I'm Hoping For a Better Year

Welcome back to my Blog!

I have been stalling about writing this post but it is time to update you about how I am doing and try to get back to the fun and informative stuff. It's time to get back to Leading a Healthy Life! I am busy thinking up projects to keep me busy until spring. Easy, low-energy projects. Any suggestions? I promise to share regularly!

What is Happening Lately?

We have been working on decluttering our house, which has really gotten away from us, especially this past year. We are trying to figure out new ways of looking at all our spaces, belongings and at our many collections. It will undoubtedly lead to a few little home repairs. 

I am also working on my general health, but I am primarily working on controlling my weight. After a lifetime of serious weight issues, I was doing pretty well last summer and I felt optimistic. Unfortunately, in the past 3 months, after breaking my second hip, my weight has started climbing up again, so it's time to really focus on weight loss again.

I usually tend to be kind of private about my weight issues and clutter issues. Still, sharing might help me on my journey and perhaps help others struggling with similar problems. 

I am making progress with my hip recovery, so I am currently sorting out my return to work plan. Exercise had been hard despite encouragement from my physiotherapist and I do have a ways to go in my recovery. Still, I love my job and I am even more passionate about Therapeutic Recreation.  I believe work accommodations will be possible. I should find out soon.

My Miserable Year and Catching Everyone Up.

I have not really coped well with this past year. I consider myself a relatively resilient person, but I think that somewhere in the past 6 months, we found out the limit of my reserve. I realize everything could have been much worse. So many people have experienced enormous tragedies over the past couple of years. We are all doing better at my house, and our family is in good or improving health. I can walk, and I am grateful for that. Life is starting to look up a bit. 

It is a year and a month since I rather dramatically dislocated my artificial hip. I thought of so many worse-case scenarios in those first hours and days after my injury until they managed to get the hip prosthesis back in place. I was given the hope that three months in a hip brace would allow me to recover and that I would be back to my everyday life by March. 

Then it partially dislocated again briefly! I thought I would have a repair surgery shortly, but it was months. Then I thought, ok, we can get through this. It was June before I finally got the surgery to fully repair my hip. Recovery was painful and challenging, but I did my exercises and tried to have a good attitude. It would really be fixed in 4 months and, finally, it would be back to everyday life.

 In the meantime, the knee replacement surgery I was booked for had been cancelled with no idea when it could be rebooked. We had believed that by the beginning of 2021 I would have the knee fixed, Covid would be under control, my savings account would have improved and we might even have a getaway trip with a few friends. That new knee and I would be hiking all over the place.

Unfortunately, in September, I fell at the cottage when my left knee collapsed and I landed on my left "Good Hip". It broke so badly that I needed an emergency replacement for that one too.

Hip Recovery has been slow, and my attitude could have been better. The Knee Replacement is on hold for now. Continuing close-downs with Covid and particularly harsh winter conditions have added to the stress, affected my recovery and resulted in nasty cabin fever for my family, but I think I see a glimmer of hope coming soon.

I will be back here next Sunday with a much happier and more positive post. Please check it out on February 6th!

Home from the Hospital after Hip Replacement Surgery

 I have been home for a week now. The hip revision surgery went smoothly. The surgeon actually wound up changing the artificial hip parts and needed to repair tears in some of the supporting tissues of the joint that tore during the dislocation in December. It looks like there was no possible way the hip could have ever healed properly and stopped dislocating, so it was a good call to go forward with the surgery.

My new parts are a little more high-tech than the last ones and are much less likely to dislocate. I was concerned about the original plan to have a constraint liner in the socket limiting my mobility and how much I bend. Still, I knew something had to be done! The surgeon used a different version that won't constrain my hip movement any more than before.

 Hopefully, it won't have me living permanently with  Hip Restrictions, about not crossing legs ever, not bending from the waist more than 90 degrees, and so on. That doesn't mean I get to be stupid.. no fancy dance moves. I certainly need to watch out for falls, but I should be able to still have an active life... once we finally do a knee replacement and fix my left knee!

