My THR is in less than 3 weeks time!
I got a cancellation so this is really happening now. @Janlyn and @Nurina in particular, I've followed both your recovery diaries and I feel a bit more prepared and informed than I would otherwise have been with such short notice to this major operation, thank you both for sharing your experiences🙏
Although scared of what is to come, I know I can look forward to better days. My hubby is now really on side, I don't think he really believed this was real before. Not sure he's quite grasped all the things he'll have to help with though and the cats won't be as spoilt!
I have my to do list, my list of questions, some of my equipment, my books, cross stitch projects etc. I am worried about chair height as all of ours seem low, I am fairly tall.
I have the first pre-op visit on Thursday so I guess I will find out how organised I really am!
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Good morning @JPT Welcome to the online community I am so glad you've found us in good time for your Total Hip Replacement. I am particularly glad you have located @Janlyn and @Nurina's threads as that is exactly where I would have directed you!
It sounds as though you are feeling pretty well prepared for your operation, forewarned is indeed forearmed. I hope you can find ways to continue spoiling your cats though😺
I have a friend who had a THR a year back and he was advised to measure the height of the chair he was going to use most. For him it was ok, but if not there are ways of raising them. You will be advised. Perhaps you could measure yours before Thursday so you can ask someone there?
Enough from me I hope you'll get on really well and that you might chose to share some of your journey yourself, for others to benefit from in future.
Best wishes
Ellen.
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I'm so happy to hear about your imminent surgery. It's a very scary moment but you'll be fine. You know from our experience it's a roller coaster and the first weeks are hard, but they'll pass very fast.
My husband has been very supportive but he didn't really realise how bad I was until the consultant showed him the xrays of my hips compared to healthy hips.
I'm very short and I thought my chairs were ok but the first day I panicked when I didn't know where to sit comfortably. I couldn't be sat on a kitchen chair for hours. My husband put several rubber gym tiles, we had in the playing room, under the sofa cushion to lift it and I had to ask for help to get up the first days. I recommend you get a sturdy chair with armrests, if you don't have one. Don't invest money in things that will be temporary. I borrowed a chair from a friend and now I'm not using it anymore so I'm returning it to him.
We are looking forward to hear everything about your experience. We'll try to help you in your journey so, please don't hesitate to ask. X
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All the best! My friend was loaned a chair from local NHS physios so I suggest you see if you can borrow stuff. You also get "grabbers" and raised toilet seats. I recommend getting a long shoe horn, that's been an essential for me.
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Ooooh! Best of luck @JPT
I hope you'll let us all know how you get on. Good luck for tomorrow.
Toni x
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@JPT This is such good news and I wish you all the very best for your pre-op tomorrow. Three weeks will go very fast I'm sure.
Regarding your chair you've already had some good advice. I had decided to use a dining chair with a cushion on it but actually I found my usual sofa perfectly comfortable for me, but I'm not tall and my sofa isn't low. Initially I expected my wound to be sore to sit on so I padded with soft pillows/cushions but it wasn't really very sore at all. Maybe a little numb with anaesthetic to start with then okay.
My hospital don't use raised toilet seats and chairs and said we should learn to use the standard versions, but it seems a minority view here so you should find out tomorrow what you will be provided with. I was given two sticks, a grabber and a long-handled shoe horn. I have hardly used my grabber but would have used it a lot pre-surgery when I seemed to drop everything on the floor. Post-op I found myself far less clumsy, I suppose because I'm not walking in such a crooked way. I did use my grabber to help with getting dressed and also still use my shoe horn a little.
I bought a sock helper very cheaply online and this I have used such a lot and still do sometimes now with tights or more fitted socks. I also bought a memory foam shaped pillow/cushion which I have only just stopped using. It was so useful in the early days when I had to sleep on my back. I used it under my operated knee and sometimes under my ankle to relieve the pressure. Eventually when allowed to sleep on my side I used it between my knees.
