Hip Replacement Surgery - One Man's Journey. Week Two
Mr P had total hip replacement surgery on 12th April. This is a diary of his journey to recovery. We had many questions that the internet just didn't answer. Is this normal? Am I recovering fast enough? This is one man's journey, hopefully it will fill in the gaps.
Day 8- Thursday
Mr P continues to do his exercises. Flexing toes, walking, lowering himself slightly and so on but the swelling makes it difficult. His leg is now going a lovely yellow colour as the bruise shrinks. Elevating his leg does help with the swelling but it never actually goes. It has reduced, at it's worse it was like a tree trunk, you couldn't see his knee at all. Now there is a definite bump where a knee should be.
Mr P is still struggling to sleep at night on his back. He is getting up at five thirty am as he can't stay in bed longer.
Bear, our two year old grandson, is going to visit on Saturday. Mr P isn't sure if he will be OK. He's concerned that Bear will jump up on him.
Day 9- Friday
After a good day yesterday Mr P has dropped his morning Morphine tablet. He is on slow release twice a day. I would like him off it sooner rather than later but obviously do not want him in pain. Mr P is reluctant to stop any pain relief as he is now without pain, except for the swollen leg, for the first time in years.
We still only have one pair of compression socks as the hospital is out of stock in his size. We are taking them off, washing them, drying them and putting them back on as quickly as we can, we can't do it every day so we may have to buy more. His skin underneath the stockings gets very dry so I am rubbing in moisturising cream.
Day 10 - Saturday
Mr P had a good day without Morphine but has one before bed. He is still only managing a few hours sleep each night because sleeping on his back causes him pain everywhere. His back, his elbows and his heels. He gets up early and then falls asleep on the sofa.
Bear visits with his Mummy and Daddy and he is good as gold. He asks if he can have a cuddle, he gently touches Grandads leg and says "hurt". He understands that he has to be careful around Grandad, lets hope its not for too long and they will be running around together soon. Bear has spent his whole life knowing that he has to wait for Grandad to catch up, that he can't get on the floor to play and football is not possible.
Day 11- Sunday
Mr P is walking outside He has no trouble with curbs or the uneven surface just now his knee hurts. We think it may be that he's not keeping his leg straight or that his knee is taking the weight from his hip. His hip feels great. No pain at all.
When we take his stocking off his foot is badly bruised. Right down to his toes and underneath. His ankle is also giving him some pain due to the swelling. He is on blood thinners and his calf doesn't hurt so we think it is just effects from the surgery. His other leg is fine, no swelling or pain.
Day 12 - Monday
Mr P tried dropping one dose of paracetamol yesterday but his thigh aches and the swelling is worse. The bruising is definitely getting better and only a few patches of purple remain. His foot is worse, the bruising is still coming out. We are not sure what has caused it but the district nurse is visiting on Thursday so we'll check with her.
Mr P is walking further outside, just a little more each day but his shoes and boots do not fit due to the swelling so he's wearing slippers. I hope no-one notices and think he's escaped from a home!
Day 13 - Tuesday
The top of Mr P's leg is fine. The swelling seems to be mainly below the knee. His toes are still very bruised but feel warm to the touch and do not hurt. They only hurt when I prod the bruises (oops sorry). Mr P weighed himself and his weight is the same. This is good news as his immobility lends itself to weight gain.
Day 14 - Wednesday
Two weeks. Mr P is now doing much longer walks, twice a day. He had some pain in his thigh afterwards but it is most probably due to the damage done to the muscle during surgery. He will see what it is like tomorrow and if it still hurts then reduce the distance and just do more frequent shorter walks. The swelling is getting him down, we have ordered more stockings from Amazon and some gel packs we can freeze. We will try elevating his leg and ice and see if that helps at all. Tomorrow the nurse visits to check his wound. The dressing hasn't been off for over a week so hopefully it's all healed and beautiful underneath.
You may also like to read Hip Replacement Surgery - One Man's Journey. Week One
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Glad to see an improvement, hope people that are going through the op see this x
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