My hospital stay after hip replacement surgery

If you haven’t checked it out yet, this is my story pre-surgery, what you need to know about hip replacement surgery – and nobody tells you: https://lynntowin.ca/what-you-need-to-know-about-hip-replacement-surgery-and-nobody-tells-you

and this is my story leading up to surgery, what happens before hip replacement surgery: https://lynntowin.ca/what-happens-before-hip-replacement-surgery

In the hospital

With my direct anterior hip replacement, I knew that I should be out of hospital by the next day (some will be ready to leave the same day.) And I knew that I should be up and walking not long after the operation. I believe the getting up walking right away part is a very important part of rehab from this operation.

I also knew that I should have x-rays and see a physio before I was ready to go home.

My support person Kathy showed up at some point – a nurse was supposed to call her when I was in my room, but she wasn’t called. I asked my nurses several times to call her, but she still wasn’t called. She took all my possessions including my cell phone with her, so I couldn’t call her. I didn’t even get my glasses for a few hours so couldn’t see very far. (They were in a plastic bag with the clothes I wore to the hospital). Not a big deal, but don’t expect everything will be done as planned.

By the time I had my wits about me, it was mid-afternoon. There were several nurses in and out of my room checking on me. I told them that I needed to get up and walk since I should be leaving by tomorrow, if not today. This was a surprise for them, since they expected me to be in for a few days like other hip replacement patients. I also asked about physio and x-ray appointments.

I wanted and needed to be up and walking – but no one else wanted that

The nurses said I couldn’t get up from my bed until my physio appointment set for the next morning. They told me several times that they would bring me a bedpan when I needed to go to the washroom. I said I did not know how to use one of things, and I needed to walk. They were following the standards for “regular” hip replacements, and I kept reminding them that I did not have a regular hip replacement.

I asked them to check when I was getting x-rays as well. After checking they said that x-rays were taken while I was still in the operating room.

After a few more times telling me I would have to use a bedpan, and me saying no I need to walk, a nurse called the physio department. The physios told her she could try getting me up. The nurses weren’t really confident about that, and talked about trying to “dangle” me. What! I pictured hanging by my arms from my bed or something. But apparently it’s a term they use in the hospital, meaning having me sit on the side of the bed before I got up. Well sure, as long as you get me walking after that…. The anesthetic seems to block up your digestive system so I was never in a hurry.

I couldn’t get up on my own since I had intravenous lines in my hand – one for fluids and one for pain medication. A kind nurse finally unhooked me from the lines to take me to the washroom. When I stood I was a little dizzy at first, but then I was fine. I was helpless without a walker though. The nurse was there with a transfer belt to support me against her in case I needed help.

I understand that it’s less labour intensive for the nurses to give you a bedpan than for them to take you to the washroom. But that wasn’t what was good for my recovery. I think they would have saved time by just taking me the first time I asked instead of arguing with me so many times though! And walking early may have saved me recovery time.

Next morning in the hospital

The next morning, a porter with a wheelchair arrived to take me to the physio department. My walker needed to come with me, so after I was seated she picked up the walker and was about to set it down on my thighs. Omg no, I have a fresh incision there! Oh yeah, sorry, we’ll do it a different way.

The physio told me that they would have seen me the day of surgery, but my file showed that I decided I would not go home the same day and wanted to stay one night. News to me! And who knew I could decide when I want to stay in hospital?? Well did you want to go home yesterday? No, I’m happy that I stayed in hospital. Well then it’s all good!

The physio told me to get up from a seated position using a walker, do a couple of exercises lying down (unsupervised, just read from a book and do it), go up a few stairs using a walker. These were all difficult to do since my operated leg is a dead weight. I did not walk any distance.

I asked to be told how I should get up using the walker. It doesn’t matter, he said, people just do whatever they want as soon as they get home anyway. Can you tell me the correct way and I will try to do it that way? Oh okay, use your left hand (strong side) on the walker, right hand (operated side) on the chair to push up.

The stairs part involved using the end of the walker to balance on the stairs. I tried to do it that way at home but it didn’t work. I have no idea how I made it up and down those stairs.

Did I have any questions? Yes, I needed to know how to wash myself, since I had a different bathtub seat than usual, and because that was part of what I was supposed to be doing at physio. Oh, for the first while just do a little bird bath (flips hands underneath armpits). Well, that was helpful.

When would I see a physio again? You will get a call and have an appointment in a month. A month! But I had the direct anterior surgery and should be moving a long time before that! Okay, I’ll make a note in the file but they may or may not see you before then.

Back in my room, another porter wheeled me off for another set of x-rays for some reason.

Discharge from the hospital

A nurse came with my discharge papers around noon the day after surgery. They made an appointment with my surgeon two weeks later for him to check my incision and remove the staples. That was strange, I thought I would be able to see or feel staples. And they mistakenly made appointments with both my surgeon and the assisting surgeon, so I fixed that later.

The nurse gave me prescriptions for painkillers and blood thinners. It’s important to keep your pain at a low level so you can do exercises and recover properly. And you are prone to blood clots with too much lying around.

I didn’t think to question the prescriptions, like I questioned everything else, and that was a mistake. The painkillers were for just a few days. I expect this was the dose for a regular surgery, where a patient had been in hospital for several days getting stronger painkillers. I did not have enough painkillers to recover with.

Dr. Rodwan appeared in my room as I was getting ready to leave. He told me the operation had gone well, and the x-rays looked good. I said I would see him in a couple of weeks for staple removal, and he said no you don’t have staples, you have dissolvable stitches!

My trusty support person Kathy showed up shortly, and I escaped the hospital by wheelchair.

How was my overnight stay in hospital?

I looked at my stay in hospital as an adventure, since I had never been in hospital overnight before. I was happy to stay in hospital overnight since I definitely didn’t feel confident enough to go home, even with a very competent support person.

But with walking and timely personal physio instruction, could that have been a different story? The hospital system was not set up for me and I had to fit into it. I get it. But communication could have helped.

My nurses were great, some very caring and helpful. But they were following instructions for a different surgery. I had several conversations about this, but it didn’t seem like anything was noted in my record, or if it was noted it wasn’t read, so I had the same conversations with all of my caregivers.

I struggled to be supported in my best recovery the entire time I was awake in the hospital. This was partly due to the “different” surgery I received. But also, no one but me has my recovery as their focus. I believe that’s just the way our public health system works.

It was a relief to go home.

I’ve reinforced my belief in this advice:

Take charge of your care. No one else will.

Don’t be shy.  Ask any question you have when talking to anyone in the health care system.

Stay tuned to hear how my recovery went!