New Hip

[PoginyHill]

I was able to return to my happy place just under 3 weeks after the new hip (18 days post-op to be exact). Wife came out to snap a couple pictures - either to rub in my face if I did something dumb to hurt my recovery or to show the surgeon, "see what my crazy husband is doing already" - (which she did).
Recovery going very well. Couldn't be happier with the whole experience. If anyone needing a complete hip replacement has a choice, definitely go with the anterior method.



 

Oh, I do have chainsaw pants under the coveralls.



 

[Magicman]

Thank You for following up with your progress.  It's a huge help to those of us who ain't had it done.....yet.

[Ron Scott]

Great recovery being back to the vigorous woods work.

[realzed]

Yep - had mine done @7:30AM and was up walking around (somewhat gingerly by Noon - home by 6PM..
Front entry and general anesthetic (my own choice - I hate the spinal) and I was walking around the block within a day or two.
A lot better recovery than my TKR and subsequent same knee revision when it came to recovery and success, but that was somewhat to be expected.
This getting old is not as much fun as I anticipated - guess all of my youthful idiocy is finally catching up with me.. in spades!

[gasman1075]

Thanks for sharing I am looking at new hip #2 in the fall and hope to get anterior. 

[Bruno of NH]

Awesome on your hip
My friend had it done and he says he feels much better. 
He gets around great

[mike_belben]

The problem with antibiotics is that they kill off necessary bacteria in the gut that isnt entirely understood but is known to colonize us to digest and make soluble things that we cant on our own. Bacteria somehow produce compounds for the entire body.  

Narrowing bacterial diversity in the gut is proven to lead to diverse health issues.  The more antibiotics and sterilized fast food you consume the faster health will decline.  It only took a year driving truck to see for myself what too much road food will do to you.

Im not saying dont follow your doctor, but you dont want any extra gut sanitizer than necessary.  If you kill the good stuff, the bad stuff it kept in check will proliferate 

[Raider Bill]

4 surgeries and not a single antibiotic was prescribed.
Never gave it any thought before now.

[PoginyHill]

The problem with antibiotics is that they kill off necessary bacteria in the gut that isnt entirely understood but is known to colonize us to digest and make soluble things that we cant on our own. Bacteria somehow produce compounds for the entire body.  

Narrowing bacterial diversity in the gut is proven to lead to diverse health issues.  The more antibiotics and sterilized fast food you consume the faster health will decline.  It only took a year driving truck to see for myself what too much road food will do to you.

Im not saying dont follow your doctor, but you dont want any extra gut sanitizer than necessary.  If you kill the good stuff, the bad stuff it kept in check will proliferate

Yes indeed. The gut is a remarkable and not fully understood aspect of our body. There is such a thing a fecal transplant for those that don't have the right mix of bacteria.
For surgeries, most will have you on an IV antibiotic drip during the procedure, but no oral antibiotics afterward unless there is a problem. ORs are very sterile environments. Post op infections normally occur when patients don't take good care of their incision site.

[mike_belben]

Remarkable indeed.  Thinking my wife may need to have a bacterium transplantbut its not something your typical PC is gonna suggest. 

[doctorb]

Just to set the record straight, unless there is some absolutely specific individualized medical reason for someone NOT to get antibiotics, all total joints get a pre operative single dose. The medical studies are quite clear on this, and the infection rate of surgical procedures is lowered with this standard practice.  In addition to the preoperative IV antibiotics, spinal procedures often use antibiotic powder in the wound at the time of closure.  

So there is no surprise that you have had no antibiotics prescribed.  You were asleep or sedated when they were instilled.  Studies show that a single dose of prophylaxis is all that is necessary.  I appreciate the downside of antibiotic therapy, and I don't disagree with the philosophy of avoiding them if possible.  If I ever need another surgery, you can bet your next mortgage payment that I will receive, and I want to receive, preoperative antibiotics, and you should too.

[Don P]

Remarkable indeed.  Thinking my wife may need to have a bacterium transplantbut its not something your typical PC is gonna suggest.

Mike, if it's C Diff that she can't shake, they were ending courses of Flagyl on me cold... end of the bottle, you're done. 3 days later the C diff was back. After 3 tries of that the bacteria was resistant. Went to vancomycin (sp) which was the last line before a fecal transplant, but this doc tapered off the dose, that worked. Her reasoning was that the annie b's had wiped everything, but the C Diff was the fastest reproducing bacteria. I kept giving it a clean petri dish to grow on and then culling for the strongest amongst them, I had made a personal super bug. She kept a hand on them by tapering while giving the good bugs a better chance of getting a foothold. She said to avoid annie b's as much as humanly possible from then on. It was quite awhile before I could tolerate some foods, I guess missing bugs that slowly got back online.

Since then I've had a couple of shoulders done, lyme multiple times. I just keep a close check on myself and try to get lots of good bugs in when I'm on them. I'm not a doc but if she is off her feed it is serious.

[mike_belben]

not C diff.. she has a host of issues that all seem to tie back to gut bacteria and diet.  both my children as well, one autistic, one severe ADHD.. who got their microbial inoculations during normal birth from mom. im gonna reach out to this guy at UCSF and see if he wants to investigate her as a study case.  i can read all the best, most recent research project papers in the world but there is a limit to how much that can really do for her. 


Sergio Baranzini, PhD | Baranzini Lab

[Otis1]

@PoginyHill 

I'm curious if you have any updates as to how the overall recovery went and how it is now? 

I am in a very similar situation. In fact, I was at the orthopedic surgeon today and am in the process of scheduling a hip replacement. He said it would be about an hour procedure and then outpatient, so it sounds like what you went through. Dr. told me it would be about 6 weeks recovery, but it looks like you had better progress than that.

My mom has had both hers done and everybody else says you feel way better afterward. My wife is also a recovery nurse in that department of the hospital. Wasn't on my list of things to do in my 40s, but I'm hoping it keeps me in the woods way longer.

[PoginyHill]

Still going strong. Joint pain is gone. It's taken a while to get rid of muscle tightness with routine stretching. Mostly normal now - no different than my "good" hip. I was probably doing my regular stuff within a month after surgery. Only the anterior method allows that. The traditional posterior method takes a much longer recovery because muscles are cut to access the joint. Mine were only moved and abused, but not cut.

[thecfarm]

Glad it all worked out for you!!

[Otis1]

Thanks for the update, glad you're doing well. It's hard to wrap my head around this, so I'm glad I have a recent success story to help motivate me.

I will be sure to ask about which method will be used.