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Author	Message Text
airmorse	09/14/2022 09:30AM   Double post...
Jackfish	09/10/2022 04:37PM   Best wishes for a successful surgery and a strong recovery. You'll be back on the trail at full strength next year.
Savage Voyageur	09/10/2022 04:22PM   Prayers sent for your healing and recovery. By next summer you should be walking good. I had my hip replaced a few years ago. Still kicking…
Traveler	09/10/2022 04:02PM   Thanks in part to some of the threads on this site I am going in Tuesday morning for a hip replacement. I appreciate your prayers. I am only 67 but this old hip has me really limited in my mobility. My last trip north was August of 2021 but we stayed on Kawishiwi Lake as I could not even walk across a portage anymore. Here's hoping 2023 brings new opportunities in the BWCA!
Traveler	09/11/2022 09:27AM   Oh, that is encouraging! Thank you, Karen.
nctry	09/11/2022 03:13PM   Traveler: "Oh, that is encouraging! Thank you, Karen." Prayers for sure... no one will be able to keep up with you next year!
BigTim	10/27/2022 03:59PM   Hey Traveler - how was the 6 week appointment?
Traveler	10/13/2022 09:07AM   One week. How you doing Tim?
burrow1	09/12/2022 12:47PM   I had my first hip replaced Dec 31st 2020 did a trip in June 2021 Brant lake, Gillis, Peter, Little Sag, Tuscarora and out Round. No issues My second one Sept 20 2021 had some minor issues but are now resolved. I may have over trained....... and tore the Glute and Hamstring which slowed my recovery. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again the improvement in my daily life has been outstanding. Dean
BigTim	10/20/2022 05:38PM   How about an update Traveler? Two weeks out for me now. Ditched the walker after the 1st week - all cane now. Still swollen and stiff in repair hip area, but manageable, Taking a handful of short walks every day now. Getting down to my donkey and 2 horses a few times a day - to feed, pet, and talk. Still can't sleep for longer than 2 hours at a time throughout the night. The only 2 positions I can sleep - back or good side - get pretty stiff after 90 minutes or so. Probably still a couple weeks out from driving - right side better be ready for the brakes. Started lifting weights earlier this week - mostly upper body stuff. Gonna start some leg extensions and leg curls here soon. Body still wants to defer to the limp every time. I have to concentrate while I'm walking to remind myself what a normal gait is..... I certainly have appreciated your updates. Kept me going for a while there. Hope all is going well! BigTim
Traveler	10/20/2022 07:13PM   Good to hear about your progress. Just for encouragement... I walked 2 miles yesterday, pretty easily. I still do have a strange gait or limp. It's hard to understand the need to learn to walk normally again. I do think some of it, maybe a lot, is just accepting that even though I do not have pain I do still have one leg that is considerably weaker than the other. I walk up and down stairs quite easily now. I am still restricted about bending more than 90 degrees and I still am not to cross my leg. I hope those restrictions will be relaxed soon. I have a 6 week checkup next week. Hang in there, Tim!
nctry	10/21/2022 08:02AM   Good to hear for sure... I did a post op yesterday for my wrist fusion surgery. Wow, never thought this would be such a deal. But hearing your progress gives me hope as I’m only two weeks in. Very little use of even my fingers. But it’s not stopping me. Hooking up and heading west tomorrow... shifting left handed is already second nature. Haha! Keep on healing...
Traveler	10/21/2022 02:49PM   Shifting left-handed...and steering with your knee?! Well done!
Traveler	10/06/2022 07:53PM   Wow, Tim, home the same day! I spent a night in the hospital. Well done, and here's hoping all goes smoothly now!
Traveler	10/10/2022 11:25AM   Thanks for the encouragement! I am doing well, walking a mile a day now. Let's hope BigTim is okay. His surgery was last Thursday.
