Here comes a life adventure

[resonant]

Around Christmastime I get to have my right hip replaced.

I'm actually kind of thrilled about this. For literally years I've been slowly working on a lot of pain in my groin muscle. I thought it was tendinitis, and I was using massage and physical therapy and a hot tub and a lot of NSAIDs on the pain. Some movements were unlocking while others became inaccessible.

My own fault for not accessing actual medicine as soon as I should have, but my fellow Americans will understand why I didn't. (The physical therapist my doctor had sent me to had been treating six of us at the same time. "Here's a stretchy band. Follow this photocopied exercise sheet while I work with the person behind the next curtain.")

But now I've had an xray and I have surgery scheduled, and if all goes well then next year walking and yoga and swimming will come back into my life.

I work from home and have never met most of my coworkers; they know me from a headshot and a name, which happens to be one of the classic millennial names. I just put a note in one of my Teams chats: "In case youre confused because most people with this name are young ... I'm not."

If you have tips to share, bring 'em on!

Comments

[fox]

The only tip I’ve got is omg do the recovery exercises they give you, but that is based on observation of family members not doing them diligently and later wishing they had. Yay for a reduced-pain future!

[pallas_rose]

This!!! I cringe at that PT story, but get the hospital ones to teach you (they will!) and do them on your own!

[resonant]

The booklet has some exercises. It also mentions in-home PT, but I don't know if that applies to me. It's a great idea, though - all those loose rugs and cluttered rooms that are invisible to me until I fall over them.

[pallas_rose]

Usually, you qualify for in-home PT based on the evaluation and recommendations of the PT who sees you in the hospital post-op. So if you're strong and do well--that is, too well to qualify for in-home PT--they'll probably recommend outpatient therapy, meaning a clinic like the one where you were seen by one-sixth of a therapist. So I anticipate you needed to be a self-starter :/

Tripping and falling is indeed a hazard! Fall prevention is a science and there are tons of resources around about yes, rugs, but also shoes and other things--your PTs and the internet have some, and I can dig up some, too, if you like. (Aside: I am a trauma surgeon. Falls are indeed in my bailiwick, but usually the consequences thereof. Hip replacements... less so.)

But the primary concern for ensuring you do all your PT post op is that if you don't work the muscles supporting the joint, you'll get stiff, lose mobility, lose muscle mass, get weak--and then yes, fall. But those other things mean that you'll recover worse from subsequent falls, or other illnesses. Maintaining muscle mass, strength (especially core strength, and the muscles of the hip qualify) and balance are key as we get older.

It is indeed personally annoying that the body needs maintenance. I find it very annoying myself. But exercise and PT are so foundational, unfortunately.

[resonant]

My mom, who's in her eighties, once said, "I spend more time on body maintenance than a supermodel."

I giggled at 1/6 of a PT. I'm fairly certain that it *is* possible to get a whole PT, but I may have to go back to my GP or surgeon and ask for a different referral if the first one they offer turns out to be fractional.

[pallas_rose]

Your mother is wise!!!

[resonant]

I had a coworker who had surgery. He went back for his follow-up and the sector said,"What did you DO?"

"I just did the exercises."

"Nobody does those."