Total Hip Replacement - Personal Experiences??

[LiamHaddock]

I'm out of surgery and all went well...
Was really sore when first woke up..
Pain pump works good though!
So looking forward to being recovered and possibly will be able to leave Sunday instead of Monday from the hospital. The sooner I'm hope the better.
Besides pain all is well.
I will keep this thread updated as best I can so others will know what to expect in they ever need it done.
I got ceramic-on-ceramic hip and should hopefully be biking by end of summer and maybe snowboarding this winter if not next!

[looking4one]

Good for you. Glad all worked out well for you. May you have a speedy recovery.

[LiamHaddock]

Well its Saturday morning not quite 24hrs since I had my hip replaced..
Yesterday after surgery, the incision, muscles around hip were very inflamed and sore..
Today so far its a lot better. I've been keeping Ice on incision/hip almost non stop which seems to be helping.

It still hurts to move from back/side and get up to use washroom.
Yesterday was a lot of sleeping and being woken up to take more blood pressure and with foot press and lift nurses hand and run her finger up foot to make sure I can feel it and it seems good so far!

I've been on an pain pump of morphine which I have been pressing a lot and works very well.
I find I often nod off and go to sleep shortly after a couple pumps every hour or two for a little bit.

Today they will be trying to get me walking around on a walker and they have started giving me tylenol extra strength and oxycontin in pill from, while still leaving morphine pump it to use as well as I am still quite sore but seems to be getting less painful or maybe I'm just really full of painkillers after taking them non stop for almost 24hrs since surgery.

The goal is minimize pain pump use and only use when oxys and other pills giving me are not working well enough.
Once I'm off pain pump and show I can move around well on walker..Ill be sent on my way home with some oxycontin pills. Hopefully tomorrow but monday at latest it sounds like!

As the pain gets better, I will be to my normal prescription of Percocet & Medical Cannabis for breakthrough pain and then get off painkillers all together and stick to Medical Cannabis for rest of recovery and then hopefully I'll be able to enjoy marijuana for more recreational use than medical..My Medical Cannabis bills got very expensive In last year, so it will be nice to see the amount I'm having to spend go down!

The hospital staff has been fantastic (Im at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody, BC)
Very accommodating and trying to make everything go as smooth and painless as possible.
Pain pump, Oxys ect...have made me dizzy/vision not 100% sharp and hard to read text on laptop ect at times..
Mentally I can also tell my mind is slower/off at the moment with all painkillers..But pain is manageable and its not like I'm having to use my brain much just sitting in hospital talking/watching tv and then just passing out again lol.

With majority of my family including my mom in the Fraser Valley it made more sense to recover here where I have more of a support network. I will be staying at my moms in Mission, BC for recovery for the next while..Also my Both my cars on manual and its my left hip that got replaced so I won't be driving/pushing clutch anytime soon myself!, so will need mom to take to physio appointments and stuff. Looking forward to some time at moms and spending time with family and enjoying some home cooking!

One day at a time but pain definitely is not as bad as I was expecting to wake up to this morning!
Over all I'm very happy and excited today that I have my new hip and will be moving forward with my life!
I'm used to being in pain lately so whats another while longer well I heal...my recovery/pain is only going to be for a couple months and then hopefully pain free most of the time and hiking, snowboarding ect..will be activities I can do again and won't have to be constantly medicated up 24/hrs a day!

Anyways im off for an xray now...good timing to wrap this up!
Hope everyone else is having a good weekend!

[LiamHaddock]

Today has not been as great. I overdid myself and walked around with my walker to much yesterday with family and friends visiting. I ended up in a lot of pain last night. By this morning I was feeling better but really drained. After blood tests determined I have low hemoglobin levels it was decided I needed to stay tonight as well and and have a couple blood transfusions.
So I'm on my second one now and starting to feel more alert and awake again.. my pains gotten better and I'm off the pain pump and only taking oral pain meds oxycontin, anti inflammatories and tylenol. Ive thrown up a few times..
I think to much pain meds not enough food.. they put something in IV to help with that as well so no longer throwing up..

My mom brought me some food to so I actually got to eat something besides hospital food. A physio therapist came by and made me do some stretches which were really painful... but ill have to keep at them!

Overall not to bad of a day and hopefully if nothing else comes up I'll be able to leave the hospital tomorrow sometime!

[looking4one]

Lesson learned.....don't rush/overdo it. Baby steps.

[LiamHaddock]

yep i learned that one lol.. I definitely gotta take it slower...Just because im feeling good doens't mean my body is feeling good. like you said I gotta take it slow baby steps, exercises daily and slowly work up the amount daily not zero to 100 right away lol!