At the time of my surgery, we were still high in the third wave of covid in Manitoba, making for complications with our health care. The hospital my surgeon works from is one of the hospitals that has a covid ward and intensive care units, and it was beyond overwhelmed. They needed to send people out of the province to other hospitals because of a lack of equipment and staff. They closed down non-emergency surgery and admissions. Fortunately for me, my surgeon put in appeals and got permission to use the other large hospital with an orthopedic program for a few of his patients that he considered in need of the most immediate care.

  

It was all kind of odd because I technically was still a patient of hospital A, where we had initially planned the surgery before Covid closures. I went to that hospital for covid screening the day before surgery and for X-rays. Then on surgery morning, I reported to hospital B for the actual surgery and 5 nights for recovery and my first physiotherapy and rehab sessions. I get my staples out this week, and that will occur at the cast clinic at hospital A.  

On arrival at the hospital, I had to have a security guard help me got from the entrance to the ward and helped carry my overnight bag, my walker, cane, a cold therapy machine! They started me off in the room I would be returning to after the surgical recovery room. That was kind of convenient. There was a bag for my clothes and the gown and housecoat right there waiting for me. 

They had an absolutely miserable time getting an IV into me but that is nothing new. I must say this location on my dominant hand was especially horrible once I needed to use my hands to push off and move around after the surgery and for the physiotherapy.

Next to the surgery cancellation, the hardest part for me about surgery during the Covid Pandemic was going into the hospital all by myself and not having visits from my loved ones.  The phone is just not the same and despite having a truly lovely roommate,  (Hi Pat) I was lonely and missing my family. I was so happy when I finally got home to my family and my own bed!

I am finding the recovery easier this time compared to my first hip replacement for various reasons. Since I dislocated it in December, I have been under a lot of restrictions and have been in pain and too some level gotten used to moving carefully.  I think we have gotten a better handle on my pain management too. I believe all that lying around in the brace has made my leg a lot less stressed physically. Still, the downside is I have most certainly lost a lot of overall strength in the past 6 months since I got hurt. 

I had been expecting to have knee surgery... and then it suddenly changed to hip revision, but the prehab exercises to prepare for those surgeries are very similar. I know the exercises well. Same as three years ago, and this time, I had lots of lead-up time, like it or not. Even though most of me feels like jello, I have tried to at least strengthen the muscles affected by surgery.

I have successfully lost some weight since my dislocation, so I am sure that has also made my recovery easier. I will eventually put up some posts about my weight loss experiences. It is a big part of my living health journey, and I rarely talk about it. I guess I am more than a little sensitive on the topic. I was a chubby kid that has also spent most of my adult life as an overweight person.  People, the struggle has been a hard one. I was not tempted to overeat with the hospital meals though.

I have an appointment set up with my new Physiotherapist in three weeks. Until then I will continue to do the hip exercises assigned by my hospital physiotherapist at least three times a day.

I am going to be editing my previous post Preparing for Hip Revision Surgery which included my plans about packing for the hospital. I had most of it correct but now I have even more helpful ideas and suggestions.   You do want to get your packing correct to make everything easier and as pleasant as possible during your stay at the hospital. So "stay tuned!"

Just in case you were wondering... I'm not really sure exactly what kind of hip replacement prosthetics I got, but it will be similar to what they discuss in the link below..

'Dual mobility' hip replacement reduces risk of dislocation (medicalxpress.com)

Surgery Tomorrow!

 I am having my Total Hip Revision tomorrow morning.

 Third hospital time is the charm for getting this hip functioning properly I hope.   I’m not looking forward to surgery or the recovery period but know that I need to do all I can to keep being mobile.

Cross your fingers and say a little prayer for me, please! 

Preparing for Hip Revision Surgery

 I am still waiting for Hip Revision surgery, and it looks like it is going to be a long wait after all. 

