Jeff’s Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Gross 2012
Jeff’s Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Gross 2012
March 14, 2012
Woke up about 1:30 today .Don’t even remember getting the spinal. Still a little loopy from the sedatives. I don’t think it’s the Nucynta. Typing is a struggle. PT came to walk me about 5 or so. We could not do it. Did some exercises in the bed but when we stood up with the walker (which felt great by the way) I started getting dizzy. BP dropped to like 85/50 and the physical therapist said no walking today. Her and the nurse said it’s a side effect of one of the drugs in the spinal today. Will try again tomorrow. I was pretty nervous before the surgery. Pain is a little more than I expected. I heard so many people asking about being out of pain when they woke up. That is not the case with me. I actually feels pretty similar to my OA hip when I used it too much. NUcynta helps but I’m not sure it’s as good as Oxycodone. If you think about it I don’t know how you could not feel pain. It’s got to take a couple of days for the nerves i the bone of the ace tabular and femoral head to calm down a little. Definitely manageable though. Not any worse probable better than it felt after the little 2 mile hike at Whiteside Mountain this past Friday.
March 15, 2012
Just lost the catheter. I was surpassed they took it out before I have walked. I guess I’ll walk later this morning when the pt comes again. I’ve been up most of the night. Not pain just a little doped up and playing around on the computer and watching tv. I guess I should try to sleep a little more.I did doze off a little here and there.Two hour stretch between 11 ad 1 I think.
Woke up at 1 and realized I had not moved my lower body side 4:30 the previous afternoon. Tried to sit up and realized that 1: I was all tangled up in cords etc. and 2: Sitting up is really hard. I set some machines to blinking so the nurse came in and she helped me sit on the side of the bed for a minute. Getting up or down is the hardest part. I think it will be easier to walk than to get out of the bed.
March 16, 2012
Saw Dr. Gross this morning. He brought me a copy of my hip x ray. Cup angle is 29 degrees. The just did standing x rays a few minutes ago too. I’m good to go home tomorrow. Bone pain is not an issue today only tissue pain. May be because they have been giving me Oxycontin instead of the Nucynta.
Dr. Gross said if I wanted I could skip PT and go since I have such a long drive. The nursing staff was great. Very patient and helpful. He said the 3 mm leg length increase not necessarily a planned thing. Just worked out that way. Lee could have shortened from the oa but that wasn’t his plan to increase it. He said anything under a cm won’t be noticed. Your pelvis will adjust and shift and you will not notice if there is a discrepancy. On the way home now. I know what a monkey fist is now. Ouch.
March 17, 2012
Got home about 8 tonight. Iced down for a little over an hour. Really beat. Meds are making me sleepy. I’m looking forward to sleeping in my bed tonight.
First morning home has started kind of rough. I think the 10hrs in the car was too much. I used the polar care maching last night took pain meds and went to sleep. Got up a couple times with some difficulty to go to the bathroom. Just got up for good about 30 minutes ago. Woke my wife up to help me. I don’t know why but I’m hurting more and just burst out crying. Back in the ice machine. Wondering if in just swollen more after not using it on the car ride yesterday. Took pain meds again. I need to take the celebrex still. Hoping that reduces the inflammation some too.
March 18, 2012
Today is better. At least i didnt wake up crying like a baby again. Lol. Stayed in bed or on the couch all day yesterday and took pain meds as frequently as it was prescribed yesterday. Iced a ton as well. I have not been able to sleep more than 4 or 5 hours at a stretch but I can nap so it’s ok. I’m taking Nucynta ER and Percocet. I think Percocet start to wear off around the 4-5 hr mark and that’s when the pain in my behind wakes me up. Got up at 5:30 or so this morning took another one and had just enough ice left in the machine that I felt comfortable putting that on and dozing off for another hour. Got up for good about 7 and had coffee and showered. My sweet wife agreed to go out and see if she can find a recliner she can live with. my recliner was my first belonging that had to go when we got married 13 years ago. 😉 anyway I suspect a recliner will be more comfortable that laying in bed or sitting on the couch.
Just did my first walk outside. Pretty spring day in Memphis. Used one crutch to go to the stop sign and back. About .35 miles according to pedometer app on my iPhone. Pretty easy to do that. I’d have gone further but was afraid it might not be a good idea.
March 20, 2012
Took Benadryl last night hoping if would help me sleep. Did not prevent me from getting up at 5 anyway when the leg started hurting. Did my usual 5am ice down and went back to sleep. The ice is usually melted enough by 5 that I don’t worry about it plus I’m a light sleeper anyway. I do think they should put a timer on these things though so you could sleep with it on. Maybe with a safety to shut off after an hour anyway in case you were foggy and didn’t set it right. I decided to skip the Percocet this morning. Just took the Nucynta ER, Celebrex, and Tylenol for pain this morning. I’ll see how it goes.
