Today it’s not about me. Isn’t that a change. Well, okay, it is sort of about me.
As it turns out I have at least two followers for all these hip replacement posts. The first is a both a friend and the mom of a friend. She’s been a huge influence on me as she’s the person who suggested that I ride across Iowa, something I’ve done twice and documented here on Statrix.
She’s been following because she was scheduled for the same surgery a couple of weeks after mine and was interested in my experience. She’s now had her surgery and I had a chance to talk with her today and she’s says she’s doing great. Perhaps even better than I am when it comes to healing! That’s great news.
She reports that, like me, the pain relief was pretty much instantaneous. It’s not that you don’t hurt after surgery, it’s just that the pain is so much less than what you’ve been living with that you really do get instant relief. This is something I’ve heard over and over and almost didn’t believe until it proved true for me, and now for a good friend.
And now that bit about me. During our chat today she thanked me for all this writing saying it gave her some confidence heading in. You are quite welcome. It’s been a great outlet for me to articulate what’s been going on and, if it has helped even on other person, I’m gratified.
But that’s not all. I have another friend who is, at the very least, contemplating have the same surgery. She’s another good friend and has been following along to see what my experience of all this has been. The infection and auto accident aside, it’s been all good and I hope I’ve been able to convey that.
If you are considering a hip replacement all I can really say it don’t wait. My recovery has taken some effort so far, but frankly the PT is really stuff I should have been doing for years anyway: stretching is good for you. The pain relief, right after the surgery, and increased mobility, with days if not sooner, is really something not to be missed.
And now a bit about me. As I’ve mentioned I’m using a wet-to-dry dressing to help the spot that hasn’t healed close up. The biggest problem I’ve had with this since I learned how yesterday and have had to change the dressing both last night and this morning is the tape used to put the dressing on. The paper tape I was given for the job was just too darn sticky and, given that I have to tape my upper thigh, I’ve had issues with my skin being pulled painfully and worse (a bit of tearing – blood and all).
I’ve just purchased some expensive blue tape by NEXCARE that purports to be much better for this sort of thing. I’ll let you all know on my next post as I don’t have to change the dressing right now. By the way, I didn’t actually use the same tape they gave me yesterday for my dressing this morning, I used some other paper tape I had around that isn’t quite as bad and I used a lot less of it. I may use the stuff the gave me under things that clip to my bike for a bit of added friction.
I’m not recommending the 3M NEXCAREproduct, at least not yet, but here’s what it is:
Aloha!