Getting a hip replacement...

Granny

Granny

One day at a time...
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Location
Cabarrus County (Rimertown)
Most of y'all are too young to be dealing with this sort of stuff yet, but assuming some of you may have had parents, grandparents or just friends who underwent this procedure I would like to hear how things went for them. If the schedule doesn't change, I will be having this done in October. I have heard both good and bad. I really don't have a choice. If I don't get it done I won't be able to walk for too much longer. The pain is BAD! Appreciate any feedback.
 
A few of my parents friends have had hip replacements. All of them wished that they had done it earlier instead of suffering for so long while putting it off.

My wife is only 43 and has been told a hip replacement is in her future. For now she is just pushing through the pain because if she has it done in the near future, she will likely have to have it done again.

Good luck.
 
My dad had one almost two years ago at age 78. He said he should have had it done years before as he didnt realize how bad it had gotten. He was up walking around and up and down steps within hours of the surgery. Recover was a breeze and so was rehab. Overall he was extremely surprised and very relieved. He is now waiting to get his other one done and is looking forward to not having the pain.
 
No hip but just had a knee done. My Physical Therapist said hips are not as bad as knees to rehab. I'll take her word on that.

The only thing I can offer is do your therapy religiously. It really does help.

I'm at 5.5 weeks post surgery and close to 80-90%. Now driving (right knee so I was delayed a bit) and going to test it out at the web wheelers event. If that goes well, going to Dixie Run.
 
My grandmother at 93 had her hip replaced, was walking the day it done.


Good luck.
 
I've heard from customers at work (an auto shop is about like a barber shop LOL) that hips are easier to recover from than knees. I know a guy mid 30s who's had both hips replaced. He said it wasn't as bad as he thought it'd be but he's young too. Everyone said they wish they'd done it sooner.
 
Infection would be the only risk I’d worry about. Once established it can be a bitch to get cleaned up. Shouldn’t happen as these have become routine now. As I understand it, as long as they enter from front it’s much easier recovery than from the back. Larger muscles to move from anterior entry and worse recovery. Good luck with the procedure.
 
One grandmother had 1 or 2 done, but I can't even remember back that far. My mother had 1 replaced, in her late years, due to a fall. It seemed to go simple, but the Therapist had a hard time getting her to take therapy. Hospital basically kicked her out after a week. Mom was fine, & no pain after healing, but she always had a limp, afterwards. IF, she had cooperated, in therapy, she wouldn't have limped! That was probably 15 years ago, so now days, the operation should be a breeze. They also use Much better materials!
 
I meant to say earlier, Dad was in the hospital 2 nights, would have only been 1 but he couldnt urinate. I never saw the man drink so much water so fast once the doc told him he would have to stay a 3rd night if he didnt get on with it haha
 
I appreciate all the comments! Thank you all!!! A good friend of Darlene's, who recently had a hip replacement, told her to tell me " a hip replacement is a piece of cake... Don has nothing to worry about!" Seems you folks pretty well backed her up. Thanks again!!! :)
 
For me the pain was ehh, after i had it. I felt better almost immediate.
I was in the hospital for about 3/4 days .(they needed the watch my INRish level)
I had titanium/titanium (no plastic in there)
I had been going on the referb sense i was 18/19 until the technology caught up...
MikesHips1.jpg
 
Question for you Mike... what was your pain like prior to replacement? Was it just in the joint area or all over the legs? My left hip joint is hurting BAD, mostly in the inner thigh area, but at times goes to the back, side and down the leg clear to the foot. I also have a hurting right heel which could be a spur, stone bruise or it could be sore from compensating for the left hip. Any ideas?

