Me and my amazing wife.
December, 13th 2019 (906 days left hip, 794 days right hip)
Approaching 2.5 years since my surgeries and the hips are doing great. I played over 50 rounds of golf this season between April and September. I had my 2 year follow up in September with Dr Pritchett who said everything looks good. x-ray pictures are posted in the photo’s section. The lower back continues to nag me and gets extremely stiff after prolonged periods of standing or walking. But all-in-all, I am leading a normal, active life and am very grateful for that.
December, 5th 2018 (533 days left hip, 421 days right hip)
I am able to walk miles at a time now without any discomfort in the hips. I have incorporated lots of walking into my exercise routine, walking 3-3.5 miles sandwiched around a gym workout which now includes lunges. It feels good to be able to do these again. Every now and then there is pain in the right groin usually precipitated by exercise of some form. A day or two of rest and it goes away. Still weak with the intern rotation but again, not all that concerned with this. I will schedule my 2 year follow up appointment with Dr Pritchett around this time next year. I’m hoping things continue to go well until then.
June, 6th 2018 (351 days left hip, 239 days right hip)
Since my last post I have been very active playing golf. Probably more rounds per week than I’ve ever played before which I love. My hips cause me no problems when swinging the club. The lower back is the issue and always has been so I’m working on improving flexibility and strength in that area although I know I have arthritis there. I am able to walk the course but limit walking days to when I play only 9 holes. I ride a golf board or cart when playing the full 18 most of the time since given that I play about 3-4 days/week. The golf board is really fun. It’s like skateboarding and surfing down the fairway. If you golf, give it a try if they are available at the course you are playing.
I still get soreness in my psoas/flexors after activity.Mostly on the newer right hip and infrequently on the left hip. A day of rest always seems to remedy the issue. I still look a bit “stiff” when walking and am working on consciously taking normal strides as much as possible. Once I am warmed up and loose, it feels like I am walking normally or at least very close. Still under a year for both hip although the 20th of this month will be the 1 year anniversary for the left hip.
April, 20th 2018 (304 days left hip, 192 days right hip)
Figured I should post an update since it’s been over 3 months since my last post…
Recovery continues to go well and it’s amazing how much stronger my legs/hips are than they were the last time I posted. I am flying up and down stairs now albeit carefully, always mindful to limit the impact when landing on each foot. It’s been 10 months/6 months for the left and right hips, respectively, since surgery. The rehab continues to go well and I know it will be an ongoing process. The specific exercises I do for my hips have been integrated into my gym workouts as part of my normal routine so I don’t really view them as “special” anymore. I just do them. In retrospect, I should have started doing hip specific exercises decades ago but hindsight is mostly 20/20. I am doubtful this would have prevented or delayed the osteoarthritis but it would have improved my flexibility.
I did have a scare a few months ago with a skin boil under my right arm that developed after a trip to the gym. The location of the infection was at the sight of a previous minor surgery I had, at the end of the incision scar where there must have been an opening in the skin. After 2 days when I saw the boil wasn’t healing I went to an urgent care facility and had it drained. I was put on a course of antibiotics, also. The boil healed almost immediately but I was worried about bacteria finding their way to my metal hips. I then scheduled a visit with Dr Pritchett who confirmed that boils are a concern with hip implants and that I did the right thing going to urgent care. He ordered a c-reactive protein blood test to see if there was lingering infection somewhere in my body. I was really worried and anxious over the next couple of days waiting for the result of the test. When Dr. Pritchett called me and told me the test was normal I was greatly relieved. I am now hyper vigilant in keeping an eye on my skin and caring for any cuts, scratches, pimples, etc so they don’t develop into more serious infections.
As the weather is improving I am really looking forward to resuming my recreational activities namely golf and fly fishing.
January, 15th 2018 (210 days left hip, 98 days right hip)
Last Wednesday I had my 2-month followup (at the 3-month mark). The x-rays of my hips look good and Dr Pritchett said he would see me in 2 years. Appointment lasted all of 5 minutes as I really didn’t have any questions to ask him. My recovery continues to make progress. Leg strength is pretty much back to 100%. Range of motion with the inward flexion, raising the foot up and inward, is still limited. The lower back and hamstrings are needing a lot of work regaining flexibility so I am stretching almost daily. Overall, I feel good.
January, 8th 2018 (203 days left hip, 91 days right hip)
Another month has passed and the recovery has continued to progress well. My range of motion is still a work in progress, particularly bringing the foot up to the inside while standing. This is the motion used when putting pants on while standing. There is also soreness in the flexor/upper groin area after period of inactivity, mostly on the more recently operated right side. Flexibility with putting on socks and shoes has greatly improved although I still use the stairs to be able to bring the feet up and rest them while tying the shoes. On the flip side, I am able to walk miles now without pain and have been going to the gym and using the elliptical and stationary bike for as long as I want. I am working the quads and glutes by doing the wall squats with the exercise ball still. I also do half squats without any weight. This along with the Hillary Step flight of stairs in my home has returned strength to my quads and glutes. Still a ways to go but I am not going to push things too fast. The hips don’t limit my activity as they did before. I am sleeping good. I use a pillow between my knees for comfort but it doesn’t hurt if I don’t. I just prefer to sleep on my side and the pillow between the knees is more comfortable. I am looking forward to the upcoming season of camping, hiking, biking, fly fishing, and golf.
December 8th (171 days left hip, 59 days right hip)
Coming up on 2 months, the right hip continues to make progress and in some ways feels better than the left hip. The groin on the left side sometimes hurts more than the right side does mostly after a lot of activity. Also, when at the gym doing glute flexes while laying on my belly or while on my knees and hands, there is some minor pain in the joint area when extending the leg completely that I don’t experience on the right side. With that said, the left side doesn’t bother me at all when I sleep, unlike the right side which as stated in my last post gets achy if I stay in one position too long.
This past weekend I went to Las Vegas and did tons of walking. More than any day since my right hip surgery and the hips held up fine. I am trying hard to walk normally without a limp and without looking like I am constipated. This is a work in progress. Workouts at the gym continue to go well and I’m making good progress increasing the speed and resistance when using the elliptical and stationary bike.
November 29th (162 days left hip, 50 days right hip)
Recovery continues to go well. I am much more active now and have returned to the gym to continue my PT and getting back into some respectable level of fitness. For cardio, I use the elliptical trainer and stationary bicycle and have no problems with pain or range of motion doing these. Strength training includes the previously mentioned wall squats using the exercise ball behind my back. These are good for the quads. I began using the leg curl machine for hamstrings. For the upper body I am doing pushups, using a chair to assist me in getting down and up. I’m doing lat pull downs or seated rows using the machine. I also do lateral side steps for about 30 yards each direction, raising the knees with each step. This works both the abductors and adductors.
I can sleep longer on my right side now but there is still some discomfort after awhile which necessitates a position change. Both sides are still limited in range of motion when bringing the foot upwards for things like taking off socks. I hope this improves over time. I can actually tie my right shoe by sitting on the stairs. It’s still difficult but will continue to work at it. I am able to go up and down stairs but do so carefully.
November 22nd (155 days left hip, 43 days right hip)
It’s been almost 2 weeks since my last post. Lots going on with the move and getting settled into our new place. Through it all the hip has held up well and has gotten much stronger. I am not using the cane anymore and have been walking a few miles each of the last few days according to my fitness tracker. All the activity seems to be accelerating my recovery. At the end of each day the hip/leg are tired and sore. But when I wake up in the morning it feels stronger than the day before. I am able to go up and down stairs now albeit very carefully. Definitely a faster recovery than with the left hip. Yesterday was my last day of 90 degree restriction so I will begin stretching the glute by raising the knee. I am going to increase my exercise to burn off some of the extra lbs I have gained from being sedentary the past several weeks. Overall, feeling good.
November 9th (142 days left hip, 30 days right hip)
Today is the last day of taking 325mg aspirin. I’ve had no noticeable side effects thankfully. The cane is the only device I use now and I estimate I use it about 70% of the time. If I am doing things in the kitchen, I don’t use it to move between counters. Same goes for the other rooms. The cane it leaned against a wall or counter while I complete my tasks. I’m sleeping in the bed though the night and have abandoned the couch and zero gravity chair, using them for normal sitting activities rather than sleeping. The hip still gets uncomfortable in the early morning after several hours of sleeping. I flop around trying to find a comfortable position when this happens but the only real remedy is to get up and walk around for a bit. The waves of aching in the knee and calf are completely gone now, thankfully. The “lumpiness” of the incision area is about 90% gone, too. Only mild tenderness when the incision area receives pressure like when I lay on my right side in bed. Walking is much easier now but I have to remind myself to be careful as I am still in the time frame where the bone is healing.
Our move is coming up in a few days which will involve anywhere from 3-6 hours of driving per day over 3 days. If driving becomes uncomfortable I’ll turn over the helm to the better half.
November 4th (137 days left hip, 25 days right hip)
Sleeping on the my left side is becoming easier and last night I was able to lay on my right side for several minutes before returning to a supine position. I still hold that in spite of the aching pain that plagued me, I’m recovering faster than I did with the left side. I am sleeping through the night now and the hip only starts to get uncomfortable in around 5am after a good 6+ hours since retiring. The routine is to get up, make coffee then convalesce in the zero gravity chair where I read the daily news then begin working. I am getting a little stir crazy though, spending my days in the confines of our dwelling. Trips to the garbage/recycling closet and the mailbox on the first floor are like Ernest Shackleton expeditions. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. We will be moving out of state next week, however, as my wife has been relocated as a result of a job promotion. We will be driving our vehicle roughly 850 miles split into 3 segments. This excursion will be more Shackleton-like and should be enough to break the cabin fever.
November 1st (134 days left hip, 22 days right hip)
I have been sleeping longer through the night the past couple of nights as the aching pain is almost gone in the knee area. The aching is now in the incision area but only after several hours of sleeping. I’m using the cane almost exclusively now for everything including getting into and out of the tub for showering. In fact, I have to remind myself to use the cane when I am up and about. The hip feels really good and my range of motion is better than it was with my left hip at the same time post-op. I’m on my own again this week as my wife is traveling for work but this doesn’t present any problems for me. I drove her to the airport on Monday and the hip/leg felt much better than it did during the drive to/from Seattle for my follow up appointment. I haven’t taken Tylenol in well over a week now and I have 8 more days of the daily 325mg aspirin. I haven’t experienced the same hives and rashes as I did the first time which I am very thankful for.
Game 7 of the World Series is in the 5th inning and it’s looking like Houston will win it’s first ever championship unless the Dodgers can mount an epic comeback.
October 29th (131 days left hip, 19 days right hip)
It’s been a few days since I last posted but that’s because things have been rather routine. The hip/leg continues to improve in strength. The flexor/psoas has recovered rapidly. I no longer use the leg lifter thingy to swing my leg up onto the bed or couch when laying down. However, there is that nagging aching pain that comes on after prolonged periods of laying prone which essentially means I am not sleeping through the night. I get up twice during the night on average as the aching wakes me up. I walk to the bathroom, do my thing, then walk around the house for a few minutes which alleviates the aching in my knee. There is also aching in the hip area which is also relieved by walking around. Glute flexing also helps but not as much as standing up and walking. I study the incision area multiple times per day, looking for the slightest abnormality and I find myself almost trying to see something that isn’t there. In comparing pictures of the left and right incisions at roughly the same times post-op, the left hip had more scabbing than the right. There is no pain in upper butt muscle this time around as there was with the left hip about this time. I am further along this time around with respect to being able to walk without walker/crutches/cane. But, I don’t recall having this aching pain with the left hip. Maybe I need to walk around more. I am doing the simple PT exercises a few times per day. Knee lifts, lateral raises, leg curls, minor squats (very shallow and using counter tops, couch backs or walker for support). When in bed I am able to spend more time laying on my left side with pillows between my knees. I fell asleep the last two nights this way. Once the aching starts, there is no comfortable position, however, and the only remedy is to get onto my feet.
Dodgers rallied big in the top of the 9th last night to tie the series.
October 25th (127 days left hip, 15 days right hip)
My first full day without the wife caretaker. I got this! After the usual morning routine of making coffee and doing some work I gathered up the recycling and trash and took it down the hall to the recycling bin and garbage chute. I used the cane to help me motate as I needed a free hand to hold both bags. Then I did some vacuuming without any assistive device. Leg/hip felt good through it all. There is periodic clicking/clunking, on both sides, which has come to be the norm. I notice this more after a period of inactivity and it seems to abate after the joints become “lubed” so to say. Swelling is pretty much gone now. Even the incision area puffiness is dissipating. I am watching the incision like a hawk looking for the slightest abnormality in appearance. There has been (I think) a slight redness around the very top of the incision and a very, very slight red hue about midway down the incision and behind. These were present when Susan checked out the incision and she made no remarks about them and they appear to remain unchanged or even fading the past few days. Or, maybe I trying to see things that aren’t there. I have a good friend who was a wound care RN for many years that I consult with regularly, sending her pictures of my dressing and now the incision. She says everything looks good, too. Ironically, she works as a product training rep for ConvaTec, the company that manufactures the Aquacel dressing. I am thankful for her support through both surgeries.
