6 days post-op

[BAM]

Hola, all -  just an update: Surgery on 10/2 went fine.  I was awake and the blocks worn off by 2 pm, up and walking about 4.  No nausea (thank god for spinals), no real pain.  Not much sleep that night due to the parade of people making sure I was okay  

Day 2 post op up on crutches, around the ward twice, shower, in recliner.  No pain to speak of, only prescription pain med was night of surgery.  Tylenol and ice only beyond that. 

Out of hospital Friday, Dr. Gross very pleased.  More damage than expected in socket (I wasn't surprised) so I have to wait 6 months for the second one instead of 3.  Oh well.  Spent the weekend laying around by the pool and with the ice machine.  Swelling on day 3 and 4, still swollen today down to knee.

The trip home to Alaska wasn't bad at all, except I couldn't elevate the leg so the swelling got kind of impressive.  I have some nasty bruising but honestly no pain.  Home today but probably back to work (office work anyway, no field work) tomorrow for part of the day to see how it goes. 

All in all I think putting the effort into being in as good of shape as possible is paying off.  After giving up running 3 months ago (but who's counting ....) I turned to swimming 5 days a week, biking, and hiking to keep the muscle tone and cardio up pre-op.  Staying hydrated now and doing my exercises; I can already easily move the operated leg.  Also building up the shoulders and core pre-op are paying off with the crutch routine. 

If I changed anything it would be flying home sooner.  I didn't need to stay in NC an extra 3 days.  If anyone has specific questions, I'll answer as best I can.  Thanks again for all the info and help! 

[hernanu]

Great stuff, BAM...

Your hard work definitely paid off in helping you get ready muscularly. One thing to remember is that the bone healing is the thing early on.

Some observations:

• It takes months for the bone to grow well into the device and lock in. This is the critical thing, it will support everything else later.
• There is also blood loss to the femoral neck which makes it vulnerable to breaking until 4-6 months in, when the area is strengthened again. This is not an issue if you follow your restrictions.
• Your muscles were worked out in your previous configuration, which may have been contorted to fit in the OA; now you are going to use them in a new, proper configuration, and that may start using muscles which have been underused before. This may cause some setbacks.

It is a great feeling to go ahead, and as athletes and active people, we tend to place emphasis on muscular fitness and health, assuming (correctly most of the time) that our infrastructure is sound.

In this case, your infrastructure is what has changed and is healing. You want to be patient and take care of that healing, so that when it's time to use it aggressively it will be as strong as you want it, for as long as you need it.

But again - great results and a good recovery. I'm glad your trip home was good.

[Marco Polo]

BAM:

Glad to hear surgery went well and you are off to a good start.  As Hern indicates, the healing process takes time.  Your schedule of returning to work is quite aggressive, even if you have a desk job.  Just make sure you build in enough time for walking, stretching and icing.  This is critical in the first few weeks; otherwise it will slow down the pace of your recovery.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

[whyme]

BAM, be careful if coming back to work this early. For me after 10 days or so I thought I would not need 4 or more weeks to recover before coming back to work, but since 2 weeks post surgery I'm very tired in the mornings, that affects performance if you have to work full time.
Also, for most of us sitting is less and less comfortable as the day progresses, I'm now 5 weeks post op and that hasn't changed yet.
And once working, there is obviously less time to walk and exercises.
So I'd say don't push it unless you have to...

[BAM]

Thanks for all the good advice! 

I drove myself to work today, about 10 miles, no problems.  Did about a half day including going over to my bosses' office to reassure him all was well.  Picked up a couple things in town and came home, also no problems.  I plan to do the same the rest of this week and then see how next week goes.  Fortunately I can work from home if need be. 

Exercises, icing and stretching diligently, but, honestly, it just doesn't hurt.  Where the incision is feels like a bruise from falling on your butt.  Being VERY careful on the 10% weight bearing as I have no desire to impede the healing process.  When I'm sitting, leg is elevated.  The post-op swelling is nearly gone today.  The bruising is impressive, but I expected that. 

Compared to the joint pain I've been living with, this is a walk in the park.  I am invested in healing properly and completely so am carefully monitoring myself for signs of over-doing.  I went into the surgery intentionally down a few pounds, BMI down a few points, upper body and core strengthened up as best I could, and the best cardio 5 days a week of swimming could get me.