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Author Topic: flying home  (Read 2329 times)

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jjiam

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flying home
« on: September 23, 2007, 02:00:50 AM »
Heya all, I am back in Oregon after flying from Las
Vegas NV.  It was 10 days post-op. It was not fun.. I was worried about blood clots, but didn't realize how much pain I was going to be in.  The stewardesses were great, and the guy in the middle seat actually moved so I could have both the end seat and the middle seat.  No matter how many attemps anyone made, and downing 2 percocets 5's nothing helped my discomfort.  So that being said, how soon do you guys fly back from Belgium from Dr. De Smet?  I wish I would have waited one more week in my opinion. and I feel like I took a step back after that.  I think they tell it wrong... I think the doctors and nurses should tell you that day by day you will be able to do more things, but the pain is very slow to go away.  I am wondering now, if my pain will be slower to go away, since I just had arthroscopic surgery in Jan, 8 months ago.  It is 12 days post op and still taking at least 1 to 2 pain pills a day.  I walk with a cane, but still have pain I hope this is normal and not a result of my other surgery.

Pat Walter

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Re: flying home
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2007, 07:15:57 AM »
Hi

I think we all recover at a different rate. I also think, personal opinion that most people don't want to hear, is that surgery with the very experienced overseas doctors generally gives you a faster recovery.  I was with 8 other De Smet hippies in Belgium and we were all about the same.  No one took heavy pain pills much after leaving the hospital. They sent a whole bag home with you, but I just took some Advil at night for sore muscles.  That is what most of us did.  Only one of us had swelling and that was after walking around and sight seeing too much about 5 days post op. 

De Smet likes to keep you 9 days post op.  I flew back to the US on day 10.  It was a 8 1/2 hour flight and I did not take any pain meds because I did not need any.  I did take double shots of the heprin in my tummy for blood clots, wore TEDS and walked the plane every hour. I also had a middle seat at the bulkhead which they gave me for free without an upgrade.  That was better since I had no one pushing their seat back in my face making it hard to get out.  I did get uncomfortable flying back.  I was able to lift the arm of the middle seat so it did not rub on my hip.  I am 5' 8" and a little overweight - so my hips are wider.  I would have been uncomfortable if the arm had not raised up.  Smaller people or men would probably not have been bothered.

It was not pain that bothered me - I was just exhausted when I arrived in DC.  We were to get on a little puddle jumper plane for Charleston WV, but I was too tired to go any further. We canceled that flight and stayed in a hotel.  I just wanted to find a bed to lay down in.  The next day we rented a car and drove the 6 hours home.  It was fine.

If I had more money and time, I would have stayed a few more days or even a week so I could have seen more of Belgium and not been as tired. But it was not a pain issue.

We all recover at a different rate.  I used one crutch until 4 weeks post op. Again, deep pain that required anything other than an Advil at night for the sore, recovering muscles.

I think we all just have to do what we have to do.  As Dr. De Smet says  - listen to your body.  It tells you better than anyone else what to do.  You can't compare yourself to anyone else.

You may also have more muscle issues if your leg was lengthed or you had a more severe problem pre surgery. Water therapy - walking in neck deep water with stretches and exercises really helped me at about 4 weeks.  Many De Smet hippies do a lot of water therapy. I also took PT several weeks after surgery, but it only lasted one week. They did not know what to do with me since I was so far advanced from any THR patients they had.

You also want to make sure you don't do PT with an agressive PT or one who does work with sports people. It is too rough.  Only do what doesn't hurt you.   If it hurts, don't do it. Walking is about the best exercise besides water therapy.

It just takes time.  You will feel much better at different plateaus.  I felt a lot better at 6 weeks and at 4 months. You body seems to recover steps at a time.

Good luck and listen to your own body.  We all end up in the same place eventually - healed, happy, doing what we want with no pain.

Pat
Webmaster/Owner of Surface Hippy
3/15/06 LBHR De Smet

jjiam

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Re: flying home
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2007, 02:58:35 PM »
I guess I'm just fearful this surgery will not work, like the other 2 arthroscopic surgeries I had gotten.  So maybe I'm scrutinizing this more than I should.  I am trying to identify every little pain, because last time I got it scoped, it felt very well for about 3 months, then started going very badly.  I hope that this is not going to be the same way.

Pat Walter

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Re: flying home
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2007, 04:30:38 PM »
Hi

One thing you don't have to worry about is "this surgery will not work"  You have one big hunk of metal in your hip and it does work.  You just have to give your hip time to heal around the BHR.  Unfortunately, for you, you had several bad experiences with other surgeries.  But getting a BHR isn't an "iffy" surgery - it is real.  Look at your x-ray. 

This surgery will get better and better unless there is some type of problem.  The chances of a BHR going bad is very small. 

Give yourself time to heal and just take it easy.  It's ok to listen to your body, it has been thru a lot. There are a lot of people that have tried other surgeries and they did not last.  Many wished they had just gotten a hip resurfacing in the first place.

I had a young fellow in my water PT that had the bone transplant to try to heal his AVN and was on crutches for either 6 or 8 weeks. He was in great pain and as he watched me moving with no pain with my new hip, he said he had wished he had just gotten a hip resurfacing first. 

Be patient and hopefully, you will hardly remember all the surgery and painful days after.  We are all different.

Pat
Webmaster/Owner of Surface Hippy
3/15/06 LBHR De Smet

coskater

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Re: flying home
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2007, 12:18:10 PM »
At 2 weeks out I flew from Birmingham England to Denver, Co the trip in total took about 20 hours.  My hip didn't hurt but what I found upsetting was how incredibly weak I was 2 weeks after the surgery.  What helped me was copious amounts of technology, I had tons of movies I downloaded all the John Stewart and Colbert reports I had missed I found movies I had never seen and put them on my Ipod touch.  What can I say I love technology, and when it works well it is very helpful.

Leslie
Treacy 10/2/07
R BHR

 

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