Astros came back in the late innings to tie game 2 then took the lead in the 10th inning only to have the Dodgers tie in the bottom half. The Astros took the lead again in the top of the 11th and were able to hold off another Dodger rally in the bottom half to tie the series at 1 game apiece heading back to Houston for games 3, 4 and 5. Amazing game last night.
October 24th (126 days left hip, 14 days right hip)
I’m alone for the next 4 days as my wife is traveling for work. The same routine as with my left hip recovery, my wife took a business trip about 2 weeks after my surgery. Not a problem other than I can’t ask her to prepare and deliver food and snacks to me 🙂 I slept much better last night and the leg ache didn’t wake me as much as the full bladder did. I’ll reiterate that when the leg is aching, getting onto my feet and moving around helps a lot. And it’s so much easier getting up and down now that my flexor/psoas is so much stronger. Looking back at my left hip recovery I think my right hip/leg is recovering faster than the left leg from a weight bearing perspective. When I am in the kitchen prepping food and washing dishes I hobble between stations using the counter top as support or nothing at all when required to move across open water. It feels good to be more mobile now that the first couple of weeks of crippledom are behind me.
October 23rd (125 days left hip, 13 days right hip)
The follow up appointment with Dr Pritchett went as expected. Susan visually examined the incision and said it is healing nicely. Then I was off to the xray room. I walked/limped to/from the xray room without the use of my crutches. The hip/leg feel pretty solid only 2 weeks post-op. Then Dr Pritchett came in to see me and my wife. I didn’t have any questions other than to ask him if he knew why antibiotics were used during surgery and a course prescribed for 5 days after surgery this time around. He said the peri-operative antibiotics were topical and not IV administered. I believe he was referring to the Bactoroban that is listed in my meds sheet which I requested from the nurse during recovery. But, according to the medication list I was also given an IV dose of of Vancomycin. I didn’t ask Dr Pritchett about this but I did a some research on the web and found that, again, it appears the use of Vancomycin is discretionary which probably explains why I didn’t receive a dose during the first surgery in June.. Dr Pritchett said that if it were his choice he wouldn’t prescribe antibiotics as he doesn’t feel they reduce the rate of infection which indicates he isn’t the person making those decisions. Again, I didn’t receive any post-surgical antibiotics after my left hip surgery which indicates the protocol varies depending on the operative care team that supports Dr Pritchett. Kinda strange. He also said something about a study that is wrapping up which should yield data about the efficacy of post surgical antibiotic use. I’d be interested to see the conclusions of that study. Then, we went to view the xrays. Dr Pritchett said the implant positioning looks really good. I mentioned the right implant looks like a mirror image of the left and he agreed. I was pleased to see the xrays showing this. My wife asked about bone in-growth and Dr Pritchett pulled out a Birmingham Hip and let us touch and feel the hydroxyapatite coated acetabular cup and referenced my left hip xrays from 9 days post-op vs 2 months post-op. He pointed out the in-growth areas in the latter compared to the former. He said he doesn’t care for the 2 sets of “fins” on the BHR cup but mentioned the designer (McMinn) prefers them. The fins, I believe, are designed to prevent slippage/spinning of the cup inside the pelvis. He then produced the Synovo Preserve device and let us touch the back side of the cup and mentioned its porous surface is equally effective at promoting bone in-growth. I noticed the inside of the femoral component was also porous. Dr Pritchett said it’s cementless and that the long term data should reveal if cementless femoral components match or exceed the performance of cemented components. Fascinating stuff. As always, I requested a disc of my xrays. Check out my BHRs:
October 22nd (124 days left hip, 12 days right hip)
The 4 hour drive yesterday went okay. I was able to drive the latter half with minor discomfort while driving. The movement of the right foot between the gas and brake pedal created some the discomfort as this required me to rotate my right foot inward slightly. I was able to maintain the 90 degree restriction by reclining the seat back slightly and extending the telescoping steering column. The main discomfort came after exiting the vehicle in the hotel parking lot. 2 hours of sitting in the same position rendered me pretty stiff and it took me longer to get the blood flowing back into the leg and hip. Our hotel room’s toiler is really low and I spent some time figuring out how to levitate myself and descend in a controlled manner. I found that leaning my crutches on the wall behind the toilet provides the required support for the right side to achieve the desired rate of descent. They also provide the necessary support for the ascent phase of the operation.
Pagliacci pizza for dinner was a success. Rather than describe it, I’ll let the picture below do the talking:
October 21st (123 days left hip, 11 days right hip)
The incision area looks good for the most part. The area is still tender to the touch which is expected. I recall it being tender for quite some time after the left hip surgery. The nagging aching in my knee area is persisting. It is worse at night when I am laying flat on the couch. It may require taking Tylenol before bed in an effort to avoid being woken up. Other than this, the leg seems to be getting stronger by the day. The leg can bear full weight without pain or a feeling of instability and I am scooting along pretty good when I am walking around the house. I still use crutches or the walker for support and will continue for probably another week or two just for support. Then the cane which I may start to experiment with in the next week.
Tomorrow, my wife and I are driving the 3.5-4 hours to Seattle. My follow up appointment with Dr Pritchett is Monday afternoon. Originally, I was thinking we’d drive there and back in the same day but came to my senses when I thought about sitting in the car for over 8 hours. So, hotel tomorrow night..and Pagliacci pizza for dinner. My flexor strength has recovered quite rapidly so I may attempt to drive. I’ll get into the driver’s seat and practice moving the right foot back and forth between the gas and brake to see how comfortable I am doing this. If there’s any lag or moderate pain, I’ll move to the passenger side.
The Astros beat the Yankees and will play the Dodgers in the World Series. Go ________s!
October 20th (4 months left hip, 10 days right hip)
After my morning shower today I removed the dressing and nearly passed out when confronted with the horror that met my eyes. Just kidding. The dressing had remarkably minimal blood in it, however, the top and bottom thirds were soaked with water from my shower. Not sure if the water came in from the side or through the dressing membrane. I again had my wife take pictures and I sent to Susan who said the incision looked to be healing well. Man, does it feel good to be liberated from the dressing mainly because the top edge of the adhesive band, which was on my waistline, was becoming problematic in that it was rolling up and I’ve been fighting to keep it sealed. It was also irritating my skin. Letting the incision area breathe is such a relief but I am a big fan of he Aquacel dressing. Infused with anti-microbial silver, it minimizes the risk of infection and promotes healing. I’m glad Dr Pritchett uses this product.
Didn’t sleep too good last night. I tried in vain to sleep in the bed which lasted a couple hours before I had to relocate again to the couch. Restless is probably the best adjective to describe the sleeping experience last night. And the area just above my knee ached most of the early morning hours. Perhaps a result of not taking Tylenol. After getting up and moving then stripping the dressing, the ache has diminished. There is still a small, tenacious knot in my outer quad that I believe is the cause of the aching. Bruising is disappearing rapidly in all areas. I am able to walk, gingerly, without an assistive device, however, I am still using walker and crutches around the house for stability. It’s still very early in the recovery process.
As expected, the Dodgers won the National League pennant by closing out the Cubs last night and await the winner of the American League Championship Series. The Yankees will try to close out the Astros tonight in Houston.
October 19th (121 days left hip, 9 days right hip)
Today, I noticed that the dressing appears to be soaked near the top 1/3. I had my wife take a couple of pictures and I sent then to Susan who replied and said nothing looked out of the ordinary and that it was okay to remove the dressing. She also said that if there was still drainage occurring to apply a gauze bandage to the incision. I’m a bit nervous about removing the bandage for fear of what may lurk underneath. I’ll think about it and decide tomorrow which will be 10 days post-op.
I’m really looking forward to being able to sleep on my side. Being back-bound all night gets old fast. And the pressure points start to ache. I am still sleeping on the couch which offers the greatest comfort as I can raise my knees (left knee mostly) to change the blood flow a bit. I can also do minor shifts to each side and have the back of the couch as support. Looking back at my left hip surgery recovery, it was 14 days before I was able to turn onto my side in bed, with 2 pillows between my knees. Hoping it’s soon. Sleep is a good thing.
Didn’t take any Tylenol today.
October 18th (120 days left hip, 8 days right hip)
Today, while proudly examining the rapidly diminishing bruising on the outside of my leg, I discovered extensive bruising on the back of my leg and knee which was mildly surprising. I didn’t have bruising in this area after the left hip surgery so I didn’t fathom that I would bruise any differently this time around. This may explain the intermittent waves of aching in my though down into my calf. Of course, every surgery is different and your body’s response and recovery from it will differ, also. Other than this, today was a relatively good day. Small improvements in strength and range of motion. I only took one dose of Tylenol before bed. No abnormal swelling or redness anywhere near the incision. I have noticed some soreness in the left lower glute. I think the left side is feeling the effects of a week+ of carrying the lion’s share of the load. The pain in the left upper middle buttock is improving and not nearly as tender to the touch as it was a few days ago.
Watching lots of baseball while convalescing. The Yankees have taken over the ALCS series. I’m rooting for Houston but after watching all five games so far the tide has definitely turned in favor of the “Baby Bombers”. Houston’s weaknesses have been exposed. Poor clutch hitting and their bullpen performance is essentially serving up batting practice for the Yankees. Over in the NLCS, still hoping against all hope the Cubs (my wife is from the Northside) can come back but other than their 3-2 win last night, they look like a mirror image of the Astros. I think it’s gonna be a Dodgers vs Yankees World Series.
October 17th (119 days left hip, 7 days right hip)
One week post-op. Only 5 short weeks left of 90 degree restrictions. Mobility has improved and I am tolerating more weight bearing on the leg. I think the wave of aching in my leg has decreased in frequency, I am experiencing fewer waves. This may be due to the charley horse tightness in the quad having improved greatly. The bruising has begun to diminish quite fast, shrinking in size and beginning to turn from deep purple to a fuschiaesque and yellowish color in some areas. The incision is still tender to the touch but improving. In general, I think I am progressing at least as good as last time, maybe slightly better. The flexor is still weak naturally but I can tell its stronger as lifting the leg onto the couch or bed is getting easier. The bizarre brusing/strain in the upper center left rump has improved. I still have no idea what caused this but it’s been a real pain, no pun intended, when sitting and standing up so I’m happy it’s feeling better. I’ve been sleeping relatively well, too, although I did have my first night sweat which was very mild.
October 16th (118 days left hip, 6 days right hip)
The quad is loosening up thank goodness. Range of motion has improved to the point where I can get into and out of the tub with only minor difficulty. I am using the walker almost exclusively mostly because I feel it allows me to walk with a more natural gate. I know this seems odd but I think it is mostly due to the fact that we have hard wood flooring which allows the walker to glide/roll along without much effort on my part to push it along or lift and replace in the case of a carpeted floor. I’ve developed a minor ache or strain in the lower left buttock, probably from the extra workload incurred on that side. I am still cognizant that the left hip still isn’t 100% so I am cautious about placing too much strain on it. There is still the periodic “wave” of aching that usually starts in my thigh and moves down to my lower, outer leg. The pain isn’t constant and there is no swelling below the knee at all so I am only mildly paranoid about clots. The incision area is moderately tender but not red or swollen more than expected. The dressing doesn’t appear to be abnormally soaked with blood/plasma. I feel relatively good, no fever, appetite is good. No rashes so far, either, unlike last time. I figure the recovery is going as planned but I am hyper aware of every little ache, pain, sensation, etc. at this early stage.
I plan to sleep on the couch tonight in the opposite orientation as last night (right leg on the outside) with a hassock butted up to the couch for added real estate to allow the leg to roam laterally should I so desire.
October 15th (117 days left hip, 5 days right hip)
I was able to get the leg over the tub rim, barely. The quad is still very tight but I was able to lean forward on the walker, which I place half-inside the tub, and raise my leg to the rear over the tub rim. Reverse the process getting out. I was happy because I really didn’t want to towel bathe myself. Running water over the carcass is a much preferred method of defilthing oneself.
I attempted to sleep in the bed instead of the zero gravity chair. It felt good to lay flat on my back. Nonetheless, I lasted only a couple of hours in the bed before I had to get up to use the bathroom. The difficulty in moving the leg up onto the bed was more than I wanted to take on so I then attempted to sleep on the couch where it is easier to maneuver the leg into position. This lasted about 30 minutes so I returned to the zero gravity chair where I spent the remainder of the night. The pain when laying down is a dull aching in the quad and outer knee. I don’t recall having the knee ache last time. There is also intermittent pain around the incision area. The bruising is about the same today and the swelling remains minimal. I finished the Keflex antibiotics yesterday and am happy to report I had no side effects during the course. Tylenol has been reduced to 2 caplets twice a day as needed. I strategically take Tylenol before go to bed.
