My mum 88 had THR been 3 weeks walking on two crutches, but her leg & ankle are still very swollen & she says feels a dead weight, can not get herself in or out of bed without my help. Still taking 2 pain killers a day. Are we wanting to much for her age.
Dear Karen
My best wishes to your wonderful Mum!
I wonder if she would be prepared to try those not very attractive stretch stockings. I found that they really did help me. Building muscle strength is of course very important as is building confidence and being able to easily support herself unaided is an important part in confidence building. How is her balance normally?
I'm sure she has it in her to make a good recovery.
Cheers Richard
Hello Karen, I am now 7 weeks post ant approach thr and at 3 weeks i remember i was still using the walker, wearing my compression stockings , icing at night, taking pain meds routinely and dealing with considerable swelling of ankles and lower legs occasionally. Elevating on pillows while in the bed really helps along with doing the excercises they give you before you go home...Good luck to you and your Mum!
Exercises are the key. Plus elevation. Hope she progresses well.
Hi Karen,
Warm welcome to the hippies forum -
Question: Was she not taught in the hospital how to get out and in to bed by physical therapist?
It is challenging as your leg feels like dead weight and muslces are so weak -
To me it was very important to be able to go to the bathroom by myslef instead of the dreaded bedpan ..
Is she in pain? what kind of pain killers is she taking?
My surgeon thought it important to stay ahead of the pain and instructed me to take medicine as prescribed -
You are not wanting too much -
Why did she need the surgery? did she fall or was it OsteoArtheritis?
Remember that she had major invasive surgery where her leg was manipulated, muscles and tendons cut, hip joint forcefully dislocated ... then the procedure of preapring and placing the prothesis and closing ..
it is an awesome surgery and if you want you can watch it on youtube ...
Good luck and come here anytime okay ...
big warm hug
renee
Just a point Renee, it us quite possible that she is on blood thinning tablets which will mean the bruising as a result of the surgery will be worse. I found this to be the case and my muscles complained when asked to support me during early walking. This was very different to when I had my primary hip surgery twenty years earlier.
Cheers Richard
She seems to be at much the same stage at 3 weeks post op as the rest of us
Hi,
Never shown how to get in or out of bed just worked it out ourselves. Painkillers are helping she is just someone who is not happy taking any medication so wanted to stop them asap. she is pleased someone understands the dead weight in the leg.
Mother had her op in April at 90 and bar a bit of a problem with bruising around the incision which kept her in hospital for three weeks as they were worried about blood clots, everything seems ok. Exercise is key!! The weakness sounds like muscle needing repairing and rebuilding along with all the other bits they cut / shoved around, depending on the approach. The surgeon recommended the compression stockings that Richard might have been referring to? in the event of swelling. Mother didn't need them as the slight swelling she had went down with exercise. She is also one who won't take any medication if she can at all help it.
We got a magic booklet with the exercises for the various post-op phases and mother's doing them religiously, although it's tough at times in this heat - Italy.
Never under-estimate them - if at their age they went through such a big op, it means they have the courage and spirit to win through.
Every best wish to your mum and ... don't you give up!!
Orsina and AM
Hi Karen, it sounds as though your mum is doing ok at 3 weeks post op. I was 30 years younger than her when I had my hip op a year ago, and apart from the hip I was reasonably fit and active. It must be harder when you are that much older I would have thought.
Having swollen legs is pretty normal, and as already mentioned putting them up and using ice packs is good. Is she wearing compression stockings? I just had to wear mine at night. Exercise is the key if she's up to it, slowly and steadily.
I'd encourage her to take her prescribed meds if you can. Didn't stop mine completely until 4 weeks.
Wishing you and your mum all the best, Judith
that sounds like an oversight to me -- not being shown how to get out/in of bed is important - but even then she might need help .. leg feels so heavy and very challenging to lift it ..
It is understandable that she (and most of us) want to stop the heavy pain killers as soon as possible - however, pain is very stressful to the body, especially if you try to get stronger and do more - when you wait until the pain becomes unbearable, it takes too long to feel good again --
as Maggie already say: She is right on par !!!
Hi Karen
I hope our mum is feeling better. I can understand your concern but 3 weeks is no time at all after a hip replacement. I have friends in their 80's and they have recovered fine but it takes time.
I had my left hip replaced 18 months ago and I still have the heavy feeling in my leg. My problem is caused by damaged nerves in my foot.
I hope your mums problem improves and keep us informed.
All the best
Brenda
Karen
We have all ages here on the forum but most of us are quite a bit younger than your Mum. I'm sure it is a lot harder when you are a bit older. By aunt had a fall and rerquired a hip replacement at a similar age and has had to move into a home as her recovery has been very slow, but she is very overweight which I'm sure contributes to the slow recovery.
A leg lifter may make getting in and out of bed easier. It's a loop that you put over your foot and pull on. I found it made it much easier (and less painful) to get in and out of bed.
2 painkillers a day does not sound like too much, lots of people are still taking more than that after 3 weeks.
I'm sure the key for older hippies is to keep at it slowly. Spend a bit more time every day being up and about and building up muscles. Muscles will lose strength quite quickly if older people are inactive.
But it sounds to me like she is getting along OK and is lucky to have a daughter prepared to help her.
Mike