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Follow up to THIS post
This second post about my hip replacement will bring my blog up to speed and also serve as a reminder for myself in the future. When I went back to my old blog posts after my first hip replacement, I didn't post as much as I should have.
I'm not going to make this mistake again. Much of this will be self-serving as I know replacements are not forever and will be looking back on this later down the road.
Two Weeks Ago
The first two weeks I spent living in a recliner and unable to walk. I only stayed in bed when I slept. The problem with the bed was that I couldn't get out of it. It took me two weeks to discover that I could jam my cane into the wall to sit up and then hook my foot with it. Even with this trick, it still took 10-15 minutes to get out of bed. I stopped all fluids two hours before bed so I would not wake up twice a night needing to take a piss.
When I left the hospital the day after surgery, my leg was 50% larger than my other leg. I couldn't see my knee cap. At my two-week follow up, I was told to cut back on the activity I was doing because the swelling in my leg hadn't subsided. I questioned this because I didn't feel I was doing much at all. I was walking 40 feet five to six times a day (with a cane) and going up and down eight steps (with handrails) a few times a day. I was also doing leg extensions and ab, glute, and thigh contractions several times a day. Overall, much less than I did after my first replacement. I dialed it way back because of the swelling. I was also using a Game Ready device several times a day. After that appointment, I was sent to the hospital to check for blood clots- all good there.
When I got home, I texted my primary care physician to inform him they were full of shit at my follow up appointment and that I needed to do more moving around. After sending him a video and pics, he agreed that I was doing too much and told me to plant my ass. This lead to two more weeks in the recliner and the addition of heat compresses.
Summary of first 3 weeks
- Couldn't shit for 10 days
- Hemroids
- Couldn't sit up straight for 7 days
- Leg swollen 50% more than normal
- Outside of leg felt like clay
- Couldn't walk without support for 10 days- walker for first 4, then cane the rest of the time.
- Couldn't sleep through the night
- Taking a piss was very hard the first week
- Quad and hip pain was moderate to bad. First week was bad.
- First 5 days I was not able to take care of myself
- 25-pound weight loss
- All joints started to hurt BAD
- Very hard to get out of bed
The Fourth Week
Tuesday, February 14th, was the four week post-op and transition to my primary care physician. I trust him and feel that he knows me better than all the surgical assistants I have ever seen. The swelling was gone, but I'm left with two large hematomas. One is 7 inches long running down the side of my quad to my knee, the other is in the hip region.
It's always a good time when your doctor calls the interns in the office... "you guys HAVE to see this."
I have a 25-year history with him, so things like this don't bother me at all. He took my lab work and told me to start moving and gave me the 'ok' to train. I can't remember a single time since I began training that I took four weeks off. It's great to be training again!
I have been squatting every day and pushing PNF stretching to get my range of motion back. The rehab I'm doing (multiple times per day) works on joint stability and range of motion. This changes based on what I feel like doing. Each session lasts between 10-15 minutes and will be covered more in my next post.
