Fractured hip*

@faith123 I am going to invite @Adrainpalmer to this conversation. Her husband had hip revision surgery, perhaps she will be able to offer some information. Also, @mardigras and @Cjropes have had hip surgery and perhaps they can share something about their recovery issues. Teresa

Thank you hopful

Not very well I'm afraid. I've always been very active and it has been a big adjustment for me. My daughter stays with me. She has been a godsend. It's been almost 10 months and still on walker. I can use a cane but feel a little ensucure with it. It's been almost a month since I joined this group. Still haven't got to talk to @rspaulling. I did find her page but it was concerning mental health which I could probably benefit from it have pretty much held on by a thread so far. Thanks for your help.

This july 3 will be 11 mths. Since i fractured my hip. I can take a few steps without the walker but have a bad limp. The dr. Has put me back on pt 3 times a week. Also have found out i have afib and dvt. On blood thinner for that

@faith123, I'd like to introduce you to @gailfaith. While she hasn't experienced a fractured hip (at least I don't think she has), she does go to PT regularly and has a tenacity and dedication that I find encouraging and admirable. I hope by talking with Gail, you'll find inspiration to stick with the PT and keep getting better. Doing a few steps without the walker is a great accomplishment. What motivates you to keep going?

HI faith123. So happens my middle name is Faith and I too am 81. And Colleen is correct, I have not fractured my hip but.........!!!! I have been in PT for over 3.5 years with the same therapist and we have a ball together. I work hard in PT just to see his smile! Fortunately he is only 44 yrs old so will probably be around for me for the rest of my life. I am fighting to stay out of a wheelchair due to a Dr's mistake when he injected an overdose of cortisone into my knee that he had replaced two months previously back in 2006. Up until today, I do not use a cane in the house, but outside walk with two canes to prevent a fall. Just so happens, as of this morning, I have had severe hip pain for the very first time. I no longer drive and I recently got a scooter and there is a path between this retirement community and a great grocery store which is also a restaurant, gift shop and ice cream shop. But the path is gravel and very bumpy and I am afraid the bumpy path is precipitating hip pain. I was fine when I went to bed last nite and woke up with leg, knee, hip and back pain. That is why I wrote above " but............!!!!!". Until now today I have not had any pain, so I do a lot of walking. When I first started PT, I was doing Rx exercises in a pool but now, I just do about 15 minutes of Rx exercises first thing every morning, and last Aug I started a walking project. But before that, I used a walker but stopped using that as I think my gait got worse with it. So now I use no canes in the house but two canes outside to prevent a fall. I bought a measuring wheel and it is tied to my left cane and drags behind me and measures the distance I walk to a fraction of an inch. As of last weekend I reached 100 miles......yes, that is miles. But with this new hip and leg pain, I may have to curtail my walking for a while. I hope not. I usually see the surgeon who replaced my knees every 2 years , but with this walking, I decided to see him a year early to check to see what if any thing adverse is happening to my knees. So I had scheduled an appt with him this coming Thursday, but this time we will add the hip to his "looking". It is after midnight now, as I fell asleep in a reclining chair until just before midnight. and am writing to you.... now 12:37 AM. Do you use the walker for pain or because you are afraid of falling without it. If you use if for fear of falling, why don't you try using two canes. I started using the walker way back because I noticed that others with a walkers, their gait seemed very good, but I didn't want to be tied to a walker until I really needed it. WIth two canes, I pay attention to my gait and usually I can step out with it, however I don't' walk fast. It takes me about 12 minutes to walk 1000 feet! But I am still walking! I'd better get to bed. Hope to "connect" with you. Oh yes, before I close....when I reached 50 and now 100 miles I bought a cake to celebrate for my therapist and his staff. On it I had them draw a cane with a measuring wheel tied to it, and the words "XXX" miles.
Gail.