[ferri]

don't get in such a big hurry! i'm glad to hear you are doing better than you were earlier. thank you very much for the update! i just came in to ask if anyone had heard from you today. :)

[LiamHaddock]

Thanks for all well wishes and comments! Last 24hrs was not fun at all.. I was pretty sore from overdoing it the day before and ended up having to get 2 blood transfusions...Last night for several hours I was very sick..throwing up non stop..honestly would've considered death if it was an option lol. They're not sure if it was all the painkillers and lack of food, blood transfusions or what made me so sick but yeah it was not fun.. Pain wise I wasn't doing bad this morning..only had to take 2 oxys so far today and no IV morphine drip since yesterday! My blood tests came back good, hemoglobin still low but way better than before. I finally was released a couple hours ago and am now back at my moms house for the recovery stage. I'm still really not feeling good and nauseous but its getting better hr by hr. I think it most likely was high doses of pain meds. Smoking some medical marijuana defiantly made me feel better though now that I'm home. I only smoked twice at hospital because I had to get someone to wheelchair me to the parking lot to do so as hospital is smoke free. I can respect that but it was still ruff, marijuana is great for offsetting nausea and pain. Oh and lucky me, I hate needles and I have to have an injection everyday for the next 30days to stop blood clotting...not thrilled about that one lol! It's been a long few days but I'm glad to be out of the hospital and I'll keep updating everyone as I move through the healing and recovering process! I hope everyone had a more enjoyable weekend than me, it looks like it was an awesome weekend from all the beach/sunny pics that we're blowing up my facebook!

[Bsuds]

Just think about how much better you will feel when it is all healed.

[occasional thoughts]

LiamH, I could mention the assisted dying debate, based on your own comment up a few posts, but it would probably fall somewhere between very black humour and poor taste, so I won't. Best!

[LiamHaddock]

I haven't updated in a couple days and I definitely have some stories to tell and and update!
First of all its so much better being out of the hospital! Now an apartment is not set up as well as a hospital though...
We took the boxspring off my bed and just have the top mattress on for now which makes the bed lower/easier to get in and out of. We got a raised toilet seat which helps as the angle is less painful. Putting shorts/sweats on can be challenging at first i used a cane to pull shorts over and up but I could reach it was just easier, now its pretty easy unless I'm really sore.
I've been really sore most of the time and sleeping a lot. Getting around the apartment has been ok except some places are to narrow for walker and I have to just use 2 canes or walls ect for support if needing to go into those areas.

Now if you like laughing at others pain you will like this next part, your welcome lol! So my incision bandage has been sore and pretty much full of blood and nastiness since day one but have been told wait one week (tomorrow) to change and it was normal . Well I wake up at 3:30am this morning and my incision really hurts and the bandage has a lot of pressure..Up to the bathroom to investigate/possibly change the bandage 1 day early I think. Remember earlier I said some areas are to narrow for the walker?, well yes the bathroom is one of those areas, but in the main bathroom there is shower with sturdy handle, a counter and towel rack mounted to the wall.. Well I go to brace my self on towel rack to move forward and the towel rack rips off the wall and I fall to the ground hugging the toilet screaming in pain!, mom rushes out of bed and off to the ER, thankfully not even .5km away from my moms. I'm SO LUCKY I fell on my right side and not my left(new hip) side. Now we didn't have xrays done but hours later my right big toe is either really stubbed or hopefully not fractured...it could've been so much worse though. The doctor did blood tests, took a look changed my bandage and sent me home. So ya moral of the story is just because you "think its sturdy or properly mounted" doesn't mean it is. I now have a set of canes by that bathroom as well to use instead!
Im feeling much better now than even yesterday before the fall though so it was a wild night but I'm still moving forward!

I'll update again soon!

[ferri]

i'm sorry. i did snicker. will you forgive me?

very glad to hear you didn't cause any damage to your hip! your poor toe though! (and that towel rack will never be the same...)

[LiamHaddock]

i'm sorry. i did snicker. will you forgive me?

very glad to hear you didn't cause any damage to your hip! your poor toe though! (and that towel rack will never be the same...)

I definitely forgive you, you gotta be able to laugh and stay positive even when things get negative! Once I knew I was ok and the painkillers kicked In I was making jokes and even my mom was laughing at me a bit for being "so dumb as to think the towel rack could support my weight", im only 130lbs on a good day, thanks mom!" It had before though.. I guess the first few times just loosened it up for its pending failure!
I am just very relieved I didn't do something crazy like dislocate new hip and need emergency surgery or something..lesson learned! I can live with a sore toe its the least of my concerns right now lol!

[looking4one]

I am glad to see that you have retained your sense of humour through all of this. In about 6 weeks, you will be laughing at your experiences and telling the stories to your friends. Good for you!

[LiamHaddock]

Just thought I'd update again!
Its been over a week since surgery now!
Everyday the swelling is going down and I'm getting more range of movement.
Im very tired and sleeping lots. Each day is getting better though!
Hope all is going well with everyone else!