The city has a massive number of Covid cases, and our ICUs are beyond capacity, so non-emergency surgery is on hold yet again. I find it hard to deal with the uncertainty of the situation, but with the extremely high risk of covid in our community, I believe it is just what needs to happen. I have been struggling to move forward with anything, and I am very much in a holding pattern; I can't exercise much, I risk falling, I can't work, volunteer, or do much work around the house, and with Covid, there is no chance of going shopping or visiting with friends right now. I have had a hard time focussing on all the things I can do and tend to slip into thinking about the things I can't do. 

Hip Reversion surgery is what it is called when there is a problem with a hip replacement, and they do a second surgery to try and fix damage around the hip and its parts. Basically, the name says it all. They are revising the surgery that was done before. In my case, since I have had a serious dislocation and now it is still unstable, they intend to change the lining section in the hip socket to a different type that fits differently and restrains the amount of movement of the hip a little more. They will also check for things like damaged ligaments etc. In the meantime, I am at significant risk of it dislocating again, and I have some pain and mobility issues.

When I had the original hip replacement, I didn't really know what I should expect with surgery and the rehab part, and I was pretty scared. I learned a lot from Facebook groups, and internet sites and friends and the hospitals did have prehab classes where I spoke with their dietician, a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist who tried to prepare me for surgery and recovery and teach me ways to cope while living with arthritis and explain what they can.

I wound up needing a different car to come home in than when we had at the time and a different bed because we were sleeping in a low bed with a raised wood frame around it. I needed a bath seat, raised toilet seat and a handle around the toilet. I needed a walker and crutches to deal with stairs into our house. It was highly suggested that I get a recliner chair to sit and probably sleep in.

This will be my third time in hospital dealing with this hip, and I am starting to feel like quite the expert. At least this time, we don't have to buy any of the furniture or medical supplies! Been there, done that! I might not know "when," but I do have a better idea about the "what" and "how."

Packing lists

 

The last time was an ambulance ride with no jacket, no shoes, no phone, no nothing. My husband followed the ambulance to the hospital, and of course, they wouldn't let him in because of Covid 19, but they did take my phone from him and got it to me sometime the next morning. It was good to get in touch and tell him what was happening and eventually to Facetime on Christmas with my family. This time I plan on being prepared. I won't be having any company allowed, so no one to bring supplies.

Items I will Need to Pack

In the Hospital

• iPhone and earphones. Save some podcasts and music to my phone to keep me distracted.
• Charging cable and wall plug connector.
• glasses and a labelled case to put them in
• pen and notepad, maybe some activity book like colouring or crossword
• Slippers with good grips that you can easily step into.
• housecoat
• moisturizer and lip balm
• Hairbrush, elastics, hair clips.
• toothbrush and toothpaste in a case
• They do provide soap but if you have a particular kind, pack it along too.
• mini nail kit
• Pillow, comfort items or a small blanket if you want to. Things to keep you more comfortable.
• important papers your hospital might require like a list of medications and your health care numbers,
• Hard candies to suck on, or maybe breath mints
• Money is tricky. Loose change is usually a good idea, but with covid, nothing is open anyway.
• I would bring a garbage bag for dirty laundry.

Going HomeTime

• fresh underwear
• skirt and shirt or easy pull-on dress. (pants just don't work out well)
• I'm thinking about other slip-on shoes rather than my slippers for getting into the car.

Pickup Time

• Husband Bob is to bring a jacket or sweater if needed
• walker to get to the car
• crutches to get up a couple of stairs into our house.

When I get dropped off at home, Bob will go to the pharmacy to fill prescriptions from the hospital for pain killers and assorted other items.

I will update this post if I think of anything I forgot!

💚

I will stop whining about my hip for now and, like a good recreation person, move on to all the things that I can do until I actually have surgery. 