Other than that, the first full day back home was fairly non-remarkable.
October 14th (116 days left hip, 4 days right hip)
Yesterday’s 3.5 hour drive went fairly good. The car we rented for the trip had lots of passenger side leg room to extend my leg. The seat was comfortable as well although I did end up sliding a large couch pillow under my rump which improved my comfort. Prior to departing Seattle, the exercise of packing and transporting all of our stuff from the 6th floor apartment we rented to the parking garage seemed to be less of a chore than last time for two reasons:
1) We brought less stuff. When we came to Seattle for the left hip surgery, we brought way too many things. This time, only the bare essentials. For example, I only brought the bare minimum for clothing knowing that I would not be venturing out after surgery. Having a washer/dryer in the apartment is key, washing bath towels and clothes daily. I only brought my walker this time compared to last time when I brought the crutches, too. No need for a foam wedge either, pillows work fine. I have published a travel list page that may help if you plan for travel for your hip surgery.
2) I helped more. Last time my poor wife had to lug everything up and down to/from the car while I sat drooling on myself like Captain Christopher Pike. This time, however, I helped in packing up things so my wife only had to transport them. Moving around the apartment, rearranging the furniture back to its original configuration, packing belongings and supplies was good PT. I was sweating when it was said and done.
After returning home, unpacking and configuring our home for my protracted convalescence, I settled in to relax and watch some baseball and football. Then I got a headache which was annoying. I took a couple Tylenol and this seemed to help a little. I got more sleep last night than any night since the surgery which was great. Swelling is minimal still. The severe charley horse tightness is persistent and it will be a challenge to see if I can negotiate the tub rim to shower. Bruising is about the same, maybe less. Here’s a picture taken last night, 4 days post-op. My usual, perfect rump symmetry is out of whack thanks to the surgery.
October 13th (115 days left hip, 3 days right hip)
Swelling is still mild although the bruising is starting to come on now. The pain is moderate and I’ve taken two 1G doses of Tylenol today to manage which has done a decent job. The quad is still very painful and stiff. The flexor is about the same as yesterday, maybe slightly improved. I am icing 3 to 4 times a day. Oddly, there is a lot of soreness in my left upper, inner buttock muscle that I can’t explain. It feels bruised but does not show any outward sign of bruising. I can only wonder what contortions I endured on the surgery table and whether this pain was caused during one such contortion. Or maybe they dropped me on the floor when moving me from the operating table to the recovery bed :-). The annoying thing about the pain on the left side is that is the side that I place most of my weight when sitting as I am favoring the right side. I am also icing the left side. I slept okay last night, waking every hour or so. Small cat naps during the day. Appetite is better today than yesterday but still not the best. The interest in food in the days following major surgery is minimized, at least for me. Maybe I should have surgery more often to lose those pesky extra lbs…NOT. My wife has been a champ, taking care of me and helping with those tasks you take for granted when your hips are healthy. Tomorrow, we are driving home which will take the better part of 4 hours. I’ve done this before so I’m not dreading it so much. Tonight we’re watching baseball and college football, eating some left over Pagliacci pizza and salad.
October 12th (114 days left hip, 2 days right hip)
Yesterday as the day wore on the pain increased quite a bit. The quad is now the dominant pain center. It feels like a massive charley horse now and I’m barely able to flex my lower leg off the floor as the quad is so tight. I have been doing some stretching to try to loosen it up but I think time is the only thing that will really help. So far I’ve taken 2 Tylenol caplets only twice a day which I plan to continue unless the pain gets worse. Today, the pain seems a little better which seems to be following the same pattern as the left hip back in June with the first day after surgery being the worst pain then slowing improving with each passing day. I barely slept the first night after surgery so last night I was very tired when the 9pm bell sounded and I dozed off. My wife tucked me into my zero gravity chair which is to say she really didn’t have to do much since I languished in the chair pretty much all day except for a few times when I got up to walk and use the bathroom. I slept much better last night. I have my phone alarm set at 11:00pm and 5:00am in order to take the Keflex antibiotics I was prescribed. The prescription was for 20 capsules, one every 6 hours. I’m still curious why I was prescribed the Keflex and will ask Dr Pritchett in my 2 week follow up on Oct 23rd. I wonder if it’s a precaution for those that already have implants in their body? There are two spots of bruising appearing on the upper and lower anterior area of the dressing. The dressing appears to be longer than the one I had for my left hip when comparing pictures. Wondering if the incision is also longer. Dr Pritchett did mention to my wife that the hip was extremely stiff so perhaps a longer incision was needed to access the joint. Swelling is minimal so far compared to last time at this point. In other news, I’ve managed to avoid the dreaded constipation for the most part, having successfully moved the bowels yesterday and today. One tip I can offer to avoid constipation is to ensure you are eating a high fiber diet and are regular prior to the surgery. Then, consuming a glass of water with Miralax almost immediatley after discharge then once per day thereafter until regularity or something resembling regularity is achieved.
October 11th (113 days left hip, 1 day right hip)
Last night I sent an email to Susan to find out what size my right hip BHR components are. She replied this morning: 50mm femoral, 56mm acetabular. Exactly the same as my left BHR. The pain today has increased slightly, mainly in the flexor/groin and outer quad. The incision doesn’t hurt unless I touch it. The latter of which is more tightness like a charley horse. I may have bragged too much yesterday about the range of motion in my quad and now I’m being punished for it. Eat crow, Shiggy! I ingested a glass of water with Miralax at 8am followed by a glass of kefir, 1 325mg aspirin and 1,000mg of Tylenol (2 500mg caplets). This time around I was prescribed Keflex which is an antibiotic. I also noticed more anti-biotics were used during the surgery since I request a list of all medications that I received pre, peri and post surgery. I asked Susan about this, also, and she told me not to be concerned and that Dr Pritchett would have let me know if there was any cause for concern. Other bleeding related medications were given to me during surgery, also, that I didn’t receive when I had my left hip done. Again, I asked and was told not to be concerned. I’ll take this advice as I can tend to get paranoid about this kind of stuff. I feel really good overall so I suppose I’ll just go about focusing on my recovery and not worry too much about these things.
I slept in my folding zero gravity chair which for me is a big advantage to sleeping in a bed at this early stage. One big advantage of the chair is that I don’t have swing the leg onto and off of the bed which is a herculean chore the first week or two. The flexor is painful and very weak, which is to say it is nearly non-functional in lifting the knee or assisting with adduction. Another advantage is that it’s next to impossible to subconsciously roll onto my side when I am sleeping. For me, side sleeping, even on the non-operative side, is impossible due to pain and discomfort. Doesn’t matter if there is a pillow between my legs, either. This may sound strange but even if I was able to sleep on my side and achieve a comfortable position I would be prone to sudden position shifts that would no doubt cause a lot of pain or even damage to the capsule repair (90 degree rule), muscle repair or sutures.
Exercises: I walked up and down the hallway in our apartment for a total of about 100 steps. Then did a few standing lateral leg raises, knee raises (barely able to get my feet a few inches off the floor), rear extensions, marching in place with walker, and toe raises.
October 10th (112 days left hip, 0 days right hip)
(New photos in the Gallery)
I am now officially a bilateral hippy. My right hip was BHR’d today between approximately 9:45am and 11:15am by Dr James Pritchett, who also BHR’d my left hip back on June 20th. Up to this blog post, this entire page has described the left hip recovery experience but going forward I will plan to post about both hips.
The entire routine at Swedish Orthopedic Institute was nearly identical to that of my June 20th experience, save for the later start time (left hip surgery started at 7:45am), different nurses in pre and post care. I highly recommend orthopedic specialized hospitals over the generalized hospitals for limb/back surgery. The processes, people, complication rate and, in the case of Swedish Orthopedic Institute, the food are superior.
Pre-surgery: As luck would have it I was in the same prep kennel, #5, as my June 20th surgery. As I said, the routine was identical to the first time around. Self-administered Chlorhexidine wipe down, dressing in the gown, footies and hair net, blood test, IV line installation, medication administration, anesthesia consultation, Dr Pritchett visit and marking his initials on my soon-to-be repaired hip, etc, etc. A well-oiled machine in action. I make it a point, however, that I was sensitive to all narcotic pain meds, sharing The Puking incident from my previous surgery day and that I wanted to avoid narcotics as much as possible in recovery.
Surgery: The surgery was in operating room #5, which I assume is sync’d with the prep kennel number. Again, the same operating room as my June 20th surgery. Maybe Dr Pritchett owns #5? My transport bed’s batteries died as the nurse was raising it to the level of the operating table, therefore, I had to get up and hop onto the operating table the old fashioned way which I think was easier anyway than trying to slide over from the transport bed. I sat with my feet resting on a chair and arms wrapped around a pillow to assume the hunched position that is ideal for receiving a good spinal injection. Like last time, I noticed my hip x-rays were on the wall, backlit and clearly showing the OA. Interestingly, my left BHR x-ray was also on the wall. Then came the spinal injection. Unlike last time, there was some pain during the administration but it was not terrible but I did cringe when it was hurting. The anesthesia doctor did explain in the prep kennel that she wasn’t going to use the lidocaine numbing for some reason I can’t recall. I then laid down supine on the operating table while a blur of activity ensued around me. Nurses and assistants moving things into place, plugging in things, adjusting things, etc. Then I was told to flip onto my left side and that’s the last thing I remember until I woke up in the primary recovery area.
Primary Recovery: I was in a different kennel than last time, kennel #2 which was at the far end near the windows which was nice. I was able to see the James St sign and figured my room was close to the James St and Broadway intersection. In my half-conscious state I was mesmerized looking out the window. My legs were numb and the breathing monitor kept beeping. My assigned recovery nurse, Mike, had to keep telling me to take deep breaths which made the beeping stop. Then, Mike did an ultrasound on my bladder to see how full it was. It was chock full, >999ml which I think is the max reading. So, he administered a straight catheter and drained about 850ml, an enormous volume of pee. He had to use 2 containers to hold it all. I was so happy I was still numb from the waist down, though. I did not want to endure the insertion and extraction of that thing. Slowly, the feeling crept back into my legs and I was wheeled up to secondary recovery where my wife met me. I again mentioned the The Puking incident and narcotic warning to Mike.
Secondary Recovery: I was placed in a different room this time with a nice view of the Columbia Tower and surrounding buildings. At this point, I was starting to feel almost completely lucid. The spinal was wearing off rapidly and I was soon able to move my feet and toes. I noticed some pain in the incision area. A little bit of a stinging/burning feeling near the top of the incision, then the dull ache deeper inside. However, the pain was again not terrible. As soon as the nurse, Annie, came in I issued the obligatory warning about my sensitivity to narcotics and wanted to avoid taking them as I didn’t want another puking to occur. By now, I think my hyper communication regarding narcotics was working. I was not given any intravenous pain meds and was only given Tylenol. As for the pain…much, much less than the last time except the groin pain is worse when attempting to adduct or lift the right leg. Other than this, I am not able to explain why but I was not hurting as much as last time, even long after the spinal wore off. The Tylenol was enough. The I ordered a ton of food. Cottage cheese, greek yogurt, Mediterranean Plate (hummus, Tzatziki, olives, pita and lettuce), grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of coffee with cream. I had to pee pretty bad now, though, so I ringed the nurse button and after what seemed like 5 minutes of unplugging and unwrapping things I sat and stood up without issue. No cold sweats and nausea like last time. I then sashayed to the toilet (with walker) and dispensed 400ml of post-operative urine into the plastic jug. The nurse needs to record how much you pee hence the reason for the jug. After washing up and returning and commenced unmitigated snarfing of the food. I was face down in a plate when the PT dude arrived, I halted the feeding frenzy and told him excitedly “let’s do this now”, sat up on the bed then stood using the walker. No cold sweats and nausea at all. Also, I was able to walk much, much further with the walker. All the way down to the central administration desk area and back without issue and able to place more weight on the operative leg than I was last time. When back in the room, I pranced to the bathroom and peed again. Just under 400ml. Then I resumed feeding albeit at a much less frenzied pace as before. Actually, it was more like picking at the food than actual snarfing. Then the OT lady arrived. Same OT person as last time and she remembered me…and The Puking which occurred on her watch during my OT session. She was the one who did a Usain Bolt sprint to retrieve the blue puke bag just in time. Great lady with a wonderful sense of humor. We actually reminisced about the the vomiting incident. I apologized again. Up again without any issues. Then marched like a Royal Lipizzaner Stallion down the hall to the OT training facility. First was the car simulator. This was tough and I experienced a lot of pain when exiting the vehicle in the groin area, grimacing and grunting without shame. Lesson learned. Then onto the shower tub simulator. I did both step-in and step-over (tub) showers without incident. My left quad is not nearly as charley horsed as last time and I have about 80% range of motion in flexing the lower leg. It does feel bruised in the front outer area of the thigh, though. Probably due to the twisting of the leg. Then the toilet simulator. Again, no issue lowing myself onto the toilet which was of the raised variety. Luckily, the apartment we are renting for the week also has raised toilets so I don’t foresee an issue when assuming the perched position when the need arises. Then I marched back to the recovery room and declared I was ready to be discharged. That’s how good I felt.
