I survived!

[FarmerDave]

I'm happy for you and your successful surgery, but you are scaring me a little bit. I too may need surgery. About a month to be up and getting around? Depending on what you mean by up and getting around, I don't have a month right now. Would you do me a favor and let me know how long it take you to be able to at least get around the house as well as you were before the surgery?

 

[gulfgreyhound]

My wife was up and walked out of the hospital the NEXT DAY> She hasn't slowed down since the surgery. The"rule" hips easy, knees mid way , shoulders longer process.to get back to "normal". GG

 

[Acristickid]

Be well PA fly fish brethren!

 

[AndyP]

Happy for you West Branch ! I just had surgery myself on 4/11 and I take nothing for granted now that I'm closer to 60 . Hope you're back on the water sooner than later !

 

[FarmerDave]

I saw the specialist today, and he took some more X-rays. He showed them to me and they were pretty ugly. Bone o bone, and a lot of spurs. He asked, why did you wait so long?

He was an interesting guy with impressive credentials. In addition to him asking why I waited so long, he said, "you're an engineer, when a part wears out, you replace it, right." I said, apparently you never saw my old tractor.

Looks like I will be scheduling a replacement. They do it as an outpatient, and likely the posterior approach. PT will likely be closer to home.

 

[mtelesha]

I found out I have AVN (AKA my femur bone is dead at the head on both hips) and total hip replacement is like 90% of people need to get it. The doctor says I have had it for 4 years so maybe it just stays stable??? Thank you everyone that shared their experiences. The one thing I was worried about was fly fishing. Now I am not concerned except that my wife will have to care my load for a few weeks.

 

[KeviR]

Good luck Matt. Replaceable parts are a wonderful invention.

 

[ryansheehan]

I couldn't find my original thread on my hip replacement surgery. I had it yesterday and everything went very well. Actually I was told by a nurse I would go home today which is very unusual. However when my surgeon's PA came in this morning he told me my hemoglobin numbers were way down. Normal low would be 15, I'm only 7.9.i was anemic coming in to the surgery. I lost about one unit of blood. One more day of observation is good. Better to be here if a situation arises than being at home

Glad to hear it Matt! You'll be on the river in no time.

 

[rrt]

1. Matt -- Congratulations. Hope you're back on the water soon.

2. Farmer Dave -- I hope you get the news you're hoping to get. Good luck.

 

[Prospector]

Matt, I’m glad everything worked out for you. Hopefully I’ll see you this fall.

 

[wbranch]

I found out I have AVN (AKA my femur bone is dead at the head on both hips) and total hip replacement is like 90% of people need to get it. The doctor says I have had it for 4 years so maybe it just stays stable??? Thank you everyone that shared their experiences. The one thing I was worried about was fly fishing. Now I am not concerned except that my wife will have to care my load for a few weeks.

That is what my diagnosis was. Avascular Necrosis of both hip joints. I learned that it likely was because over many years I was prescribed way too much prednisone to alleviate my moderate COPD exacerbations.

I forgot how painful the recovery is. You must follow then prescribed exercises at least twice a day as well as do out patient physical therapy until you are told you can stop. I won't be allowed to drive until May 17th.

 

[FarmerDave]

I noticed some talk about whether to expect new hip to be as good as the one I was born with.

Ironically, I was at the grocery store the other day and an elderly lady (compared to me) started talking to me. I passed her a couple times while struggling along with my cane. She asked me if I had my hip replaced. I told her it's scheduled. She advised that I take it easy on the new one, because she wore one out. As it turned out, she had both replaced, one of them twice. Taking it easy is not in my nature.

I'm actually hoping it will be better because the original one was deformed probably from birth, which caused the premature deterioration in the first place. The surgeon named the condition, and I should have had him write it down for me so I could look it up. Basically, the angle of the femoral neck is too straight. This caused significant decrease in mobility with my left leg, all my life. I have always had trouble putting sock and shoe on my left foot. But the right was fine. Also, my left leg is shorter than my right.

Because of my size, and my relatively young age (63) the surgeon is going to replace the joint with a ceramic hip and also lengthen it. A ceramic one will last longer.

So yea, I am hoping the new one will be better than the original one, but I will be happy as long as this pain goes away.

