My Father in Law has broken his hip

[devilsice123]

My Father in Law in his 70's broke his hip at the beginning of this week, luckily after he had the op yesterday. They are concerned about his chest, my question is if his chest does get better,How long will it take for him to recover?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hip-replacement/recovery/

Thanks it's not a replacement, he tripped over in the house and landed on the hard floor. He's broken the hip and they have put it back together somehow. I think my Mum in law is in denial about what he will be able to do when he gets home.

The discharge team will need to do an assessment of their house to see what adaptations are needed for him to come home. They are very good, but you do need to push for involvement in the first place.

they have one loo downstairs with a wash basin, then another loo and shower down a corridor which is a bit of a pain to get to as it's not straight. I did suggest today that they might want to have the one loo converted if he can't get upstairs and a wet room put in.

I wouldn't be too sure that they haven't just replaced it. My dad fell last year and broke his hip, the ball bit of the ball and socket joint. The surgeon explained that it's much easier to replace than repair.

They will be trying to get him up and about as soon as possible, lots of physio. If he engages with physio he could be home within the week. Occupational therapy and the discharge team will be in touch with family about issues such as bathroom access, downstairs bedroom etc.

With any kind of break in elderly people, the danger is pneumonia. They will be keeping an eye on his chest for that

Same thing happened to my mum and she was in her 90s. There is no way she would've been able to walk upstairs. However, now she is walking with a walker and is a lot better but it took over a year to get her to that point. Obviously she's older though.

My DM broke her hip at 91, and she had quite bad dementia by then. She wouldn’t cooperate with physios - at all! - but still recovered pretty well and quickly, and went on to 97. Mind you despite looking very thin and frail, she had the general constitution of a rhinoceros. While she was ‘under’ during the repair op, the anaesthetist apparently said, ‘Boy, this is one tough old bird!’

Ignore the elective hip replacement advice above - you can't compare a planned hip replacement in an otherwise fit patient, with trauma sufficient to have broken the largest bone in the body.

The stats are 80% of total recovery in thr first 6 months, the remaining recovery in the second 6 months. 1 in 3 don't return to the same level of Independance they had before.

Hopefully your FIL is in a good unit with a decent orthogeriatric and Rehab tram to see him right.

I'd ring the ward tomorrow and ask the Discharge Clerk what time frame they are thinking of and if he'll have a physio assessment and a hike OT assessment before coming home.

My DM82 did this last year when she tripped whilst staying with my DSis who lives more than 200 miles away from my DMs home. She had her hip pinned rather than replaced and from on the ward the recovery from hip replacements is much quicker.

My DM stayed in hospital for 6 weeks in total. Two weeks in the city where my DSis lived then she was repatriated to her local hospital where she stayed for further 4 weeks. She could have come home two weeks earlier but it took so long to get a care package in place.

Luckily for us my DM lives next door to us so when she came home she lived with us for about 8 weeks. We converted our dining room into a bedroom as we had a downstairs toilet but she had to be washed in our kitchen by the carers in the beginning as we couldn't get her upstairs to our shower. The hospital had arranged for a hospital bed, commode, upright chair and perching stool and frames to be delivered to my home. After 8 weeks she was fit enough to go back to her own home but we had to install a chairlift for her due to her hip and the fact one of her knees is knackered. She wasn't able to use her bath again as she couldn't get in and out so we had to take out the bath and put in a walk-in shower.

I honestly thought my DM would go downhill after her fall and she would have limited mobility but having spent yesterday shopping with her where she walked around town for a good couple of hours using her walker I am amazed at her recovery. Her hip does get stiff sometimes and she can suffer with pain if she walks on it for a while (like yesterday) but a couple of co-codermol tablet eases this. It is a long haul but with support (and I do think this is crucial) they can get back to almost how they were before.

*home not hike

Hahahahaha!!!! My parents are in their 70s. When my DM fell down the stairs at home and broke BOTH her legs she was sent home the same day with a follow up appointment. When she said but I can't walk. How will I get home or get around my home? She was told get your husband to help you. After lots and lots of complaining they found her ONE crutch and sent her home. It was a fucking nightmare. DH had to carry her into the house (which hurt her back) and we had to purchase a commode. After lots and lots of complaints they sent a nurse round to assess her a couple of weeks later who basically said we can't help you. She ended up on the sofa for 2 months until she could walk again (no one could get her up the stairs to her bedroom).