I’m feeling better than I thought I would. I walked twice today. Probably 1/3 mile before lunch and 2/3 mile about 5:00 tonight. My wife thinks I’m walking too much too soon since Dr. Gross’s instructions say to be walking a mile at 4 weeks. Muscles stiffen up a little after walking but not too bad. I can’t wait unit 6 weeks when I can go back to the gym. I’m definitely going to go back to work next week barring any unforeseen setback. I’ll go stir crazy sitting here and Ellie is stressed because we have so many houses under contract that need to be dealt with. She had to show houses all day Saturday when we got home after driving 10hrs from Columbia on Friday getting us home.Not to mention all the work involved in taking care of me and two kids this last week. Even if I just take the kids to school and put in a 1/2 day at the office next week I know it will take a load off of her.
March 21, 2012
I’m going to take today off walking. I actually am a little more sore in the groin area today than I have been. A little pain and I get all paranoid I’ve messed something up. Seeing that surgical wound for the first time tonight was a little disturbing too. Yikes! Don’t know what I expected but it was pretty gnarly looking. Tonight is going to be a tv and pizza kind of night.
I think I’m a one crutch guy. I now have two canes from Ellie’s grandfather and I just don’t line them. They just don’t feel stable and my gait is nowhere near as smoot or fast as with one crutch. On the other hand her grandfather was a stylish gent. Theses are some pretty sweet looking canes. Maybe I can learn how to spin them around and tip my hat with them or something so they don’t go to waste.
March 27, 2012
Probably not recommended at 12 days or whatever I was yesterday but I went back to work and worked until 11:30 or so. Then went and got baby chicks for my kids for Easter but we are also going to have a little urban backyard coop and raise our own eggs. I actually built the cage myself yesterday.
April 2, 2012
Don’t know why but my muscles just feel extra sore today. My quads down to the knee are a little tender in addition to my behind. Got the ice machine pre cooling and I’ll put that on after 15-20 minutes of this heating pad. I haven’t walked in a few days (like real not stop straight line walking) because I’ve been so busy at work. Worked at the office until noon then went and bought a fridge for one of my rental properties and met the delivery guys. Transferred the tenants food to the new fridge and by the time I was done at 3 all I wanted to do was come home and get horizontal for a while. Now I’m gonna veg out and watch basketball.
April 5, 2012
Yesterday was three weeks. Been working mostly 1/2 days since about 10 days post op. Haven’t touched a crutch or cane in a couple of weeks. Actually never used a cane at all. Not helpful. Walking a mile or more with ease. Really want to get on the elliptical but thats 3 weeks away. Although a 70 something year old orthopedic surgeon I know who is a nut was on the elliptical at our club the other day. 14 days post op on a THR!!!! I was shaking my head wondering what his surgeon would say. I was telling him about my hip and how I couldn’t get on the elliptical until the 6 week mark and he just smiled and said I’m 14 days on my second THR. This is the same guy who has already had to be defiberilated at the club one time but continues to run in place in the steam rom and jog around the tennis courts in a sweatsuit in the heat of Memphis summers. I’m sure his cardiologist would be just as shocked as his ortho. He was on there for over a half hour file I did some upper body weight machines. Seeing him sure tempted me but I’m going to follow the rules as best I can. I already seem to find it hard to comply with the 90 degree rule and I violate it pretty frequently.
April 17, 2012
I broke the rules and got on the elliptical a week early. Just did 30 minutes and it felt easy and natural. That same 70 something orthopedic surgeon who is 4 weeks on a THR was on the machine next to me for a full hour.
May 21, 2012
I’m about 9 weeks or so post op with Dr. Gross. No pt ware recommended for me other than at the 6 week check up for out of towners. (that was good by the way. Dr. Gross said my x rays looked good and the pt said I seemed to be ahead of the curve for most hip patients. I still have enough muscle pain at night that I’m not sleeping as well as I’d like. It’s partly my bed. Many nights I end up moving and sleeping in one of my kids beds because it’s firmer and that seems to help. I’ve heard people talk about their pt really working on their IT bands and how that helped and talking about using foam rollers. Should I look into that. In TN I can schedule an appointment with a pt directly without a Dr’s order up to six times a year.
August 21, 2012
Dr. Gross did my right hip 3/14/12. Thought it was going to be pretty quick recovery after the first couple of months and got a little lazy with exercise. I’ve been going to the gym a couple times a week to do the elliptical but not as much as I should.Other than that I’ve just done my daily work stuff. Last couple of weeks I seems to be having more soreness than I’ve had.
August 22, 2012
Survived the 4 mile hike. Boy those are some steep hills!! Did leg lifts and scissor lifts yesterday with 3 pound weights. Three sets of 30 on each one. I’m going to get serious about the pt as of now. My wife noticed I was moving worse than I was at 1 month post op.