An update on the hip
Oct. 21st, 2019 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kate_schaeferI have mostly been sleeping, and exercising when not asleep, and then sleeping again because exhausted. Here's the skinny:
The surgery was a success. The patient had more damage going into this than any of us realized. My gluteus medius tendon was torn, so the surgeon had to repair that before going on, and I had a hairline trochanter fracture which may have occurred during the surgery or maybe before, so I have some metal bands holding that together. This does explain all the extra pain I’ve been in recently, though I don’t know when the injuries occurred.
The upshot is that I’m on 25% weight-bearing restriction for the left leg for four-six weeks to allow the fracture to heal. and they kept me overnight at the hospital rather than sending me home right away. I had in-home visits from a PT on Wednesday and again on Friday, and she was awesome. She put me through some excruciating exercises, but now I’m moving much better. She complimented me on my arm strength. Since I can’t put weight on the left leg, it’s a darn good thing we worked on the arm strength some before the surgery. And haha! I’m not allowed to do clams, an exercise I really hate. Heel slides, ankle pumps, gluteal squeezes, tiny squats, and single leg bridge on the right side. It’s a relief to go back to sleep after a full set of exercises.
We had Glenn’s daughter Sam staying with us for a few days to get ourselves into some kind of rhythm. We were prepared for recovery from ordinary hip replacement; we weren't prepared for complications. We're adjusting like crazy. Kaiser is being very good about checking on me, to the point that I was talking to a nurse when the surgeon called on Wednesday.
One of the things that became obvious over the weekend was that we needed to schedule people to relieve Glenn every few days, because caregivers all need time off, and my recovery is more complex than we had expected. We have this week covered, and we expect to need it less as time goes by, because I am recovering well even with the complications, just on a different schedule.
Many thanks to all of you who have wished us well. This should be a big improvement in my life, once I heal.
The surgery was a success. The patient had more damage going into this than any of us realized. My gluteus medius tendon was torn, so the surgeon had to repair that before going on, and I had a hairline trochanter fracture which may have occurred during the surgery or maybe before, so I have some metal bands holding that together. This does explain all the extra pain I’ve been in recently, though I don’t know when the injuries occurred.
The upshot is that I’m on 25% weight-bearing restriction for the left leg for four-six weeks to allow the fracture to heal. and they kept me overnight at the hospital rather than sending me home right away. I had in-home visits from a PT on Wednesday and again on Friday, and she was awesome. She put me through some excruciating exercises, but now I’m moving much better. She complimented me on my arm strength. Since I can’t put weight on the left leg, it’s a darn good thing we worked on the arm strength some before the surgery. And haha! I’m not allowed to do clams, an exercise I really hate. Heel slides, ankle pumps, gluteal squeezes, tiny squats, and single leg bridge on the right side. It’s a relief to go back to sleep after a full set of exercises.
We had Glenn’s daughter Sam staying with us for a few days to get ourselves into some kind of rhythm. We were prepared for recovery from ordinary hip replacement; we weren't prepared for complications. We're adjusting like crazy. Kaiser is being very good about checking on me, to the point that I was talking to a nurse when the surgeon called on Wednesday.
One of the things that became obvious over the weekend was that we needed to schedule people to relieve Glenn every few days, because caregivers all need time off, and my recovery is more complex than we had expected. We have this week covered, and we expect to need it less as time goes by, because I am recovering well even with the complications, just on a different schedule.
Many thanks to all of you who have wished us well. This should be a big improvement in my life, once I heal.
