👯‍♀️ 👯‍♀️ Hips and knees Part 5 👯‍♀️ 👯‍♀️

Nannytopsy weight was never mentioned in my pre op assessment and I know for a fact I’m at least two stone overweight. I wasn’t even weighed, just asked what I thought I was. I did try to lose weight before surgery by cutting out my daily one (or two) glasses of wine & a biscuit with every passing cuppa, but it made not the slightest difference. And now, of course, I’m sure I’m piling it on, being pretty inactive. (Anyone know, off hand, how heavy a ceramic hip is?)

Silverlining they cut weight limits so that patients are generally fitter, hence better outcomes and better figures for the surgeons and the hospitals. My hospital is probably dropping maximum BMI from 45 to 35, to be in line with the other hospitals in East Anglia. If I wasn’t already in the system there would be no option anywhere for surgery. It is cynical and cruel.

Grammargran, you beat me hands down, I was 74 when I had my first operation.

Oh that’s good news nannytopsy, hope you get a date, think it’s been a struggle so far. As for weight I saw something online which says weight ( within reason perhaps) shoukd not be a reason to defer hip and knee surgery.

SusieB50 my THR is my first operation ever in my 85 years, how incredibly lucky is that! However, it also means that I have no experience to draw on which is why I’ve found this forum so very helpful. Luckily, I have kept myself fit and active through the years through badminton, walking and Keep Fit classes which I am sure has helped me thus far. I am finding my exercises now difficult (and boring) although I do enjoy the one-to-one physio sessions at the hospital. On Monday I shall be four weeks along the way. Luckily I have a husband together with daughters living locally so I am blessed with much support.

Granmagran and * MaisieD* I have had one hip done very successfully in 2022 , and I had hoped that the other would be done too. I have had one injection which gave good relief and another not so great. But I am willing to try one more time as this doc seemed very positive and would like to give it a try ,so fingers crossed!
I do recognise that at 75 it all takes longer to recover and obviously it gets harder,but apart from my joints I am pretty fit and keep as mobile as possible. I also didn’t really have much choice TBH !
* Granmagran* the injection is a steroid and local anaesthetic into the actual joint space - a bit painful, no guarantee it will work and there is a limit to the number. I live alone but have a supportive son nearby and good friends but it’s hard for the first couple of weeks post op. So if this works I have a stay of execution!!

The waterproof leg covers are by Bloccs. DH has them so that he can go in the pool on holiday. I have a preop assessment on Monday. I hope I have lost enough weight to go to the Hub. There is no surgery happening in the main theatres.

I'd be cautious about going the injection route, but I've never been in a position to have one so I may be talking out of my backside.

I have 2 reasons,

Firstly, I suspect that the older you are when you have a THR there is a distinct possibility that you may never be able to return to the level of mobility you had before the hip started going, as muscle and muscle tone is lost as one gets older and recovery from the op could take much longer.

Secondly, do the injections return you to the same state of mobility you had before the arthritis kicked in?

I'm delighted with my recent THR because I can now do anything that I could do a few years ago without any problem. There's a wee bit more strengthening and joint flexibility to work on but that will come.

I ploughed on for a number of years with increasingly impaired mobility until it became unbearable. I would have gone for the THR a couple of years ago if I hadn't been so pig headed about soldiering on...

Not trying in any way to put you off, SusieB50, but unless you are very young (i.e 40s/50s) I can't see a reason for deferring...

(I am more than happy to be disagreed with )

Hello SusieB50. As I’m staggering (literally) through my first THR (with the help of all the lovely people on this thread), I’m intrigued to hear you talk of an injection. What does this do exactly? Nothing like looking ahead in case there’s an alternative to all this!

Hello Susie, good to hear from you. Hope the injection helps.
Mine didn’t but think I was just unlucky.
The consultant sounds very nice, you may get her again or one of the others in the team.
Or you might not need an operation at all if this works.
Fingers crossed.

Hello all , not been on here much recently but still often read the progress of all those with “spare parts” . A week ago I had an appointment with a consultant with a view to start the process of my other hip replacement surgery. She was a young new consultant , very nice and spent more than the usual minutes with me and actually examined me! The long and short of it is she would like to try another injection this time under x-ray guidance and sedation. She thinks I still have enough mobility to give it a go and she said has had good results. So in January it will be done. I hope I get a follow up appointment with her so there’s some continuity, but as I’m NHS I don’t have much say in who I see …

Oh how happy I was to finish those injections.
I tolerated them at the start but was truly fed up by the end but they were a necessary part of recovery.

