and unclogged...I wore that thing non-stop and it really kept swelling and bruising down. I did get this cool "zorro like" Z on the back of the op leg knee...kinda amusing.

I added extra ziplocks of ice around the knee and groin area once a day...I had started getting muscle spasms on the outer side of the knee - holy smokes that was brutal, I didn't know where to put myself...so I called Nancy Smith and see called in pills to my pharmacy. It passed about 3-4 days later.

During the day is where you will feel the strongest...take advantage of it, and do a little trek around the house...then back to icing. Make sure to try out different seats in the house...don't live in your bed.

Emotions may get a little whacky, this is normal and usually is from lack of sleep and medicine. Give your family a "heads up"...so they don't think your the patient from hell.

Be sure to use your home aid tools. I had trouble the first week trying to lift my leg with the leg picker upper by myself...but got better by the end of the first week.

I did sit in a good solid straight back chair but did NOT lean forward, so I didn't  break that 90 degree rule. But I wanted to get my body use to sitting properly since I sat very funky from the 20+ years of damage to that hip and muscles. It was pretty amazing sitting normal.

Try to get out (someone else driving you)...you can zip around in one of those blue hair racers at the mall...staying in the house may make you crazy.

Let me know if you have any questions...

PS: try to be patient with yourself...there's alot of healing that needs to happen.

I just left a message at Dr. Gross's office about the leakage around the incision.  I'm waiting for a call back.  In the light of day, I can now see that the spotting isn't really so bad--just a few blobs of yellowish-red along a single line.  There's also some bruising just below the incision and below that puncture that they made near my ilium. 

The reason for my concern is that I was afraid I damaged the incision by sliding on my bed Friday night.  Maybe this is normal?  I'll find out when the doctor's office calls back.

My Polar Care machine is dead.  It works for 3 or 4 pumps of the handheld bulb.  Then the pressure builds up and the bulb can't be pumped anymore.  No water moves.  Sometimes the machine "burps" and I can resume pumping.  Sometimes I can't.  I have to open up the unit and drain it internally.  When I hear something fall inside the stem of the unit, I know the pressure is relieved and I can pump it again, but this is clearly a problem.  Maybe the doctor's office can help with this, too.

Karen,  I am a little crazy right now.  I'm used to taking care of everything myself but now have to let others do things.  But I'm grateful that they're here.  I feel great today but am still very sensitive to getting tired.  At the first sign, I sit or lie down.  When I'm feeling okay, I'm all over the house, including up and down stairs.  Eventually, maybe today or tomorrow, I hope to find my way to the Bowflex downstairs from some easy upper body work.  That will make me happy!

My biggest physical problem today is my left vastus lateralis muscle (outer quad).  With my right leg weakened, that muscle is working double or triple time, and it's starting to complain.  I'll make sure I give it plenty of rest between exertions.