Summary: Compared to the left hip surgery experience I spent 4 less hours at the hospital this time around. Surgery was 2 hours later than last time and I was discharged 2 hours earlier than last time. Overall, the experience was easier. I don’t know why. I was in better overall physical shape the first time around but my left hip was in much worse shape than my right hip was. Maybe that had something to do with it. Or, perhaps it was the lower level of anxiety knowing what to expect, having gone through this before. Dr Pritchett remarked to my wife that my hip was very stiff compared to what he usually sees which would lead me to think that the post-op pain should be worse not less due to the increased wrenching force to get the leg into a position to expose the acetabulum and femoral head. Weird. I will share more in the coming days about the surgery and other peculiarities I noticed.
September 30th (102 days post-op, 10 days pre-op)
The trip into the wild to camp and fish was wonderful. Except for the fact that my hips did allow me to access prime fishing spots on the river bank. To navigate the rocks and boulders to get to the best spots requires balance, flexibility and leg strength while holding a fishing rod in one hand. The left hip felt really good but it’s still just 3.5 months since surgery and I didn’t want to risk a fall or a situation that would require placing excessive stress on the hip. The right hip really took a turn for the worse and cemented (no pun intended) the need to have it resurfaced. After spending hours on my feet, walking and light hiking to the easier access areas on the river, the pain was significant. As I write this post, sitting on the couch, I can still feel the unmistakable “burn” in my hip that radiates down to the lateral area of my knee. By the end of the day the pain was significant when walking which necessitated limping. Sitting in a lawn chair relieved the pain for the most part. On the bright side, I did get a lot of exercise for my left hip although at the end of the day there was soreness and pain in my groin area when lifting the leg to step while walking. Rest seems to relieve this.
In preparation for the upcoming recovery I purchased one of those sock aid devices. Since my recovery will be in the cold time of the year I won’t be able to wear flip-flops or go barefoot unless I want my feet to freeze. I have to admit that the sock aid device works great.
September 25th (97 days post-op, 15 days pre-op)
Tomorrow, I am heading off the grid to do some camping and fly-fishing as a last hurrah for 2017. In 2 weeks I’ll be going through the hip resurfacing experience again, this time on the right side. The left hip is doing good. Still some minor pain here and there but nothing major. As stated before, there is stiffness in the hip when I get up after periods of sitting but the stiffness and limp go away quickly after walking a few steps. Last week, I was in Montana for a business trip and stayed a couple extra days to camp and fish. As luck would have it, the weather turned absolutely terrible. Snow over the weekend then gale force winds followed by rain. Through it all the left hip felt good. We cut the trip short by a couple days so this week’s trip is redemption as the weather forecast looks really good over in Idaho. There will be some hiking involved and I plan to use my wading staff as a walking stick and for an extra “leg” when making my way to the river bank to fish. Extra slow and careful is the plan. Really looking forward to some time in the wild before heading to Seattle again for surgery.
September 20th (92 days post-op)
At 3 months post-op I am able to put on socks, tie my shoes and clip my toenails. It isn’t easy, though. I have to sit on a the stairs and bring my feet up the next step below in order to reach my feet. To be honest, my lower back is probably the most limiting factor in reaching my feet. It takes a couple of minutes of stretching to be able to reach down and put socks on, tie shoes, clip nails. If stairs are unavailable then the formula changes. Getting a sock on the left foot is much harder. With only a chair or sofa available I have to use the technique described in my Sept 5th post. The overall feeling of the hip is good. There is still some minor pain on the outside point of my hip but it does not bother me. The joint itself feels great other than the momentary feeling of stiffness/soreness after sitting for a long period of time. But, I am able to climb stairs without using a handrail now and there is no pain whatsoever when doing this. The right hip, however, is another story. I am less than 3 weeks from having it resurfaced and starting the recovery process all over again. But, I am looking forward to regaining a normal active lifestyle in early 2018.
September 10th (82 days post-op)
Today, I walked a total of 5 miles most of which occurred on the golf course. I wasn’t playing, just walking along with by brother-in-law on the back 9 of his round. The left hip felt great. The right hip, not so much. Toward the end of the round, both hips were a bit stiff but the right hip hurt. I can still feel it as I am sitting on the couch writing this update. In 30 days, I’ll go through another resurfacing surgery and being the recovery process all over again. Not looking forward to it but I’m playing the long game and want to return to an active lifestyle. I’m not nearly as apprehensive about the upcoming surgery as I know what to expect. I just hope the surgery goes as well as the left side did.
September 5th (77 days post-op)
11 weeks today since the surgery. Walking almost normal but still have stiffness and mile soreness when standing up after a period of sitting. As stated before, a few steps to get the blood flowing and everything feels good. I have some new pain on the point of my left hip. It feels like very mild bruising and came on after my workout on Sunday. It isn’t alarming pain and there is no redness or swelling and I only feel it when I flex my glutes. I’ll continue to monitor this.
One thing I forgot to mention in my more recent posts is that I am barely able to get a sock on my left foot and barely able to tie the laces on my shoe. I did this the day I left for my business trip. But, don’t get the impression the procedure was your normal run-of-the-mill sock and shoe outfitting. It was anything but. For the sock, from a fairly low sitting position, I found the easiest method was to put the sock on the floor, snake all my toes into the opening, carefully curl my leg to almost full flexion under me, reach down from the side (left hand reaching down outside my left thigh) and ever so carefully begin pulling the sock up onto my food and over the heel. A couple times the sock fell off my toes, forcing me to start over. Once the sock was on, tying the laces was done in a normal fashion albeit with great difficulty stretching down to loop and tie the laces. I tried this both from a sitting and standing position. Neither was worse or better. Flexibility of the glute is the main restriction at this point and should improve over time. The hardest thing for me to do right now is, while standing, to raise my left foot up while turning my knee outward. It’s a similar movement required when one sits Indian style. I hope continued stretching helps regain this particular movement.
35 days until Righty gets resurfaced.
September 2nd (74 days post-op)
I am back home now after a week away and the airport experience was non-eventful save for forgetting to tell TSA that I have a metal hip before going through the scanner before my outbound flight. I have TSA Pre so I went through the old style metal detector which lit up like the 4th of July when I pranced through it. “Ah shit!” I said under my breath about 1 nanosecond after the alarm when off. I immediately told the TSA guy about my hip to which he replied in an irritated manner that I should have told him beforehand. No shit. As a result, I was escorted to the full body search area where another TSA agent made me strip completely naked in full view of the other travelers coming through the scanners. After disrobing everything except for my socks I stood for what seemed like an eternity before another TSA agent, a large man, came over and stood before me, slowly putting on the blue rubber gloves with an evil grin on his face. At this point I was beginning to get nervous not to mention the embarrassment of standing bare bottom buck naked in plain view of the other travelers – children, women, elderly, mothers, fathers, dogs, cats and a ferret in a pet cage. All were staring at me, furtively glancing at my face, then downward at my erroneous region, then looking away. Some had a look of what could only be described as repulsion while others had raised eyebrows. I didn’t know what to make of this and it added to my already heightened anxiety. Once the large TSA man finished snapping the fingers of the blue gloves snug onto the end of his bulbous fingers, he explained what he was going to do to me which included a pat down of my bare arms, legs, behind the ears, armpits, crotch pits and finally the toes. I nodded in stunned silence. Then, he pulled out a container of KY jelly from his back pocket and lubed up his entire right hand and said he was required by law to cavity search me. At this point everything went hazy and the next thing I remember I was sitting in the gate area listening to the gate agent make an announcement that my flight was going to be boarding shortly. I then realized it was all a figment of my imagination and that the pat down occurred while I still had all my clothing on and that no cavity search was administered. On the return trip home I remembered to tell TSA about my hip and they ushered me through the back-scatter scanner which interestingly didn’t alert. I gathered my luggage and backpack and sashayed to my gate without further incident.
During my trip I managed to get a workout in at the hotel gym. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer and 10 minutes on the recumbent bike. The hip felt great. A little stiff but only slightly so. I am walking much better with only a slight limp and can ascend stairs without using the handrail. I will begin the pre-surgery workout tomorrow to get into shape for my upcoming Oct 10th right hip resurfacing.
August 28th (69 days post-op)
Today I scheduled the surgery for my right hip for Oct 10th. That will be almost 4 months since the left hip was resurfaced. The x-rays taken during my 2-month follow up revealed the large bone spurs on the upper edge of the acetabulum and near zero space in the joint in that area. Dr Pritchett recorded this in my record. The driving factors for having the right hip scheduled so soon are:
- Insurance: I’ve met my out of pocket max for this year with all the expenses incurred for my left hip
- Calendar: I want to return to doing the things I enjoy (golfing, fishing, hiking, working out) by Spring of 2018. April of 2018 will be 6 months for righty, 10 months for lefty. Assuming good recoveries for both hips, I should be ready to resume my life then.
- Pain: As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the right hip has been hurting more and more. This is likely due to the increase my activity as my left hip continues to heal. Plus the right hip was pressed into double duty during lefty’s recovery which I’m certain contributed to advancing the arthritis.
I’m hoping the left hip/leg will be up for the task by Oct 10th.
Yesterday, I cleaned out my garage and spent a few hours on my feet and bending over to pick things up. As a result I was quite stiff and sore in both hips and the lower back. Later after sitting for sometime then getting up I noticed a cramping like pain in the my upper/outer left glute when I put weight on that side. It hurt enough for me to sit back down for a few minutes. When I got back up and took a few steps it didn’t hurt quite as bad. It doesn’t feel like it’s in the bone or joint but rather in the muscle itself and it’s not a sharp, shooting pain. It’s more a a dull cramping-like sensation. Today I can still feel it when going up the stairs but not nearly as bad as last night. It doesn’t hurt when I am sitting or laying down. I am traveling by air today so there will be a fair amount of walking but not nearly as much bending down to pick things up (I hope). Otherwise, the incision area and hip have been doing as good as I can expect at almost 10 weeks since surgery.
August 25th (66 days post-op)
Yesterday was my 2-month follow up with Dr Pritchett. The x-ray of my pelvis shows good bone growth into the acetabular implant and the positioning of the implants looks the same as they did at my initial follow-up 9 days post-op. I’m pleased with this and my recovery so far. I am almost able to walk without a limp and the Hillary Step is much easier to negotiate now although I am finding my right hip hurting most when ascending. I have not engaged formal physical therapy and continue to do exercises on my own. Range of motion continues to improve although I can tell it will be a long road to recover most or all flexibility. I can almost reach the floor now. I have not attempted to put on socks or wear laced shoes so far, the warm summer weather making this possible.
I didn’t have much to ask Dr Pritchett other than asking his opinion on having blood testing for metal ion levels. His response was informative in that he said there are only a few labs which can perform this test accurately. He mentioned a lab he uses in Salt Lake City but in general he seems the tests aren’t necessary in the absence of other symptoms such as local pain in and around the hip. Dr Pritchett said he spends a lot of time answering patient questions about metal ion sensitivity. I asked him about the metal ions because I will have 2 metal on metal hips after I have my right hip done which will theoretically double the amount of Cobalt and Chromium in my blood. Dr Pritchett mentioned he hasn’t had any BHR patients that have had adverse reactions due to metal ions which is testament to his skill as a surgeon. This reassured me about having my right hip BHR’d. The discussion continued for a good 10 minutes and I didn’t get a chance to ask him when he thought would be a good time for me to safely return to golf. I will have to send an email asking this.
August 18th (59 days post-op)
This past week I went on a road trip to pick up an off road camping trailer in Utah. Lots and lots of driving. About 1,700 miles round trip. The hip got pretty stiff and tight after hours of sitting/driving and required a couple minutes of gently limping around to loosen up when we stopped for gas, rest area, etc. We ended up camping on the way back which required a lot of standing and walking around when setting up and tearing down our camp site and I logged decent step counts in spite of all the driving, about 5K per day. After returning home from the trip I was very tired and the left operative hip as well as the right hip were aching, not to mention the lower back. Today, after a decent night of sleep, I felt better. Not entirely recovered but not nearly as stiff as yesterday. The left hip tends to ache when I am sleeping after very active days like this past week and affects my sleep because I can’t seem to find a comfortable position. I will take it easy the next few days and see if that helps. Otherwise, I think things are progressing normally at this point in my recovery. I am slowly gaining flexibility and can sit with my knees inside 90 degress without too much discomfort but I still can’t reach my feet. Picking things up off the floor is still a chore.
Still thinking about the right hip. More so after how much it hurt yesterday.
