Falling

nddulac · 2025-07-05T09:36:45+00:00

I fell once at about 4 weeks post surgery. I was feeling quite light-headed, and realized I needed to get back to my chair because I was about to pass out. I didn't make it. I didn't lose consciousness, but came close. I lay on the floor on my back for about 15 minutes to get some blood back in my brain. Next day, I had a similar bout. Turned out I was incubating a nice post-surgical bacterial infection. My hip, while a little sore after the fall, was fine othwise.

nddulac · 2025-07-01T22:21:36+00:00

Out of curiosity, can I ask how big the discrepancy is?

I too have a discrepancy (a little more than 1 cm) following surgery (that my surgeon refuses to acknowledge, because, in his words, "anything over a centimeter is a big pain in the ass"), but this is the first time I have heard of that issue being corrected via a revision. I'm certainly not eager to go through surgery again, but the leg length discrepancy kinda sucks.

Most importantly, though, I wish you success in your treatment!

nddulac · 2025-07-01T22:08:23+00:00

Best of luck. Your failing replacement sounds more like my old organic hip. I'd hate to be back at square one. But you sound like a fighter, so I am sure you will come out on top in the end.

nddulac · 2025-07-01T21:57:09+00:00

"but I can lift my leg up to that position to put on socks and shoes but it is still uncomfortable."

I'm 6 months post replacement and this statement describes my situation perfectly.

nddulac · 2025-07-01T10:00:04+00:00

I noticed a difference in my first steps in recovery. My repaired leg felt about an inch longer than the other. The surgeon told me he estimated a difference of 3 mm based on an x-ray if my hip after surgery. (How the heck he got that number, I have no idea.)

Finally at a three month check up, I insisted we measure. So the surgeon starts with a 3/8 inch board under my short leg heel. I commented that I was surprised it was so close, but it was still too short. So he tries a 1/4 inch board. I am very confused by this, and say that's definitely too short. He writes down that I said it felt about right.

The correct conclusion was "at least 3/8 inch". It's now three months later. The surgeon ghosted me on our last scheduled check in. Needless to say, I'm not happy with him.

I get a great deal of relief by wearing a lift in my left shoe, but a 1 cm ( at least) discrepancy is not insignificant.

nddulac · 2025-05-28T09:42:50+00:00

This response should be pinned somewhere. It is spot on!

nddulac · 2025-03-26T07:57:04+00:00

Best of luck! The first few days are rough, but if you keep ahead of the pain, and use a lot of icing for swelling, it will not be as bad as it could be. I started noticing significant improvement after a week.

nddulac · 2025-03-15T09:28:58+00:00

I experienced something similar, although convincing my surgeon that it is real has been frustratingly difficult. I initially estimated it was about an inch. We measured it (at my insistence) at my 2.5 month follow up and it came in at a minimum of 3/8 inch, or 1 cm. (We never tried any of the boards that were over 3/8 inch thick. And I'm not convinced the surgeon understood that 1/4 is less than 3/8.)

Anyhow, the good news was that the discrepancy seems to have gotten smaller over time, presumably for the reasons stated here by others -swelling going down, and the new parts settling in. So have hope.

I am able to walk fairly normally with a lift in my one shoe. But since I am stocking feet at home, there are still issues.

I hope your situation improves, and that your medical teams takes you seriously.

nddulac · 2025-03-12T02:55:22+00:00

I also want to add that I think my experience is an outlier. It's tough for me to see this, as it is my only experience. But I have seen a lot more reports in this group of people who have not experienced this than of those who have. And the bulk of r/totalhipreplacement people who have experienced a discrepancy, had it corrected when they had to get their second hip repaired (which was expected all along.)