BigTim	10/10/2022 04:13PM   Traveler is an overachiever! The standard for the rest of us. I'm doing well. Hip is fine - bit swollen yet. I'm up walking around 10-15 times a day. Even took a few walks out on the deck and sidewalk. Once the swelling goes down, I'll venture farther. Can't beat this beautiful weather in the midwest!
airmorse	09/14/2022 09:30AM   yogi59weedr: "My luck." I would have contacted an attorney. Just because there is a "Dr." in front of a name does not automatically make them good. There are good doctors and bad doctors. After all their profession is called a "practice".
Frenchy19	09/14/2022 08:02PM   Hope you have a quick and full recovery. Give you a chance to put those paddles you have been making to use!
Traveler	09/19/2022 12:55PM   Just a brief update – especially for BigTim. One week tomorrow and I am doing great. I have been out walking today with just a cane. I'm not going too far at the advice of the physical therapist but I feel real good. No hip pain. The incision would hurt if I bumped it or anything like that but otherwise is pretty easy to ignore. I have taken no pain meds since leaving the hospital last Wed. I am doing great so far and very thankful.
BigTim	09/19/2022 04:17PM   Awesome Traveler. Sounds like you were more than ready! Did you do any preventative rehab - like hip flexor strengthening? I'm 17 days out now, and can't wait. I'm pretty much sick and tired of not being able to do things I enjoy. Was yours the right or left? Mine is right - which my surgeon says will put me 6 weeks without driving. I made my own cane - hickory stick with an overturned canoe made out of oak for a handle. Keeping me focused on why I need this! Stay optimistic and keep up the good work! Keep me posted Traveler!
BigTim	09/19/2022 04:45PM
Traveler	11/03/2022 09:26AM   Tim, it's been a month. How you doing?
BigTim	10/13/2022 09:39AM   The hip is great. I finally went down to the horses and donkey field for my 1st field trip this am. Ditched the walker and used the cane. Felt good to get outside! LIttle things - that caused me significant hip pain are gone. Almost surreal due to the fact I compensated for years before it became unbearable. I'm taking careful measures to limit the stress on my new hip - as I want this to work and be a one time fix....My plan is to get out and ice fish at our cabin in N. WI roughly after xmas. The only negative was the fact that I received an epidural instead of general anesthesia. I've had some recurring nerve pain shooting up and down my repaired hip side leg - and is it ever painful. It's rare - but slowly getting better. There ain't much I can do about it but suck it up. I haven't been able to sleep in a bed yet - and sleeping on a recliner is getting pretty old, but complaining won't do me any good. It will all be a distant memory someday. I'm gonna start our next BWCA adventure planning this winter. I'm excited to walk those portages and carry packs again! So Traveler - give me your update.
Traveler	10/13/2022 07:47PM   Good to hear you are up and about! Sleeping was difficult for me too the first couple weeks. I am walking a mile or more a day now with no pain. So grateful. I do wear out as I am weak and out of shape both from the surgery and from 2+ years of dealing with the old hip. My biggest current challenge is actually figuring out how to walk like a normal person again. After years of limping I seem to have a very ingrained limping habit. Walking with the cane seems to help me not limp. I'm not quite sure why. I am hoping that gaining strength will help too. Keep up the good work!
BigTim	10/06/2022 05:32PM   Traveler - returned home about 4:30 PM. Made it thru all the PT checks in short order. Walked up 3 steps from garage into house just fine. Hoping for some longer walks in 3 weeks - like you! I asked my surgeon "how bad was it?" She told me it was bad. No cartilage, lots of bone spurs, and quite a bit of extra hardened bone regrowth to compensate. She said she had a very difficult time inserting screws in new socket as a result. Already been up and pacing the hallway.....
yogi59weedr	09/15/2022 03:04PM   Travler, that's great. Keep at it.. The therapy is a life long thing.
yogi59weedr	09/15/2022 03:04PM   Travler, that's great. Keep at it.. The therapy is a life long thing.
BigTim	09/11/2022 05:01PM   Good luck. Keep us posted. I go get mine the 1st week of October, so we'll be close to rehab timing....
Traveler	09/11/2022 07:16PM   Will do, Tim.
DanCooke	09/13/2022 10:16PM   12 years on a hip replacement. doing more now than the time leading up to replacement.
yogi59weedr	09/14/2022 09:14AM   My luck.
