Hip replacement recovery time

[tammienorrie]

My mother who is 78 is having a hip replaced later in the summer. The surgery is being done privately as she lives alone and it needed to be done at a time my brother and I were free to be with her afterwards.

operation is scheduled for a Monday, she will stay in hospital until the Wednesday morning then brother will take her home and stay until the Monday, when I take over until the following Monday. By that point we will be 2 weeks post op. I know every case is different, but by that point should she be able to dress herself, make simple meals, be left overnight? I am closer geographically than my brother but still an hour away, after the initial 2 weeks I will be going maybe twice a week to do grocery shopping, do the washing etc.

Are we being wildly ambitious?

My mum thinks she will be fine home alone within a few days as that's what all her friends have told her....

I'm not so sure!

To add - mum is otherwise healthy with no major issues which could affect recovery. She is fastidious about doing her pre op physio.

Would it be worth arranging some temporary carers whilst she recovers? So you know someone is going in to clean etc? Can she get some ot advice re house set up- I think advice re raised toilet seats/ level of seats etc may have changed since dm had the same. Recoveries vary so much.

My husband has just got back from the hospital where he asked his consultant about this. He said that he should be able to manage the stairs 2 weeks post op, and no driving for 6 weeks. So I think having someone there for 2 weeks should be fine.

Sorry I also meat to say DH was told he should be on his feet after a couple of days.

My mother has very recently had a hip replacement. She’s mid 80s and the operation was also private. My father is still with her.

She had her operation last Tuesday and was discharged on Wednesday. So, we’re a week in. Pointers so far are: keep on top on meds. My mum is on oromorph as well as codeine and paracetamol. these have to be spaced out and must be kept on top of. My mum was taking her meds PRN when actually they needed to be taken regularly. It came to a head and she was in a lot of pain. She may need these longer than 2 weeks. Will she be able to remember what’s been taken and when on her own?

Mum can get up the stairs and on/off the loo but has quite good upper body strength. Consider if you need a raised toilet seat or anything.

Hip replacement patients need to be up and moving which is also why pain meds are important. Will your mum do this if left to her own devices?

i think 2 weeks is a bit ambitious. But my mum is a bit older and we’re only a week in.

Another useful thing has been a walking frame trolley so mum is able to moved plates, cups of tea etc around while needing crutches

I had my hip done in my late 30s. And was extremely fit and healthy otherwise. I was still on two crutches post two weeks which meant food prep and showering was very difficult. My op coincided with my DH busy time at work and this was before WFh so I had someone come in the morning and also in the evening to help with kids.
i went back to work at 10 weeks. Note - I chose to go ahead and have help rather than wait for my DH to be able to take leave

My DM had a hip replacement following a fall age 88. She had 10 days in hospital then 2-3 weeks in rehab, then came home.
In the time she was away we fitted stair lifts and a walk in shower.
She is still a year later on combination of zimmer and stick (but does gave other health issues too).

I had my hip replaced back at Christmas and am 57 years old, so a bit younger than your mum. I was up and about 3 hours after surgery, but was extremely tired and in a lot of pain for the first 6 weeks. I’d suggest she has a bit of help for longer than 2 weeks post op.

Just to add, I could do stairs on the second day, so could have gone home then, if it hadn’t been a weekend.

I had to inject with blood thinners twice a day and wear compression stockings for 6 weeks, but this may vary from hospital to hospital. The compression stockings are impossible to get on by yourself, even with a sock aid. So will need help for that.

DH late 40s and otherwise in good health, needed 4 weeks before I felt he could be left alone to manage, as long as I had prepared food for him that he could easily heat up.

Her house is all on one level - no stairs. She has a raised loo seat on order. Point taken re the pain meds, she is very much the type to say she’s fine with paracetamol when her arm is hanging off, but if a doctor/nurse says to take them regularly she will. No memory issues. She has to do the blood thinning injections, they are planning on getting her up the day of surgery.

She also has grab rails in the shower and a flip down seat in the shower.

My point is that mums pain meds did say PRN but waiting till you’re in pain is too late for a hip replacement, especially the day after surgery. My mum is also reluctant to take pain meds and felt fine probably still slightly anaesthetized. Within hours she was in agony and temporarily bed ridden. I’d encourage your mum to take the pain meds regularly to ensure she can keep moving, even if she says she’s fine.