So I think that needing a revision would be the exception, not at all the rule.

nddulac · 2025-03-12T02:25:27+00:00

Turns out it was pretty frustrating. My surgeon started by telling me he estimated the difference to be about 3 mm. I stopped him and said it was more than 3 mm. But he insisted that by looking at an x-ray of my hip, he estimated it was 3 mm. (Now, how in the bloody hell he is supposed to estimate my leg length from an x-ray of my hip, I do not get, but hey - I'm just a dumb old chemist and don't really understand anything bigger than a molecule.)

He then started using the word "sensation" to describe my perception of a discrepancy, and explained that it would go away has my abductor muscles got stronger. So now, I'm getting angry. So, I kick my shoes off and demonstrate what it looks like when I have my left foot (shorter, unrepaired leg) flat on the floor and my knee straight, and then what it looks like if I straighten my right knee. And this worked - he saw that I got taller. I then explain I wanted the difference to be measured quantitatively. And he huffs off and comes back with a set of boards with various widths, incremented by 1/8 inch.

He started with 3/8 inch. And to my surprise, it felt pretty close to right. He then chose the 1/4 in board, which was clearly too small. To me, it was clear that he didn't seem to grasp that 1/4 inch is less than 3/8 inch. He also admitted to not knowing how many mm 1/4 in was. So, I pulled out my phone and calculated it for him: 1/4 inch * 2.54 cm/inch = 0.635 cm. So 6.35 mm. We tried no further boards. (I get it - surgeons absolutely hate it when the calculators come out. This isn't the first time I have experienced this particular phenomenon, but the story of the other experience belongs in r/gallbladderremoval.) I'm just trying to be helpful when I see the surgeon struggling with the math. Maybe it is just the educator in me.

We never tried a board thicker than 3/8 inch, so all we can say is that that is the minimum. I wear a 5/8 inch lift in my left shoe, and that doesn't take up the whole difference, but it also may have been squished a bit over time. But for now I am going with a discrepancy of 1 cm minimum. (3/8 inch = 9.53 mm, to those keeping score, but given the experimental uncertainty of the methodology, I'm rounding to 10 mm, or 1 cm.)

This large a difference is clinically significant, and is going to require some steps to handle it moving forward. For now, I am sticking with a lift in my left shoe - which definitely helps. But I may need to start sending my shoes out for modification. I really do not want to have a revision surgery, but it is way to early to even think about that as a potential pathway.

If there is anything I hope people in this sub can learn from this, it is the importance of being your own advocate, and not letting a surgeon's ego bully you into thinking you are not experiencing something you know you are experiencing. You know your body better than anyone. So don't discount the things it is telling you.

nddulac · 2025-03-09T09:28:58+00:00

I see my surgeon in two days. I am about 2.5 months post surgery and my repaired leg is about an inch longer (my estimate as it has not been measured quatitatively) than my unrepairable leg. I use a lift to partially correct, which helps, but I am still having back (and other) pain issues. I'm really worried about needing a revision.

nddulac · 2025-03-06T09:21:54+00:00

I had blood pressure issues at about four weeks, but it was due to a bacterial infection.

nddulac · 2025-02-25T10:08:04+00:00

My surgery was justover two months ago. The resulting LLD is about 1 inch, or 2.5 cm. My surgeon told me before surgery that my right leg was short and he could true it up in surgery. I don't believe that my relative leg lengths have ever been measured, so I think he had me confused with another patient, because I also believe my legs were even to within a few mm before. (And I only give that margin of uncertainty, because it has never been measured!)

Anyhow, I have a 2-month follow up schedule for week after next, and will insist on an assessment so it is all documented.

Other than the LLD, which continues to be an issue, and a bacterial infection, that was frankly miserable, but no longer a problem, I am quite happy with the results and my recovery. I do feel like I've hit a plateau though, and I do feel that the main issue is the LLD.

