Official Surface Hippy

[bciam]

The Eagle has Landed !

Surgery was successful and I am now an official surface hippy. 

I reported to the pre-admission center at 5:30 am Monday morning.  Luckily I do not live too far away about 30-40 minutes.  Needless to say my wife was not completely overjoyed with the time, however she was quite unwilling to entertain my offer to take the train    We waited until about 8:00 before they took me back and started preping for surgery (shave the leg, rub the orange stuff on it, etc,etc).  Incidently, they shaved almost the entire leg, however left about 12" of hair above the ankle so I now look like I am wearing a tube sock, great look for summer I guess.  I was in surgery by around 9:30, anesthesia went well and I was a little surprised that I was more excited than nervous (kind of like the anticipation of going on a roller coaster)  I "awoke" around 11:00 and soon thereafter found out that everything went great.  It took a while though to be released to my hospital room because my body temp was way down (I didn't feel cold though).  Anyway I do not think my wife finally got to see me untiil about 3:00 pm.  I truely believe she got the worse end of the bargain, I much prefered to be me than her on that day.  God Bless my wife

They tried getting me out of bed that evening, I made it to the chair (about 6 feet) where I got dizzie and was about to lose my chicken broth (I thought of Dev, fellow surface hippy)  Even after that pitiful display they wanted to "fast track" me.  It took two more tries on Tuesday and I was cleared to leave.

I came home around 9:00 pm Tuesday evening but foolishly declined the pain killers from the hospital before I left.  I think that I was warned about that on this site which makes me double stupid.  Recovery so far is going well I think.  I am swollen, walking on two cruthches but trying to put full weight on the new hip.  Thanks to everyone on this site I have a good idea what to expect and I am not discouraged with the muscle soreness / weakness and I know that each day it will get better. 

My decision now is to set some goal for my recovery (I am a goal oriented type of guy, no pun intended Dirk / John).  I am thinking about a bike ride in Septemebr which I did a couple of years ago called the "Savage Century" It was a beautiful ride and you do not need to do all 100 miles.  My hockey season also starts in late Septemebr, but I doubt I would be cleared to play in 3 months so I will have to figure something else out for hockey.  Any suggestions ?

If any of you endured to read this far, I wanted to sincerely thank you all who have offered your experience and especially your well wishes for me and I hope for your continued healing.

P.S. City2South, congratulations on your new hip and thanks for informing me that it was the morphine that made me itchy after surgery 

[Pat Walter]

Congratulations on being a Surface Hippy!

Sounds like your recovery is moving right along.  I gave you a  new topic under Hip Stories so people won't miss your first chapter.  Hopefully, as you start getting back to your sports and hocky, you can post more under that athletes section any time you want to.

I just like to make sure people see the stories. 

I hope you can ride the Savage Century and send us photos or videos.

Good Luck.  Keep in touch.

Pat

[CITY2SOUTH]

Bciam,

Glad you were not wondering every day and night if you had an invasion of mites under your skin and that the morphine did you in instead..lol..I kinda knew what to expect since I had a c-section 3 yrs ago and morphine had the same side effect then. Vicodin gives me the itchies too but not as bad as morph.
I am as new to this Hippy world as you and I hope you take the advice I am about to give you. DO NOT OVER DO IT! I am eager to get back into shape and do many activities that have been put on hold for quite some time. I am recovering quite nicely and at day 5 post-op I walked almost 1/4 of mile and do all required exercises with little discomfort. I can put full weight on my leg and my sister laughed at me today because instead of actually using the one crutch, I was carrying it. If I am reading correctly we had surgery the same day. Luckliy due to hip resurfacing we are not limited to extreme sports. I can't wait to ski,run,boot camp, ultimate frisbee and just play with my very energetic 3 yr old. A hip replacement would have left us at worring if every wrong twist would leave us laying on the floor dislocated. Like I said I am a newbie but mark my words I will never write a post that I over did it and fractured my femur. Good luck with your new parts and I hope you have a speedy recovery..Lisa (aka City2south)

[DirkV]

Brian, Great to hear that everything is going fine. I think I've mentioned before that I'm going to miss the early months when so much recovery is going on. It seems like every day there are new/re-found abilities that come back. In the first couple weeks I can recall getting the leg lifts (prone and the one in a chair where you lift straight up). And of course the improvement in walking is tremendous.
I'm now 3 and 4 months post surgeries, and today's aha moment was the realization, while shopping, that I wasn't using the shopping cart as a walking aid.
Hey a word on the cycling. I got hooked up with a phys therapist who is a serious cyclist -- competing at US cycling nationals this week. I surprised that she wants me to avoid serious cycling training. My cycling goal is 113 mi Tour de Tucson in late November, and she was semi trying to talk me out of that. Right now she doesn't want me cycling for more than 1 hr approx at a time. Her point is that the rehab is a lot more than just cycling, and if I focus too much on that, I won't have as successful/quick/complete recovery overall. Kind of makes sense. I'm sure that she would freak about your century in Sept., but if there are lower distance options, personally, I could conceive of a 50 miler or so 4 months post surgery --  just to have a goal and some event to participate in.
BTW, I tagged along with some former teammates to 'coach' one of their hockey games yesterday. I think I'll be conservative and wait a year before considering playing goal again, but I have to admit I got the bug a bit. Watching that game, I could conceptualize playing again.
We'll have to keep communicating how the hockey recovery goes. I'm not certain I'll go back to it, but I do miss it a lot. I'm planning to go open skating next week (first time on skates post surgery). I'll let you know how that goes.
Good recovery, and good rest during your early post-op period,
-Dirk

[bciam]

Pat,

Thanks again for all your help and encouragement along the way.

