Full Rehab Journey After Birmingham Hip Resurfacing

BJG

This is a raw, personal account of the my rehab journey following a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing operation on May 23rd, 2024. Initially, I was going to do a weekly update but what scuppered that idea was when my consultant, brilliant that he is, told me two things while my legs were still numb from the anaesthetic. The first thing he said was that the op had gone really well - music to anyone’s ears post-op. The second thing he told me was that the risk of infection could extend as far as six to eight week post op. This was a total downer. I’d imagined the first couple of weeks might be a bit hairy in terms of infection but two months! My primary fear had always been infection and so I simply felt unable to write this down untiI I was beyond this risk period. Now, I’m 11 weeks post op, so here goes… See also:

https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/62722/the-journey-to-a-new-hip-a-diary-part-1

Day 2 Sat 25th May The day starts well enough. We have the usual video call with my mum but then around midday, I start to feel woozy, nauseous, generally awful. It seems the co-codamol is too much for me. I’m unable to eat, watch tv or even play video games! We call the hospital to run it past them and they agree that if the pain is manageable then paracetamol is enough. I agree. I mean, if you can’t eat, you can’t heal.

I set my phone alarm to go off every 50min to remind me to walk around, move. Nothing can prepare you for the first week. It's a world of elation at having got through the op, combined with the very real pain you feel. Not in the hip, not an arthritic pain, but around the entire region.

Even by 7pm, I’m struggling to eat a simple meal of chips and beans - real student food but a Scottish classic - past my lips. I looked up the half life of co-codamol - around 3-4 hours. So at least it’ll be completely gone by the time I wake up.

We watch Monkey Man, Dev Patel’s new movie. It’s great but far too kinetic for the addled mind, so we watch Brooklyn 99 instead. I can’t get to bed fast enough. Getting into bed so my unoperated leg goes first, I use the physio’s tip of using my good leg to lift the weak leg in by hooking my foot around the back of the weak leg. Gently does it.

Each night and morning, Charm takes my temperature, makes sure I’ve taken the drugs, checks the dressing. She’s amazing.

Day 3 Sun 26th This feels like the first ‘real’ day of recovery. I can eat, move a little better. Getting in and out of bed is a real pain at the moment - terrified of doing the wrong thing, it’s a steady, slow process of trying to do it smoothly. Despite what everyone tells you - apparently the hip can take up to 100kg straight after surgery - there’s a fear of it somehow collapsing or popping out.

I’m pleased to see I can lift it out of bed without the hooking tip. Progress. Pooing is a new world. I did get a riser seat to use on the toilet - anything to make the first weeks simpler. You have to think about everything: shorts and underwear down, sitting with operated leg forward, using crutches or any support to ease yourself down. Sitting on a toilet does not feel as good as sitting on a sofa, that’s for sure. It occurs to me the space between my legs isn’t even wide enough to wipe, so I have to gently allow my unop leg to move out a little to the side. 15min later, the body regains it’s purpose and movement happens. Turns out co-codamol can also make you constipated, so I’m glad that’s off the list.

After a wash, Charm helps me dress and we chill. It’s a bank holiday Sunday, so no effort needed. The in-laws drop in for a Sunday lunch. I do not feel super talkative. It turns out that no one really knows what the op I underwent is - there seems to be a misguided notion it was some kind of keyhole surgery with minimal intervention. I take pains to make them realise it’s a major piece of surgery and that I am, in fact, heroic. It’s genuinely amazing how little people know. I mean, my dad even said, so how does the arthritic hip feel now, and I’m like, it’s gone, dude!

That evening, we watch the rest of Dev Patel’s martial arts mayhem, have a light dinner, sleep. Getting into and out of bed during the night is a challenge - the combination of dark, sleepiness, blood pressure, orientation, having the crutches handy… I’ve discovered that the process of moving myself around on the bed - using the knuckles to push my body into place, while bringing legs onto and off the bed, is hurting the skin on my knuckles, so am trying to avoid getting blisters - less pain the better. 