A lot of things need to happen between now and the surgery, and I am starting to worry whether or not it will get done.

 

[djs12354]

Good Luck with the surgery!

 

[Tigereye]

Happy for you. Get home and heal up. Youll be on the river in no time

 

[wbranch]

My first week at home was difficult. Lots of pain and very hard to get around. By the 3rd week I was done with the walker, was driving, and I was on the lawn mower. Still very weak in the surgical leg. PT 3x a week.

 

[Bamboozle]

I noticed some talk about whether to expect new hip to be as good as the one I was born with.

Ironically, I was at the grocery store the other day and an elderly lady (compared to me) started talking to me. I passed her a couple times while struggling along with my cane. She asked me if I had my hip replaced. I told her it's scheduled. She advised that I take it easy on the new one, because she wore one out. As it turned out, she had both replaced, one of them twice. Taking it easy is not in my nature.

I'm actually hoping it will be better because the original one was deformed probably from birth, which caused the premature deterioration in the first place. The surgeon named the condition, and I should have had him write it down for me so I could look it up. Basically, the angle of the femoral neck is too straight. This caused significant decrease in mobility with my left leg, all my life. I have always had trouble putting sock and shoe on my left foot. But the right was fine. Also, my left leg is shorter than my right.

Because of my size, and my relatively young age (63) the surgeon is going to replace the joint with a ceramic hip and also lengthen it. A ceramic one will last longer.

So yea, I am hoping the new one will be better than the original one, but I will be happy as long as this pain goes away.

A lot of things need to happen between now and the surgery, and I am starting to worry whether or not it will get done.

My surgeon told me anyone who tells you a replacement hip will be better than the one you were born with is either a liar or God. Your situation is completely different so I hope in this case my surgeon is wrong.

However I already pledged to myself and my surgeon that I was going to do my best to make the replacement last as long as possible. That means NO more running for exercise, (only if my house catches on fire ) so it's walking, stationary bike, elliptical trainers only and no jumping off of high places, etc.

Hardly a huge lifestyle change for me but there are folks out there because of "marketing" by orthopedic centers that try and do everything they did before, AFTER a joint replacement.

My surgeon feels this is misleading and it is why he feels the way he does...

Good luck with your procedure!!

 

[FarmerDave]

Thanks.

To be clear, my surgeon never said that the new hip will be better than the original one, and if he did, I wouldn't have believed him. He knows I am a retired engineer. All he said is this will be the only way to get rid of the pain I am experiencing now. I expressed on my own and only on here that I hope it is better than the original, but will be happy if the pain goes away. I'll revise that and say I'll be happy if most of the pain goes away.

I don't run anymore, and don't plan to start. The only time I ran in resent years is when I was chased, and I sold the bull two years ago. Not many things around here are going to chase someone my size, unless I do something really stupid. I'm retired and in no hurry.

I however do plan to go back to heavy lifting, cutting wood, etc.

 

[FarmerDave]

My first week at home was difficult. Lots of pain and very hard to get around. By the 3rd week I was done with the walker, was driving, and I was on the lawn mower. Still very weak in the surgical leg. PT 3x a week.

Thanks for the follow up. I think I can live with that.

 

[Bamboozle]

Thanks.

To be clear, my surgeon never said that the new hip will be better than the original one, and if he did, I wouldn't have believed him. He knows I am a retired engineer. All he said is this will be the only way to get rid of the pain I am experiencing now. I expressed on my own and only on here that I hope it is better than the original, but will be happy if the pain goes away. I'll revise that and say I'll be happy if most of the pain goes away.

I don't run anymore, and don't plan to start. The only time I ran in resent years is when I was chased, and I sold the bull two years ago. Not many things around here are going to chase someone my size, unless I do something really stupid. I'm retired and in no hurry.

I however do plan to go back to heavy lifting, cutting wood, etc.

If it makes you feel any better, last year prior to my surgery I hired a friend (who coincidentally is a full time farmer who lives down the road) to cut down a few trees on my property.

This year on the new hip I cut down five so far and I have two more to go, all felled & bucked with no issues. As a matter of fact, it felt really good to do something that strenuous with no pain, just the usual muscle soreness.