Returning Package Driver after Total Hip Replacement

[ski or die]

Had two hips done whilst feeder driver. Off 3 months with first...no problem...off 7 months with last...femur wasn't healing around rod they drill down it. Finally did and off to work. No prob.

Can't remember what metal. Zimmer brand is all I remember. Oh, yes, I have it somewhere just don't remember right now.

Yes, set off detectors EVERYWHERE. Had usual rent-a-cops trained when I came thru. New ones had to take a look at the card w/x-ray pic on it and still didn't believe. I offered to git nekkid but none ever took me up on it.

Airport was a shock, tho. Standing in detector line, I told em I had metal hips. They said "Thanks for telling us. Just stay in this line and we'll let viewers know".
Did get one pat-down. In Vegas, I think. Went thru routine, it was getting backed up. Newbie TSA came over to start a new line in a cheaper detector with no picture. Set it off. Had to do the whole schemer....with an UGLY dude. Why couldn't it have been some babe? Of course, I don't ever remember seeing a hot TSA babe so it may be a moot point.

Yeah, I know feeders is different than P/C. I don't know if I coulda gone back to P/C after that. Just kinda nervous.

Good luck to everyone that has/wants/needs it done. I'd do it over in a heartbeat.

Yeah, I know name's on pics. Don't care. Retired, ain't got nuttin to hide.

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I seen you had yours done in 09. Do you have any discomfort 5 years later, anything that you do that maybe aggravate it? What restrictions you might have? How long bedridden and on crutches or walker? How long was physical therapy? I'm planning on having mine right hip done first of April, little nervous about it. Not one to sit around. Hate to be down for very long with summer coming on.

 

[raceanoncr]

I seen you had yours done in 09. Do you have any discomfort 5 years later, anything that you do that maybe aggravate it? What restrictions you might have? How long bedridden and on crutches or walker? How long was physical therapy? I'm planning on having mine right hip done first of April, little nervous about it. Not one to sit around. Hate to be down for very long with summer coming on.

Will try to answer all.

No, no discomfort. Nothing aggravates it...that I know of. Right now, both legs are real weak but it's probably because I just don't do much. Don't WANT to. Should, just don't want to. Can't tell if weather affects em. We have such changeable weather here that it's hard for me to say if it's that or my crabby mood.

No restrictions. Just be careful. I can climb on ladders but don't like to. It IS real hard for me to crawl on the garage floor to work on cars, tho. Pretty tender on each side and hard to get back up.

Bedridden. Hard to answer that. In hospital 3 days but it was busy. They have you up, in walker, the next day. At home...I can't sleep on back. You HAVE to sleep on back with this...at least til healed enough. Slept in living room recliner for about two months.

On walker (this dr was pretty restrictive I found out), almost 2 months, crutches the last month.

Physical therapy? None. Hips and knees are different. He had me doing some exercises at home and occupational therapist would come in about once a week just to see what I could do but, no, none.

Nervous? Don't be. Piece of cake. In my case, nurses and drs were very upfront about every procedure, like numbing the IV spot first, inserting the IV, what size IV it was, how long you'll be out, what they're gonna do after, etc. I gotta tell you, one thing that DID bother me a little bit...the told me that after I came to, they had to insert what they call a femoral nerve block. That is, stick a drip in the inside of yer leg to block the pain for a day or so. They have to do that while conscious so they can see you twitch. Didn't matter, leg was still under meds so didn't feel a thing.

Sit around. That's what I do best. Don't get easily bored. In fact, that's when I first bought a huge big screen. I thot if I'm gonna sit here, I'm gonna enjoy it. And I did. Wanted to be off more but couldn't.

Did each of mine first week in Jan of each year so I didn't have to drive for 3 months in crap. It worked.

Good luck. If you need anymore encouragement or thots, just let me know.

 

[jumpman23]

Aflac refused to cover us here.
They took one driver's payments but turned around and refused to pay him.

That sux I didn't have a problem when I was out last year for 2 weeks. Paid all my stuff quick n got my dissability money within a week. All depends on your Aflac representative I'm guessing.

 

[ski or die]

Will try to answer all.

No, no discomfort. Nothing aggravates it...that I know of. Right now, both legs are real weak but it's probably because I just don't do much. Don't WANT to. Should, just don't want to. Can't tell if weather affects em. We have such changeable weather here that it's hard for me to say if it's that or my crabby mood.