August 11th (52 days post-op)
For some unknown reason, the nighttime incision itching has not occurred the past 3 nights. I’m wondering if it’s the turmeric soap that I’ve been using the past week which I found on Amazon. In fact, I’ve noticed the occasional itching and hives that I was experiencing haven’t been occurring lately. I’ll continue to monitor this.
I did, however, experience sharp, stabbing pains yesterday near the surface around the incision. This happened after a prolonged sitting session. The pain occurred after I got up and ascended the top 1/3 of the Hillary Step to my loft and continued off and on for about an hour and only when I was walking, not sitting. Weird. The only thing I can think of that may have caused the pain was blood flow restriction to the incision area caused by sitting too long and in a position that caused my shorts to bunch up and constrict the leg and hip area. When I looked at the incision in the mirror, I noticed a lot of clothing lines/depressions on my hip and butt from the tightness of the shorts. Don’t know for sure if this was the cause. The incision area looks fine. No redness, other than the incision scar itself which more of a purplish color than red, and no swelling. I am curious how long it takes for the dissolvable sutures to, well, dissolve. I’ve read anywhere from days to months depending on the type used. At any rate, the stabbing pains subsided and I haven’t had them since yesterday’s episode.
I have all but ditched the cane and am walking/limping unassisted. I ran errands yesterday including a trip to the grocery store where I sashayed up and down the aisles with great pride. Sashaying with a limp requires great skill and if done correctly will garner much respect and admiration from onlookers. I am continuing the exercises mentioned in the previous post and I feel some progress is being made with respect to flexibility. I can now put on my shorts without the aid of the grabber. It still takes a fair amount of effort to get the left foot high enough to slip into the shorts and I do so by dangling the shorts as low as I can with my right hand only from a standing position. There’s no way I can get the left foot high enough if I held the shorts with both hands.
Continued thoughts about the right hip and having it resurfaced. I’ll be honest, thinking about going through the first few weeks of this again isn’t my idea of a great time. But, I am reminded of the OA when I do the stair stretching on that side…it’s barely more flexible than the recovering left hip. It does not affect my sleep yet and I’ve only experienced a couple occasions where the impingement has “zinged” me really bad. It aches in a dull manner most often. But it doesn’t hurt when I am sitting or laying. At any rate, I am thinking about sending a note to Susan to see how Dr. Pritchett’s schedule looks over the next few months.
August 8th (49 days post-op)
Today is the 7 week mark since surgery. Since I am beyond the 6 week restriction period I have begun to focus on regaining some flexibility. I can’t get much past 90 degrees very far and can feel the tightness in my glute and hip. To address this I have started doing the phase II exercises that are outlined on Dr. Su’s website. To reiterate, I can’t obtain the positions that are shown in the pictures and videos at this point but hopefully will get there eventually. The other thing I am focusing more on now is walking without a limp which is difficult. I am using the cane less and less around the house and will probably ditch it altogether any day now. As stated in a previous post, the hip needs a few steps to loosen up after I’ve been sitting for awhile. I limp the most these first few steps. I can maneuver up and down the Hillary Step as long as I have at least one hand on a railing. I also use the stairs to stretch the hip and glutes, bringing the left foot up one step, slowly and carefully stretching. Then after a minute or so, I bring the left foot up another step (2 steps above my right foot) and holding there, working to keep my back straight and perpendicular to the floor. This gets me to just past 90 degrees and is difficult to do. There is stretching pain and I don’t bounce or try to force the stretch further. I’ll continue to do this daily and monitor my progress.
The incision still itches at night, usually around 12:30am-1:00am which is weird. I pat and rub the area gently in spite of wanting to scratch the living shit out of it. The itch is intense and irresistible but recedes after about 30 minutes and doesn’t itch the rest of the night. I have begun to apply some lotion to the incision area so keep it moisturized and hopefully this will help with the night time itching. I have used some Benadryl cream a couple times when I thought the itching was going to drive me completely insane.
As the left hip continues to get stronger I’ve been thinking more and more about the right hip. Even though I am taking NAC Metal Defense Protocol I am still concerned about elevated metal ions. I am wondering when is a good time to have my levels tested and will research when others have had their levels tested. My 2-month follow up with Dr. Pritchett is the 24th and will ask him about metal ion testing, also. Again, I’d hate to have the right hip done only to find out I have tissue sensitivity to cobalt and chromium. I know this occurs rarely but it’s still in the back of my mind.
Last week, prior to the Aug 4th post, I was at a 3 day golf tournament with my brother-in-law and a close friends. Obviously, I did not participate and was relegated to cheer leading duties. I really wished I could have played, however. I am really looking forward to getting back to my golfing next summer.
August 4th (45 days post-op)
The past 4 days have involved the most walking since surgery with my peak walking day accounting for over 8K steps which was a normal day for me prior to my left hip going downhill earlier this year. The walking I did this week was not limited to level ground. I was following a group of friends that were competing in a golf tournament. I was able to watch them play several holes that required me to walk up and down grass mounds and gradual inclines/declines. At no point during the walking did I experience any pain in the hip. But the use of the cane and the limping did wear me out faster than normal. At the end of the each day sitting or laying felt really good. However, given the increased activity, it required a little more warm up time when I had to get up on my feet. Another positive development this week is that I am able to go up and down stairs the normal way. I still need to use the can and hand rails but it’s still progress.
I’ve gained a couple of pounds since last week which may be due to a combination of regaining muscle mass in my legs as well as eating more calories this past week than I normally do. The former is a good thing. The latter isn’t. I’ll refocus on my normal diet.
July 31st (41 days post-op)
The sum of all walking activities was 2.5 miles today (over 5K steps for me) which included scaling hotel stairs (I’m out of town for a few days) from the ground level to the 2nd floor hauling a sack containing food and drinks each trip. I was very careful not to put full weight onto my left leg while walking and scaling the stairs. I was sweating by the end of it. It was a good workout but I was ready to shower and lay down and elevate the legs which I did in earnest. I am working on 2 things when I am walking: 1) maintaining an upright posture 2) walking without a limp. Regarding the former, a friend mentioned to me that I am hunched over when walking with the cane so I am working to correct that. As for the latter, this is more difficult but I am improving. There is still some soreness in the hip, especially after sitting or laying for awhile. I hope this eventually goes away as I get stronger.
Another recent development is that my incision itches at night. It’s not a constant itch, it only itches for a period of time but I am careful not to scratch vigorously as I don’t want to break the skin and only over my shorts, not directly. The incision looks good otherwise. There is still a column of slight puffiness on each side of the incision and some minor tenderness toward the top end that I feel when sitting down after standing and walking a lot.
Tomorrow is my 6 week anniversary and the end of my restrictions. There’s no way I can flex beyond the 90 degrees anyway but at least I can start working on the flexibility. I have noticed that it is easier to sit at a table now, the leg doesn’t have to be completely extended anymore for me to be comfortable. This gets me close to 90 degrees. The movement where I can really feel the glute tightness is if I try to put on shorts/pants by bending slightly at the waist while raising my left leg to attempt to put the shorts/pants over it. When I get home I will contact the physical therapy place where I did my prehab and begin formal PT.
July 28th (38 days post-op)
It seems that after only 3 days in the Hillary Step house that my hip is noticeably stronger. It could just be coincidence…or maybe it is all the stairs, 42 in total. I am able to step down with my right leg (non-op leg) without much difficulty or pain. Hippies all know that the occupational therapy rule for navigating stairs is “up with the good, down with the bad” which is reference to which leg you lead with depending on the direction you are going. When I am on the Hillary Step stairs (see pics below) I use the hand railing and my cane for support, of course. I am, however, still chicken to begin leading with my left leg when going up the stairs. I did lead with the left leg a few times but I cheated immensely by simultaneously pulling myself up with one hand on the railing ,pushing myself up with the other hand using the cane, and launching upward off of my right leg. In effect there was near zero resistance on the left leg. Tuesday, Aug 1st I will be exempt from the restriction laws and will begin competing immediately in all area Crossfit, Ironman and triple jump competitions.
I am continuing the NAC metal defense protocol and have noticed no negative side effects so far. I won’t know what my metal ion blood levels are until I get tested which I plan to have done around the 6-month mark or so.
As the left hip continues to get stronger I am thinking more and more about the right hip and when might be a good time to have it resurfaced. One motivating factor, other than the increasing pain, is to have the surgery before the end of the year is that I have met my yearly maximum out of pocket expenses through my insurance. Two mitigating factors are 1) wondering if I will have a metal reaction. It would really suck to have a second BHR installed only to find out I’m having local tissue reactions and/or higher than acceptable metal levels in my blood. 2) The surgery, my narcotic sensitivity (puking) and the first few weeks of recovery aren’t things I would put on my top 10 list of fun things to do. Don’t get me wrong, the surgery is by far the preferred route to take. The alternative is to live an altered, crippled, age-accelerating existence which would force me to remove 90% of the items from said top 10 list of fun things to do. I think this is me being chicken again…but I know the day is coming when, like the left hip, the pain will have me begging to have the surgery as quickly as possible.
July 25th (35 days post-op)
The 6 hour drive yesterday was only mildly uncomfortable. We stopped 2 times. Once to eat and the other to refuel. I drove part of they and sat in the passenger seat the remainder of the drive. Periodically, the hip/butt would begin to ache after long periods of non-movement. Sliding my butt back in the seat and partially up the back rest to fully extend the legs and flex the glutes to get the blood flowing relieved the aching. Upon arriving at home my sister and her husband, who I drove home with, lugged all but stuff up the Hillary Step to my living room (22 stair steps) and bedroom (37 stair steps) in the upper loft area. This would have been a giant chore for me to do. Thankfully, I had their help.
After resting and having something to eat, I went grocery shopping. I filled one fairly large canvas bag with pretty heavy liquidy items. I’d say the bag weighed anywhere in the 15-20lb range. At the store I used a full-sized shopping cart which provided the necessary support for getting around. At home, I was very careful to not place full weight on my leg while carrying the bag, using the cane in my right hand to lessen the load. When ascending the Hillary Step to the living room/kitchen level I first placed the bag of groceries a couple steps higher than than the next step for my feet, then I stepped up, right leg first followed by the left, to the next step using the cane for support on each step. Rinse and repeat. 22 times. As a result, my right hip is really feeling it. No issues with the left hip…but I’m not stepping up with the left leg yet. Later when I needed to ascend to my bedroom in the loft, I placed my left foot up on the next step just to see how it felt. It wasn’t too difficult to get the foot up on the next step but I didn’t dare attempt to actually transfer weight and step up. I will experiment with this more next week after the restriction period is over…one week from today.
July 24th (34 days post-op)
I logged the most steps today since the surgery: 2.3 miles. Everything feels “normal” still in that there isn’t abnormal, chronic pain or anything. My knees, particularly the right knee, is feeling the effects of doing the lion’s share of weight bearing. I had ACL reconstruction on the right knee about 20 years ago which included removing some torn lateral meniscus. The injury happened while playing rec league basketball. I know there is some arthritis in the knee as it will hurt when I do certain activities such as jumping…which I haven’t done since surgery, of course. I don’t want to think about knee replacement/resurfacing now, however.
Tomorrow I will be in a car for about 6 hours heading back to our other residence. The main concern for me is that our other residence has a lot of stairs. I don’t think this will be an issue other than the burden of carrying things up and down. Will report back in a couple days.
July 21st (31 days post-op)
The days are becoming rather repetitive in my routine, hence, I am going to be posting less frequently…at least until the 6-week restriction period has expired. My PT exercises remain very basic – lateral leg raises, leg curls, toe raises, knee-ups, in-place marching. Prone exercises are very similar except for the bridges which are the best exercise with respect to activating more muscle groups in the back, butt and legs. I am walking pretty much exclusively with the cane now.
The NAC therapy continues and I feel fine after almost a 1 week. The hip still clicks a few times with each session of activity (walking around, showering, prepping food, etc.). I hope the capsule is healing as expected. After the 6-week period I will begin stretching and doing more exercises to strengthen the leg and hip muscles.
July 19th (29 days post-op)
I made it down to the gym facility in our building today. I did some upper body resistance band exercises which took me all of 5 minutes. I wanted to get a burn but didn’t want to start sweating as I wasn’t in my workout clothes. Felt good. Then I sat in the recumbent bike to see if I could do a complete rotation. Even though the seat was as far back as it goes, barely able to keep my tip toes on the pedals I could not turn a full rotation. I looked at my right thigh with the right pedal closest to me and the angle was right about 90 degrees which tells me that I can’t quite get the left leg to 90 degrees yet. Mildly disappointed but given I’m still inside 6 weeks I will be patient. I did walk farther than normal today. The fitness watch readout showed 1.56 miles. This was an accumulation of steps taken when moving around our home plus excursions to the mailbox, recycling collection area and gym facility. There is still clicking with certain movements. I can’t help but continue to think about metal ions when this happens. I am continuing with the Metal Defense Protocol. After a couple days, I notice nothing in the way of side effects, which is good.
