Missed My Flight

[Lopsided]

Day Fifteen

Better than yesterday, but still a long way behind.

From the moment I left hospital I got stronger and had more movement every day. After I left Gent, I started to get some slight swelling around the incision, but I could still walk well. In fact, in Gent I had no noticeable swelling at all.

Yesterday I was due to get on the plane for a twelve hour flight. I got stiffer and stiffer all day, and my buttock around the incision got quite swollen. It was extremely uncomfortable traveling in the car to the airport, and I knew I would not handle the flight. So I missed my flight.

Today, I am not as stiff, but still swollen. I will have to reschedule the flight. I should have been there by now. I wish I was.

I am not sure why I have got swelling so late after surgery. Maybe I have been doing too much walking. Today I am icing a lot.

Has anyone else had swelling around the incision two weeks after surgery? How long does it last?

[Pat Walter]

It is not unusual to get swelling if you over do things like walking too much.  I ended up not taking the small plane flight from DC to Charleston WV for the same reason.  My hip had swollen a bit and was really sore after my 8 1/2 flight from Brussels to DC. We stayed over and got a car to drive home the next day.    Try to stay down and ice.  Be sure to get up and walk every hour on the flight.  I hope you can fly home soon.  Take it easy.  I will be thinking of you.

Once you get your hip swelling, it gets use to doing that if you over do too much.  It seems to get more sensitive.  Be a bit more conservative when you get home and give your hip time to heal before pushing it.  You have the rest of your life to be really active after you heal.

Pat

[Lopsided]

Thank you Pat.

You have just gone through a bigger operation than mine, so I appreciate your care.

Dan

[gary2010]

Dan, did you take an anticoagulant? My course lasts 5 weeks and I've no Idea what the side effects are. G

[Lopsided]

Gary,

I took 0.4mg herapin injections everyday for three weeks. Apart from a few slight bruises around my stomach I had no side effects, except ...

For flying long haul, I was instructed to take a double dose, 0.8mg, the day before the flight, the day of the flight, and the day after. The day before, some hours after injecting, I knocked my toe on a metal bracket sticking out of the floor. I hardly noticed, but it did start me bleeding and there was quite a lot of claret on the carpet. The day of the flight (it would have been a night flight), when changing my bandage, I noticed that the bottom of my incision was bleeding. In the car on the way to Heathrow, and more so on the way back, I felt faint, as well as extremely uncomfortable and swollen.

In general, although I heal well, I have thin blood. I am not sure if the double dose of herapin pushed me passed a threshold where my blood was too thin and my blood pressure low.

I did get through to Dr. De Smet by phone the following morning, and he was sure it was not the herapin (not that I know more than the surgeon), in fact he did not seem too worried. He did suggest that if I thought it was fractured I could get an x-ray, but by then I was beginning to feel better.

Day Thirty

Anyway, I am doing well now. Last night I walked continuously for two hours and although I still carry a crutch, I do not rely on it. I have more movement in my operated leg than I have had for a few years.

Dan

[gary2010]

I see you've got uncemented C+; uncemented femoral as well? If so there can't be too many of those about, is that De Smet's standard now?

The interesting thing about drugs is that everyone reacts differently, and prescriptions are based on statistics. What will improve one person's life will cripple another in my experience. I also believe that reactions are strongly affected by the background toxicity of a person's environment, not enough work has been done on this - any pharmacologists out there looking for a project?

I also had a bleeding episode, I don't have too much trouble with the anticoagulant (Rivaroxaban) but I wondered if it contributed to the swelling. Subjectively I think it enhances peripheral circulation - if you know what I mean.
G

[Lopsided]

Dunno if the bleeding contributes to swelling, but at the time I felt it did, precisely that, thin blood - bleeding - inflammation - swelling.

I did get an uncemented C+. Both components, not a hint of cement. The acetabular component is uncemented as standard, but the femoral component is new. I specifically requested it and I am proud that I was Dr. De Smet's first fully uncemented resurfacing patient. I hope it works!

The uncemented is definitely not Dr. De Smet's standard now. At the time I was there, one other patient had also requested it, but he would only do the cemented version for her. I do not know if he has done other patients since me.

In the consultation before the operation, the Dr. said, "The good news is I can guarantee ninety nine percent that it will last ten years," and I replied, "I want fifty!"

[gary2010]

Any special restrictions with that? Good luck with it. I liked the C+, mainly for the rounded edges but it wasn't on offer round here. I suppose uncemented ceramic would be the ultimate.

[Lopsided]

Any special restrictions with that?

Apart from the usual six week restrictions, the doctor did not mention any. I will not however, as some other people on this board have, revert to extreme or impact sport. Much as though I enjoyed sport previously, there are more important things in life now. I will keep fit, but really do want to get fifty years or more from the device (dunno how long I will be around).

I suppose uncemented ceramic would be the ultimate.

Possibly. Two other patients at the same time had THRs, (from what I gather) using uncemented tungsten stem and cap, and 40mm ceramic (aluminium oxide) ball and liner. This sounds pretty high tech.

With resurfacing the two components are relatively thin (compared to solid ball and liner) and if made of ceramic might be brittle. I think there is a ceramic coated resurfacing available.

Anyway, I am not sure if I have got the best and latest, or if I am just my own experiment.

[gary2010]

Someone has to be first, I read somewhere that McMinn did a ceramic/ceramic resurfacing on a lady with allergy problems, my instinct tells me the weakness would be at the junction of cap and stem, but once the bone has remodelled, who knows?

I'm not sure about the toughness of modern ceramics, I have a sapphire crystal lens on my wristwatch and I've struck it really hard on a ceramic washbasin, not only did it not fracture, but the apparent surface damage tuned out to be glaze smeared from the basin, and cleaned off with metal polish. That I think would make a great implant.

I also have a set of spyderco sapphire ceramic files for sharpening, again, they are not brittle at all, careless b-rd that i am, I've not managed to even chip one in years of hard use.