.

And just think how you'll have improved in two or three weeks time. You'll be stomping into 2025!!

Good to hear from you Redcar. You must be glad to have finished your injections, just two more to go for me. Most have been no problem, others I must’ve wobbled a bit with & left a small bruise, but nearly over. Glad my hospital weren’t devotees of compression socks, sleep is hard enough to come by without those to contend with. Going back to showers, my dressing was waterproof but they just advised against getting it too wet & who am I to argue? Anyway, showering now which is hard work but lovely. Onward & upward everyone, tiny improvements, but improvements they are, looking back over the past three or so weeks.

I could shower immediately after TKR. Externally the wound was glued and had a waterproof dressing for a months or so. Surgeon preference I guess.

The large bed bath wipes were wonderful when Mr C had open heart surgery and couldn’t stand safely. for a while. Easier than a strip wash for sure.

Hello everyone, especially grammargran. I had my last anti coagulant injection today! Hooray, what a relief! I’m still battling with the compression socks, but the skin on my legs Is suffering. I think I’ll give them up next week, they keep me awake at night so I’m not getting proper sleep. Pleased you were able to socialise yesterday. Things are improving here too, very slowly, but any improvement is good.
surfingsal I hadn’t heard of the waterproof cover you mentioned. When my late DH had his hip replacement in 2016 he was told that the dressing was fully waterproof and he showered a couple of days after surgery. Not sure why the dressings now aren’t waterproof.

I had a knee replacement nine years ago and having just had a quick read through the posts noticed how a lot of people had to wait to have showers , I bought a waterproof cover that covered my entire leg and foot so I could shower from the day I got home, someone might have already mentioned these covers so apologies if this is the case.

Hello everyone, just thought I’d pop in to see how you’re all doing, especially Redcar. Had a better night’s sleep last night following my first real bit of socialising - a Christmas lunch out - in over four weeks which did me a power of good. Things are improving, but at a snail’s pace for me, my leg doesn’t feel half as heavy as it did a couple of weeks ago, for instance. I’m having a slight set back in that my opposite knee which I twisted badly in August has begun to complain about the extra work being thrust upon it. Up to now, it’s benefited from the painkillers directed at the hip but as these are being tailed off, the knee’s coming into its own. Third physio session this afternoon so perhaps they can help. But enough about me ……..

For various reasons, I still have mega problems drying my feet, so I put part of the bath towel on the floor, hold the other part, and "wipe" my feet on the towel. Then, I can dry the rest of my legs. Drying between my toes happens naturally.

I happily used 'Drench' wipes for the first while after my ops. They're extra big and really do leave you feeling properly clean. Tip. In winter put the pack on the radiator to take the chill off them!

Strip washes are horrid MaizieD, you finish up with water dripping everywhere . It does seem weird there’s so little standardisation. Aveline, the golfer’s reach or lift seems eminently sensible and something I’ve automatically been doing when I’ve felt myself bending. It seems to me that the surgeons are not the only ones with rules, I can add physios to the list. Going back to the shower again, I was reminded of my old granny when I came to drying myself down. She was sooooo adamant about “drying between your toes” - hahahaha ……..

My wound was glued too but I still had to wait weeks before I could have a shower. It seems each surgeon has different ‘rules’ .

I was able to shower right from the start. I had internal stitches, the outer part of the wound glued and steri stripped and a big waterproof dressing over the lot. I was told to pat the wound area dry, not rub it.

If my centre could do this, why do other centres have people waiting for 3 weeks before they can have a shower? It seems really unkind. I know that in theory you could strip wash, but it's not the same thing.

I would have thought that the sheer unpleasantness of not having a proper wash for so long could contribute to some unnecessary depression or feelings of 'lowness' at a time when positivity is really needed.

Do people have these wound closures that can't withstand a shower because the surgeons are mostly men and they don't consider the demoralising effect that feeling unclean has, I wonder...

Anyway, well done grammargran and Redcar. You're getting there

grammargran when I saw the physio on Friday he was most insistent that I wasn’t to bend more than 90 degrees for six weeks. Like you, I find it a struggle to stick to that rule. Drying legs and feet after a shower is impossible with a towel, but the hairdryer on a warm setting works well.

Seems different surgeons have different rules. Mine said as long as it wasn't a twisting one that's fine. I did always use the 'golfer's reach' when bending through. Felt sensible to me.