To anyone unlucky enough to have needed crutches, you will appreciate how these actually require a lot of skill and balance. Being the clutz that I am, I sometimes find it hard enough trying to coordinate my two legs, let alone all four limbs to make one simple movement. Crutches require the user to perfectly time their shift in weight with the movement of their arms to perfectly place the crutches on a steady surface and muscle control to swing their body to the next step. Any slight miss-judgement, or lack of balance can result in a potentially damaging stumble. But for now, the crutches are a thing of the past for me. (Until I go out and about, just as a visual warning so people don’t accidently knock into me).
The stairs have been my mountain to climb over the last few days, and last night, as I am sure many of you saw on Instagram, I mastered them! I am no Usain Bolt, but more of a Mo Farrah, the stairs have become my long distance event, but I am taking it all in my stride, literally, and soon I won’t even have to think when climbing the stairs.
During the first 6 weeks, which I am currently in, there are some limitations to a hip replacement, I have wear pressure stockings to prevent a blood clot, torture on the hottest day for 10 years although I have been filling them with ice cubes. The hip contains some of the biggest arteries in the body and therefore exposes the patient to an increased blood clot risk, this is also raised by the anaesthetic which takes 6 weeks for your liver to process. I also have two rules to abide by, I can’t cross my operated knee across my mid line (nose to belly button) so must sleep on my side with a pillow between my legs and my hip can’t be at an angle of 90 degrees or lower with my pelvis. We have had to raise the height of most chairs to meet this last rule.
With my progress over the last 9 days, I can’t wait to see what the next 9 hold. While it has been said I write with a very positive attitude, I can only talk about my successes as I devoted a lot of time into my physio, taken proper time to rest every day and eaten the foods my body needs during its recovery. An outcome like this certainly doesn’t come if you don’t strive/hobble towards it.
For those awaiting a hip replacement and reading this, there will be tears, and lots of them, there will be pain and lack of sleep, and there will be frustration, but don’t get caught up in 'the now', pick an achievable target and do everything to get there!
My next major goal is running, what will yours be…
X
Ps. I have had a few questions about my surgeon, the hospital and the type of prosthesis used.
I was lucky enough to be privately covered by my Dad’s work health insurance so was under a surgeons care at the London Clinic. For the name of the surgeon, please contact me directly.
The prosthesis is ceramic on ceramic with no cement to make the replacement last as long as possible due to my age. Typically the cement deteriorates first, requiring a secondary or even tertiary total hip replacement, the lack of cement means my bone can intwine and grow into the replacement, hopefully increasing its longevity From my research (some of the links can be found on the links page), I believe ceramic was chosen to eliminate the risk of metal in the blood caused by a metal replacement. While the repercussions of slight metal in the blood is unknown, I personally feel it is best to avoid it, and I think this was my surgeon's logic.
(none of the information provided in this blog is medical information and everything here should be discussed thoroughly with a medical professional)