Things I Didn’t Know Then But I Know Now (One Year)

There are a lot of things that I have realised since my op that either no one told me or I didn’t realise before.  Obviously not all of them would be relevant to everyone’s THR recovery but they were certainly relevant to me!  Obviously I’m not a medical professional either but this was my experience!  I started writing this post just after my hip replacement and there has been plenty to add to it since.

The Hospital Stage

• A general anaesthetic can make you puke.  Lots.  I should have known this but when it happened I was completely mentally unprepared.  Since I’ve spent the last 10+ years successfully avoiding being sick, it wasn’t great.
• I had to have an oxygen tube to start with. This surprised me!
• The whole puking thing also meant I didn’t want to eat because I knew it wouldn’t stay down long.

• I got painted in red antiseptic which made me wake up and think I had something wrong with me.
• I was really swollen near the incision.
• Regardless of what I was told before my op, I still had to wait two weeks to shower.
• The car journey home felt like the worst rollercoaster I’d ever been on!

The Early Stages

• Anti-embolism socks made my heels sore.  I used cotton pads on my heels which helped (although it is not medically recommended).  Someone moisturising my feet helped even more!
• I completely lost my appetite.
• Whatever I was told before my operation, regardless of having a raised toilet seat, I could find NO way to go to the toilet without breaking my 90 degree bend restriction.  Sorry.
• I got SO tired.  Doing basically nothing.  But I couldn’t necessarily sleep at night because it was just so uncomfortable lying flat on my back.

• As well as being tired, my brain was generally very fuzzy (probably the painkillers).
• When I went out in the sun I had a fair few faint moments (woops!)
• My scar pulled the skin around it tight, making a bit of a crater in my flesh!  This happened a little bit with my original scar from my childhood operations but it has been far more significant with my hip replacement scar.

• I had to repeatedly explain why I had had a hip replacement!

The “Crutch Free” Stage

• Post op. walking was not walking.  It was a funny cross between shuffling and marching.

• When I was still on bending restrictions but with the crutches and socks gone, everyone else thought that I was fully recovered.
• Or rather, most people thought I was fully recovered APART from the people who saw me carrying around a pillow so that I could sit down without breaking the aforementioned restrictions.

The Later Stages

• Little things reminded me that I had a false hip but everyone else had forgotten it even happened.
• I started to want to do things that I never planned to do!  The perfect example being my decision to run again.
• I keep discovering things which are a hundred times less painful than they were before I had my new hip – no stirrups riding anyone?

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Restriction Free!

Quite incredibly, it is now twelve weeks since my hip replacement which means I am now restriction free! Although I’ve been looking fairly normal (if a bit lame sometimes) recently, I have still been banned from bending beyond 90 degrees, twisting or crossing my legs.. until Tuesday just gone. So how does it feel?

– Being able to shave my own legs in the shower was a liberating moment!

– Putting on trousers, socks and shoes is so much easier than it was.

– Normal toilet seats are so low! I never thought I’d miss the seat raisers but they were so much more comfortable being tall and wide!

– Crossing my legs felt really weird to start with. Apparently it isn’t good for you anyway so I might continue to try to give it a miss.

– Touching my toes for the first time was magic – I wasn’t sure my muscles would let me do it and they did tighten but I managed!

Generally I am feeling far more relaxed. It is taking a while for the precaution habits to break but I no longer have to think so much about what I am doing or worry that if I pull hay out of Pea’s mouth (like I did the other day) I might be bent more than 90 degrees and my hip might pop out!

Tomorrow I am going to see my surgeon, fingers crossed it is all going as well as I think it is!

Nearly Normal

In one week it will have been two months since my operation which sounds like an awful long time!  I have started to realise how much I have wished away the last two months and am almost surprised to find myself on the uphill to November birthdays and Christmas (my brain still works in school terms).  Things are certainly on the up and I’m getting closer and closer to ‘normal’.

• I’m working a lot more – now a day off is a treat every few days rather than a near everyday occurrence!  Although it would be nice not to have to work, working more is definitely making life feel more normal.
• I am doing more walking (at least 5,000 steps a day).  I’ve moved on from using my crutch and then picking it up to do some unattended walking to leaving my crutch in the car or at home and going about my daily business ‘hands free’.  The other day I walked to see Pea, noticed some ragwort nearby so ended up doing two trips to the field in order to dig it out.  Digging was an interesting one – new leg on the fork or on the floor?  I did a bit of both!
• I’m wearing proper clothes!  The heat wave is over and the good old English rain has arrived which has prompted me to ditch the summer dresses I have been wearing since my operation.  First, I went to leggings (I couldn’t quite face seams near my scar) but I have since rocked jeans, socks, trainers and wellies though I have had to have a bit of help with putting them on!

Yesterday I decided to put my ‘nearly normalness’ to the test.  It wasn’t a normal day.  It was a wonderful, special day – the wedding of a very good friend of mine.  I didn’t want to be that person who made a big scene by rocking up to church with a crutch and my own cushion and I certainly didn’t want to be one of those people who sits at a table all night without dancing.  I am proud to say that I did all of the wedding stuff without using the crutch I had stashed in the corner and I danced the night away (albeit carefully) until nearly midnight.  Don’t ask me how I managed to dance without breaking my hip precautions.. the important thing is I didn’t dislocate my hip!  It was a really lovely day and I was so glad to be a part of it.

Nearly normal is good.  Normal will be even better.  I’m so looking forward to being able to paint my toenails, shave my legs, tie my laces and most importantly, ride my pony!