Actual surgery

Next; Actual events of the surgery. 

The surgery went well. I was in good physical shape so did not need a blood transfusion (hip surgery can be very bloody). I got up the next day and walked around on crutches, didn’t need a walker. The second day I was allowed out of bed on my own. A funny thing happened when I wanted some orange juice and no one answered the nurse’s bell. I got out of bed to go and get some myself. A nurse passing by in the hall yelled at me, “you, what are you doing out of bed? You are not supposed to get out of bed”. I stood there with my mouth open and finally convinced her that I could get out of bed by myself.I did have to be careful not to adduct (bring legs together) my legs and had to sleep on my back with an adductor pillow between my legs. It is very important to do this because there is a likelihood of the replaced ball and socket joint coming apart before it has time to heal. I was taught how to go up and down stairs using the crutches. People asked me if I had a lot of pain. The answer was NO. It was such a relief to not have the pain I had had that any pain from surgery was barely noticed. 

I went home and recuperated with no problems until it was time to go back to work in late August. That also went well except for one problem. When I teach, I write on the chalk board a lot. Writing on a chalk board while standing on crutches is a challenge to say the least; actually pretty impossible. So our lab tech fixed up an overhead transparency machine with a roll of transparent plastic that I could write on and show on screen. (This was way before computers.) My students were very understanding, From then on, I could walk freely without pain and go back to the physical activities I had done before.

Conclusion: if you need hip surgery, do it, but don’t let it interfere with plans you’ve already made. You can do both with no problem and you’ll feel much better in the end.