I have alwaysbeen an independent person. I'm not very good at sitting and my family is getting so they expect more than they give.i need my life back

I wish I could be as upbeat as you seem to be. I lost my husband 2yrs before this happened.I also have afib and dvt which i didn't know before surgery. I passed out in my kitchen and broke my hip Aug 3 last year. Have rod and screws. Spent 9 days in hospital. 7 in icu due to blood clot to lung. Went to skilled nursing and rehab from there for i think a month. Have had a round of pt at home for a few weeks. This month the Dr. Started me on more pt 3 times a week. I have same pt as before.The bad leg is shorter and side muscles are very weak. I use walker mostly but have a cane that i use some. I had never broken a bone before and I've never been in such pain. I'm also going through some problems with family. I have 2 children a son whom is disabled and a daughter that stays here also with minor disabilities. The trouble is 2 of her grown children followed her.Neither work.Oh well, shows how dumb I am.
Back to the leg. I can walk a few steps but have bad limp. I live in N.C. where are you? Thanks for listening. Any suggestions will be welcome. Faith123

Hi Faith....good to hear from you. I guess I am upbeat, though my PT says I am very negative......in fact we have a code between us....If I think I am being negative , I meow. If positive, I bark. Not sure he has ever meowed to me or barked at me!!! As I've said, we have fun together.

Glad to hear you do try using canes. But since I don't LIMP as you do, I am not sure if that would work for you as well as it works for me. But is sure is worth the try as you become much more mobile.

The reason I have been in PT for over 3 years, is that because of that overdose of cortisone, I now have a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy.and they say I can never get better only worse and that started in 2016. However, my PT seems to think he can over "ride" that thought! I moved to this retirement community in 2010 and back then I could still walk well, Now I can still walk, but definitely not as well.....and a lot slower.

You are fortunate to still have some family. I have no living relatives, except for my Step Mom who is still alive, but is 96 yrs old and lives up in NY near the Canadian border..I was raised in Yonkers, NY, just north of New York CIty but was moved to Doylestown, PA just north of Philly during a company merger in 1986 and to here in 2010. "Here" is in Lancaster, PA as my college room mate lives about 4 miles from me. However, she is now legally blind and between the two of us, neither drives so we haven't seen each other for a while. Technically I am just north of Lancaster, in Lititz,, PA. ONe of the reasons I moved west from being above Philly is that in checking out retirement communities, I realized the further west I went the cost of retirement community living got cheaper....not cheap, just cheaper! I used to train guide dogs for the blind, so when I became disabled I trained my dog to be MY service dog, but he died back in Jan of 15 suddenly from an apparent stoke. He was an incredible dog. I think he laid awake at night thinking up things he could do for me, and he surely came up with some brilliant ideas on his own!!!!!!! FOr example, I did train him to bring me a portable phone in case I fell and needed help. ONe day I did fall and I was bleeding profusely, and I need help to get up, so I couldn't use my cell to call for help. So I asked him to bring me a phone, and after he handed me the phone while I was still on the floor waiting for help to arrive, he brought me HIS pillow! I would have never thought to train him that. That was HIS idea alone!

What do you do to keep busy.? DId I tell you any details of my "walking Project?" I'm ,afraid if I go back to look at what I've already told you, I may lose what I have written now! Gail

Hey Gail, what a coincidence, my Father in law was blind and several service dogs down through the years . He owned a piano store here in Winston Salem. Sales tuning and servicing.He met Mom in school for the blind in Raliegh.She taught piano. They had 5 children all sighted. I had to have my little furbaby put to sleep before xmas. 10 yrs old with cushings . Sure hurts doesn't it?
I work crosswords, Facebook and watch tv. I am now getting pt 3 times aweek. I do think i didn't limp as bad today, but my pulse rate goes wild every time I walk. Afib acting up i suppose. I also have copd. I thought about retirement living at one time but expence is high and want to be home as long as I can. The nursing rehab was a bad experience for me. So understaffed. Best wishes and prayers going up for you. Keep me posted on your self. Faith Starling