The crutches are also sore on the hands. Even without putting too much pressure on them, it’s amazing how quickly the hands hurt with this new, unfamiliar pressure. And you need them to do everything: stand, sit… TBC

noddingtonpete

Thanks @BJG interesting reading about your experiences.

BJG

Week 4 Another trip to Kimberley, the physio and another leap forward. This time I go with no crutches, on my own, to Birmingham, doing the whole public transport thing alone. I feel like a young teen who’s been let of the leash. We go through progress. I’d been walking 20min a day, not using the single crutch I’d taken. Used the bike for 10min a day and held there, not wanting to ‘push things too far’. In the second week of physio, I upped the number of times a day from two to three and everything felt good. I went in there hoping to kind of be let loose and, to an extent, I was.

She tells me there’s no real upper limit to what I can walk or bike now - just increase gradually and see how it feels - during, an hour after, next day. Essentially, I can immediately leap to what feels like the astronomical heights of 30min a day - a proper wander! The bike can go up to 20min a day, feeling progress as I go.

The exercises change completely. Everything is harder but feels logical, a natural progression from what’s come before. Suddenly not only can I sit and stand with both feet together - rather than extending the operated leg in front - but am encouraged to. It feels weird after so long, so much caution. We go through all the exercises, and cover getting up and down to the floor for the bridging exercises. This feels like real progression.

When I get home I’m knackered. A solo trip to Birmingham has pretty much wiped me out for the day and I decide not to do the physio today - rest!

Over the week, I increase the walks by 10min every two days, so by the end of the week, I’m up to 50min wanders - around the same daily walk I used to do along the canal. The first time I go back to the canal, it’s breathtaking and moving. The sun is glorious, the plants are in full bloom, the dragonflies are abundant and beautiful. I feel alive again.

Still can’t put on a sock, though, which seems to have become a big deal for me - really looking forward to getting past that point!

Everyone I see is saying I’m doing so well, they’re proud of me, they can’t believe how well I’m doing. From an external perspective I can understand this - four weeks ago I was under the knife and now I look ‘normal’. But until I get signed off by the consultant and get to a good point myself, I do not want to consider this a done deal. One day at a time is my mantra.

Weeks 5 to 10 Do. Your. Physio. Make it your daily bread. It is what will get you back to your old self. Like everyone who’s had this op, I started with the traditional exercises in bed, small movements, lots of pain. Now, I’m regularly doing one-legged bridging exercises, with the operated leg on a chair, taking the entire weight. Walking as much as I want. This week, I’m getting back to doing weights and Pilates - I still can’t quite believe it.

There was a glitch around week six, however. A few days before my six-week check up with the consultant, my hip flexor went into some kind of spasm - but I didn’t realise this at the time. The effect of this was to suddenly find getting in and out of a car very painful, difficulty lifting my leg, pain when walking. I was terrified - it was like I’d lost all progress. I worried that somehow the hip had all fallen apart. Then, the day before going back to my physio, I had a tremendous urge to lie on the bed and do a cycling motion. Suddenly, the pain vanished.

Talking to Kimberley, she explained this may have been a hip flexor spasm - which it seems can be a side effect of hip resurfacing. It might have happened because my new body was tired from the physio and the flexor rebelled! By doing the cycling motion, she reckons I’d gently introduced blood flow into the area and helped it relax. I’m pleased to say that was a one-off and hasn’t happened again - but I do listen to my body and if tired, hold off on the physio, or eat more protein, or rest more…

The consultant check-up was brief but enlightening. The first thing he said was that he could see my pain was gone. And he was right - we carry that pain that no one else can see around with us. We tolerate it. And that takes energy. Suddenly, free of the pain, our energies turn towards the future, to normal things like holidays, parties and careers. 

The best of luck with your own journey and remember, that first week is a doozy - if you can get through that, you’ll be OK :) Oh, and I can put a sock on again!

KC1

fantastic. So great to read about your journey. All of the different stories are so helpful and inspiring. Astounding you were anle to make the trip on public transport so soon after your operation. Thank you for sharing and I look forward to the next instalment.

gozkan

What is hip resurfacing surgery? Is a prosthesis inserted?