Coming Home and Surviving at home after
Hip Resurfacing Surgery Away from Home
Coming Home and surviving at Home by Marla
Jacobson
2006 Hip Resurfacing
with Dr. Gross
Other Information by Marla
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1. Do this yourself before you leave or, ideally, a
friend can do it when you’re gone: stock the fridge
with the basics for 2-3 days: milk, juice, eggs,
bread, etc. It really helps!
2. When they tell you to use crutches for 10 days,
then switch to the cane – listen to them. I learned
the hard way.
3. Walking with one crutch isn’t much different than
walking with a cane. When you need the crutches,
walk with both of them. If you can’t manage with
crutches get a walker.
4. You may feel like you can run a marathon a day or
two after surgery, but count on crashing soon. Your
body needs the time to heal – let it.
5. I read recommendations on the surface hippy lists
that skirts sans underwear worked best for women
flying home. That wasn’t the case for me. I kept
tripping over the skirt if stairs were involved . I
had very little pain from the incision, so loose
sweats did the trick.
6. Airport security on return trip told me I had to
walk through without my crutches. Right. Do not
let anyone tell you that you have to walk through
without your crutches, period. Go for the
alternative, a body search.
7. Use a wheelchair in the airport or hitch a ride
on an electric cart as much as possible. It
minimizes the swelling (the flight will provide
enough of that!).
8. Once at home (as well as in the hotel, post
surgery), when things start to hurt – WALK. This is
at least as helpful as some of the pain meds.
9. Once home, take it easy at first with the
walking. A hotel hallway just isn’t the same as a
city block!
10. Some swelling is natural in your hip, leg, foot
and ankle. After an ER visit that verified there
was no blood clot or stress fracture, I was told to
expect this kind of swelling up until 6 weeks after
surgery!
11. Set up a place where you can spend a good
portion of the day, taking great pains to clear the
area of as many wires and cords as possible. Put
your crutches somewhere where:
a. you can reach them to help you get up
b. you don’t have to violate the 90 ° rule to pick them up
c. you won’t trip over them when (not if) they fall over. I tripped &
fell 12 days after surgery over the crutch. There
is no description for that kind of anger and fear!
12. Don’t wait until your pain is unbearable. It
is easier to control pain than to wait until the
situation becomes acute.
13. If you bring a computer with you, don’t
work with it sitting on your operated leg. I