July 18th (28 days post-op)
4 weeks since the surgery. 2 more weeks of 90 degree restrictions. I’ve gotten so used to not bending past 90 degrees it will be strange to break this habit although I expect it will be difficult to do so physically given that all involved muscles have probably shortened. Stretching will become part of the daily routine then…but I am getting ahead of myself.
I slept much better last night thankfully. But I wouldn’t say my sleeping pattern is normal just yet. The subconscious monitoring of not moving in a manner that will cause pain keeps me mostly in a twilight sleep so to say.
Otherwise, it was an eventful day. I did, however, eat some Fig Newtons. Yum.
As promised, here is a picture of the incision, 28 days after surgery. There are brief periods where the middle-ish area of the incision will itch and/or sting. But it is mild and fleeting. The incision measures 7.5 inches in length. The red “slash” above and slightly to the left of the incision is residual healing of the blistering caused by the medical tape when my wife and I attempted to repair the original dressing which had rolled up in a spot near my waist. NEVER use medical tape directly on your skin. It is caustic.
July 17th (27 days post-op)
Not a very good night of sleep. Tossed and turned a bunch and had to get up to pee multiple times. Not sure what was behind the increase in urine production last night but it didn’t seem to carry on after the initial onslaught which occurred between about 11pm and 1am.
Not much different today than yesterday with respect to how the hip/leg are doing. I can march in place when doing PT without any support and place full weight on the leg without any pain. As a result, I am using the cane more and more. I use the crutches when I feel my leg is fatigued and don’t want to push it further. I use the walker to get in and out of the tub when showering. We don’t have safety handles on the wall so the walker provides the needed support when navigating over the tub edge. The strength of the psoas flexor is much, much improved. I can fairly easily swing the leg into and out of bed as well as lift the leg up onto a pillow when sitting or lying down. I will reiterate that the psoas weakness was probably the single most debilitating thing in the first couple of weeks after surgery. If you are having this surgery, do all you can to get yourself in as good of shape as possible beforehand. Many of the same exercises that you will do post-op are really good to do pre-op. The sooner you start them before surgery, the better. I started doing these exercises about a month before surgery, about 5-6 days a week. I increased the number of exercises and reps along the way to the point where I was sweating during the later stages of the routine. Of course, there was arthritis pain doing some of the exercises which limited how many reps I could to but I forced myself to do them anyway. But if the pain is extreme, don’t do the exercise or limit the number of reps you do. Here is the link to the pre-surgery workout I did: 10. Pre-surgery Workout
95% of the incision scabbing has fallen away. If the other 5% relents tomorrow I will post a picture of the incision which should be a special treat for the few readers of this blog :-).
The rash on my elbow/arm has receded and doesn’t itch anymore. The bumps on the inside of my elbow are almost entirely gone. There is a spot on the point of my left elbow that itches mildly. Again, I think this is from using the elbows more than normal to prop, slide, plank, etc. when transitioning from sitting or lying down to standing.
July 16th (26 days post-op)
I am almost 4 weeks post-op and am eager to have the 6-week restrictions behind me. Only a couple more weeks. I am also eager to be done with the daily aspirin. Only 4 more days for that. After the aspirin is stopped I will resume taking the turmeric+ginger supplements. I didn’t take them together because I didn’t want to compound the blood thinning effects both have.
The hip/leg are feeling good still. Definitely getting stronger with each day it seems. The clicking/clunking is still occurring when making certain movements. While I know this is common at this early stage it still is slightly unsettling. I keep thinking about ions being released with each click/clunk. Or loosening which I know is a rare occurrence barring an extreme fall or overdoing it physically. Part of me wonders if the clicking is coming from the tendons and ligaments around the BHR? At any rate, it’s difficult to compare the clicking feeling to what someone else has felt in their recovery so I have to trust it’s the BHR components.
I still weigh 5 lbs less than I did before surgery. I plan to begin doing some resistance band work for the upper body this week and also increase the number of reps I am doing for each PT exercise. I am doing standing exercises 2-3 times a day which include lateral leg raises, knee raises (not past 90 degrees…I can’t even get that high yet but improving), calf raises, leg curls, and leg extensions to the rear for range of motion as well as to flex the glutes. Before I go to sleep I do the prone PT exercises. The bridges are the best as they require multiple muscle groups to flex including the glutes, hamstrings, quads and lower back.
I made dinner tonight which was tiring but made me feel good to contribute to the meal prep again. My wife requested my famous runny egg and rice dish seasoned with fresh ginger, soy sauce, and Sambal Oelek. I forgot the green onions but it was still good. And the wife was happy so mission accomplished.
July 15th (25 days post-op)
The big adventure of the day was a trip to Costco for my wife and I. I knew this would require me to walk way more than any other day since surgery. I decided to only bring my cane. I drove. After arriving at Costco, we parked closer to the entrance than we normally do to minimize distance. We secured a cart in the parking lot and we inched our way toward the entrance without issue. The Costco we normally go to is less crowed than most. In addition, we went in the afternoon in hopes of reducing that chance of people crashing their carts into me while frantically trying to access the food sample kiosks. It’s amazing to witness people’s primitive food aggression and feeding frenzy behavior at Costco. Disturbing how quickly otherwise well-fed people will abandon all dignity, manners and learned societal courtesies when competing with others to access a minuscule sample of Foster Farms corn dogs. After showing our credentials at the door, we slowly made our way into the store and picked up some items from the snack kennels located near the cash registers. Then we made our way to the vitamin section before venturing deeper into the food catacombs where we encountered some of the aforementioned food zombies roaming the aisles in vain for samples. I was able to slalom my way around them without incident although by now I could feel myself tensing up with each step. My hip and leg felt good so I think the tensing was more of an instinctual reaction to over protect my hip. As we continued to shop, I relaxed more and found that I was able to move at a decent clip without discomfort. I reminded myself not to get overzealous and modulated my pace appropriately. By the time we filled our cart with everything on our list I was more than ready to get back to the car so I could sit down and rest. The whole-body tension of walking with a cane and being protective of the hip is a workout in itself. We returned home and managed to get everything unloaded and put away. Both my wife and I were exhausted and laid down for a short siesta to recharge the batteries. Total distance walked according to my fitness watch: 1.7 miles.
Before our trip to Costco, my wife picked up some N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) and magnesium supplements for me at a vitamin store near us. As such, I started the Metal Defense Protocol today.
July 14th (24 days post-op)
I hermited all day in the comfort zone, working most of the time on my laptop. Took a conference call. Ate Fig Newtons. So much for the damned moratorium. There are none left so I will have to make due until Monday. At some point I will grow tired of them. I hope. Until then, however, they are a bright spot in my otherwise uneventful convalescing which I should be happy for.
In the evening I received some more information via email about N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) metal ion chelation. Some folks replied to my posts. One person in particular, Keith Brewster, has done a lot of research in this area and has developed a “Metal Defense Protocol”. To be clear, my interest in NAC is to counteract the high Co and Cr levels during the initial MoM bearing run-in period which is anywhere from 1-2 years from the date of surgery. During this period, if the effects of high levels of Co and Cr in the blood stream can be mitigated using NAC, it seems to make sense to apply the protocol. If the BHR bearing is wearing abnormally and/or is causing a local tissue reaction, the protocol should/would not mask this. After the run-in period, it might make sense to stop, wait a while then have my blood levels tested for metal ion levels.
For anyone interested in Keith’s Metal Defense Protocol, it can be found on this page:
http://surfacehippygroup.org/hip_resurfacing_files.html
I fell asleep on the couch during our binge watching session again. This time I went lights out about 8:45pm. I was tired. I woke up about 11:30pm and made my way to the bed. Woke up again about 3:00am for a bathroom trip. Went back onto the couch and slept until about 7:30am. The fitness watch said I got about 4 hours of deep sleep. Much needed.
July 13th (23 days post-op)
The wife is returning from her business trip tonight which means I will get to drive the car again. The hardest part of this exercise occurs once I am in the seat and need to reach out and pull the door closed. I need to slide the seat forward a bit. Our car has the manual seat slider handle in the front near the floor. I have to be careful not to violate the 90 degree law, being careful when I twist my carcass so that I can reach the seat slider handle. Once complete, I then have to reverse the carcass twisting toward the door so I can reach out with my left alligator arm to grab and swing the door closed. When doing such contortions I can tell the muscles in the hip are going to take a lot of work to stretch/lengthen to enable a normal or near normal range of motion.
I ate too many Fig Newtons today. I didn’t even have a proper dinner last night because of the unmitigated Newton snarfing. I didn’t feel overly bloated or sick to my stomach but the feeling of guilt has resulted in a self-imposed Fig Newton moratorium…until Monday when the Amazon Prime Pantry order arrives. Otherwise, I am eating healthy fare and the digestive tract is operating in a regular pattern. I never take this for granted.
The hip feels remarkably good when I am up and walking. I don’t want to be lulled into a false sense of invincibility, however, and am careful when placing weight on the left leg. There is still scabbing near the bottom of the incision. I am not eager to go swimming, hot tubbing or steam rooming anytime soon so it’s not a bother to me.
The rash on the elbow & arm is clearing, thankfully. I didn’t do the wrap last night before going to bed and it didn’t itch the entire night.
I’ve been doing some reading about N-Acetyl Cysteine as a possible chelate for Cobalt and Chromium in the blood. There is only one study out there but I’m curious if taking a daily dose during the initial 2 year period post-op would be beneficial in managing metal ion blood levels. I will continue to research this.
July 12th (22 days post-op)
I ventured out of my 700 sq/ft happy zone today to pickup the prescription that Susan called in. The Walgreens is only about a mile up the road but it gave me the opportunity to see the outside world beyond the view from our living room as well as to practice using one crutch/cane. I chose to bring both crutches mainly for ease of getting to/from the car in the garage and secondarily because I feel safer with two crutches. Kinda like a little kid’s blanket that he/she goes everywhere with. When I arrived at the Walgrwlaeens I parked a little further away from the entrance so I would have open parking spaces next to me to facilitate exit and reentry without door-dinging another car. Then I took only one crutch into the store. I also brought a shopping bag with me to pick up some snacks while I was there. Everything went as planned at Walgreens. When I got home I slung the canvas shopping bag over my left shoulder to free my left hand to operate the crutch. I was glad to be home. You take for granted the simple tasks in life when your body is not debilitated or compromised. Otherwise, simple things like going to the store require planning and extra time, especially if you don’t have someone else to help you.
I bugged Susan again today. This time I asked her about what appears to be a lucent area behind the acetabular cup in my post-op followup x-rays. She replied that this is normal and that there should be noticeable bone in-growth when I have x-rays taken at my 2 month follow up. I’m still in a slightly paranoid state of mind right now. Even though the hip/leg is getting stronger each day I still tend to “baby” it. I walk very slowly when using once crutch or the cane even though I have a desire to speed up. I need to moderate the instinct to push harder, a habit I have from years of sports and working out. By the way, I have lost about 5 lbs since the surgery. I look noticeably thinner in the mirror, too. Of course, I haven’t been working out so the weight loss is probably from muscle wasting. But, I am eating less, too, which is probably due to the lack of working out, also. I’ve had a Fig Newton craving the past week or so. I’ve always loved Newtons but now they are a compulsory item in my snacking regimen. I’ll admit the acquisition of Fig Newtons was on the check list at Walgreens. Mission accomplished.
The elbow/arm rash seems to be improving. The elbow area is definitely healing and doesn’t itch nearly as much if at all now. The small bumps on the inner bicep area are still there but don’t seem to be spreading or getting worse. They itch only mildly now. I did not take the prescription med last night and will try not to.
I still feel like my sleep isn’t where it should be. I can turn onto my right side for short periods of time which helps with comfort but I still feel like I am squirming a lot trying to find a comfortable position that allows me to achieve deep slumber. My fitness watch says I am getting a normal amount of deep sleep. Deep sleep to my watch means a period where I am pretty much motionless. Not sure if that is really deep sleep or temporary paralysis. I did begin to experiment with rotating slightly onto my left side if anything else to provide some relief to the back and right side. I can’t wait until I have unrestricted free movement while sleeping.
July 11th (21 days post-op)
My first full day on my own without my caretaker wife was uneventful. I was able to do everything on my own without great difficulty. Save for a couple of excursions to the store and airport, my entire existence the past couple of weeks has been limited to about 700 square feet which has been perfectly fine with me. According to my activity tracker watch I’ve managed to walk about a mile each day for the past week just moving around doing domestic things and PT exercises in our home. The clicking/clunking occurs occasionally still. Seems to happen more when I transition from a period of ass-flattening (sitting) to moving about on my feet. Once the blood is flowing it seems to happen less frequently.
Susan got back to me with a prescription for an anti-itch medication. I’ll pick it up tomorrow. I’m leery of taking prescription drugs of any kind so I’ll use this sparingly only if the rash thing is driving me nuts.