BigTim	09/23/2022 06:05AM   Any updates Traveler?
Hawbakers	09/11/2022 07:51AM   Good Luck! My Sister had her hip replacement surgery this summer, June 14th. She was free of the pain right away. Six weeks recovery time and she is walking a mile a day now.
Traveler	09/12/2022 11:50AM   Thanks for the encouragement, Luke!
napinch	09/12/2022 07:26AM   I got one a few years back (60) and all that grinding pain disappeared. It should be a pretty quick recovery which should have you up walking right away. The only things that I can't do is run and extensive stretching. But i have been walking 5-7 miles a day and have no issue. You should be back to tripping by next spring if so desired. Good luck Luke
Traveler	09/15/2022 10:52AM   Thanks Tim. I will keep you posted.
BigTim	09/14/2022 06:42AM   Yogi - you are among the 5% who get infections. Very sorry to hear of this. They should have monitored you more closely and started antibiotics like a week after your 1st one.....Sure hope you eventually get back to a canoe.
yogi59weedr	09/13/2022 11:57PM   Can't let all these success stories make you think nothing bad can happen. My apologies. Probably 4 years ago I had a hip replacement on March 29th. Never did feel right. Finally went back in the hospital on April 27th. Dr. transfered me to another hospital. I had an infection. On the 28th he went in and cleaned everything up and put in my 2nd hip. The next morning he came in and test revealed I had a staph infection. He was going to go back in the next day and take out that hip and put in a spacer. This I would not be able to walk on it withmout a walker til July 29 th when he would put in my 4th hip. On top of that, when I got home around May 4 or 5th I was going to have to inject over 400 shots in a pic line. 3 shots 3 times a day for 6 weeks... It was somewhere around this time that I knocked everything off my food tray stand.. He was not impressed but left very quickly. 4 hip replacements in 4 months.. 2 in 3 days... Somewhere around June 20th. I hooked up my boat and drove to Minneapolis. Spent night at buddies house and went to ely and fished below Prarie Portage for 2 days. Then back to Minneapolis then back home. Stubborn cuz I quess... To-date.... hip is not good.. Doing the warm water pool and stationary bike.... I throw this Dr's name under the bus every chance I get.
BigTim	09/15/2022 10:23AM   Glad to hear Traveler. I'm keenly curious how you progress moving forward.
Traveler	09/15/2022 10:19AM   Yogi, I did read some of your story here on this site a week or two ago. I’m very sorry for your experience and I appreciated you sharing it. I’m doing well so far this is the third day and I’m walking around the house without much pain. I have a physical therapy appointment tomorrow morning. I would say so far so good.
Traveler	09/19/2022 05:18PM   I was trying to do the exercises but they made me go off the Meloxicam the week before surgery and I realized how much that stuff had helped me cope. I was barely able to walk with a cane that last week. I am walking much easier now than I was a week ago! It was my left hip. I'm already driving.
Traveler	09/19/2022 05:21PM   Nice job on the cane! I have an old wooden one from an ancestor.
Traveler	09/23/2022 06:05PM   I am doing well. The hip is perfect, no pain there. The rest of that leg feels banged up and sore but not so much that I can't ignore it. The first few steps after sitting or lying down are a little tough but as soon as I get going things get better. I have put my walker away and only use a cane now and I can walk without the cane but I don't just for safety's sake. I am going to the gym and using a stationary bike for about 10 min., walking for about 10 min. and using a few other machines the physical therapist recommends. Then I am ready for a nap! All in all, I am very encouraged. It is 12 days from my surgery and I am walking at least as well as I did before + every day gets a little bit better. I pray that your experience will be just as good, Tim.
BigTim	09/24/2022 06:29AM   Thanks Traveler. I'm 12 days from my new hip! I read your updates with a smile - as I fully expect my experience to be like yours. Thanks again - and continue your rehab well.
Traveler	10/03/2022 03:36PM   Tim, I'll be praying for you this week and trust that your surgery experience will be completely successful. I had my surgery 3 weeks ago tomorrow and today I walked a mile with no pain.
