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As some of you may know, I’ve been in a walker for most of the year. After a failed steroid shot, the doctor ordered more mris that came back suggestive of avascular necrosis. Apparently there’s much damage to the femoral head, I was referred out of physical medicine to an orthopedic surgeon almost immediately. I see him sept 26. I turned 60 in August.
My questions generally, especially to those who have had hip replacement, is how long did you have to have someone with you after the procedure? How long did you have to spend at the hospital? How long did it take for the pain to go away?

My total knee replacement was done on the surgical floor of a large orthopedic medical center, not a hospital. Then post-op I was moved to the top floor of an adjacent Hilton Hotel that was dedicated to surgery recovery. I went home the next day after I was cleared.
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Reply to Geaton777
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My late husband had avascular necrosis in his left hip. So much bone had been eaten away all that was left was a sickle shape. His story is out of the ordinary. He never walked again after the hip replacement even with PT of over a year. He had a lot of other stuff happen though including cancer, bone infection, and kidney failure.

Generally, after about two months you can get your gait back to normal. It can take about six months for your body to fully heal. It depends on what kind of surgery you have as well. The less evasive you can bend over more. I would say have someone around a month or two. A raised toilet seat, grabbers, and assistance getting up and down as well as extreme bending over for about two months to let the muscles heal. PT is a must.
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PeggySue, you need to talk to your orthopedic doctor about all your concerns/questions.
But I can guarantee you that you will not be sent home same day like you are for arthroscopic surgeries, but will be held over night and sent home the next day barring any unseen issues.
And you will go to "sleep" one minute and awaken when the surgery is all said and done.
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Reply to funkygrandma59
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Another question. Through research im hearing that they actually do only conscious sedation with no hospital stay? I mean, the procedure involves a bone saw…
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yeah, my house is on one level, and as it is, I can navigate to the bathroom using grab bars.
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Reply to PeggySue2020
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PeggySue, is your residence one-level? If you are on pain meds and don't need to navigate stairs (and don't develop any complications), you probably only need a helper for the first two days at home, and then someone to drive you places (or you need to have things delivered). I have 2 full flights of stairs in my home, and had to do the ice machine often at first (like every hour), so I was on the couch a lot doing that with my husband gofer-ing for me. Hip replacement recovery is faster and less painful than knee, as I have been told by my friends who have had it, and by my ortho surgeon.
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Another question for the group

How long did you have to have someone with you at home? My dh plans to use fmla time.
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62 and with 70 year old hubby who hikes huge number of miles. They have both been very very active all their lives.
Yes, sports med is what handles these injuries apparently, no matter your age. They do some fine laproscopic surgery. But as to whether it lasts? Up to your body. With muscles torn from attachments any amount of time sometimes need to be roughed up, reattached, and pinned in. The body is quite amazing in its determination to heal, or not heal.
At 82 I am also very active. Gardening, walking and etc. So yeah, I could get sent to sports med at some point too, odd as that may sound, ha ha.
Great docs there and great PT people but they are absolute slave-drivers who will cut you no slack and listen to no amount of pain, ha ha. My experience of them anyway. That said, they can patch up Steph Curry, why not US?
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Hey Alva.

I am so sorry for your dd. Sports medicine, really? She’s 62.

Ultram and methodone were originally approved for pain, not addiction. The largest contingent of people getting them now are fentanyl addicts that are deemed “sober” for being on them for years or decades.

Im only asking for maybe two months. I assure you that I won’t be prowling the 24/market muni looking for a fix of fent as a result.
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Hey, Peggy Sue, my daughter going through HADES with her hip now for almost three years. No MRI was done as with a bad back she kept getting told the pain is from the back. She is getting more and more disabled and at 62 close in age to yourself. Another member here who I hope will chime in told me how successful and comparatively easy her hip repair was so I hope she chimes in.
Like you for my daughter pain's an issue, and isn't on Kaiser so just to let you know NO ONE but those still outlaws in some So. States will give opiates anymore sadly. It's a nightmare to try to get help with pain and they want instead to fill you up with all sort of stuff that knocks you for a loop while on the PAIN remains. I sympathize with your plight and it's the plight of many.
For my daughter, when finally the MRI was done showed two muscles torn away from femur anchor, tendons a mess, bursitis, and I could go on. But this apparently is not total hip work and she was told that muscle repair at this point likely unsuccessful, is going on now to sports med referrals.

My sympathies. Wait and see if total hip in offing for you, and my friend Diane being s/p TWO of them will tell you even with the fact one dislocated when she got on commode wrong soon after OR, overall the pain was light for her compared to all she had gone through with the bad hips, and the recovery went VERY well. Still some problems with age, two repairs, fallen arches that need bracing and three cat little boxes, but she is overall doing very well, and did lightening fast in recover I think.

Thinking of you and keep us updated as you go!
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Peggysue, about a week before my surgery I had to be off just about every medication, so you will need to discuss this with your surgeon as I wasn't on pain meds pre-op so IDK what they will advise in your situation. Nowadays they don't even want you to smoke for 2 weeks prior to a surgery (and my son, who works in a lab at the Mayo, says they do preop blood and urine work on surgery candidates to confirm whether they are being compliant -- lab work from *other* hospitals and clinics, not just the Mayo system).