BTW... your adopted mama said to tell you Hi! :)
 
I had my right one done in 2014 (metal/metal) when I was 50 yrs old after more than 10 years of trying to make it last. I was in severe pain and there was a lot of damage in the joint. Honestly, recovery was a lot more painful than I thought it would be (i can't take pain meds and there was a ton of damage that the surgeon didn't know about) but after that sufferfest, there was a day when the pain was less than before surgery and then it was awesome after that. Once you hit that point in recovery you'll be loving life again. Zero pain since. However mine was an extreme case so you may waltz out of surgery with minimal pain. Make sure you put major effort into physical therapy afterwards to get the maximum benefit of your new joint, especially if you went into surgery compensating for it, which can mess with your muscles and ligaments (good idea to get as flexible as possible going into surgery). My left one needs replacing but I'm trying to make it last as long as possible.

tl;dr: you will feel so much better and will get your life back

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
 
The pain will be up to you and what you have had threw out your life.
Me knowing you, I would say you'll be fine with the replacement surgery.
You'll have surgery pain but what will be gone is the hip joint pain.
.
:) I miss you guys
 
Spacebat said:
If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Click to expand...

Appreciate your reply and info, and I wish you the very best with yours.


yager said:
The pain will be up to you and what you have had threw out your life.
Me knowing you, I would say you'll be fine with the replacement surgery.
You'll have surgery pain but what will be gone is the hip joint pain.
.
:) I miss you guys
Click to expand...

I tolerate pain pretty well, but this is non-stop 24 hours a day. We miss you too Mike... maybe see you at a CTB event in October?


cufor98 said:
Hope it goes well @Granny

thanks again for making the Harlan trip one to remember. Great to meet you.
Click to expand...

Thank you... and great to meet you! I should be thanking all you younger fellows for looking out for me, and making sure that I didn't fall off a rock and break my neck. :D
 
Tim C said:
Everyone said they wish they'd done it sooner.
Click to expand...
That's been the one constant from everyone I've ever talked to about it. They wish they hadn't waited and tried to push through the pain for so long.
Regrets about how much it affected their quality of life prior vs how much better it was afterwards.

There are no medals or awards for sucking it up and dealing with it. If you need it, you need it. Get it done and over with.

And screw this "if I do it this young I'll have to have it done again". And? Is it affecting you now? You'll never be younger or more healthy than you are now. Get yourself mobile while it can still really help.
 
Nothing valuable to add, but I do have a humorous story. A friend (young...in his 50s) had both hips replaced. They like to get you up and walking around as soon as one is done as it facilitates healing. He told me that his biggest fear was that they would make one leg longer than the other. After his second surgery, he was standing in his kitchen and realized one foot was on the ground and the other was dangling in the air! Sh!t, his worst fears had come true.

Turns out, he had become so accustomed to favoring one side due to the pain that he had learned to shift his gait. After some PT, both legs were the same length.
 
I didn't have hip replacement, but in 2013 my left hip was essentially rebuilt. The socket was ground down, cartilage reattached and a bone lesion removed and a titanium screw put in. The doc said it was actually a longer recovery than hip replacement as it was all still me that had to heal. I was sent home they day after the surgery. It was supposed to be the same day but I took a while to come out of the anesthesia.

Once home I did everything the doc told me as far as meds and exercises then therapy. I was religious with this and in two and a half weeks I was walking with no walker or cane and had no limp at all.

At about the same time, (within six months) three other people that worked for the city had actual hip replacements. Two of them made it a point to do therapy and walk correctly and now you wouldn't know they ever had surgery. One of them didn't take the therapy seriously. While he can do everything, he still walks with a limp.
 
Both above... appreciate the info! A number of people have told me the therapy after is the key. However, I got the impression from the PA that they will simply be giving me exercises to do. Guess I will find out. Still have over three weeks to hobble around on the old one, and it does not feel good!
 
I actually have been needing a hip replacement for a couple of years now due to the arthritis that set in from a car wreck I had when I was 16. Due to changing jobs and not having enough time to take off and now the Covid crap, its probably still gonna be a year or more before I go get it done. From all that I have learned about it though, the recovery is super fast now because most surgeons do an anterior cut instead of the old school posterior cut. It allows for a much faster recovery time and also eliminates most of the risk of dislocation during your recovery. My wife worked in a physical rehab facility and she saw people come in only days after the surgery and you wouldn't have known they had surgery. Once guy she said was a home inspector and was back to work in only 3 weeks from the date of the surgery.
 
Back
Top