Before surgery I thought about what I would need to reach clothes-wise and in the kitchen and tried to make sure everything I would need was in reach. Just make it all as easy as you can - you really will have enough on just learning/doing your exercises and getting used to your new pill regime. But do ask any questions you have before and after and please keep us up to date with how you are.
Take care and all the best for tomorrow 😊
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Thanks @Janlyn and @Nurina - first pre op appointment done, bloods, ECG, BP etc oh and given a "goodie" bag! Thought there would be more to this appointment. Anyone know why they need my neck measurement (according to the booklet) as nurse didn't have any answers? I guess the call on Tuesday will be more in depth.
It's all getting a bit real now - in two weeks time it will have been done!
Will update after Tuesday's call
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@JPT Phew, a relief that is done and all okay. Is the goodie bag the MRSA kit? Definitely have never heard of neck measurement 🤔 I'd be interested to know too. And yes hopefully the call on Tuesday will tell you more.
I found my physio appointment was more of an explanation of how it would be/what I should/shouldn't/could/couldn't do which I found really helpful.
And yes, getting really real now, time will fly, and yes, please update us after your call.
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I had my neck measured in my pre op assessment and was told it was used as an indicator of sleep apnea. Good luck with your op
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@JPT That sounds brilliant. Actually until you have the preop don't really believe it's going to happen. I was given a bag to put my medication and a bottle of antiseptic soap to wash myself every day of the week before the surgery.
When I arrived home from the hospital I panicked because everything around me looked so dangerous. I remembered I watched a video of a woman, who had hip surgery, and she said the key is to do everything very slow. That works. At the beginning I was slow motion, very aware of everything around me and where I was stepping.
I think the neck measurement is to check if a patient could have problems to be intubated in case of emergency during surgery. I didn't have my neck measured but when I arrived to the hospital for the surgery they gave me a me a little plastic tube. I asked what was for and they said: for a pregnancy test 😂
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If you have a 'big neck' it can make you less safe for anaesthetic so they need to know in advance to prepare for any issues @JPT
I am surprised the nurse didn't know this.
What was in the goodie bag? I wanna know!
Last goodie bag I had from the NHS was when I was pregnant with my first😊
All is going according to plan so far
Toni x
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@frogmorton nothing exciting in the goodie bag! Instructions on exercises to start doing 3x per day from now. More leaflets. MRSA body wash and nasal gel for the week before the op.
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Oh most disappointing I thought at least there'd be a pair of ted stockings and some of those hospital supplied stringy knickers🤭
Toni x
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At My pre op I saw the physio. I was told in advance to measure my bed height and also sofa night. They provided and fitted the sofa stilts I did not need for my bed. They also offered grabbers. Shoe horns, raised toilet seat and a frame that goes around the toilet to help you get up, stools for washing and use in the kitchen and also a slide thing to go across the bath if need be. …….i had already purchased most of these things apart from sofa stilts, stools and frame as my arthritis was so bad. I would measure bed abs sofa before you go just incase. I also bought a really good high cushion/ pad from Amazon which is amazing! I still use now even tho I don’t need to 🤣 Hope everything go smoothly which I’m sure it will xx
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With 10 days to go (eek!) every day I manage to sort something else out so I am as prepared as I can be. I have tried the sun lounger cushions (hardly used!!) work really well on my sofa and some old lounger cushions work well on my arm chairs - with a sturdy bit of wood under the back legs to raise the back. The height is now much improved so hopefully the physio will say it's good enough 🤞(I think the kitchen bar stools will be a no go area but I can live with that.) My hubby is looking at blocks for raising our bed - I don't see why I should move out and lose the comfy bed, tv etc!
I have got extra pillows to stop me turning over. Difficult to practice lying on my back when I havent been able to for two years as i can't get my hip to lie flat / it's painful to try.
