Almost time

[jd]

1 month out, getting close now! I'm scheduled with Dr. Gross on Oct 14. It doesn't feel 100% real yet, but it's slowly dawning on me that life is going to change fairly drastically very soon (initially for the worse, but then hopefully for the much better).


Trying to scuba dive (my major hobby) as much as I can while I still can (since it'll violate the 50lbs weight carrying limit I'll have for 6mo post-op).


I think everything is set at home, and all travel plans are in place, but still, quite intimidating!

[JHippy]

Yep and I know six months feels like a lifetime a from your vantage point but looking back it was nothing. You have a great surgeon and you're young, you'll do great!

[jd]

Thanks JHippy. You're right of course! Rationally, I expect it'll go pretty easily and in 6 months I'll be extremely happy that I did this! It's interesting psychologically as some of the reality starts to creep in.

[blinky]

Go jd! I am right behind you.


I feel like all my ducks are in order and now I am just waiting. Ready to be on the other side.


Probably not helpful to want to find ways for you to get back to diving sooner, but....can someone else manage the heavy stuff for you? I am not much of a diver, haven't been in years, but seems like someone else could do the heavy lifting for you.

[jd]

Go jd! I am right behind you.


I feel like all my ducks are in order and now I am just waiting. Ready to be on the other side.


Probably not helpful to want to find ways for you to get back to diving sooner, but....can someone else manage the heavy stuff for you? I am not much of a diver, haven't been in years, but seems like someone else could do the heavy lifting for you.

Good luck to you too blinky!

Trust me, I've had the same thought on diving... boat dive only, don and doff gear in the water, should theoretically work (after maybe 3-4 months recovery). I'm definitely going to ask Dr. Gross about it at my pre-op appt! Definitely more logistics/effort than my usual self-sufficient shore diving with a buddy, but hey, better than not diving at all!

[hernanu]

I think you want to treat the first six months as recuperation time. You'll have the rest of your life to dive, you need to heal the hip during this time.

It's not just lifting the weight, but any movements that put undue pressure on the implant.

Remember a few things:

 - You're having major surgery on your bones.
 - Your muscles will have been put under major stress or been surgically modified.
 - Your body will be trying to integrate a beneficial, but foreign object into your frame.

Think about it this way: If you just glued two things together, you would wait to make sure they set properly before you put pressure on them. If you didn't, you would not be surprised if they didn't hold and you needed to glue them again.

In our case, it's the same principle. The implant has to anneal itself to the bone. In the case of the femur, it may be aided by glue or not. In the case of the hip bone, glue is not usually used. The glue in this case is our natural bone growth into the implant, which takes time.

Over time, the bone sets and grows stronger and stronger. By the time six months have elapsed, they are very strong. But if you put too much pressure on too early, you may have issues, the worst of which would be a revision which most likely would mean a THR.

So I would ease into things and really pay attention to what's important, let it heal so you can go back to diving with abandon.

[karlos.bell]

 
Yep take it easy we in life always find other things to do other than what we used to do. On the boat fishing the other day taking it easy a wave buffed me around, I was taking it easy and jarred my hip on the deck to get a footing or be thrown in. It was a reminder to take it easy (in which I was doing) but need to give it more time. Be careful, plenty of more good stuff to come yet in your life. Cheers K

[jd]

Surgery was this morning and all appears to be well so far. Early pain post-op was all incision, but now that's gone and I definitely have a solid deep ache.


Dr Gross said that everything went well and the internal state of my hip was as expected. Now begins the recovery road! Numbness almost completely gone so should be up and out of bed this afternoon!


EDIT: I should add one thing. Despite being a male in my early 30s, who's done weight training on and off over the past few years, I actually had low femoral neck bone density which came as quite the shock. Thankfully I was better than the cutoff for the modified recovery program, but if it had been my other hip I wouldn't have been. So, a big wake up call there, I'm going to have to start taking bone density seriously and working on it.

[blinky]

So happy for you! Please continue to post all the nitty gritty details so we can know what to expect. I am very interested in the pain vs constipation trade off.


What will you do about your bone density? Did you receive any recommendations?

[jd]

So happy for you! Please continue to post all the nitty gritty details so we can know what to expect. I am very interested in the pain vs constipation trade off.


What will you do about your bone density? Did you receive any recommendations?

Thanks Blinky!

He's using Nucynta (tapentadol) as the primary pain control now. Interestingly he's also started using a new drug (just in the hospital at the start) that is supposed to block the opioid action everywhere in the body except the brain (as my physician wife tried to explain it to me). So it works as a painkiller, but should have reduced other physical side effects. Doing some reading it also seems like in general Nucynta has lower constipation side effects than "traditional" opioids.


So far so good though, I definitely need the pain meds today. Pain seems to swing back and forth between the incision and a deep pain but it's tolerable with the narcotics. Not sure if it'll get low enough to sleep much tonight but hey, I'm on an upward trajectory from here!

Edit: forgot the bone density part. I need fosamax for 6 months post-op, but still on the fast recovery track. Long term, keep taking vitamin d, calcium, and doing weight-bearing exercise. I'm really hoping to get back into weightlifting and I think that should help a lot. It was frankly a little horrifying to realize that I was super close to that modified recovery plan cutoff line!

[Kingrob]

I just paid my out of pocket costs today for my surgery with DR Gross on 11/25. I have done all the pre-surgery stuff and I am just waiting for my date. Sounds like everything went well for you - congrats.  I am sure it is a good feeling to know that it is done and it was a successful surgery. I wish I had mine done today so I can finally start focusing on getting back to running. I look forward to the rehab and don't mind the 6 months for the green light. I am very limited now on what I can do, so even during the 6 months of rehab I will be doing things I have not done in a long time.  Hope things continue to go well for you - Keep us posted.

[jd]

I just paid my out of pocket costs today for my surgery with DR Gross on 11/25. I have done all the pre-surgery stuff and I am just waiting for my date. Sounds like everything went well for you - congrats.  I am sure it is a good feeling to know that it is done and it was a successful surgery. I wish I had mine done today so I can finally start focusing on getting back to running. I look forward to the rehab and don't mind the 6 months for the green light. I am very limited now on what I can do, so even during the 6 months of rehab I will be doing things I have not done in a long time.  Hope things continue to go well for you - Keep us posted.

I think waiting is one of the hardest parts Kingrob. Good luck to you also! Yup, so far so good, but it's definitely a long road ahead!

[jd]

Met with Dr Gross this morning and he gave me the post-op x-ray. Says it's 36 degrees and he seemed very happy.

[karlos.bell]

  You will be fine jd. Good luck!!

[Pat Walter]

Contratulations of the new hip.

You might want to start your post op story about your new hip in the hip stories section since you are past the Almost Time topic!  http://surfacehippy.info/hiptalk/index.php?board=8.0

 Take it easy and you will soon be back to an active and pain free life.  Good Luck.  Pat

[jd]

Thanks Pat! I will start a thread over there.


Your website has been a fantastic research and support resource for me, and I'm sure, many others!

[hernanu]

Congratulations and good luck!


The recuperation takes time, but be patient and you'll be fine. Good plan to get back to weights once you're good to go.


I'm at five years now (actually five years on my left and will be five on my right in November), and got back to some good weight training. Several of us have done so, there's nothing preventing you once you get the go ahead.

[toby]

JD congratulations from over the pond. I dived in Thailand to 20m at exactly the six month point- all went brilliantly as it will for you. Follow all the advice and you will have a fantastic hip that will allow you to return to all your sporting activities.
Best Wishes
Toby