Post hip replacement problems

Yes you are doing way too much. I got exhausted just reading your post.

Sue,
I agree with everything you said. I don’t do a lot of household chores or cooking and never did.
I do gardening stuff - my garden looks terrible right now.
Probably, I was trying to reassure myself that I could return to my previous life.
And, I can. Just not today.
Thank you.
Again, I love this site.

YES, Yes, yes! You can return to your previous life - it just takes some time. By a year from now, you will have your strength and energy back - just give yourself time.

15 years ago, a friend, mentor and fellow gardener taught me the value of gracefully reaching out. She reached out to us for help in her huge yard - My daughters and I tag-teamed for several summers helping her, until her granddaughter could be taught. From that I learned the value of passing on my passion by working with others, not only as a master gardener, but as a coach in my own yard.

For the two years I was working to recover from 3 hip revision surgeries, my kids helped me when they could, and we just pretended the gardens not visible from the patio didn't exist. My gardening friends stepped in to dig and divide plants for our annual fund-raiser sale.

Then, the kids' lives changed, and I got sick with a bad lung infection, and for those 2 years and part of the following summer, I hired "muscle" a 15yo grand-nephew, for about 4 hours a week and taught him the critical stuff. It was part of a concerted strategy with his grandparents to prepare him for life so I tried to coach work ethic as well. Last year I pushed through on my own, just barely able to "keep up" with the most necessary chores.

This year, I have realized my body will not handle the demands of my multiple gardens, some in need of renovation, and I hired another grand-nephew. He is a blessing! Eager to learn, and the hardest working and most careful teenager (even though not yet 13) I have ever met. He loves to dig, divide, haul dirt and move rocks. This week, with a little input from me, he actually did the design and execution on one of the renovations - a 10 X 24 bed on a berm. It will have a sign naming it "Peter's Garden" when we finish.

So part of my "fun money" will now go to pay for the labor in my yard each year. It allows me more time to appreciate what I have, and offers the opportunity to work one-on-one with young people.
Give your body time to heal - pushing too hard and too soon will make you vulnerable to injury and infection.
Let us know how you're doing in a few weeks.
Sue

I have a confession of sorts to make. Two and a half weeks after my total hip replacement my husband was admitted to the hospital for 3 days and I walked around the hospital with my Walker and thought I was doing okay so after he came home I didn't use the Walker at home and I didn't get a cane because I thought I was doing all right. Got out of the habit of doing my at home PT and my sister came up from Tennessee from my birthday had a few days to visit doing things a little bit out and about and I was a little extra sore that I figured that was part of the course. She's gone home and the last couple days I have been really hurting in my thigh more than I was my knee hurts again and I'm beating myself up over not doing my PT with all the activity that's been going on so I guess I'm asking if anyone knows whether I have damaged anything or if I have just put myself backwards a couple weeks? I'm telling myself today I get back to my PT regularly elevator ice that I hadn't been doing because of everything going on that I will get back to where I was at that two and a half three week mark.

Your post helped me very much especially as I just read it again because I'm having more pain in the right buttock and was wondering if I've injured myself you know like overstretched? I'm not sure how to explain what I'm feeling except that my thighs stinging aching and tingling my knee is hurting again that I'm confess I have had an out of the ordinary past two and a half weeks. My husband was in the hospital for 3 days and I was only two and a half weeks out from surgery and still on my Walker. So needless to say the hospital corridors seemed really long to me and I was trying to push through at times without the Walker because it felt so cumbersome in his room with everything else in there. And I felt a little braver with his bed and a couple chairs close by and then of course the bathroom door everything was within arms reach for me in case I felt unstable. I think because of that 3-day Trek I felt braver when I got home more confident to not use the locker at all and I didn't have a cane and I had been doing pretty well I admit I slacked off my beginning physical therapy exercises they sent home with me during this time because our roles were reversed and I was taking care of him and moving around more stretching reaching and bending. But I was mindful of not pivoting my hip while my leg was stationary. So after my husband was improving it was time for my birthday and my sister came up from Tennessee we had a few days of doing a few things out and about but I was very careful but I also wasn't doing my physical therapy elevating or icing because of a little bit busier schedule. And after she left yesterday started noticing that I'm hurting more in my butt and my thigh top of my thigh where the new hip joint is and trying not to panic like maybe I damaged it somehow? So today I'm being more diligent about icing elevating and unfortunately I'm too sore to do the physical therapy again. So I'm feeling down and guilty! Any advice?

You sound like you are doing very very well. It took me about 5 months to accept that I had a ‘foreign body’ in my body and it made me panic every time I thought about it. I know that’s weird, but I feel no one prepares you for the mental side of this operation, it’s all about recovering from the physical.
I’m sure you’ll be ok, just take time and all will be well.

Hi there. You shouldn’t feel guilty. As long as you are careful you’ll be ok. It’s the unknown isn’t it, have I damaged it, is it dislocated?. Try not to panic, we all go through this. We have to get on with our lives the best way we can. I would say ice ice ice. This really helped me. I’m just over a year in and sometimes still get pain over my scar. Try not to over think things. There’s a lot going on in there and it does take a while. You’re doing great. X

After done reading this requires a medical diagnosis. Have you spoken to a doctor? Can you not go up stairs at all? Some suggestions were weight loss, injections, otc pain relievers, cane etc. I used a cane for six weeks and it made going up the stairs much easier. I got it on Amazon. It was a cane with four rubber feet.

Thank you for the reply/suggestions: I think I have done all of them accept the injections- which I have reservations about. I can go up stairs, but my right leg has to take every step. We have installed a rope for pulling our selves instead of a bannester. (No room) One thing I'm thinking to try is a home-based PT using a very small step (1 or 2 inches) and going up very slowly in heigth and slowly increasing reps. Our stairs are 8 inches (steep) and it will take a while to work up to-maybe. Yes, I have seen a dr. and my PT doc. They basically say to rest it and it does get better. Use is what I'm after. I do use a cane as I have balance problems.(A whole nother diagnosis- I should be in a hospital soap opera!)

How long were you supposed to be using the walker? I didn’t do a single thing without my walker. I do what I’m told. If the doctor said I had to use the walker for six weeks well that’s what I did. Getting better is a job in itself. We drove to the hospital for my six week follow up. I took my walker and used it until the doctor said I could get rid of it BUT he said that I should do what was comfortable for me. I got home, ditched the walker and experienced a lot of pain not realizing that the walker was taking 50 percent of my body weight. I ordered a cane and was so relieved when it arrived two days later. Used the cane for six weeks. I am now six months post op and finally feeling more confident in my walking. It’s been tough but every day gets better. There are no shortcuts. Just remember healing takes time. Don’t be so anxious to move things along. You do not want a setback.