Anterior Total Hip Replacement Surgery: 3 days Post-Op

I thought you all might like an update after my hip replacement surgery, so here is my experience, since so many people are getting this done now. I’m not far into it, so we will see where I end up when I’m all healed up, but the surgery part is over and now recovering is happening. So, I’m sharing the surgery portion and the last couple of days since my surgery was done. I’ve read a lot of stories about hip replacement and everyone is different in the process, so keep that in mind too if this is something that you’ll be facing. I had my sister and our brother-in-law who gave me lots of advice on what to do and not do. So far so good! I had the anterior approach to hip replacement, which is the one that is supposed to be easiest to get over. They don’t cut the muscle, but move it out of the way.

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My surgery was scheduled for 9:45 am at Windy Hill Hospital, which is a Wellstar Joint Surgery center. They mostly do outpatient surgeries on hips and knees. I had to arrive at 7:45 and they did everything like clockwork all the way til surgery time. It reminded me of a colonoscopy and my cataract surgery in that you have your own room where they monitor everything and Mark could stay with me up until surgery time. Before surgery, I had to do all the antibacterial cleansing showers at home and then they had me do another wipe down when I got there and put a gown on. I was comfortably in the hospital bed with these all too familiar yellow socks. This is, however, my first surgery on my body, so I’m a novice. I’ve never had an overnight hospital stay. Knock on wood! Here’s a view of my newly covered ottoman, which I had finished just before my surgery. I love it!

I mentioned my surgeon before, but Dr. Stephen Kim, who comes highly recommended in Cobb County, did my surgery. I felt like I was in good hands and I was. My sister went to Dr. Kim for her first hip replacement 10 years ago and one of our son-in-laws had to have hip replacement about 4 years ago and highly recommended him, as many of his family members went to Dr. Kim for hip and knee replacements.

My surgeon, Dr. Kim, with Resurgen’s Orthopedic came in and said hello and wrote his initials on my right hip. The anesthesiologist also came in and introduced himself and told me what to expect. The nursing staff was great! I loved all of them, from the 2 who were in charge of me pre-surgery, to the lady who helped me after I woke up. They were funny and helped put me at ease. I asked about the anesthesiologist to make sure he was good and one of the nurses said, yes, if I ever have to have surgery like this, I will go to Dr. Kim and use the same anesthesiologist as well. They were all top notch, so I felt like I was in good hands, even though the week leading up to surgery was a little anxiety ridden at times. I could still back out, but pushed through those feelings and was pretty calm on the day of surgery.

It was finally time for them to move me to the block room, so Mark went to the waiting room and I was wheeled away. They were staying in touch with him during surgery. Surgery itself lasts about 1.5 hours. I remember getting the block and after that, I was in la-la-land. My eyes were closed, but I could still hear a little, although I don’t remember anything except I swear I heard a pounding noise at one point. I have no idea what that was! Maybe I was dreaming! When I woke up and looked at the clock in the first recovery room, it was Noon. They gave me Nutter  Butter cookies and a bottle of water first, then I went to my recovery room. I came out pretty fast and they brought me a sandwich box lunch, which I had preordered and Mark came in with my stuff. They said in my Joint Class that they discovered that people do much better coming out of surgery when they get food, so I was glad about that too. The recovery room time went a little longer than expected, she told me some suits were in the building that day looking around at things so everyone was on their best behavior. I then got up and got in a wheelchair where I was wheeled down to PT to do a little walking and standing on my new hip. This part surprised me as I had heard that the nerve block usually lasts way longer and I would probably not be in a lot of pain initially, but I was. It was really excruciating pain, but I made it through stepping up 4 stairs and back down, so that was all PT was for me. I guess to see how I could walk at that moment. I was sent home with LOTS of instructions and booklets and equipment and all the things for my recovery, plus all the meds I got in advance. It’s a lot, so just be aware if you’re in line to do this! I left right before 3:00 pm, I think and we headed home. I was initially bummed about the severe pain, but I did start taking Tylenol 650 when I got home and by evening it was much lessened. I don’t have a lot of swelling so far, it may come later, we will see. But I have ice packs to put on my hip too, so have been regularly icing.

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Day 2:

I didn’t sleep great the first night, because I had on those compression velcro attachments that make noise and run all night. It’s like a blood pressure cuff for your calves to keep you from getting clots. I was also told I could just get compression socks too, so I’m going to get some of those and hopefully sleep better. Between the noise, the squeezing, and sleeping on my back (which I never do, I’m a side sleeper), I didn’t get that much rest, but I know I can nap during the day if I need it. Day two was so much better. The pain is way lessened from the first day right after surgery, so that was a relief. I’m now walking pretty good on the walker and cane. I feel pretty stable. The hardest part is when I lift my leg to get it in bed or when I put on pants. Other that that, it’s not hurting when I just prop it up. I felt so much better on Day 2, I was in a good mood about that and not feeling so much like the invalid of Day 1. Of course, I had to have a (affiliate link) cute cane (from Amazon!). They want me to stick with the walker for a week at least, so I’m using both the walker and my cane in tight areas around the house.