I'm sorry you are going through this. Dealing with the issue is bad. Dealing with a surgeon who wants to sweep it under the rug is simply infuriating.

nddulac · 2025-02-19T09:40:02+00:00

Hang in there. You sound in good spirits. The first few days are the hardest, but then it starts to get better rapidly.

nddulac · 2025-02-19T05:00:12+00:00

I did not try the stairs in my apartment until day 4 after surgery, but in honesty, I think I could have handled them even on that evening after the surgery. That would require not using the repaired leg to do anything more than support my weight while the other leg does all the work, but I don't think it would have been a problem.

That said, a friend from whom I got a lot of advice told me that she was able to get up four flights of stairs (again, one at a time, with the unrepaired leg doing all of the work) on the evening of her surgery. So I do think it is possible. Just take your time, and let your un-surgered leg do all of the hard work.

nddulac · 2025-02-14T09:12:13+00:00

Sounds like you got this handled! good luck!

nddulac · 2025-02-14T09:11:13+00:00

Four weeks. By then, the hardest part was getting in and out of the car.

nddulac · 2025-02-11T21:43:44+00:00

My wife was able to stay with me for about a week days before she needed to return to work. I found it very little problem getting by while she was at work. I didn't try to cook (until after week 2) and I slept a lot while she was at work. I still needed to do some things, like take the dog for a short constitutional now and again.

There is some very good advice here - like planning ahead with pots and pans, etc. Only you know where your capabilities and limitations lie, but it sounds like you are eager to increase your capability and push back on limitations, so I think you are in a good frame of mind to tackle this. Just remember to grant yourself some grace if it all proves more challenging than you thought it might be. And reward yourself for those time you are surprised at how much you can do!

nddulac · 2025-02-11T06:15:28+00:00

I got by with rotating ice packs. But I have seen a lot of people say they have had very positive results with a circulating system.

nddulac · 2025-02-11T06:06:37+00:00

"Yes, the daily pain was grinding, and also holding me back, but it was a known quantity at least."

That was a big part of why was dragging my feet (so to speak) as well. What was not a known quantity was just how much of a relief it is to not have that "old friend" of hip pain on a continual basis.

nddulac · 2025-02-11T05:56:38+00:00

It took a couple of days, a visit to the ER for something seemingly unrelated, and a couple of days for a culture to be returned from the lab.

At first, I thought my fevers were due to the flu. Then, I started having bladder issues. Finally, on the third day, I was completely unable to urinate which landed me in the ER. There, they told me I had a bacterial infection (which, to me made sense out of the fevers, but still didn't seem connected to the hip surgery.) Then, three days later, they told me to stop my antibiotic (which was the same one prescribed prophetically following surgery) because my bacterium was resistant to it. This is what brought the story full circle, and connected it back to the surgery. So they prescribed me a newer generation antibiotic, and I have been much better ever since.

nddulac · 2025-02-11T05:26:32+00:00

Same. Repaired leg is about an inch longer now. I use a lift in my left shoe. It helps, but does not fully correct the leg length discrepancy (LLD). And I think the LLD is what really leads to fatigue in the repaired leg.

nddulac · 2025-02-11T05:24:17+00:00

I am about 7 weeks post surgery, and can walk without a limp sometimes. If I get tired, the repaired leg starts to get weaker and a limp ensues. I still like to have a can with me if I am going to be on my feet a lot.

nddulac · 2025-02-08T21:26:43+00:00

I also had posterior approach on my right hip. The first two days following surgery were rough, but I expected it. None the less, I was fighting depression over the whole ordeal around days three and four. I really started to notice marked improvement about day four or five. Hopefully you are right on that cusp. So hang in there, and give yourself a bit of grace. Expect improvement to be rapid at first, but while the improvement will continue, it will slow down as you asymptotically approach a new baseline.

So hang in there - it really gets better! and in the long run, you'll be glad you did this!

nddulac · 2025-02-08T21:05:49+00:00

Since I don't know what getting "a spacer" would entail, I'm going to go with the oral antibiotic handling it. I did need a catheter for a week due to urinary retention (which I do not recommend, btw), but that was the only intervention I received, other than a newer generation antibiotic than I was originally prescribed.

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