Since it’s been roughly 10 days since my hip replacement surgery, I thought I’d take a moment to compare day 1 with day 10.
Day 1 | Day 10 | |
Pain | The first day was really tough. The high-powered pain killers administered during surgery had worn off and the maximum dosage of oxycodone barely made a dent. I would rate my pain level as 6 with up to 10 if I wasn’t careful in moving. | Today, my pain is mostly under control at a level of 2 or less throughout the day. Occasional spikes still occur, but not nearly as often. |
Medication | Taking the maximum dosage of oxycodone, plus Tylenol to help with break-through pain. | Only need the oxycodone at bedtime; taking Tylenol throughout the day. |
Icing | Applying ice almost 100% of the time. It helped. | Applying ice a few times a day and at bedtime. |
Exercises | Really tough to make it through the 20 reps twice a day. Did 10 reps 3 times a day. | Up to the 20 reps 2 times a day. |
Self care | I needed help with almost everything – getting up from sitting, getting dressed, walking with the walker, bathing, using the toilet. Sleeping in the recliner. | I still need help with a few things like putting on socks. I’m now able to climb stairs and I use the cane instead of the walker most of the time |
Energy | None. All I wanted to do was sleep. | Much better. I can focus enough to do some writing and knitting and I do sudoku puzzles. |
Weird observation – I had not set the correct timezone for my site, so this post says it was written on October 12th, when it really was October 11th. It’s set correctly now, and I’m hoping that going forward my posts will have the right date.