Incision still has some scabbing on the lower third. The upper 2/3 looks pretty good I guess. Still some puffiness in the area but it looks good as far as I can tell. Occasionally, I get a stinging/burning sensation from what seems like a single spot toward the top third of the incision. It is fleeting and not constant.
I stayed up pretty late tonight. Late for me is anything past 10pm. Since the surgery, I have been struggling to stay up past 9:30pm. My wife and I do a little binge watching each evening as our way of closing out the day. I’ve been falling asleep on the couch every night and missing critical parts of the shows we are binging on. This is problematic. But tonight I felt like I was back to normal – I had to make myself go to bed.
July 10th (20 days post-op)
I am on my own until Thursday as my wife is out of town on business. Thankfully, I am able to pretty much do everything I need to do on my own at this point. I drove my wife to the airport, dropped her off, then returned home without any problems. The only issue is that if something drops onto the floor in the car, there is no way I can reach it as I would violate the 90 degree law and be subject to fines and possible imprisonment in Dr Pritchett’s correctional facility. I want to avoid this at all costs. So, the solution to floored items in the car is to wait until I am parked and out of the vehicle before reaching down to retrieve them, operative leg extended behind me, of course.
I sent Susan pictures of the rash/bumps on my elbow and bicep and explained via a few back and forths that I have tried hydrocortisone, Benadryl, Neosporin (sparingly) and applying an ice pack when the area itches. The itching, when it occurs, is intense. Applying topical remedies at this point doesn’t help much and the ice pack is really the only thing that provides immediate relief. Susan forwarded all this to Dr Pritchett who is going to research this evening and determine what to do. Susan said she would reply back to me tomorrow.
Still have the bruised feeling in the upper posterior buttock area. No visible bruising, swelling or redness. I hope this improves over time and will monitor.
I am almost able to walk without crutches/cane without any pain. But I am very careful about this. My home PT now includes marching in place without using anything for support. The leg continues to get stronger.
July 9th (19 days post-op)
It’s pretty remarkable how much stronger my hip/leg are less then 3 weeks post-op. The flexor/psoas is still the weakest muscle but I can swing my leg in and out of bed with greater ease now. No longer do I dread having to get up or down. Just a little over a week ago I was asking my wife to help lift my leg for me. Some flexor movements are still relatively difficult and I feel straining in hip joint when do them. I don’t know if this straining feeling is coming from the joint itself, which would be hard to imagine given the joint is metal, or from the soft tissues around the joint such as the capsule ligaments and muscle tendons. I tend to believe it’s the latter. There is still tenderness in the upper buttock area and another area just behind the incision about mid-butt. I hope this is just residual pain from the glutes being separated from the surgery. I am still paranoid about infection although there is no redness and heat anywhere around the entire left rump area. I’ve been wrapping the right elbow at night with a folded silk pillow and a self-sticking Ace bandage around that to secure it so that I don’t claw at it during my sleep. This has worked well the past couple of nights. I did notice a couple more bumps/hives on the inside of my bicep and a couple on my right upper thigh. I am wondering if I am having some kind of reaction to the aspirin. Or the Hibiclens, which I will stop using to see if that helps. I have 10 more days to take the aspirin so I hope this doesn’t get worse. The itching isn’t constant, thankfully. I will search the hippy sites to see if anyone else has experienced this. Otherwise, I am feeling pretty good. Doing things around the house is getting easier and I’m routinely using one crutch to get around. Sometimes I use the crutch as a cane since the design of these crutches (Mobilegs) has a protruding handle which makes it easy to do this.
July 8th (18 days post-op)
Today’s big adventure was to drive, with my wife, to the grocery store. I was concerned whether I would be able to get into her vehicle as it’s very low to the ground. As it turns out it was rather simple. Just slid the seat all the way back and reclined the seat back. Piece of cake. I did have to drive sort of gangster style, however, with the seat back reclined more than normal so as not to break the 90 degree rule. Visibility was only slightly compromised and I was able to drive to/from the store without incident. At the store, I parked in an area that was less crowded but further from the entrance which provided me the opportunity to walk (with crutches) further. All told, I probably walked about a 3/4 of a mile with all the meandering through the aisles, to/from the car, to/from the elevator in our parking garage, etc. The hip/leg felt great other than some cramping in the outer quad about midway between the knee and hip. This has been occurring when I do more walking. I have to stop, place some weight on the leg and then stretch by bringing my foot up behind me. The quad needs more work to get it back in shape. Overall, I was encouraged about how my hip/leg felt today. Will continue with the home PT exercises and use of crutches (1 or 2) until the 4 week mark July 18th. My goal is to graduate to the cane then.
July 7th (17 days post-op)
Today I did some vacuuming around the house. One crutch under the right arm, vacuum in the left. The vacuuming was the easy part. Plugging and unplugging the thing from various wall outlets was the biggest pain, requiring me to bend over with pretty much all my weight on my poor right leg/hip. As a result, it was aching later in the day. I worked up a little sweat doing this which was good. Probably the first activity related sweat I’ve had since before surgery.
Incision still looks good. There is still some tenderness just below the waist about 4-5 inches away from the top of incision to the rear. Feels bruised but doesn’t have any visible bruising. I wonder if this is residual pain from spitting the glutes. When I get onto my feet after sitting or laying for awhile there is some tenderness I feel in the joint area when I step. This goes away relatively quickly after moving around a little. Being cautious about how much weight I place on the leg still. When I shower, I use the walker to lift one leg at a time into the tub, then I’m pretty much on my own, gingerly turning to rinse all areas, using baby steps. There isn’t any pain when doing this. Again, just being cautious about how I step.
July 6th (16 days post-op)
I am generally more active around the house now, doing as much as I can to help with domestic duties and trying to lessen the burden on my poor wife. Again, I can’t thank her enough for taking such good care of me through this. I will reiterate that my right leg has taken a pounding since the surgery, doing the lion’s share of work. Both my hip and knee ache at the end of the day. I am doing my best to place an equal amount of weight on both feet when standing and walking but when I am leaning over to pick things up (left leg extended) or doing any activity with my hands involving slight twisting or turning, I am greatly favoring the left leg so as not to over stress it.
My weight has remained stable since the surgery. In fact, I am down a couple of pounds. This is most likely due to lost muscle mass since I haven’t been working out. I can see the difference mostly in my legs – they are smaller. My appetite and diet are good. BMs are regular. I have developed a rash over the past week on my right elbow that itches intensely mostly at night. I believe this was caused by using my elbows so much to prop myself up from laying or sitting. The skin on the elbows gets a bit raw from this. I am avoiding using my elbow now as much as possible to prop myself up. I am avoiding scratching it as much as possible. Icing it seems to provide relief.
I’ve been engaged in my work more so the past few days. It’s good to get my mind off of the hip for awhile. Another day at the office so to say.
July 5th (15 days post-op)
It’s been just over 2 weeks since the surgery but it feels like it’s been a lot longer than that. My hip generally feels good although still weak. Getting in and out of bed is getting progressively easier although the flexor muscle (iliopsoas) used to lift the leg is still lagging in strength. I have read various recovery protocols that say this is normal and that rehabbing this muscle should be taken slowly since it can become inflamed due to contact with the metal cup. I will heed this advice. I did more PT and walking yesterday than I did in the past week. My focus is to try to walk as normally as possible – without a limp. Hard to do at this point but I will keep working at it.
July 4th (14 days post-op)
Happy Independence Day. Today was a relatively low-activity day. My wife ran a few errands while I did my usual routine around the house. Still on 2 crutches mostly except when I need a free hand to carry things. My range of motion is improving. I monitor this by how far I can move the leg outward when doing standing lateral raises. I use the walker for support while doing this. There is zero arthritic pain when doing this exercise which makes me happy. Heel slides are relatively easy now compared to last week. This is the exercise where you lie on your back on the bed and bring the knee up. Lateral slides from the prone position are still the hardest but I can do these much better than I could last week. I feel the click/clunk when doing these on the first couple of reps. I am hoping that after another week I can go to the gym in our building and do some resistance band work for the upper body and maybe even get on the recumbent stationary bicycle and do some zero resistance cycling to help recondition the muscles around the hip.
The big accomplishment for me is that I can now lay on my side in bed for longer periods of time and even sleep some while in this position. To get on my side I put 2 regular pillows (they are relatively soft) between my legs while on my back. Since I sleep on the right side of the bed, I first scoot towards the center to give me clearance to my right. Then I roll to my right moving the lower body as a single unit. I can then do a couple of scoots back toward the center of the bed so I am not precariously close to the edge. This has been a big relief for my back and overall comfort.
Incision looks good. My wife measured it today: 7.5 inches. There is almost no swelling anywhere except for a tiny bit around and in the incision area. Non-painful to touch the area. Bruising is almost entirely gone. I have noticed the muscles in my leg, particularly the glutes have shrunken from lack of resistance training. Flat butt.
4 more weeks of precautions…
July 3rd (13 days post-op)
Today, my wife and caretaker returned to the office leaving me to fend for myself. She’s been such a huge help to me but I know I must have been getting on her nerves somewhat with my incessant requests to hand me things just out of my reach, refill my water, or to prepare meals. Prior to the surgery, I would prepare most of our evening meals. Since I work from home this was a much easier arrangement plus I enjoy having a meal ready for her after a hectic day at the office. Since the surgery, she’s done the vast majority of meal planning and prep. She’s such a trooper. But I think it’s inevitable to get annoyed more frequently when you are forced into close quarters with someone else, even your spouse, for several days. The past few days, however, I’ve been able to do all the things I need to do by myself including showering, dressing, preparing food, washing dishes, PT exercises and resting. Getting into a laying position on the couch or in bed is so much easier now that the leg muscles are stronger and surgical pain is diminished. My big feat for the day was to ambulate using one crutch down to the mail room area to retrieve a package that was delivered. I managed to do this fairly easily albeit slowly. After the first few days post-op, I began to feel the need to be productive in any way I could. Simple things like showering, making coffee and doing laundry provide a sense of accomplishment. I have to celebrate the small victories.
Using 2 crutches the past couple of days seems to be working to reduce the straining feeling I was having in the hip. My biggest fear right now is doing something stupid that will cause a component failure such as loosening of the cup or femoral neck fracture. I am going to wait until my 6 week restriction period is over to decide whether I seek professional physical therapy. I will continue to do the at-home exercises provided to me at the hospital until then as well as getting up and walking about several times a day. I will listen to what my body is telling me and not try to push things to fast.
July 2nd (12 days post-op)
Due to the straining/pain experienced the past couple of days in the posterior/distal hip area I decided to go very easy today with weight bearing. I am back to using 2 crutches and the walker depending on the activity. So far today I have had no sensation of strain or pain. I think I will do this for another day or two. After reading about slipped cups and femoral neck fractures post-op, I’d rather play it on the safe side rather than trying to be a recovery superhero. The price of overdoing it is just too great. My incision looks great and I continue to keep it clean and watch it closely. Swelling is very minor and only around the incision area now. Bruising is dissipating rapidly. Hard to believe it’s still just 12 days since surgery. I did have some pain in the hip area last night/this morning around 2am. I think this is due to sleeping in the same position for too long or because my leg settles into an uncomfortable position. When I get onto my feet the pain disappears. Perhaps it’s a blood flow thing.
I continue to read the posts on hippy websites – surfacehippy.info and hipresurfacingsite.com. I can’t reiterate enough how valuable other patient’s experiences are, good and bad, in helping me to manage my own recovery. I hope my posts here are helping others as well.
July 1st (11 days post-op)
Napped yesterday for about an hour then fell asleep around 9:40pm. Woke up only a couple times during the night. Seems like the whirlwind of activity caught up with me. My incision looks good and my leg feels good for the most part. The flexor weakness is improving greatly and getting into and out of bed is getting easier. I am using one crutch mostly now. There is some clicking or as others have described it, “clunking” that I am feeling intermittently. This seems to have gotten more frequent, probably because the swelling in my leg is almost zero now and the joint capsule and surrounding muscles are still weak. When I step I am feeling what seems like a straining in the hip on the distal side. It is not overly painful but I am being careful with it. I’ll monitor this closely.
I sent an online request to a physical therapy place today. Since it is a holiday weekend I requested my first appointment for Wednesday which will be 15 days post-op.
June 30th (10 days post-op)
Arrived back in Portland around 10pm last night. Another Uber to our home. I was exhausted from all the Ubers, trains, and crutching around. Went to bed about 11:30pm and slept pretty good until about 4am when I had to get up to pee. I notice aching starts in my leg around this time. I’m not sure if this is triggered from excessive time laying on my back or still lingering surgical pain. Probably both. I can turn onto my side in bed now, keeping pillows between my knees and feet and moving the lower body as one unit, pinching the knees together when shifting. However, I still can’t spend more than a few minutes on my right side before the hip starts to feel uncomfortable. I can’t wait to be able to actually sleep on my side again.
The incision looks good and I’ve showered twice since returning from Seattle. Both times with Hibiclens.
