Hi Mustang,
Welcome to the club. I do have to caution you. I highly caution those who are planning on having bilaterals done to know that the week after might be a living hell. Depending on your meds, and reactions to those you might have difficulty being the least bit mobile. Your upper body strength will aid you in all that you do.
Dr. Su is an excellent surgeon, there is nothing with him that you will have to worry about. The Post Anesthesia Care Unit is great. You'll wake up and feel good. When you do finally get a room you'll be on a older floor in the hospital that will be going through a major renovation within a few years. Everything on the floor is fine, just a bit old.
The daytime nurses at HSS are great. I had great experiences with them and they really helped me understand what was going on with my body. I had a bad experience with one of the night time nurses, and the lack of help unless you blatantly asked for it.
I had a hard time with nausea and with light headedness with the meds, so I tried to stop taking them. ( Bad idea ) you end up being very stiff and sore from the operation ( not a huge amount of pain )
Woody is right though. For a week and a half to two weeks you need major help. ( I'll break it down to you. You lose the ability to relieve yourself by walking to the bathroom. ) Someone who is a professional, or damn well loves you to death and will always be at your side is necessary. There are also moments of depression from either the meds or the loss of your faculties. You walk into the surgery, you can't walk away from it for a few weeks.
I didn't go with a acute-rehab facility afterwards. The post op planers pushed for me to go home directly from the hospital. Even contradicting things I was saying for my best interest. I fully believe that it's something with insurance pushing them to make those recommendations.
My recommendation: Kessler. It sucks being away from your family ( I have a 11 month old daughter ). It really took a toll on me just being in the hospital alone for a few days. I made a bad decision to go home directly from HSS based on loneliness. I highly recommend not making the same mistake.
It took me about 2-3 weeks before I really saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I think having the 24/7 care of Kessler the time might of been shortened that realization and made my recovery quicker. I however am now 7-8 weeks out from the surgery and I'm better than I was before the surgery.
Pain from the hips is basically non existent. The fatigue and soreness surrounding that fatigue is what keeps you from being 100% at this time frame. You also waddle more when you get tired. ( Yes, people will call you a penguin ).
I will tell you this. Talk to the pre-op admissions group and have them look for a bed at Kessler for you. You can always decline after the surgery if you are feeling amazing. They do this at NO CHARGE. With the bilateral, I do recommend you seriously think about going. Try not moving or using your legs for everything going up to the days of the surgery.. you'll see no matter how strong you are, somethings are literally impossible to accomplish.
Post OFTEN on this site if you have any doubts about anything going on with the surgery. I even recommend taking a laptop or ipad to the hospital for keeping in touch with the group here.
And FYI I was in the hospital for 6 days post op. The time of year you are having the surgery is very busy with family activities and responsibilities. You may not be up to those things at that time frame. Even up to 2-weeks post surgery. I would say that my life returned to semi normal 4-5 weeks post surgery. I do what I want within reason ( no sports or impact activities as of yet ). I unfortunately like to add as much information as possible about the surgery so I have to play devils advocate on that part.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out