My neighbour who has had both hips done has put together a whole hoard of stuff for me to borrow - foam triangle, cage to raise the bed clothes, extra grabbers, sock aid, sticks, and sheepskin heel protectors etc
I have sorted out my hobbies so they are easy to access, I have set aside an area with some books so I don't have to hunt around, I have downloaded some kindle books. I am not going out much so I can hopefully avoid all the lurgies that people seem to have at the moment and I am arranging a food delivery.
I have bought some Skechers slip-ins (ouch, they we more expensive than I expected) at least you can machine wash them! And I have dug out my work from home/lockdown comfy joggers etc
In doing my exercises I have realised how bad this hip has got, when I can only move it out approx 5 degrees to the side when lying down and now can't walk down the road and back without limping after 5 mins. This is why I have to telling myself the short term inconvenience of the recovery will be worth it.
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@frogmorton maybe I'll be given those at my next pre op session😂
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@JPT I asked here what kind of shoes I should wear to the hospital and people swear by Skechers shoes. I've always found they are ugly and overpriced so I bought a pair of them in Vinted and I washed them in the washing machine. They are light, sensible, comfortable and very easy to take them on and off.
@frogmorton They gave me a mega sexy paper bikini I have to wear during my surgery. During recovery I noticed, the top was rolled down my waist and I lost the bottom somewhere between the sheets because it was cut in half. If the point of the bikini is to keep the dignity intact, it doesn't work.
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@JPT You've brought memories back for me. I remember not being able to get my leg flat, my hip area was okay, but when I practised sleeping on my back it was with my knee raised to its maximum. Good to say it settled very quickly after my op.
Your neighbour's bed cage and sheepskin heel protectors would have been so useful to me and I hope they, and the other things, will be too. My sock aid has been super useful, I can even get my tights on with it. I did often find that taking things off was actually harder but with my grabber, my good foot and my long-handled shoe horn I managed most things.
You sound to be doing everything just right and are so well-prepared - it will definitely help. Your Skechers will be so useful and worth the price. I had a pair I used for the first few weeks although now I am back to being able to choose my other boots and shoes and I can now manage zips and laces.
And absolutely it will be worth it. I couldn't walk to my neighbour's house without extreme pain and exercising became really useful but so much better now, the real inconvenience was only a few days for me.
Take care, x
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@frogmorton @Nurina the stringy knickers - I've only just realised I never saw them again after going into surgery. At least I didn't do what a friend of mine did - she has long hair and thought they were a cap to cover her hair up. The staff laughed and said a lot of people thought the same!
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Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where are those knickers @Janlyn .
At least they aren't on your head as you say🤣
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The knickers will probably more useful on the head, to be honest 😂
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🤣🤣🤣
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@frogmorton @Nurina @Janlyn - great news there won't be any paper undies for me according to the nurse on the pre op call this afternoon! She thought your stories were so funny! I said so no dignity at all for me then and she got quite serious saying not at all!
One more pre op session on Monday for bloods then it's the big day on Wednesday next week - yikes!
The nurse today was lovely and did her utmost to reassure me that everything will be fine. She did call it an exciting event though... not sure that's the word I would use! Apparently I get to choose the type of anaesthetic on the day when the anaesthetist talks to me - I am not sure about having to make that decision....
My goodie bag was missing my vitamin drinks so hopefully I will get those on Monday.
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@JPT It's amazing how time flies isn't it? Next Wednesday will soon be here. And so good to hear you've been reassured. I had been dreading the actual day but once there I did find it quite exciting, I'm not sure how or why. Afterwards when I told the nurse in Recovery that I had enjoyed it she told me it was time I recovered and got out more!
I would say not to worry about the anaesthetic before you go in but I would expect that it will be explained very clearly and reassuringly by the anaesthetist. I found it very easy to talk to mine and let myself be guided by him but I knew that if I wasn't happy I could say and he would understand and follow my wishes. I did realise I had worried so much about everything and wasted so much time as everyone was so professional, understanding and helpful in their own roles and it all went so smoothly. I kept repeating to myself - major surgery, but very common.
I never got any vitamin drinks @ feeling jealous 😏
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