Hello everyone - I am new to this :)

Hello weejean, it's nice to meet you. I have not had any replacements (yet) but many on here have. One thing I can tell you, however, is that recovery may take a deal longer than you are told by the hospital - think in terms of months rather than weeks perhaps - this will be major surgery and it could leave you feeling rather shaky emotionally, feeling vulnerable and upset. (Any op is a big deal and the after-effects of surgery can be very upsetting.) Its main function is to make your life better in the long-run, it should help to reduce pain and perhaps increase your mobility so that is the prize on which to focus, but achieving all of that can take a while, with quite a bit of effort on your part and it can be a slow process. I always think that surgeons tend to leave one with the view that after a couple of days one will be up and running again with the minimum disturbance to life. That may be true for the surgeon, he has done his bit, but patient recovery can often be a time and energy consuming business!

I hope it all goes well for you, it should make a noticeable difference to the quality of your life and I hope it all goes well. As del said, if you post again on the LWA part of this forum you will probably receive some more answers - there are plenty of hippies around here! I wish you well. DD

PS There is a thread at the top of the LWA board called Going to Hospital Great Tips (I think!) It was started by M J King and it has many useful hints and ideas. I don't know if you are used to surgery and the preparations for it so it might be worth a look.