No restrictions. Just be careful. I can climb on ladders but don't like to. It IS real hard for me to crawl on the garage floor to work on cars, tho. Pretty tender on each side and hard to get back up.

Bedridden. Hard to answer that. In hospital 3 days but it was busy. They have you up, in walker, the next day. At home...I can't sleep on back. You HAVE to sleep on back with this...at least til healed enough. Slept in living room recliner for about two months.

On walker (this dr was pretty restrictive I found out), almost 2 months, crutches the last month.

Physical therapy? None. Hips and knees are different. He had me doing some exercises at home and occupational therapist would come in about once a week just to see what I could do but, no, none.

Nervous? Don't be. Piece of cake. In my case, nurses and drs were very upfront about every procedure, like numbing the IV spot first, inserting the IV, what size IV it was, how long you'll be out, what they're gonna do after, etc. I gotta tell you, one thing that DID bother me a little bit...the told me that after I came to, they had to insert what they call a femoral nerve block. That is, stick a drip in the inside of yer leg to block the pain for a day or so. They have to do that while conscious so they can see you twitch. Didn't matter, leg was still under meds so didn't feel a thing.

Sit around. That's what I do best. Don't get easily bored. In fact, that's when I first bought a huge big screen. I thot if I'm gonna sit here, I'm gonna enjoy it. And I did. Wanted to be off more but couldn't.

Did each of mine first week in Jan of each year so I didn't have to drive for 3 months in crap. It worked.

Good luck. If you need anymore encouragement or thots, just let me know.

Thanks for all the info. My plans are to have this done first part of April. I have no cartilage on right side and only about half on left side. Left side not much of a problem. Right side has really limited me quite a bit. At least when its done I won't have to worry about some Doc hurrying me back to work. Thanks again for info.

 

[raceanoncr]

Thanks for all the info. My plans are to have this done first part of April. I have no cartilage on right side and only about half on left side. Left side not much of a problem. Right side has really limited me quite a bit. At least when its done I won't have to worry about some Doc hurrying me back to work. Thanks again for info.

Well, since you brot up left vs right, I, initially, went in for right. Left didn't bother a bit. MRI showed BOTH were bad. WTF? He said I'd, eventually have to have both done. When? My choice.

When done with first and starting to use it and put pressure on it and walking...THEN left one came ALIVE! I didn't last too long before THAT one was almost unbearable. Probably because I was using it more to stabilize.

So, next Jan, I had left one done and yes, at times, pain was excruciating, in fact, if I remember right, I had informed Company I was taking off after peak for this but couldn't make it all the way. Took off middle Dec and surgery in Jan.

 

[The Brown Shadow]

Will try to answer all.

No, no discomfort. Nothing aggravates it...that I know of. Right now, both legs are real weak but it's probably because I just don't do much. Don't WANT to. Should, just don't want to. Can't tell if weather affects em. We have such changeable weather here that it's hard for me to say if it's that or my crabby mood.

No restrictions. Just be careful. I can climb on ladders but don't like to. It IS real hard for me to crawl on the garage floor to work on cars, tho. Pretty tender on each side and hard to get back up.

Bedridden. Hard to answer that. In hospital 3 days but it was busy. They have you up, in walker, the next day. At home...I can't sleep on back. You HAVE to sleep on back with this...at least til healed enough. Slept in living room recliner for about two months.

On walker (this dr was pretty restrictive I found out), almost 2 months, crutches the last month.

Physical therapy? None. Hips and knees are different. He had me doing some exercises at home and occupational therapist would come in about once a week just to see what I could do but, no, none.

Nervous? Don't be. Piece of cake. In my case, nurses and drs were very upfront about every procedure, like numbing the IV spot first, inserting the IV, what size IV it was, how long you'll be out, what they're gonna do after, etc. I gotta tell you, one thing that DID bother me a little bit...the told me that after I came to, they had to insert what they call a femoral nerve block. That is, stick a drip in the inside of yer leg to block the pain for a day or so. They have to do that while conscious so they can see you twitch. Didn't matter, leg was still under meds so didn't feel a thing.

