Total hip replacement: Day 2 Post-op

Written on Thursday 25th January 

As we head towards Friday, it occurs to me that this has been one of the strangest weeks of my life. Something that I hoped would never happen and yet knowing the necessity that one day the time would come. 

Constantly I'm questioning....was it the right time? Was it worth it? I'd always decided in my mind that this would be last resort surgery when the pain became unbearable. When I try to assess whether that was the case I know there were times that had become unbearable, times when I've been totally housebound and unable to even move out of bed, but then there have been good times too. I've always had limitations on what I could and couldn't do because of the limited physical mobility in my hip. On top of that, things were further limited knowing that certain actions would put my back out because of my hip. So overall, lots of restrictions.

And now I'm all too conscious of more restrictions...fear of dislocation of the new hip...being careful not to twist or turn or cross over the midline point. I'm conscious of the muscle weakness where the muscles had to be cut and then pulled and wrenched apart for the surgery to happen. With the pain relief meds I'm not experiencing it as pain as such -it's more a discomfort and a cramping feeling in those muscles. 

Nevertheless today felt like a turning point. Moving onto crutches, tackling stairs, the catheter coming out, managing to do my physio exercises 4 times a day today, it all feels like progress. 

Whereas yesterday felt like a low day - feeling fed up, agitated, wondering what on earth I had done. Today is more of a rollercoaster day of emotions with highs of feeling positive, combined with lows and negative thoughts that creep in. 

Seeing Miss T and D when they came to visit and speaking to J on what's app voice call- all high points until it was time for goodbyes. 

onto crutches and D and Miss T came to visit

Sudden thoughts that creep into my mind about having to have the joint replaced again in 15 or 20 years time. I know often these joints last longer these days than they used to but potentially needing a repeat of this operation - yikes! (Or likely worse as replacing an artificial joint is a bigger op than the initial hip replacement from what I gather) -  the thought of going through this again at an older age fills me with fear.

So I take a deep breath and tell myself I only need to get through today. And tonight. And then it will be home time tomorrow.