feeling better and incision update

Had to change my dressing today because I was getting contact dermatitis from the tegaderm. My old dressing looked great. No drainage, beyond maybe an 8th of a teaspoon of dried blood, and my staples look amazing. I'm glad they're coming out on Wednesday, because my skin is healing really well. I have 22 staples, which is one more than I had on my left.

I'm having a hard time trying not to break my hip restrictions. I keep wanting to cross my ankles this time. I'm having to tie a cushion to my leg even when I sit at the table. 

I've started tapering the percocet since I've pretty much been on it for 2 months and want to be able to be off of it when this prescription runs out. And I know that my OS expects me off of it except bedtime by the time my staples are removed.

I honestly can't wait to be off of my xarelto so I can get back on my meloxicam. My knees, ankles and elbows are all flaring.
I'm avoiding anti-inflammatories because one of the doctors told me that they inhibit bone growth and based on my personal experience with a joint fusion where I took nsaids as pain relief and the fact that it took 12 weeks to make fibrous but not boney connection when it should have been bone in 6...

Otherwise Mom and I had a lovely day. We went uptown in my neighbourhood and window shopped a but, and I took her out for lunch as a minimal thank you, for basically moving into my house in the city while leaving my dad and the cats for 2 months to help me out. 

(We picked up an old push wheelchair at a thrift store in between hip replacements because we both got really stir crazy last time. Its been a life saver allowing us to go out, since neither of us drive and walking further than the street corner is too much at this point.}

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Changed my dressing because my skin was getting irritated by the tegederm. The incision looks great and there has been no drainage. #hipreplacement #hipreplacementrecovery

A post shared by Trenna Schram (@trenna.so.hip) on May 17, 2019 at 9:56am PDT

Feel Weeks Ahead

I finally figured out why I feel like I'm weeks ahead in recovery with my right hip compared to my left hip. My surgeon corrected the leg length differential caused by the first surgery with the new hip. Since it got rid of the coxa vara femoral head that remained and corrected the angle.. He told me ahead of the surgery that he'd correct it within 2.5mm length of the other hip replacement 

I think it also helps that I have a strong hip to recover with instead of a wimpy arthritis filled hip that wouldn't have lasted another year.

And all of the knee/ankle pain that was killing me disappeared with a change in the weather. So I think some of it was just a minor arthritis flare timed with surgery

Different Recovery

Each recovery really is different. I am thankful not to have all of the bruising this time that I had last time, but I'm not a fan of the swelling I have this time. 

I had to get a pair of knee high TEDs, because I'm so swollen that I can't wear the thigh high ones. They dig in and cut the circulation off. 

Pain ways, it's weird. Surgical site and new hip feel about 1 to 2. My knee is about a 5,goes down to a 2 with pain meds, but goes up to a ten with shooting moments and my ankle gets involved too.

There's also the swelling in which my thigh doubles or triples in size. 

I'm taking it easy resting, icing, elevating. If it keeps up I'm going to call my surgeon's office tomorrow. 

I'm not doing too bad at the moment, just resting with my leg elevated. I've turned my phone off because I don't have the energy to deal with people.

I grabbed a new pair of Velcro sandles before the hip and I have to keep them on indoors, otherwise I get knee pain and stem pain if I try and walk (even with my 50% weight bearing} 

I wish it were warmer so I could sit on the porch.

HUUUURRRRRRRTSSSSSS

Did anyone else get referred stem pain all the way down to their ankle? It seems to be femur pain into the knee. Straight down into my ankle. Or is it just the fact that it's my bad knee, and it's referred knee pain. 

I knew to expect the knee pain from hip one, but the jaw clenching ankle pain was unaccounted for.

First Night Home

I didn't sleep too bad. A few sessions of 2 hours a piece is pretty fair for the first week. I forgot how terrible opioid dreams were and how weird and vivid they get. 

OTOH, I love my health care team. I had my mom drop my post-op scripts off for me at the pharmacy (she's staying with me while I recover). My pharmacist went to fill them for me and ran into a hitch with my disability/ontario drug benefit coverage. Tylenol-covered, 60 percocet-covered, iron-covered, blood thinner- rejected. 

So she called me up and chatted with me and she's like"The government is refusing to cover the blood thinners. So I'm going to call the government up to get them covered." before she asked, I said they were for my right hip which I had just had replaced on May 7, and the previous prescription had been for my left hip.

I'd hoped she'd call me back, but before I could call her the pharmacy delivery showed up with all the prescriptions. I was going to tell her that if she couldn't get it done, then I'd call my surgeon and have him rip a strip off them because he's good at doing that. 

Yay

I'm free! I'll be discharged once my mom gets to the hospital

So Swollen

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My right leg is so massively swollen. It's super uncomfortable and I think I need to ask for an anti-inflammatory. #hipreplacement #arthritis #surgery #inflammation

A post shared by Trenna Schram (@trenna.so.hip) on May 10, 2019 at 4:21am PDT