Life is a Journey-A Joint Replacement Journey

It took me many months to finally accept the fact that my arthritis was bad enough to have a joint replacement surgery.   I am currently POD #3, total left hip replacement and it has been quite the journey.  My joint specialist, who is a young woman - young enough that I could be her mother - (this is happening more and more these days) told me that my x-rays qualify me for total joint replacement for both knees and my left hip.  Apparently, my right hip isn't all that great, either.  She gave me two big 3-ring binders of information, one for hip replacement and one for knee replacement.  It was so shocking to me on that day that I went home in disbelief and the binders just sat there unopened for two weeks.   She said she could tell that I was overwhelmed and that I ought to go home and think about it, talk it over with my family and come back for another appointment.  This was in November.  Before that day, I didn't even know I had arthritis in my hip.  My hips are just "stiff" and I'm usually just sent to physical therapy.  My doctor said that according to my x-rays, I have an extremely high pain tolerance, which again, I was surprised.  I hate taking Advil and other pain relievers and I try really hard not to take them and most the time the arthritis in my knees doesn't hurt that bad.  She recommended I go to "prehab" for 6 weeks, two times per week to prepare for surgery and recommended that I do my hip first because it is the least difficult surgery since there is not as much range of motion involved in the rehab.  I had a lot to think about and I will admit, it was mostly an emotional issue to accept.  I've known I've had arthritis in my knees a long time.  I've injured both my knees when I was younger and they told me then I'd have arthritis in my knees.  Since we've moved here three years ago, I'm a lot more active and I love walking around the neighborhood which involve lots of hills and I try to get 10,000 steps a day.  Then we started going to Japan which also involves a lot of walking and a lot of stairs going up and down at train stations and it's been getting harder and harder.  I really want to be able to travel to see our precious grandchildren!  I knew she was right. 

 Over time, I've decided that I'm a lucky one to not suffer a lot of pain with my arthritis, for whatever reason.  They just say I have a high pain tolerance.  Because of that, they say people like me have good outcomes because of my high pain tolerance.  All I know, is that I don't like being in pain.  Most people I've talked to about joint replacement said that "Oh, you'll be so happy to have it done and to get rid of the pain!"  But my arthritis wasn't that painful!  My doctor said that because of how I was compensating for it on the left side, it was causing other problems on my right side.  I've had two issues with my right foot which is taking the brunt of my left hip arthritis and also my right knee is the worst of both knees.  I knew she was right and was just grateful that I wasn't in excruciating pain like most people who get joint replacement.  But it is a process, for sure.

Prehab

I did go back eventually to my specialist with Bruce and we talked more about it and then we set a date.  It was real now.  I was so nervous.  I started on my journey to prepare ahead of time to make my outcome as good as I could.  First, I started going to "prehab".  I've been to A LOT of physical therapy in my life because of chronic knee issues and I also have degenerative discs in my back since I was 19 years old.  I'm a pro at physical therapy.  The first thing my PT said was that a lot of people will actually feel better after starting physical therapy and then they don't need joint replacement.  Well, to make a long story short, this was NOT me.  For one thing, I've always done exercises to keep my knees and back strong so I was not one of those who was new to physical therapy exercises.  "Prehab" was excruciatingly painful and I was back on Advil, icing afterwards, etc.  I hated it!  Sometimes, I would just come home and go straight to bed with ice.  I realized all my compensating was making my body not able to move certain ways.  My therapist was very gentle on me and he kept saying how "tight" I was.  He did a lot of gentle stretching of my legs and hips and that part actually felt really good.  I told him I wish he could come to my house and do that to me every morning to get me going each day!  I would feel so limber and flexible when I walked out of there after each session but then everything would immediately start stiffening up and I could hardly move, usually before I even got home.  My doctor had told me that my "prehab" would not be a feel-good kind of physical therapy for me and she was right.  My PT gradually worked on my flexibility, my strength and balance and it was grueling work, I won't lie.  But it was worth it because in the hospital I immediately started PT again post op, and OT (occupational therapy) and then another PT session the second day following surgery.  All three of the therapist stated how strong I was!  That made me feel real good.  The second PT even asked where I was going for "prehab" because she was so impressed.  She was impressed with my breathing and how I used my core muscles which I had been taught to use.  So, "prehab" is something I'd recommend for anybody having joint replacement.  It wasn't fun for me but I'm convinced it is making a big difference on how I'm doing now. 