DH is much younger but he was on his feet that night. I had a week at home with him but he didn't need me much. Able to walk around on sticks and tackle stairs quick early on. Dropped down to 1 stick in the house after 2 weeks.
Just make sure she is doing her physio. I know of one person who didn't and ended up with another replacement a year or so later (also in his 30s)

MIL had her replacement in February and stayed with us.

In general she was ok within a few days but she could not bend over to put socks on. She was cooking, folding laundry, hobbling around the house etc. She is not the fittest of people but coped ok.

My MIL had hip replacement surgery at 84, she was in hospital 3 days NHS, she was quite fit beforehand and fell moving furniture. She was a bit ginger going up and down stairs for a while and had to have someone in front and behind her for a while, she had a high toilet seat and rail around WC and grab rail in shower and on stairs. She also had a frame at first then used walking sticks, she couldn’t walk without aid so she couldn’t carry anything but she did have a frame with a basket and tray. She hated taking medication especially painkillers and seemed to manage fine after a couple of days without anything.

There's a good chance that 2 weeks will be fine BUT there will be some things she shouldn't do until she's been signed off at 6 weeks. Especially bending more than 90 degrees at the operated hip. This will make it virtually impossible to do certain things without help (putting on socks, fastening shoes etc) and very risky to do other things like sleep on your side. There are aids you can get to help with dressing but they can be cumbersome and not everyone gets on with them. The shower sounds good but she won't be able to safely twist or bend to wash and dry her back and feet so think how she's going to manage that. Overall I think it's likely that she will need some help every day even if it's only to pick up something that's fallen on the floor.

Perhaps you could go with her to a physio now and discuss in detail what the restrictions will be, and how she might cope with them. Many things can be managed by good planning, but you can't plan for what you don't know about. Then you'll be in a better position to judge whether she'd prefer (for example) to live in crocs for a few weeks, learn to use a sock aid, or get a helper in for half an hour every day. .

The hospital/consultant should be able to tell you whether she's likely to be going home with compression stockings, anti clotting injections and/or tablets.

Re pain relief I read an excellent analogy that pain is like a fire, it's easier to blow out a candle than it is to put out a full blown blaze so the time to take the pain relief is when you suspect you might need it, not when it hurts so much you're really sure. I don't remember having any pain at all but I took all the pain relief that was offered on schedule.

Good luck, it's a completely transformative operation and absolutely worth six weeks of inconvenience.

It depends. Maybe you could think about having a carer go in even once a day. Just to do general things.

I’m a nurse and I would say there’s other things to consider too, expect the worse with hip recovery and anything better is a bonus! Hip surgery is known for quite a high chance of post surgical delirium which can be very hard to deal with. It can last weeks and does occur in people with no memory impairments previously. We do get patients who’ve had the surgery privately admitted to us nhs because if any complications occur, private hospitals aren’t usually equipped to deal with that and hip surgeries have a high percentage of complications predominantly in the elderly, saying that, they are life improving when successful and I don’t want to be a Debbie downer just thought I’d highlight from my professional experience that being over prepared is better than under.

If it was me I would get care help as they have post op things to follow such as not bending and not sitting crossed legged after surgery to improve the chances of success and longetivity and everyone is completely different. I’ve been in surgery for the operations and they are a pretty brutal procedure so I think the other most important aspect to consider is analgesia. They do get them up and mobilising now within hours of procedure usually as pain allows and some people are determined to do everything they did before straight away but do need to be prepared to pace it and accept more help initially

Another thing I’ve just thought of too is a lot of our patients get those grabber sticks to pull back bedding or pick things up off the floor to avoid bending down so that might come in useful if there’s times they’re alone at home afterwards and I think they’re relatively cheap

Hospital are supplying a litter picker grabber thingy and a shoehorn. Will investigate the possibility of someone popping in once a day.

They shouldn't make her leave the hospital until she can get to/from and use the bathroom with a walking aid on her own. If she can usually go to toilet alone obviously.

If she has a walking frame, then that gets swapped for crutches, then hopefully walking unaided. This could take a week, it could take several weeks. It really depends on her health before the surgery, and that she does her physio and tries to move as much as possible.

Its good if she's got someone staying with her during recovery. She may need a temporary carer as well?

She may need some adaptations, like a trolley for the kitchen or a handle for the toilet. The hospital physio should be able to organise this for her return home.

I don't know how it works for private ops, but DM was assessed by OT before discharge and afterwards at home to see what was needed. (Not hip op but other orthopedic surgery)