The Factors

Recovery on day 5 is going about like I expected. There are a couple of factors that I didn't know of that tend to dominate the show more than others. One is the precautions. There are 3 of them: 1) don't cross your legs 2) don't go pigeon toed and 3) don't bend the knee/hip/shoulder angle past 90 degrees. The third is the most limiting. That means don't bend over to pick up something on the floor, to put on a shoe or sock and the like. It means the toilet needs a riser. It means it's hard to get your underwear up when it is slumped around your feet on the floor. The second precaution is limiting mostly while sleeping. They want my legs to not go past parallel toward each other. So sleeping on my side needs to be done with a sturdy pillow. It may not sound too hard, but the maneuver to get on one's side can be tricky.

The concern is the capsule. As I understand it, some explained to me by a PT-rehab cohort, who like me was leaning back in his orthopedic, wheeled, jacked-up recliner working his new grabber device to put on his socks, it gets rather physical on the operating table. The surgeon makes the incision, (which looks more like 8" to me than 3", hmm) then the PA bends your knee, puts his shoulder to your thigh, and wrenches your femur out of the hip socket. Reminds me of carving the turkey at Thanksgiving. Then, to dress Acetabulum, or the hip socket to us laymen, and to get the prosthesis in, he cuts the capsule. Once the prosthesis is in he sews it back up. While the capsule is healing there is a heightened risk of dislocation and thus the precautions.

The second factor, which is not as predominate, are the surgical hose and the swelling. The first couple of days I didn't notice much swelling. The last few days my hip has ballooned up a bit and along with the bloating of laying around and the general pear shape makes me want to throw a tent over my head. The hose are white and as my leg swells up pretty much act like a tourniquit. The concern is blood clotting and the word is I will wear the things for 6 to 8 weeks. But Kirsten and I are already starting to plot a shorter path.