getting dressed post-surgery

[rag33]

Hi everyone, I'm having surgery in 5 days (yay!) and starting to pack my bag. Seeing as it's already really hard to get dressed, I'm what it's like getting dressed post-surgery. Does anyone have suggestions for the easiest, most comfortable post-op? I'm thinking sweatpants must be easy, but how the heck do you get on your underwear or your socks? thanks a lot ...

[Saddlepal3]

Rag33,

There are two really helpful items to get. One is a grabber (a stick with tong-like things at the end). You’ll need these for putting on underwear, taking things out of the dryer, picking up the towel you dropped, etc. I used these for putting on socks too, but there is an official “sock aid” which makes it much easier.
If you only get one, get the grabber.
In the US, we usually get instructions on using these before we’re released from the hospital.
Good luck!

[Asalisbu]

I’m living that right now, but getting dressed requires some patience it hasn’t been awful. 

As far as clothes definitely loose fitting athletic clothes.   Big gym shorts or the those adidas basketball style pants have been an easy staple immediately following surgery.  Loose fitting jogging pants will work as well but the Therapist at the hospital gave me a great tip, especially for the early days.  When you are done walking and trying to get back into bed wearing those nylon style basketball type pants/shorts helps you scoot across the bed easier as you use your upper body to pull yourself back and rotate your legs into bed.  It worked well especially for having both done, if your your only doing one the other leg is still there for a little push.   Not as much a thing now as I barely use the leg lifter anymore and have the strength to hold my legs out while I swing into bed.   

As far as getting dressed  they give you a hip kip that includes things like a reacher and a giant shoe horn.  The reacher makes puttting on underwear and pants fairly easy.  I sit at the edge of the bed and have the shorts on the floor.   Grab the reacher and pinch the waistline of the shorts.   I put my  foot in and pull up to about mid calf and then repeat with the other leg.   Pulling the shorts up to my knee level where I grab with my hands.   Then I push myself up to my feet and voila I have successfully dressed myself.   

Socks as well they give you some half open tube thing attached to ropes.   You place the sock around the tube lower it to the floor, put your foot down into the tube through the sock opening and pull up.    Therapists showed us at the hospital how to use it and it works well.   That’s said I live in a warm climate and am not messing with socks at all.   

Additionally, Lee Webb at doctor Gross’ office gave me a very much needed heads up regarding post op swelling.   She warned me the about five days after swelling I was going to really blow up and to not panic as it’s normal. 

Sure enough  on the fifth day I was discharged from the hospital and when getting back to the hotel room I blew up.   I literally looked like one of the Klumps in the Nutty Professor movie’s from my waist to the top of my knees.  It was so swollen I couldn’t even extend one of my legs fully due to the swelling at the bottom of my quad.   That said I was glad I had brought my really loose pants and had a few really loose boxer shorts.   My normal boxer briefs would not have been able to go up past mid thigh at that point. 

Like Lee promised, it went away for the most part after a few days of laying with elevated feet and ice, but be cognizant of that for clothing selection if you are not yet home and have a big blow up.   

Not sure If your only doing one it will even be that much easier if you are and you will definitely get into a groove with it pretty fast. 

Good luck. 

[jimbone]

Hey Rag-

Not sure where you're located but if you go on Amazon [I joined just for this purpose] and looked up Hip Surgery Recovery you'll see several options for all the tools you'll need to get by.  Price wise I believe the deluxe package was about $36 USD and delivery was same/next day.  I also used a loop of nylon webbing [rope would work] for some of the exercises early on.  The heel slide and Tailor exercise were too difficult for me to do on my own at first.  I used the loop to do most of the work which allowed me to provide just the small effort I could do and still get the benefit of movement and retraining the muscles while I built back strength.  Oh, and I basically lived in gym shorts for my first hip over the summer and sweat pants for my second hip done in the early fall.  But that's only the first week/10 days by which time you'll be on the way back to recovery.   Best wishes.

[rag33]

That's great ! Thanks so much for the help and ideas.  I'm having surgery with Dr. De Smet in Ghent but live just over the border in France. I'm thinking I should get a grabber even if they give me one 'cause who can't use a couple of those things anyway? I will look for slippery pants too.  I also read about silk pyjamas which would be more luxurious for sure... I can't get the actual hip kit here in France but most of the things are available so I'll see what I need and order them.

stay hip everyone and have a good day !

[Rus]

As you say, no harm in having 2 grabbers, especially if you have stairs.  In the early days, I left one upstairs to avoid having to carry one up the stairs.

With a grabber, a long shoehorn, and a sock thing you should be OK for getting dressed.

Off topic for getting dressed.... The hospital provided me with a raised toilet seat.  I found the regular toilet seat quite uncomfortable for a few weeks.

[catfriend]

A second grabber is a good idea. At some point you will probably drop one and need the second to pick it up. You definitely don't want to wear any tricky clothing. I wore sweats a lot, or other knit pull on pants. For shoes you don't want anything lace up. If you do have lace up shoes, replace the shoelaces with elastic bungee shoelaces. This allows the shoe to function as a slip on. They should show you how to get dressed before you leave the hospital. After all, you have to get dressed to leave! That was part of the Occupational Therapy when I had mine done. Good luck.