Sit around. That's what I do best. Don't get easily bored. In fact, that's when I first bought a huge big screen. I thot if I'm gonna sit here, I'm gonna enjoy it. And I did. Wanted to be off more but couldn't.

Did each of mine first week in Jan of each year so I didn't have to drive for 3 months in crap. It worked.

Good luck. If you need anymore encouragement or thots, just let me know.

My experience was a little different:
Was in hospital for 1 night. I slept in a recliner for 2 weeks then moved to bed--must sleep on back though with pillow between legs (different restrictions depending on how surgery is performed). Sleeping was tough as I would wake up every 2-3 hours and sometimes had to walk around to make stiffness/pain go away. Was sleeping semi normally after about 4-5 weeks.
I started physical therapy 1 week after surgery and did 3 times a week for 5 weeks straight. Was on 2 crutches for about a week and 1 crutch for another week. After that I would walk a little gimpy with out assistance, but got a semi-normal walk 3-4 weeks out. Went back to work after 7 weeks but have a little pain in the thigh at times, but it isn't too bad. I am only 165 lbs though so a bigger man may need more time off as more weight=more stress on the hip imo.

 

[raceanoncr]

My experience was a little different:
Was in hospital for 1 night. I slept in a recliner for 2 weeks then moved to bed--must sleep on back though with pillow between legs (different restrictions depending on how surgery is performed). Sleeping was tough as I would wake up every 2-3 hours and sometimes had to walk around to make stiffness/pain go away. Was sleeping semi normally after about 4-5 weeks.
I started physical therapy 1 week after surgery and did 3 times a week for 5 weeks straight. Was on 2 crutches for about a week and 1 crutch for another week. After that I would walk a little gimpy with out assistance, but got a semi-normal walk 3-4 weeks out. Went back to work after 7 weeks but have a little pain in the thigh at times, but it isn't too bad. I am only 165 lbs though so a bigger man may need more time off as more weight=more stress on the hip imo.

Since, I have found that to be true. It all depends on TYPE of procedure and Docs orders. Some, I am finding out, don't have TOTAL replacement and they're up, walking around almost like normal, bragging they had replacement.

Well, maybe so. It ain't for me to say. I just went by MY docs orders. Probably COULD have been more mobile sooner but HE's got the degree and HE did the cut.

Yeah, like you said, I did find sleeping was the hardest. You CANNOT sleep on incision (which, in my case both times) was on the SIDE of the hip. Seemed to sleep just fine in recliner, in fact, to this day, if have upset stomach or ANYTHING hurting, it's a night in the recliner.

Weight? At the time, I think I was about 195 and 6'0", so don't know if that helped/hurt.

 

[Trent9554]

I thought it might be interesting for those Drivers out there with bad hips.

I had osteoarthritis (bone spurs) in my right hip. This led to total destruction of my cartilage, 8 mm displacement of hip ball, and deformation of femoral hip ball. After 7 years of moderate hip pain (2 weeks of severe pain in the last year) I had my hip replaced.

My surgeon used the posterior approach. I was able to return to work after a 7 week recovery period and am doing ok. I still have pain in the area of my hip, but it is from the surgery and is not the same as the internal hip pain I had pre-surgery. I work carefully, but am able to perform all my normal work functions on my mostly residential route.

I didn't try to claim workman's comp on this injury. I am not sure how much genetics had a hand in this, but I am sure my 17+ years as a driver did contribute to this condition. I took the time off from Nov 24th-Jan 5th. I used 20 sick days I had accrued, 2 weeks of vacation, and the 5 paid holidays to cover my time off. Comp would have only paid 67% of my 40 hour work weeks and how I did it paid better than that. I am OK with using my sick days and vacation weeks this way. I didn't have to fight for months, or go to court, to get this procedure authorized. I have some coworkers who were gone for like 6-9 months off with severe, surgery requiring injuries, that started with a battle to determine that UPS work caused said injuries. In the end UPS did pay for my operation through Union benefits and the days off paid from the job.

If anyone has questions please ask. Especially those who may be suffering from a similar condition.

 

[realbrown1]

In California, you could get state disability that pays 80% of you gross weekly wages (after your 1st week off work) for up to 6 months.

It works out to about what your normal take home pay and doesn't count as earned income since it's and insurance pay out.

It's nice to have and they only take like $6 a week out of your paycheck to pay for the coverage.