My healthcare network has a Pain Clinic in the big Tria Orthopedic complex. Not sure if you have access to such a service where you live. I'd start talking to your surgeon sooner rather than later so there are no surprises during your pre-op. I had to have a full physical at almost exactly 1 week prior to my surgery. Results went to the surgeon for review.

Most recently I had an elbow tendon surgery this past spring. I showed up and could not get my wedding band off. They cut it off my finger or else they would have cancelled the surgery. This is how militant they are about liability.

An alternative to replacement might be nerve ablation:

https://health.ucdavis.edu/pain/specialties/knee-hip-ablation-osteoarthritis.html#:~:text=Knee%20and%20hip%20ablation%20for%20osteoarthritis%20is%20a%20minimally%20invasive,nerves%20that%20transmit%20pain%20sensation.

It is minimally invasive with very low risk or side effects. They basically "cauterize" the nerve using safe sound waves. The only downside is that the nerve can regenerate and the pain can return, but then you have the ablation again. Not sure if this is covered by Medicare or not.
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Reply to Geaton777
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@PeggySue what's your alternative to getting the hip replaced? You kinda have no choice but to get it done. Here are a couple of reddit forums regarding this and people who have had the hip replacement you might be interested in.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TotalHipReplacement/comments/1bxfbnf/avascular_necrosis/

https://www.reddit.com/r/TotalHipReplacement/comments/187a785/got_the_hard_word_from_the_doctor_and_its/
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I’m also concerned with preop pain management, for which nothing has been effective except toradol injections and prednisone. All other otcs, nsaids have failed and they’re sending me to pcp to ask for narcotics, which is a hot button issue no kp dr seems to want to deal with.

Given That it’s Kaiser the wait could reasonably be two more months. I’ve been in constant pain since January, and prayer, meditation, antidepressants, whatever aren’t cutting it.
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I'll be honest I'm not medically trained.

But I know quite a few people that have had hip replacements the last few years, and I have been amazed at how well they do and quick they recover.

At all ages also, one in later 50s did amazing, and actually my friends mom at 95+ did super!!

My friend lost her husband and dad, this year. When her mom broke her hip , I was just thinking, ok time for hospice. She recovered, and then some!

Sorry your going through this Peggy, but you got this!! 🙂🙏
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Reply to Anxietynacy
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I had a total knee replacement Aug 2023. Even for hip, you stay only 1 night to make sure all your vitals are strong/normal. They get you up to walk while still in the recovery center.

I took dilaudid for 1 day and it made me so groggy I could barely function. I did my pain control with the Tylenol they supplied me. Plus the prescription laxative (which still wasn't "enough"), and Colace. The level of constipation was astonishing (also because you're not physically active like normal).

If your medical team offers you a Game Ready automated ice wrap... TAKE IT -- it is 100% worth the price of rental. It was an awesome piece of medical equipment that I feel sped up my recovery. Here's info (also see their basic website at GameReady.com) :

https://gameready.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Game-Ready-Wrap-UM-HipGroin-EN-704580B.pdf

And definitely do the rehab like a boss. PT works and you will recover so much faster. I was back playing tennis after 3 months (you will be back sooner if you're not rehabbing for a specific sport or activity). Make sure your pain is at a comfortable level or you won't do the PT enough. Take whatever pain meds necessary in order to make doing the exercises comfortable. Pain should not prevent you from doing the PT.

I know 2 friends who had recent hip replacements and it went really well for them. Wishing you a full and speedy recovery!
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I had my left hip replaced in March of 2018. It was done on a Tuesday and I was home late that following Wednesday morning, as they get you up walking the same day as surgery, and don't keep you longer than that.
My daughter did come and stay with me for 10 days as I was still in the throes of caring for my late husband, and that was when he'd really taken a turn for the worse, but after that I was on my own to take care of myself and my husband.
And he ended up in the hospital for a week shortly after my daughter left, which was quite interesting because I still couldn't drive, so had to depend on friends and neighbors to take me to the hospital so I could spend time with him as I had to be his mouth piece because of his aphasia....but that is a whole other very long story.
Bottom line, you'll do just fine. Just make sure that you're doing your PT, and continuing to move.
I am not one who likes to take pain pills, as I don't like to be constipated, so I only took them the first couple days and quit after that. And honestly I don't remember the pain being that bad at all.
You'll do just fine, as most doctors now do the anterior hip replacements and that recovery is much easier than the posterior ones(which is what I had)and in which I couldn't bend over more than 45 degrees for quite some time as my new hip could have come out of joint.
I wish you well in getting your new hip.
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Reply to funkygrandma59
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I am glad you have an answer to the problem at least.

Of course everyone is different, but my friend (about your age) was in hospital about 4-5 days then home. That is a typical stay for my city but I've heard in another city a 3 day stay is expected. What is US like?

Pain was well managed by medication. Obviously the surgical site will be sore to start but the wound healed quickly. Was some tighness/stiffness in the muscles, but Physio started straight away & helped with that.

My friend lived with spouse (who was home fulltime) but my friend was fully independant on crutches to go home & able to do most things - just needing help with putting footwear on (to avoid bending). A pickup stick was useful, an over toilet seat was hired & a chair in the shower suggested.

If living alone, if he had many stairs inside or needing to build up more strength, he may have considered 7 days or so inpatient rehab stay. (Depending on insurace coverage I guess).
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