My nana is having hip replacement surgery. What can she expect before and after?!


Question: My nana is having hip replacement surgery. What can she expect before and after?
Any helpful tips for the recuperation period? Thank you.

Answers:

That depends on her age ,pre op physical condition ,pre op morbid condition ,
If she has preexisting heart and lungs condition and/ or poor physical condition ,the risks of surgery and recovering after surgery are high .
The age is not really important if she has no medical problems and she was physically active before the surgery ,however age is an additive risk factor if she has any .
Good luck !
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Second part of answer as more info has been provided .
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Epidural anesthesia would carry less risks than general anesthesia ,as the risks of respiratory or cardiovascular failure are less likely.
Hip replacement is an elective surgery ,so usually Ortho surgeons will not operate until they get (clearance) by internal medicine doc or cardiologist .
We usually look at echo-cardiogram ,history of chest pains ,shortness of breath in the last 6 months ,physical condition ,blood sugar control and other data and according to those data we inform the family and the ortho docs about the risks classification ,mild ,moderate ,high and it is up to the family and surgeons to proceed .
In some cases we hold surgery until we do cardiac stress test or coronary angiogram to make sure the stent is patent (open) or no more occlusion in the coronary arteries is requiring another stents .
Post surgery for such patients we do provide extra care ,like more cardiac ,pulmonary ,renal monitoring at least for the firs 24 hours .
If every thing went ok ,those patient will need to be started on blood thinners for at least a month ,because immobility imposes risk of blood clots in legs .
Once the medical issues are relatively stable ,patient can be moved to rehab institution where he/she stays there for roughly 2 weeks as a transition to go home .
Hopefully that helps .

I am internal medicine physician.



There isn't a whole lot she can do before the replacement other than anything suggested by her doctor. However, there is much she and you can do after the surgery to help her through her recovery. One of the most important things following a hip replacement is to get the patient up and moving as soon as possible. Some hospitals even have the patients starting to walk within 24 hours of the surgery. You shouldn't have to worry about doing this though, as the hospital staff is usually on top of it. (Don't do anything like getting her out of bed or moving her around too much without direction from the hospital staff)This is done to prevent any problems related with being stuck in bed for a long period of time (pneumonia , bed sores ect.) After the hospital staff are satisfied with her recovery rate they are probably going to recommend that she go to some sort of adult rehab center so that they can work with her and her hip so that she be up and walking again as soon as possible.

Most of this is common procedure so you shouldn't be too worried about it. As with most surgeries, she is going to experience some pain, though the drugs will reduce it and rehab isn't always going to be fun but its worth it. Just be sure to visit her regularly in the hospital and at rehab so she doesn't get lonely.

Certified EMT
Anatomy and physiology student
I work in medical transportation (I see this kind of thing all the time)



If her hip is bad enough to have it replaced then she is already experiment insane pain everytime she puts any weight on it. I am in a somewhat unique position. Due to a very rare form of arthritis I had to have my first hip replacement at 24 years old. I had my second replacement 4 years later. The pain before the replacements was very intense. The replacement save me from constant pain and discomfort.

AFTER-- The first thing I experienced as i woke up from the operation was a very intense pain in my hip area. This is understandable because the pain meds/epidural is wearing off. As soon as you are awake and aware they will hit her with morphine and the pain will be manageable. BUT be aware there will be intense pain directly after. The Dr. Will say it's a minor discomfort but they are trained to NEVER tell a patient they will suffer. My first hospital stay was 7 days. I had INTENSE physical therapy 2x a day. This PT is meant to be difficult and it will hurt. There is honest around this. Basically a hip replacement is a carpentry job. The tools are the same. Saws, chisels, hammers and drills. The top of the hip is sawed off and the bone is drilled into. A prosetic is hammered into the drilled hole. Just think logically about how this will effect human tissue and bone. It hurts. Simple. After I was released from the hospital I had soreness and pain until the swelling went away. Within 2 weeks I felt as food as new. A month later you couldn't tell by looking I had a replacement.

Everyones recovery will be different based on age and weight. Mine was faster than normal because i was actually underweight and only 24 years old. I hope her surgery goes well. I think that in the long run she will benefit greatly.



a few yrs back my grandmother had double hip replacement surgery. she didn't think it was too bad. there was some pain but she just took the pain meds as directed and she was fine. but now she books it everywhere she goes lol she slept alot because of the meds though. she didn't complain much about this surgery but she did her others. but it's different for everyone.



pain,nausea,fatigue




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