I was hoping someone would point this middle section out. What you need to focus on OP is that you (and everyone else who cares for him) have now had your "wake up call". A hip break is often a signpost to consider adaptions, support or care for the long term, so it's good that you're thinking along these lines.

It's not just a broken bone, in the way that you'd deal with a 20yo who broke their arm. Older people break hips due to having weaker bones, poorer balance, vision issues etc which all create these other issues to consider. Understand that the stats aren't saying he has an 80% chance of recovery to his old self in six months. It means at that point that he's 80% as good as he's going to get - in my experience in aged care almost none of them actually get back completely to "where they were before", since maybe half of them get their hip movement back ok, but other issues rear their heads more (balance, coordination, flexibility, muscle weakness). Although many do, of course, manage to cope with their new normal, taking things slower and using mobility aids or wet rooms etc.

You are right to be concerned that MIL is really not grasping that it's about more than a broken bone. The burden on her is going to increase, is she going to be up to it?

depends how fit he was before.

has he started dragging his feet? has he started falling?
that's a sign of muscle decline and it's likely that the broken hip is the beginning if the end as pp describe.

if he's quite fit then physio and keeping active might lead to good recovery.

if you can, organise (private) physio as soon as possible.
he will get some in hospital but ime that's woeful and more to tick something in the discharge sheet.

Another thing to think about is if your FIL doesn't regain his full mobility and needs aids to help him then you can apply for Attendance Allowance. The form is a bit of a pain and If my memory serves me right you have to wait 6 months from his operation but it's well worth applying.

That's truly awful think and partly why I suggested that the OP speaks to the Discharge Clerk today to make sure a Physio Assessment will be done before Discharge and an OT Assessmentof his home.

In my experience, which is unfortunately probably a bit too much experience, they will discharge them too quickly and without proper aids in place if they can. My favourite saying now is "well, we just don't want it to be an unsafe discharge do we"? "Unsafe discharge" seems to be some sort of magic phrase that gets them to listen.

I've also been known to phone the Discharge Clerk daily in some instances and take them in pens and chocolates. They are the one you need to make friends with usually

My MIL, 75, broke her hip this year. She was very fit and active before. She recovered quickly and doesn’t need any mobility aids. When she first got home she use a raised toilet seat. My SIL tried to get her a home OT assessment but was turned down.

Same thing happened to my dad. They fixed his hip quickly but the problem was his other medical conditions got worse and it took 3 or 4 weeks to stabilise them. This is quite common in elderly people.
You don't say how old FIL is, my dad was early 80s.

Once he was stable he went to a rehabilitation unit for a month to get him back in his feet.. The Occupational therapist assessed his needs for equipment and care and it was provided for him going home. It took him about 6 months to fully recover but he was never mobile enough to go out on his own again.

Op said he was in his 70s

the key to a good recovery is extensive physio, which is hard work and unpleasant for the patient.

My Mum fell and broke her hip at 71. She had some very serious co morbidities and was up and walking again but with a zimmer. There was a generally reduction with her over all health a few times when the hospital said they didn’t think she would make it through the night. She fell and broke her leg over the summer and unfortunately that fall eventually lead to her death. Even without breaking her leg she wouldn’t have long anyway. The doctors said to us generally when older people break a leg bone you see a down grading of their abilities so if they walked with one stick before they would need 2 sticks, 2 sticks to a zimmer or if they were a zimmer user then it’s unlikely they will walk again.

It maybe that your FIL will need to stay in a short place care home/rehabilitation while he regains strength/mobility.

That's awful, and totally unlike the support MIL got after her hip operation. Just goes to show how things can be so different depending where you live.

I hope so, she is in her 60's as well and has just retired from running her own business. That's what I thought, my Dad had a stroke years ago and he took a long time to recover and my Mum had to support him a lot. She then got ill herself from Cancer and died from Pneumonia. My Dad has been on his own since but has recovered a lot! I think mainly from my Mum's care.