Physical Activity

I tried to stay as physical active as possible before surgery and since my arthritis wasn't real painful, I was able to keep up my walking.  I even walked 7 miles one day when Seattle had a walking party on the 66-year-old viaduct that is being demolished because of earthquake safety.   That was a really fun day.

And then we got a record breaking amount of snow here in Seattle (14 inches!) and it was great fun walking around the neighborhood in the snow. 

This is all stuff I probably shouldn't have been doing with my level of arthritis.  But I just can't live a life of inactivity, another reason I knew I needed to have it done.  My physical therapist said I was in a catch 22 - I need to stay physical active but I shouldn't be "over-doing" it, either.  He said 7 miles was too much for me after the viaduct walk, which ironically, we ran into each other on top of the viaduct that day!  But living here in Seattle, it's hard to limit walking.  It's a very walkable city, plus I love walking.  Not being able to walk to places would never work for me. 

Nutrition

Nutrition is big for me because it's what I do!   As soon as my surgery date was set, I started drinking a protein shake to "beef-up", so to speak.  

I like the Costco Premier Protein Shake because it's not real high in calories or sugar but it has 30 grams of protein, plus they taste good.  I'm still drinking one daily to promote healing.  I also started taking vitamin C and zinc to promote healing, which I'm still doing.  I take 50 mg of zinc per day and at least 1500 mg of vitamin C per day.  These are both common wound healing supplements.  And, of course, you want to eat a nutritious diet prior to surgery. What do I mean by a nutritious diet?  Basically, don't eat the SAD diet - Standard American Diet - which is mainly convenient, processed, nutritionally depleted food.  Instead, eat whole foods in their natural state, preferably local and organic.  This may be a huge undertaking to a lot of people, but I'm a firm believer of this.   I made homemade chicken soup before my surgery and froze it so it would be on hand when I wanted some.  This recipe uses turkey bones but you can use chicken bones, too, or even beef bones that are now showing up in grocery stores to make beef bone marrow broth.  I had a bowl on my first night home from the hospital with some rice in it and it really hit the spot.  Home Sweet Home!

 For breakfast before surgery, I always fixed myself scrambled eggs with sautéed celery and a handful of spinach thrown in.  Your doctor will check for iron deficiency anemia before surgery so be sure and get lots of iron in your diet. 

Exercises

Need I say more about this?  I have a whole new set of post surgery exercises that I"m suppose to do three times a day now.  I also scheduled post surgery PT sessions with my guy, even though they didn't say I had to have post surgery PT for hip replacement, unlike knee replacement.  But I want to keep it up now that he knows me and to keep working on improving my gait and my strength, balance and flexibility.  When you get to be my age, these are things that I'll be working on the rest of my life. I recently bought this really great exercise table on Amazon that makes my exercises a lot easier.  I keep it at the foot of the bed so it's easily accessible during my rehab.

 My sister ordered one so I checked it out at her house and I loved it.  Because of my arthritis, it's always been hard for me to get up and down from the floor to do my exercises and the bed is too soft.      This table is nice and sturdy, plenty wide enough and you feel very secure on it.  I highly recommend this product and it's very reasonably priced.  You can order one here.

Joint Class

Last but not least, I would recommend to attend a joint replacement class before your surgery because  it was so full of information.

 I felt so much better after going to that class.  They explained all the precautions they take to control pain and prevent infection so I felt a lot less nervous about the whole ordeal.  It's not an easy process having your joints replaced and surgery is a scary thing.   But they do so much now to make it successful for you and I've been totally impressed.  My pain has been very minimal and I can already feel a big improvement when I walk.  I felt it immediately, too.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised but my doctor was right, once again.  She did indeed fix my limp and my tight hip. I'm still on my journey to recovery but if you take these steps toward joint replacement, your journey will be a positive one, too.