More people are choosing to recover from a major surgery at home. The cost of a hospital stay continues to increase making recovery at home appealing for many. You can recover from your hip surgery successfully at home if you're prepared to do a little planning and extra work. Here are some tips to keep in mind to make your recovery at home a positive experience.
You Are In Charge
You won't have a full-time nursing staff watching you every moment at home, so you'll be responsible for your own schedule. Before you leave the hospital, you'll get instructions from the orthopedic surgeon and a schedule for exercise and physical therapy. You may find it helpful to have a nurse or home health aid help you for the first few days at home while you're getting into your routine.
You Need to Be Persistent and Consistent
Recovering at home takes discipline. Some days you may not feel like doing your exercises or walking. Other days you may feel especially good and feel like pushing yourself. A successful recovery depends on you sticking to a comfortable pace and a daily schedule of exercise. Incremental progress is what allows your hip to heal and get stronger for the next several weeks.
Managing Your Pain Medication
It's important to make sure you're comfortable before and after exercising or doing other physical activities. Don't skimp on the pain medication. You don't gain anything by skipping a dose. You do risk your pain getting worse and harder to control with a normal dose. Take the pain pills a half hour before physical therapy or exercising at home so you'll be comfortable. If you have pain while exercising, you may be reluctant to keep up with your schedule because of the anticipation of a painful session.
Add Your Daily Activities Slowly
Don't expect to come home and immediately resume all of your normal daily activities. Feeding the cat, carrying the laundry basket to the washing machine and reaching for items on the top kitchen cabinet shelf will be initially challenging. Look at each of these activities as an extension of your exercises. When you feel confident that you are ready to do a particular task, add it to your list of daily activities.
Reach Out for Help Before It Gets to Be Too Much
Should you feel overwhelmed at any time, talk with a doctor, like the ones at Omaha Orthopedic Clinic & Sports Medicine PC, and get help. You may need a home care nurse to come in for a few hours every day for a week or two until you feel comfortable with your schedule again. Don't get discouraged if you have a little set back. Work with your doctor to setup a new schedule that you can manage to get you back on the path to recovery.
Share23 June 2015
After watching my mother navigate treatment for breast cancer in my early teens, I knew pretty much what to expect from my dad's diagnosis with prostate cancer. What I didn't know was how different chemotherapy and radiation can affect different people. My mother became very ill while my dad seemed to weather the treatments with few ill effects. I spent a long time researching the differences in treatments, types of chemotherapy, and how each one can react differently with the body. I created this blog to help others understand the same things, because I knew I couldn't be the only one unfamiliar with it. I hope it helps you if someone you love is facing treatment for any type of cancer.