BigTim	10/04/2022 06:35AM   Traveler - I appreciate the positive thoughts and great news about your recovery! No real meds since last Friday. Ouch! Thursday AM won't come soon enough! My wife is all set and ready to roll for my recovery. We have 2 horses, 1 donkey, 1 outdoor cat, and 10 laying hens to feed/water daily. Also 3 cords of stacked wood ready to start burning when the cold sets in....I had a long list of tasks requiring completion before surgery, and my last two will be done today. Stay healthy and keep up the rehab!
nctry	10/05/2022 09:52PM   Sounds good traveler... I am hanging with fellow paddler as they put me up after getting my wrist fused this afternoon. Little trouble snapping out of it.
BigTim	10/07/2022 04:39AM   No place like home to heal! My doc is putting lots of restrictions on me moving forward, so I doubt she'll allow me to walk a mile in 3 weeks - which is amazing! She firmly wants my new hip to have plenty of bone growth before I start pushing it.....Since I do not want to mess this up, I will listen. My wife has been a saint throughout all this - and she will not let me ignore docs advice. For Yogi - I was pumped full of antibiotics yesterday and given a different course of them to eat orally for a while. She's anal about any chance of infection.
x2jmorris	10/08/2022 12:58PM   Traveler: "Thanks in part to some of the threads on this site I am going in Tuesday morning for a hip replacement. I appreciate your prayers. I am only 67 but this old hip has me really limited in my mobility. My last trip north was August of 2021 but we stayed on Kawishiwi Lake as I could not even walk across a portage anymore. Here's hoping 2023 brings new opportunities in the BWCA!" Hey Traveler, my father had double hip replacement when he was 70 and now at 74 we are still still doing multiple portages and sometimes a bit of bushwhacking. If you are anything like him you will feel much younger.
Traveler	10/27/2022 04:59PM   Got rid of the 90 degree restriction so I can put on my own sock and shoe now! Yipee! Walking 1-2 miles a day. Surgeon said it will take months to build the strength back. I wear out quicker than I would like but I am 67, about 20lbs overweight, and walking on a leg that hardly got used for more than 2 years. How you doing, Tim?
BigTim	10/27/2022 08:17PM   Working on strengthening all those darn hip muscles that have been unused for a couple of years. Do not wish to limp forever or use a cane indefinitely. For the past 6 days, I've been taking my donkey out for daily walks. We've both missed that simple pleasure. Lifting weights for those quads and hamstrings. I finally drove the Ranger this week. My right side can lift pain free for braking! Walking pretty good with the cane, but still can't walk without a pronounced limp without the cane. I still have the 90 degree restriction - and thank goodness for my lovely wife who is willing to help me out with socks. I'm pretty much mirroring your experience Traveler. Certainly appreciate all your foreshadowing. I have my 6 week in mid-Nov. I hope my restrictions are lifted as well. Keep going Traveler! I will do the same!
BigTim	11/03/2022 09:54AM   Hey Traveler - I'm doing well. You? Still trying to shake the limp - but can walk about 20 steps on flat with no limp at all. I still walk my donkey every day - about 1/4 to 1/2 mile on fairly steep terrain. Sometimes 2x a day. I've finally started sleeping all night in a bed for about 5 days now. Took way too long. Still can't put my own socks on, but soon. My 6 week is in a couple of weeks, so I'm looking forward to fewer restrictions. Soon, I expect to be walking some distances and adding a few more exercises to strengthen supporting muscles. So, are you able to bend over pain free? Are you stretching? Can you lift heavier things and walk at the same time? These are a few things I hope to accomplish at some point. Keep plugging away Traveler!
nctry	11/03/2022 12:57PM   Traveler: "Shifting left-handed...and steering with your knee?! Well done!" That’s the easy part... doing physical therapy out in Utah. Pain is better, but man... I should have had em toss is a knee rather then a fusion. Haha. I’d be doing handstands by now.
Traveler	11/03/2022 05:49PM   I am doing a variety of stretching exercises and walking 2 miles a day. I can bend pretty well although it is still a challenge to put on my sock and shoe. A lot of strength building to go but I am getting stronger each week for sure. I can carry weight at least up to the size of my youngest grandson which is about 25lbs!
