My elderly father's wife had it last Sept. No problem. You might have to live on only one level for a while, though.

I know a lot of people who have had that surgery. I find that the older one gets the more friends have "replaced parts"...LOL!
Most got along very well. One woman has recently had her first replaced hip redone...it was 20 years old and wearing out!
Another man had one hip done twice because the implant became loose in the bone....but of course he was downhill skiing against recommendations!
My advice is shop around for a great surgeon and find a rehab facility for a few weeks afterwards.
Good luck!
Linda C

I work with a woman who about to have hip surgery (this week). As I understand it, hers is not a complete replacement. She gets to keep the joint, they are resurfacing it. She is just barely 50. I'll keep you posted on her story.

Here is a link that might be useful: Info

Yes I do. My brother had hip replacement on his right when he was 46. That was five years ago. He was diagnosed with Perthes disease at 14. He is doing great. Due to the nature of his job, he was off work for 4 months.

Now my husband just had his left done in April and he is 47. He was out of the hospital in three days (and it would have been two except he started having a high fever and that normally means a sign of infection but that was not the case. They were able to bring it down and he was fine). As you, we have three finished levels in our home and they taught him how to handle the stairs on day two in the hospital. He had no problem when coming home. Granted your not going to be running up them, but with the help of the walker you will be just fine. They did limit him to only walking up the stairs (or down) to three times a day. He was off work for one month.

Two months from now he will be having his right done. My husband was born with club feet and was in casts for the first year of his life. He has flat feet (no arch at all) and due to the way he has to walk, it took a toll on his hips. Lots of cartilage floating around which caused a great deal of pain.

The only problem for my husband was finding a way to be comfortable to sleep. But keep in mind that is because he has to have the other hip replaced too.

Biggest myth is that people think that only people in their 70's and 80's get hip surgery - so not true.

Don't know whether "minimally invasive" or not, but my father had a full hip replaced two years ago at the age of 80. I just called to ask him about it and he said recovery took about 4-6 weeks before he forgot about it. Honestly I think it was longer before he wasn't limping but regardless, it wasn't too bad and he's 100% happy with it.

Overall I'd say his recovery was a lot quicker and easier than my mom's knee replacement a few months earlier although she's a heck of a lot more active and was determined to do whatever it took to get through rehab. (At one point they told her to slow down, she was working too hard at it.)

My parents' house, although a ranch, is situated into a hill so getting in and out requires walking a full set of stairs.

Good luck!

My neighbor is 56, she had a full hip replacement and the knee done on the same leg.

Their only bathroom was upstairs, so she had to go up and down daily, and she said the first couple of weeks was interesting, she tended to just stay upstairs for longer periods of time, but it took about a month before she was getting around really well. She's a school teacher and was off work for about a month for the hip surgery, nearly two months for the knee.

Now they've done some remodeling and have a bathroom downstairs, she says she just now realized she's actually getting older.

Annie

I've got a great doctor, and the minimally invasive techniques mean that they don't cut thru muscle, so healing is a lot easier. We have the LR and a 1/2 bath on the first level, then up three steps to the kitchen/dining/FR, the up another 3/4 level to the bedrooms, or down 3 steps to my office. So if I can get upstairs once a day, I'll be fine. There is a local rehab associated with the other hospital that's really great, so if I have to spend time there, I'll be fine. And I know the other local nursing homes/rehab places pretty well, too, due to my work with the Alliance on Aging as a counselor. I'd be comfortable for a few days.

I just dread it. When I had knee surgery about 20 years ago, I was told it would arthroscopic, etc, but I woke up with a 6 inch incision, because the damage was worse than expected, and recovery was miserable. So I am cautious. And then we were planning to breed Sushi in the fall, perhaps Sept or October, then a two month gestation, and then it's up and down tending to the puppies. And I am not ready for this now. So maybe I can have another shot in a couple of months to tide me over?

Yeah, sleeping is miserable, and that's what drives me crazy, because when you have spurs/damage to the ball joint, you get some nerve impediment, so it's shooting pains down my leg at night. Yeah, more than you wanted to know, right? ;-)

Keep the stories coming, the more real-life info I have the better! You are all the best!

