Re: Surgeon tried to dissuade me from surface hip replacem...

[Guest guest]

Hi Diane

When I had my hip resurfaced in England, they taught us how to

climb stairs on the third day post-op. If you use fore-arm crutches,

(actually, you only need one crutch if there is a rail to hold onto,

as you probably recall), it's not that hard. Can you rest on the

living room sofa during the day, and only go upstairs at bedtime for

the first couple of weeks?

In England I stayed for a week post-op with two couples who lived

in old houses that had very narrow, steep stairs. I'm sure they would

be illegal in any modern construction. Plus they had insufficient

headroom for a tall person like me. My bedroom was on the third floor,

hosts' bedroom and the only bathroom on the second, kitchen and living

room on the main. Everyone was worried about how I would manage those

stairs, especially when I had to get up to use the " loo " in the middle

of the night and was somewhat groggy from all the drugs, but I just

took things slowly and carefully, and didn't once knock myself out on

the low ceiling or fall down the stairs. I'm sure you can do it.

I've only fallen on the stairs once, at about 4 weeks, when I was

getting so good at going down stairs with one foot (instead of two) on

each stair, using only a cane, that I was going too fast and slipped

on the carpet (even though I was wearing sensible shoes with treads).

Luckily I was holding tight to the rail and only strained my shoulder

instead of landing hard on my operated hip, but it did set me back a

few days, so I was reminded to go back to being ultra-careful.

Also re stairs: at 10 days post-op, they let me into Shakespeare's

birthplace (an two-storey Tudor era home in Stratford) for free,

because they said that I wouldn't be able to see half of it due to the

narrow and steep stair cases. I didn't disabuse them of that notion,

but I managed to haul myself up and down the stairs quite handily.

(It's amazing what you can do when you really want to, especially if

you don't know if you'll ever have another visit to Stratford...)

After that, I asked at every tourist site whether they had a

" handicapped " rate, and a couple of other places gave it to me...

Some places even let my sister in at a discount, as my " attendant " .

Since I'd just dropped a huge wad of money into the British economy, I

didn't feel too guilty...

Just think of how slim and fit you will be, negotiating those

stairs so often, and don't worry too much. Getting in and out of

compact cars was much more of a challenge than climbing stairs, in my

experience.

Best of luck with the op. Aren't you glad we only have two hips

that can fail on us? Once this one is fixed, you're hopefully set for

life!

n

rBHR Oct.17/03 McMinn

[Guest guest]

Diane,

You use crutches. We've all done it. It's fantastic, amazing, fearful

- but you can do it and it doesn't hurt. Lead with the good leg going

up; the operated leg coming down.

No problemo!

Chris.

> In a message dated 1/16/04 10:50:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,

> amaze_o@y... writes:

>

>

> > Metal ions in the blood. Now that's another story but I am having

> > trouble with Birch ions in my blood now. And dogs sniff at me and

try

> > to hoist their leg...they should hoist their leg on this

" prominent

> > orthopedic surgeon "

> > Cap

> >

>

> Sounds good, Cap.

> Will have my Siberian Husky, Sir Galahd...take over the chore.

> Just spoke with my own orthopedist and friend, Dr. Clifford of North

Miami.

> He said he was trained to do surface replacements in the eighties,

but they

> failed due to the materials used at the time...thngs are different

now.

> He felt I should go ahead with my resurfacing.

> Just some last minute panic.

>

> Biggest concern is we now live in a three storty townhouse.

Downstairs is

> gym, library, computers...no room for a bed.

>

> Second story, kitchen, living room and third floor is bedrooms.

>

> Don't know how I will get up those stairs.

> Diane

>

>

>