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I put my meds in a cosmetic bag, so they are all together. Also, I’m sleeping downstairs for now so Mark can get more sleep. I’m closer to the bathroom in the downstairs guest room, so he helped me haul everything down that I needed from upstairs that first night. By Day 2, I was going up and down the stairs with my cane and doing fine. Moving around and walking is good for hip replacement, so I’m going to get up and move as much as I can, they say to get up every hour and move around. I may sleep downstairs for a few nights, but I’d like to get back to my bed before too long. I am going to order compression stockings for night time, as they are not noisy!

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Here’s what the compression machine looks like. (X marks the spot for something at the hospital, it came off after I showered and used alcohol on it). They velcro on the calves. The doctor’s office told me compression stockings were fine too if I didn’t want to wear the noisy ones every night, so I just ordered some. They recommend wearing for 4 weeks and I don’t think I can take that noise and movement for that long. I won’t get much sleep at that rate!

Here are the things they send you home with to do at home for hip replacement recovery:

• Medications, of course, they will fill those early so they are on hand after surgery
• Exercises: these are simple muscle strengthening exercises to do for both legs
• Intermittent pneumatic compression device: to prevent blood clots, wear to bed every night or get compression stockings
• Spirometer:  A device for breathing exercise to prevent pneumonia. This is more for those who are not getting up and moving around much. I will be moving a lot, but not overdoing it.
• Ice pack holder and ice packs for icing hip: The one they gave me is huge and cumbersome with velcro straps everywhere, so I will be laying the ice pack over my hip when I’m sitting.

I think that’s all I got to bring home. There are lots of other things you can get too, like a bathing kit with long handled sponge and other things for the shower. A shower chair if you don’t have a bench in your shower. My brother-in-law, David, who just went through this in January gave me his leg lift device, a cloth long handled stirrup for the foot which helps to swing up the operated leg to the bed. Once you get through surgery, then recovery can be a long process, but the initial recovery is mostly pretty fast from what I know about it from others.

Day 3:

I woke up still feeling good and went to my first PT session at 8 am. Mark is driving me everywhere for the next 4 weeks, so I will be happy when I can drive again. He’ll be picking up food for this first week too until I’m further along and can cook again. So far we are managing fine. The PT therapist went through my regimen and gave me some exercises to do for the next week or so at home. Simple stretching of the leg muscles. I found out I was holding my cane in the wrong hand. Since my right hip was operated on, I’m supposed to walk with the cane in my left hand, opposite of what I thought. It made sense when she explained that moving the cane over gave me more support for the bad leg. She told me what NOT to do and that I was fine to bend and squat, which is a relief. The most important thing I shouldn’t do is push my operated leg behind me. So I try to keep it straight in line and not put any strain on the incision. I won’t see my incision for 2 weeks when they take off the bandage. So far it just feels tight and slight pain when moving around, but other than that I’m feeling great. July will be a healing month for sure so I don’t have much planned and will be staying home more. Mark and I went to Waffle house after my PT for a big breakfast and that was nice!

I watched a real surgery for anterior approach hip replacement yesterday and it was pretty amazing! And scary! I’m glad I didn’t watch it before, but now I know how it’s done. It seems so traumatic, but healing is pretty fast overall. The video I watched was from 2012, so now anterior is the most common way to go. It’s much less hard on muscles and tissue. The weird thing is, as soon as I woke up in recovery, I had a memory of hearing heavy pounding, like a hammer. Once I watched the video, I don’t think I dreamed it, I think I really did hear it. They do a lot of pounding while the surgery is going on! Anyway, that’s another thing to pass along.

I hear it takes a whole year to heal up completely, so I’ll be doing what I can to strengthen the muscles and continue to get better. I really think all my working out for so many years is helping me to recover pretty fast. I can use my other leg for extra support. In the long run, I hope this surgery helps me have more endurance and stamina when I’m walking longer distances. I was very much not able to walk as much as I wanted to before surgery. My plan is to schedule my other hip for October of this year and I hope I’m as good as new by next year, ready to travel the world again! I hope my experience helps others who are facing hip replacement surgery. It’s not something I wanted to do, but after hearing so many success stories, I felt like I needed to do it sooner rather than later. I wasn’t limping or walking with a cane yet, but I didn’t want to wait until it got worse. I have had times where I did limp some, but it usually got a little better and I just carried on with irritation and daily pain that was bearable, but very annoying. I’m thrilled to be on the other side now, recovering and healing up! I will keep you all posted on my recovery if you’re interested in hearing more about this process, now that I know first hand.

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