Overall, the hip/leg feel good but fatigued from all the activity of the past couple days.
June 29th (9 days post-op)
I had my followup appointment with Dr Pritchett today. But first a word about negotiating Uber rides. So far, 3 Ubers have been successfully negotiated. For smaller, lower cars the best method of entry has been to back into the back seat from the passenger side and slide in and remain sitting perpendicular to the seats. Essentially, sitting across both back seats with legs extended. Reverse the process to exit the vehicle. Larger vehicles allowed me to get the leg into the car and sit normally.
At Dr. Pritchett’s office, Susan removed the dressing and said the wound looked good. She provided my wife and I with an instruction sheet of do’s and don’t’s for treating the incision site. No submerging in any kind of water, no steamrooms or saunas, no picking at scabs, etc. Shower and wash, with Hibiclens if available, etc. The incision site feels much better without the dressing on it. I also had x-rays taken which Dr Pritchett reviewed with me. Placement looks good. Images below.
Questions I asked Dr. Pritchett:
- Was my bone quality good? Answer: Yes
- Did I have impingement. Answer: Yes. In any patient with advanced osteoarthritis it is hard to determine if the impingement caused the arthritis or if arthritis caused the impingement.
- Did you repair the capsule and is the 90 degree restriction a precaution to let the capsule heal on the posterior side? Answer: Yes. Dr Pritchett said something to the effect that he repairs the capsule specifically to support a range of motion related to the restriction. He chooses to repair the capsule to support a 90 degree bend because it allows the patient to sit normally in most situations like a car, airplane, dining chair, etc. The 6 week period is to allow the repaired capsule to fully heal.
- Is the hip flexor weakness normal? Answer: Yes8
- My left leg is longer, is this normal? Answer: “I hope it’s longer!” (laughing). Dr Pritchett explained the difference should be about 10mm or essentially the amount of length lost to joint deterioration from the arthritis. Another way to look at is that my right leg is shorter than normal because it’s the bad side now.
- Are MRI’s okay? (concern about heating the component causing loosening) Answer: MRI’s are okay. Cobalt Chromium is not magnetic.
- I have pain and tightness in my thigh, is this normal? Answer: Yes. Dr Pritchett said that in younger patients (I like being referred to as young) he leaves the quadriceps femoris alone. Many times this muscle has modified or shortened from years of compensatory gate. He said that in older patients he will release this tendon which reduces pain because generally older patients are not as active.
- Given that I need my right hip resurfaced, also, do you plan to retire soon? Answer: (chuckling) No plans to retire soon.
Train ride back to Portland this evening. No moving between cars this time.
June 28th (8 days post-op)
Last night before bedtime I noticed itching and burning around the top end of my dressing. When I examined the area in the mirror I discovered red, irritated skin where the medical tape had been applied to fix the dressing issue. There was even a blister in one spot. I contacted a friend who used to be a wound care nurse and is now a product rep for Convatec, the manufacturer of the Aquacel wound dressing that Dr Pritchett uses. She sent me a couple of backup dressings prior to my surgery. After cleaning the area and cutting away the medical tape she advised us to cut a strip off of one of the backup dressings and use it to adhere the original dressing as well as cover the blister with the ionic silver portion of the strip. There was immediate relief from the skin reaction and the dressing looks good today.
Pain: I chose not to take any Tylenol last night before going to bed. As a result, I had some pain in the operative hip/leg that interfered with my sleep. Interestingly, when I got up and moved around on my feet, the pain seemed to dissipate. I am, however, hell bent on not taking anymore Tylenol so I will forego this again.
Travel: Tomorrow is my followup appointment in Seattle. My wife and I are taking the train from Portland this afternoon. There will be a staircase to navigate to get to our seats but I’m not too concerned about doing the “up with the good, down with the bad” technique. I’ll provide an update later on how the travel went. As it turned out, the stairs were easy to navigate, albeit very narrow. The “fun” part was walking between cars as the train was moving. The articulations between cars move quite a bit and this made it challenging and probably dangerous for me to navigate. I made it through without incident but 20/20 hindsight I would not have moved between cars had I known this.
June 27th (7 days post-op)
The past couple of evenings around 7pm-9pm I have noticed something strange. I get really cold even though the temp inside our place is at 76 which normally has me complaining of being too hot. I am cold to the point where I ask my wife to bundle me in blankets as I lay in my zero gravity chair. I am not sweaty, shaky nor do I feel ill during these episodes. Just cold. Then it passes and I am back to normal. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this.
Last night before bed I noticed an adhesive area of the Aquacell wound dressing was rolled up. The dressing area was not exposed. I sent a picture to Susan in Dr Pritchett’s office for advice and she said it’s not uncommon for this to happen now and then and to try to unroll the adhesive and use medical tape to keep it down, which my wife did. All seems good now.
Had a decent nights sleep last night. About 1am I got up to pee then decided to spend the rest of the night on the couch. The hip/leg continues to gain strength and I spend most of the time using one crutch around the house. There is little to no pain in the operative hip. There are some times when I feel some dull pain in the thigh, mainly in the upper outer thigh area. Probably residual effects from the dislocation. I also still feel like the flexor is strained a little bit. It is still weak but better than yesterday.
I cut back the Tylenol to 2 tablets (1,000 mg) only once per day, at around 10pm before I go to bed. I may go cold Turkey tonight. The pain the hip is almost non-existent now. As I stated before, the right hip and knee are aching more at the end of the day now.
5 more weeks of precautions…
June 26th (6 days post-op)
Last night my zero gravity chair sprung a screw and partially collapsed while I was attempting to get up rendering me frozen with terror hoping it would not completely collapse to the floor and jar my hip. I called out to my wife to come and help me out of the chair. As it turns out, the hex screws in the locking levers were loose. We repaired the chair the next morning and pressed it back into service. I’ll be keeping an eye on this going forward. So, I ended up struggling into bed next to my wife with pillows under my knees. I slept on and off until about 4am. I can’t wait to sleep on my side again (with pillow between my knees of course). Being on your back so much gets old quick. I am finding ways to arch, stretch, and flex while laying on my back that provides temporary relief to the back and butt muscles that become achy being in the same position for so long.
My range of motion is improving and the leg is feeling stronger. The charley horse tightness in my quad has improved greatly. I am able to stand with full weight on the leg for a few minutes at a time before the hip area muscles start to ache. I am still using the walker and crutches around the house and plan to do so for another week or so. I want to make sure I don’t fall or slip. The leg is still weak.
I am reducing the Tylenol from 2 tablets every 6 hours to 2 tablets every 12 hours. My poor right hip and knee are doing the lions share of the work when I am up and about and I actually feel more achy pain on the right side (non-operative) than the left when I am in my zero gravity chair.
Continuing PT exercises and increasing the reps each day by 1 or 2. Daily walking is up to around 500 steps according to my Garmin fitness watch but this is only an estimate as it is not recognizing steps I am taking when using the walker since my arms are not really swinging.
June 25th (5 days post-op)
The 4 hour drive home yesterday took a bit of a toll on me. Sitting for that long became a little uncomfortable towards the end of the drive. It was a relief to stand upright when we arrived at home. I purchased a zero gravity chair which is a bit awkward to get into and out of but does well to keep the left leg and hip comfortable and allows for multiple positions when you feel the need to change up the blood flow. The main benefit of this chair is that I don’t need help to get up when I need to use the restroom – at this early stage of recovery, it is still difficult to get into and out of a bed by myself.
At home, my wife and I had to repeat he process of figuring out how to configure furniture, bathroom, living room for optimal access for me. I am still using my walker as I find it easier to deal with when doing things around the house. With crutches, you have to find a place to lean them against the wall when you need both hands. The crutches are better when I have to walk “long” distances as I can move faster and stand more upright.
Swelling is subsiding to the point where my left hip and leg don’t look ballooned anymore. The bruising, however, is spreading now. Deep, dark blue/black/purple bruising which I know is normal.
Pain is still relatively minor although it seems to be focused more in my thigh than the incision area now. Heel slides (knee ups) actually relieve some of the aching in my thigh which is still very tight/knotted but much less so than a couple days ago. I’m considering stopping the Tylenol altogether but will wait to see how the day goes.
June 24th (4 days post-op)
Had another night of decent sleep. I did, however, have night sweats. My head was wet and the towel under my head was wet. So was the collar of the t-shirt I was sleeping in. I’m not too concerned about this as I’ve read this is a common thing a few days out of surgery. It was also a very warm day in Seattle and the apartment we are staying in has no A/C so the temperature inside was around 80. The fans helped but it was still warm.
Only got up once to pee during the night. Took 2 Tylenol at 4:00am. I am thinking about discontinuing all forms of pain meds. There really is no pain when I am sitting or laying. Most of the pain is when I am doing PT or after walking about but it is only minor.
I had a double helping of yogurt/kefit/chia+flax seed this morning primarily because we are driving back to Portland today and didn’t want to have any leftovers go to waste. Then I had some coffee. And then I engaged with great intent in a very successful BM. I showered after and felt great. It was easier getting into and out of the tub today.
The swelling seems to be subsiding very slightly. Bruising is still present but has not spread beyond just the boundaries of the wound dressing. I expected much more bruising by now.
I have noticed that my left leg is slightly longer than the right. I will continue to monitor this and will mention it to Dr Pritchett in my follow-up appointment on June 29th.
June 23rd (3 days post-op)
Decent sleep last night with some minor pain in the early am. I think the pain was related to sitting/laying in the recliner in the same position for several hours, however. I took 2 Tylenol at 4:00am. I can tell my leg is getting stronger as it is easier to move it in all directions but range of motions is still very limited and the quadriceps is very tight still. I am working on stretching this by curling my foot upwards when I am standing. The knee raises while prone also help stretch the quad. I had my yogurt/kefir/flax+chia seed shake around 10am along with 1 325mg aspirin and 2 Tylenol. I also started drinking turmeric mixed with water. I only recently started taking this to see if it makes a difference with generally reducing inflammation. Did PT exercises and walked 160 steps in the evening.
Big milestones today:
- I had my first real BM since surgery. I had a small unsatisfying one the day after surgery but only because I tried to force it in an attempt to activate the bowels. But today’s was legit. The toilet where we are staying is a high-rise so the toiler riser was not needed. Since my HR was done via the posterior approach I was concerned about how much it would hurt to sit on a hard toilet seat after surgery. It wasn’t easy but I managed. I did so by shifting most of my weight onto my right side which alleviated pressure on the incision side. Afterwards, I stood with great pride as I informed my wife of the successful mission.
- After the BM I took a shower which felt great although it was a struggle to get in and out of the tub. The tub floor where we are staying is higher than the floor outside the tub. In occupational therapy training they show you how to put the walker halfway into the tub and raise each leg over the threshold one at a time. It took me a good 15 minutes to figure out how to get into the tub. Luckily, the tub has a grab bar and I figured out a way to get in and out with some help from my wife. It took a lot of effort, however.
June 22nd (2 days post-op)
A better night of sleep last night. I got up twice to pee. Took 2 Tylenol at 3:30am. Woke up at 6:30am. At 9:30am I had my yogurt/kefir/flax+chia seed shake to wash down 1 aspirin and 2 Tylenol. The pain seems to be less so far today. I would say it’s between 0 and 1 when in the recliner and about a 5 when doing PT exercises. Speaking of which, I did PT exercises at 10:45am.The hardest exercise is sliding the leg laterally and back in when laying on my back. Impossible without assistance from my wife but I force myself to try as hard as I can. The knee-ups from the prone position are very difficult but I can tell I am getting stronger and a greater range of motion. There is a pronounced tightness in my quad, almost like a charlie horse. There is also some pain around my knee and in my groin area which may be from the leg torquing when the hip was dislocated. Today my walking goal (with the walker) is 70 steps. I ended up making it 130 steps!
June 21st (1 day post-op)
I had to get up twice during the night to pee. I got to the bathroom using my walker. Pain was moderate while upright but not intolerable. At 3:40am I took two Tylenol. My wife got up about 8am and made us coffee. At 9:45am I took my first dose of aspirin (325 mg) and ate some plain yogurt with honey. I also drank 8 oz of water with Miralax. I did some PT exercises then rested. I did more PT at around 12:45pm. The pain has been greater today. I expected this but am determined to stay on Tylenol and avoid the narcotics. Afternoon walking goal was 60 steps with the walker. Successfully completed. No bruising yet and swelling is minimal. I am icing and elevating almost constantly when not on my walker.
A Hip Resurfacing Story 
Thank you so much for this blog. It really has helped us tremendously, from making a decision, kmowing what to expect, and not panicking 3 days post op!( or just a little panicking..) My husband had surgery Monday by Dr. Su in NYC and each day is getting better. Thanks again!
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Hi Christine. I’m so glad the blog helped you and your husband. Congrats to him for having the courage to go through with it. Dr Su is one of the best. Happy for you both.
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