Right hip implant X-ray taken before discharge Day 2

Day 2 – Hospital discharge and recovery

Vitals were taken and painkillers given every 4 hours throughout the night. I woke up at 8.15am and then the nurse came to see me. She was supposed to wake me at 8am and thought it was a shame to wake me as I seemed fast asleep. Surprisingly I had not only slept well between being woken up, but also through the patient in the other half of the room being moved at approximately 1am for an emergency patient to take that space. With all the lights and noise I’m surprised myself on how well I slept. I was offered a laxative which I refused. I was allowed to bring it home. I prefer to wait and see if my system does this on it’s own (which it did.)

By now I was calling for the nurse and getting in and out of bed (slowly) on my own to use the commode. 

Appetite

My appetite appears to be coming back because I woke up hungry. Breakfast came shortly after I woke up, delivered by a volunteer who chatted to me for a short while. She also changed the date on the board on the wall.

The challenge today was cereal and milk half laid down!

Breakfast was acceptable other than the coffee. As a tea drinker although I don’t drink coffee often I like decent coffee. This was awful!!

Morning plan

X-ray, bloodwork, prescription meds and physio are all on the cards on Day 2 before discharge. You have to “pass” physio before being allowed home. I know this involves being able to tackle up and down stairs. Although there is no pain in the hip as before the operation, there is definitely pain from surgery. Everything is hard. Everything is sore. This is NORMAL. Recovery is entirely self directed once instructions have been given. I am determined to do the exercises as told. Recovery will be slow but to be successful, determination and perseverance are the key.

Bloodwork

This was done at the bedside just after breakfast. Just a small sample of blood was taken. Also an ECG was done – I found one of the stickers that was left on my body the next day!

A different view of my hip, post surgery

X-ray

This has to be taken in the X-ray department but I was wondering how this might be done because I didn’t feel it was possible to be able to get off the stretcher bed and onto the X-ray table. I was wheeled into the X-ray room and a board was placed underneath my right hip. At this stage it’s difficult to even move but it’s possible enough to get the board underneath your hip.

Physio

I was directed by a physiotherapist on how to get dressed. Dress your top half first. Embrace T-shirts and sweatpants! Getting your lower body dressed ALWAYS involves starting with the operated leg first using a reacher. You grab the underwear through the leg and then pull up (without breaking hip precautions) and then get the “good” leg in next. Pull the underwear to the knees.  Then follow with pants. You don’t need to grab all of the material but approximately half of the pants to the knee. From there you can put you leg in and wriggle your foot down to the bottom of the pants. Then you do the same with the “good” leg. It is easier with this side because you are able to bend your knee. At this stage I had the physio put my Crocs on. I didn’t bother with socks. Then you can stand up and continue to pull up both underwear and pants together.

Hip Precautions

Getting out of bed, back into bed, sitting on a chair, toilet etc ALWAYS involves the method of putting the “bad” leg straight out once you have walked backwards to the chair etc and felt the back of the chair with your left leg. Now it is in reverse to get up. Bad leg straight out and pushing up from the bed/chair etc stand up and grab the walker.

The mantra is ALWAYS  – walker -bad leg -good leg. Small steps to turn around is again the same order.

I was taken to physio in a wheelchair.  Once there I was asked which side of the stairs the rail is placed.

The mantra is – UP with the GOOD and DOWN with the BAD. It’s hard but necessary. I plan on coming downstairs in the morning and going back upstairs in the evening.

I was shown and had to do exercises to ensure I was doing them correctly. I was given a sheet.

I will cover exercises on a separate page.

Discharge

Once this was done I was free to go and signed a discharge paper. I was given a prescription for pain killers (hydromorphone), anti-inflammatories (celebrex) and blood thinners (xarelto.) I was advised to buy Tylenol Arthritis for when the pain killers had been used. To make it easier my husband filled the prescription at the hospital pharmacy because we just wanted to concentrate on my getting home and he did not want to leave me home alone so soon.

I already have a physio appointment booked for April 9, 2019 and was given a follow up appointment with the surgeon for April 11,2019

One of the physiotherapists came with a wheelchair to take me to the hospital pick up zone to coach me and ensure I got into the car correctly without breaking hip precautions.

Now we were heading home one day after surgery, and that in itself was a scary thought!