Helene

On May 10 2007 hubby ( 64 ) fell and broke his left hip... On May 11 they did a partial hip replacement... On May 12 they had him walking and going up and down 4 or 5 stairs... On May 13 they sent him home with me, no rehab, no help, no nothing and with pain pills he never had before... I had some backup help, just in case, getting him in the house and after the company left he was just fine, even made it up and down the stairs, by himself, a few times that day...

On the 14th he was getting around just fine but that afternoon over did a bit and needed a pain pill ( first one since coming home )... That evening the hip was just fine but he experienced some mental confusion... The next day ( 15th ) he was just fine but became agitated after about 2 hours waiting for the visiting nurse to show up and insisted on another pain pill.. She showed up 3 hours late and by the time she left he was totally wore out... I told him to lay down for a bit... I woke him about a hour and a half later... He didn't know who he was, where he was or who I was... But the hip was just fine.

I have some hip discomfort when I sleep. I added a Tempur-Pedic type mattress topper. 4 inches of cushy softness made a lot of difference in my night time comfort.

Helene it will be OK honest.

My brother also had his left knee replaced this past Christmas (yes we spent Christmas day in the hospital with him - different!). But, he told us all that his recovery was 100% easier with the hip then his recovery/therapy with the knee.

Your remembering back to your knee surgery and that is etched in your brain and I don't blame you. I would be the same way. Hip surgery has come a long way since 10 years or so ago.

It was mandatory for my husband and I (as his coach) to attend a class at the hospital prior to surgery. We knew exactly what was going to happen, what was going to be done, etc. and they were "dead on" on everything. It was excellent. He received excellent care from beginning to end. You will too! Good luck.

My grandmother had it. She was in her late 70's/early 80's. (She couldn't read or write and came from a little village in Poland so her birth date was sketchy). Anyway, she didn't want to have the surgery either (back then in the late 70's when she had it, it was so new). We were worried she wouldn't be able to bounce back/recover. But her arthritis got so bad she was going to be wheelchair bound. Anyway, she recovered fine, quickly even at her age, got a new lease on life. I'll never forget picking her up at the airport after she came home after her recovery. (She stayed with my aunt during her recovery and rehab). She looked SO MUCH better than when she left for the surgery. She asked me if I wanted her to do a little jig. This was my grandma who previously had been so wracked with pain she could hardly walk, and she was a woman who loved to move. She got a new lease on life with that operation.

As a side note, she really lit up the metal detectors at the airports after that! :)

I used to drink with a crowd of really great older guys in Gera... fishing information, shuffle board, homemade horseradish. It was the concensus and advice that joints should be replaced asap when they wear out. A couple felt like they had wasted years of their life by attempting to make-do and deal with the pain... "don't wait until you are 70".

A gal that works on my production line had hers done a few months ago. Pretty certain she went FMLA followed by a lay-off due to the economy. I used to tease her by calling her "limpy". When the weather was changing or she had a long day she would develop a visable limp. She didn't know she was limping and my teasing was one of the factors that made her get the hip fixed. I was not teasing to be mean... when she limped I also pushed her towards easy tasks. Today she is much better. The limp and the pain is gone. She has a very physically challenging job... 35lb lifting 30 times per hour, constant walking with stops at different work stations, steps to climb... everyone gains muscle. (Something when you put muscle on a farm girl... her other job is tending a herd of cows.) She is not having any problems with the job, no limp, faster then I am at the same job. I try to take care of her by getting the heavy stuff and she tries to take care of me by getting the heavy stuff. Just started a 25 y/o that can't yet handle the physical demands. We work in a factory making steel things so nothing is light or simple... and it is hot humid uncomfortable work.

From what I'm told and can see replacement leaves most people better then before... much better.

Speaking of work... I have to go in early. New machines, new jobs,... hiring soon *happy dance*.

Thanks to all. This really helps.

I spoke to a friend yesterday who is 68 and had the surgery perhaps 6 or 7 years ago. He told me that he used up his body skiing hard, but the hip replacement surgical recovery was pretty easy and he's very happy. Now if only his prostate recovery was as easy plus he's having Achilles tendon surgery on Friday!

I asked my co-worker/friend how her hip was doing tonight and she said fine. She knows about my interest in the CF so I told her about this thread. She said make certain you get Physical Therapy right away and work at it hard. It is painful but it works well at getting you going again.

I have a bad back and wouldn't walk or work without the Physical Therapy I've had. Good stuff.

Keep us posted? Hopefully you are the next super success story.

: )
lyra