BigTim	11/17/2022 03:27PM   So Traveler? A little over 2 months out, how is your progress? My 6 week check up is tomorrow - hoping for more restriction lifting. Day to day, I wish I was improving faster. But week to week, it's pretty dramatic the progress. I ditched the cane a couple of weeks ago. There are times I don't limp. Still need some strengthening around that new hip. Still takes me a little while to move correctly after sitting or driving.
missmolly	11/17/2022 08:26PM   I love how you guys encourage each other.
Traveler	11/18/2022 08:37AM   Hi Tim, good to hear of your continued progress. It is encouraging isn't it to believe there is a future without hip pain? My hip is great and I can easily walk a couple miles or spend an hour at the gym doing things my pt recommended. I am so grateful. I am sorry to have to report a bit of a setback. I wouldn't mention it except it might be useful to you. I have developed a pain in both of my legs. Doesn't seem related to the hip but maybe... I haven't been to the Dr yet but I have started wearing the compression socks again and taking aspirin again. For the last week or two I have thought I was just dealing with muscle soreness and/or the need for more stretching. Now I'm not so sure. Hang in there and maybe stay on the aspirin.
Traveler	11/18/2022 09:21AM   and MissMolly, thank you for the kind words. I have felt a little self-conscious about this thread being too much like a personal conversation and maybe not appropriate. I have never met any of you on this board but I do appreciate the many different threads of kindness and personal concern you all share for each other. Keep it up! And thank you, Tim, for becoming a friend. Perhaps we can share a coffee some morning at Betty's Pies or something!
BigTim	11/18/2022 06:27PM   Traveler - hope your recent pain is nothing more than muscle strain. My doc lifted most of my remaining restrictions today. No deep bending squats are just about the last remaining one. So, I will be adding some gradual weight to my weight bar for half bending squats. I've been biking on my road bike connected to an old wind trainer from the 80's. Doc says I should be portaging 75 lbs. next summer without a problem. Love Betty's Pies. We've stopped for breakfast many times there....Let me know your trip plans next season and hopefully we'll work something out. I plan on being online for permit issuing start in late Jan. We have a few preferred EP's for next year and will try and grab one. I certainly appreciate what you have done for me and my healing. I was pretty scared heading in to this, but that seems like a long time ago. And MIss Molly - I have read your comments on this forum for quite some time. Always have good things to say. Keep that optimism flowing....It is very contagious!
ducks	06/27/2024 07:37PM   You’ve got this Traveler. You are in my prayers.
Traveler	06/27/2024 06:36PM   And almost two years later... Thought I would do an update because this thread is my only personal record of my after-surgery progress and I have found it helpful to look back. Perhaps someone in the future will find some of this encouraging. The hip I was writing about is fine and I am so grateful. Unfortunately, last summer I developed pain in my other hip and finally on June 18, last week, I had a second replacement done. Thanks to the record on this thread I realize that I am not doing as stellar as I did in 2022. I think all is okay but at 11 days out I still benefit from the walker. I can walk with a cane but quite gingerly. The arthritis pain is gone of course but the swelling, incision pain, and sore muscles are definitely slowing me down compared to my first go-round. Still praying and trusting that in a few weeks I will be walking a lot better. This one is my right hip and so no driving for six weeks which is also a pain. For what it's worth. Traveler
BigTim	06/28/2024 09:36AM   Hang in there Traveler! Above all, stay as active as you can!
Traveler	06/28/2024 10:36AM   Thanks, friends. Just got back from physical therapy and they were encouraging.
bottomtothetap	08/04/2024 10:07PM   Hey, Traveler--last year my friend Jim went with me on his first ever BWCA trip a couple of years after his 2nd of each hip being replaced. He did just fine on the trip and could not wait to go again. We are now leaving for Brule Lake in less than four weeks. If it goes for you like it went for him, you have plenty trips left. Hang in there and best to you!
jhb8426	08/04/2024 08:49PM   Traveler, BigTim - did you have anterior or posterior surgery?