There are lots of things that don't involve much bending or stretching. And don't including all the things you can't do because your city is under severe constraints and risk due to Covid 19. 

💚

Difficult Health Decision

 I have some very disappointing news. I'm still broken.

After three months of wearing the hip brace, I was excited to finally get out of it and get back to my activities. I went to 2 pool exercise classes and one physiotherapy appointment. I was going to get a form filled so that I could get back to work with modified duties and eventually be back to normal hours. I was just starting to get a few things done around here that have needed doing, we went for a few car rides and a little walk in the park, and I was wearing pants other than leggings! Then it happened.

Last week, while I was seated, my hip had a partial dislocation. It popped out when I twisted sideways and kind of reached forward. I screamed, and my daughter called her dad and tried to figure out what to do. She was just starting to call 911, and I kind of arched my back with the pain and tada it clunked back in. Yes, I actually could hear the thunk as it relocated itself, and immediately the sharp, severe pain stopped. I cried and cried because, beyond the pain, I knew what this means. I put the miserable brace back on until I could check in with the doctor.

I called my surgeon's office and got an appointment for his next office day. He believes that we should do a revision surgery as soon as possible to go back in and change the style of the liner in the artificial socket and check things out. The protocol, if it had fully dislocated, would absolutely have been to do the surgery. There is no good guide for what to do with a partial dislocation, so the choice was up to me. I questioned why this dislocated at 2 and a half years out. It is very, very unusual - dislocations are usually very early in the game or after many, many years of wear. There is no answer to that one.

 I was supposed to have that cancelled knee replacement finally happen in July. He is highly concerned that if we don't have my hip stable at the time of the knee surgery and it dislocated again, it would be catastrophic for the recovery of both joints. He suggested that if the hip wasn't 100 % by then, we should do the hip instead of the knee at that time or just cancel the knee surgery.

 I asked if serious strengthening exercises would be a possibility instead. Our decision was that since I already had an appointment in a couple days with the physiotherapist, I should get her opinion. 

I saw the physiotherapist three days later. She really didn't think it was likely that we could get it strong enough once I was having repeat injuries like this, and the unfixed knee was not helping the situation. She said she would just go with the surgery rather than waiting in fear for another dislocation. Don't put so much work into strengthening that hip just to have the muscle cut in an emergency situation. Made sense. 

I called the doctor's office, and now I have surgery scheduled for May 19th.

Three weeks is actually a nice amount of time to get organized for life after surgery and to talk myself into accepting that this is really happening. On May 25th, it will be 3 years since I was in the hospital having the replacement and 13 years since I was in the hospital due to the pulmonary embolism and the subsequent brain injury. May is apparently not an easy month for my health. I am pretty discouraged at this point. I feel like I have done all I can, but then I question what I might have done wrong that I am having trouble with my hip like this. Unwarranted Self-blame is an issue for me sometimes.

The new Physiotherapist, Janine, said something helpful. I hadn't actually said anything about blaming myself out loud, but I guess she picked up on my emotional state. She looked at me kind of sharply and said, "You do know this isn't your fault, don't you?  This isn't you, failing here... it's your hip. No, actually, it is not your hip .. it is the prosthesis (artificial hip) that is failing. Maybe a problem with it. Maybe not the right fit or orientation for you and your life, but for sure, it is NOT you!" I didn't realize how upset I was feeling about that until I felt such a wave of relief go over me with her words.

I'm going to try and get some fun into the next 3 weeks while I still can. Life has already been so restrictive in this Covid Time. Unfortunately, we are in another wave in Winnipeg and experiencing increasing restrictions related to rapidly increasing case numbers. Another bunch of limitations because of the hip and now continuing for 4 more months is just adding to the isolation and feelings of being restricted. Even though I am in quite a bit of discomfort and pain, I want to go for some car ride adventures, take some photos, have a picnic, get some takeout food and enjoy our yard. I don't want to miss this lovely warm spring weather.