Dirk,

Very interesting comments from your cyclist PT.  I have to take that seriously.  I don't think I would be ready fro the whole 100, but I remember there being smaller loops, maybe 50 and 75.  Here's to hope !

As far as hockey goes, I am not sure how confident I will be in playing sports, especially goalie, but I figure I will see how it goes (baby steps).   

In my 7th day and am walking on one crutch, with difficulty.  When did you start on the trainer ?

Thaks again for your encouragement prior to surgery.
Let me know if you set any goals for yourself, hockey, cycling, etc.  In the meantime I await any significant "Aha" moments to report.

[Tarhoo2]

I have talked with bciam and others some "on the side," but I should note that after my first BHR in December, I bought a recumbent stationary bike (I bought a decent Schwinn for about $300-350).  I was not comfortable on the upright stationary bikes at my therapist's office and needed an alternative.  I think it's worked very well, with minimal discomfort, and would recommend it.  I'm now about 12 weeks post-op on my second BHR and am doing 35-40 minutes a day on the bike and walking 2-3 miles, sometimes both the same day (on the weekend), walking after biking.  I feel very fortunate and wish the same very positive experiences for the rest of you all.

Jim

[DirkV]

Hi Brian,
I've forgetten if it was 7 or 10 days that I got on my bike, on the training stand of course. I posted a question on the yahoo group and got some advice about how to mount the beast - it looked very imposing at the time. You might do a search there to find some additional hints/tips.
I recall loosening pedal tension - oh wait, at the very first I pre-positioned the shoe on the operated side in the pedal and then had my wife velcro it up after I got on.
A stool placed to the side of the bike, for support, was helpful. I clipped in with non-op side and then swung the operated leg over the back of the seat. For the first week or 2, I also needed an assist to swing my operated leg over the seat.
I was riding right up until the surgery and haven't re-fitted anything. So the bike is optimized for an arthritic person (170 cranks, fairly upright posture). One guy mentioned that he brought his trainer in and showed his surgeon the set up, and the doc suggested lowering the seat to get more ROM workout.
Good luck getting on the bike. I would definitely suggest a spotter. And I also recall that after my 2nd surgery I wanted to get on bike again according to the same schedule, and it just wasn't going to happen. I had to wait a few days, maybe even a week, until I was physically able. But in both cases, it seemed a huge step toward regaining normalcy.
-Dirk

[J B]

Hey Brian,
Glad that your surgery went well and that you are making good progress already. Not much to report on my end, just more rehab and building up strength. I have noticed that my right calf is smaller than my left due to inactivity and favoring that side for so much time beforehand. Working on that though.  Keep us up to date on how everything is going.   John

[bciam]

Hi All,

Well it's now 2-1/2 weeks post-op I am making steady progress although a little slow for my taste, but I kinda figured it was going to be that way from many of the other posts on this site.  Today I started walking without any assistance and it was just in time as I think I was losing a little patience with myself.
I went for a walk, not far, about 1/5 mile but it had hills (darn hills).  It went well but I could feel my muscle fatigue, not much pain so that was good.  We will see tomorrow if I over did it (Sorry Lisa 

Jim, thanks for the feedback on the recumbent bike.  It sounds like you are doing great ! I hope to be as fortunate as you with recovery.

Still awaiting my first "Aha" moment.  Maybe I'll try my trainer over the weekend.

Good healing everyone

[CITY2SOUTH]

2 1/2 weeks post-op  for me too and recovering quickly. I found myself today holding a few items in each hands including my cane. Mind you I was not using the cane just holding it with everything else. I need a clapper alarm for that darn cane.
I am limping less and less and if I walk real slow there is no limp at all. Still have muscle and incision soreness but like all the joint pain is gone. 1 more week and I can go in the pool I can hardly wait.
Usually after my long walks (1 mile) I am swollen and sore and ICE becomes my best friend.
Well I am off to do my last set of exercises then off to bed.
Sleep well all and Speedy Recoveries too all!

[dgm]

Congrats on being a new hippy!  It gets better every day - I had my first "a-ha" moment at about 3 1/2 weeks and right at 5 was a real wow.  At 5 weeks, I found the eliptical trainer to be much more comfortable than the bike, not sure why.  I know it seems slow at first, but don't get discouraged, it will get better. 

Four months out from surgery I was riding my mountain bike pretty comfortably, mostly concerned about falling off so I was overly careful.  I will be 5 months out next week and other than the scar, it's hard to remember that I even had surgery.  At this point, I can't even remember what it was like to be in constant pain with every step - considering I was bone-on-bone for a couple years and miserable, I find that shocking.  I should get my all clear next month and look very forward to gearing up for downhill ski season this year. 

Best wishes for a continued speedy recovery (and you too city2south) and getting back to all the things that you love!
Denise

RBHR 2/14/08 Dr. Rogerson