Mom Broke Hip on Celebrity---What Can We Expect for Her Recovery?

[kitty9]

Anyone here have hip replacement surgery? We're on such a roller coaster of emotions here, since mom broke her hip on Celebrity Millennium on Friday. She had a partial hip replacement on Sunday, but we're very concerned with her progress. Yes, I know she's only one day out of surgery, but she's so weak, she can hardly move her good leg, much less stand on the repaired one. Her medication, morphine, seems to be having a negative affect on her, so that might be part of the problem, but does anyone know the timetable for recovery? I've seen others on her ward doing amazing things.

[Arwenmark]

Very sorry to hear about this, what on earth happened? As to recovery it takes a very long time and a lot of effort to recover, how old is your mother, what was her health before this?

[Splinter]

How old is she? How is her health otherwise? Fractured hips in the elderly can be very difficult to recover from. If you can get her home, with in-home PT, this would be preferable to a so-called "sub-acute rehab" program, which is pretty much all she will be offered. These are nursing homes where she will be lucky to get 1 hour of PT daily, and many people never get home from these programs as they need something a bit more aggressive. Acute rehab centers generally cannot get insurance approval for "uncomplicated" fractured hip or total hip replacement patients anymore.

[Moeve]

Make sure she get enough blood thinners and get her on to her feet as fast as possible........

[JackWP]

Sorry to hear about the accident. My wife fell on a shore excurison off a Celebrity ship in November 2004. She was brought home via air ambulance for a partial hip replacement. The first weeks were rough, however with rehab and hard work she is doing very well, but still can't walk a long way. This has not stopped us from traveling. We have been on 6 cruises and a number of land vacations. Encourage hard work for I am sure better days are ahead. She was in the hospital about 7 days. Started local rehab as soon as she was home and returned to driving in about 6 weeks.

[vanclan]

When you posted she was 1 day post surgery and by now might be two days post surgery. Don't get too worried yet ... the pain medications and anaesthetic that she has received will take some time to clear from her body. Elderly people often take longer to metabolize the meds. I have seen some post hip replacements who are really quite confused and weak directly after the surgery. The physical therapy does take work. Hopefully she will be up and about soon and not have any complications. Let us know how things are going. . .

[kitty9]

Mom is 80, and despite having arthritis, she's been in good health---no heart, kidney or liver problems, no HBP or diabetes.

 

She was in the closet of the PH suite on Millennium, getting her clothes for formal night when the very heavy doors of the closet slammed shut, hitting her in the back. She was pushed out of the closet, into the bathroom and fell on her shoulder and hip. Mom is very tiny---4'9" and maybe 95lbs. She also bumped her head on the floor and got a 3" gash in her scalp.

 

Today, she took her first steps---and surprised her physical therapist. The PT only wanted to get her to walk to the door of her room, but mom walked into the hallway two times. She surprised the PT big time. They hope to move her out of the hospital and into their PT wing by Friday.

 

Yes, she's getting anticoagulants every morning. Her vitals have been great since the surgery, and she's off the morphine and now only takes tylenol for the pain.

 

The surgeon said she can be back cruising by late summer----I hope he's right.

[wrp96]

Darcie, I hope your mom continues to recover fast and easily!

[OceanFantasys]

Darcie sending good wishes for your mom.. I hope she recovers really soon.

[clopaw]

Darcie, I'd like to give you a more upbeat story. My dad broke his hip when he was 87. It was a stress fracture resulting from multiple myeloma weakening his bones. We had different opinions from his various specialists about what to do, including his oncologist who thought he should just manage the pain. We decided to go with the operation. He went to a skilled nursing facility afterwards. Both my husband and I work, and we have stairs in our house with no way to make a first floor bedroom. (He was already living with us.) We thought the physical therapy he received at the nursing home was excellent. He came how after three or four weeks, and continued to work with a physical therapist in our home, and she also showed me how to work with him. Within probably two months, he was navigating around as well as he had been before the fracture. I remember my brother saying to me, "It's really nice to know that you made the right decision on this." One of the follow up visits with the orthopedic surgeon, my dad how long the hip would last. The doctor told him about 20 years, and my dad said that would probably be good enough. My dad passed away about a year and a half after the hip replacement from causes related to the multiple myeloma.

 

Take heart. It will get better. As long as she works at it, your mom will probably be able to regain her previous strength and mobility.

[sross6019]

I am an Occupational Therapist. Your mother will do fine since she was active prior to the break. She will have PT and should have OT (Occupational Therapy). If she hasn't started OT ask for it. In OT, we teach patients to get back to thier daily routine. As I tell my patients, OT is getting back to what "occupies" their daily routine. For a while (6+ weeks) she will not be able to bend or twist at the waist or cross her legs. She may be restricted to how much weight she can put on her leg. (WBAT: weight bearing as tolerated, TTWB: toe touch weight bearing; no more that 5-10 lbs of pressure on the leg, or NWB: no weight at all placed on the leg). This depends on the break and the doctor. She may go to Rehab after hospitalization. If so and if she has Medicare, 20 days will be paid for. Starting the 21st day, Medicare will pay 80% till she is discharged or 100 total days have been used, she must continue to show improvement. She will get approx. 3.5 hours of therapy per day. She possibly will need some adaptive equipment to make things easier for her in her ADLs (dressing, bathing ,homemaking, etc). The therapist will be able to provider most equipement, but some she will have to pay for (Medicare looks as bathroom equipment as a luxury). Check with the therapist on what the cost will be or go purchase it outside the facility. She will need a reacher to help pick things off the ground and help pull pants on/off,a shower bench or tub transfer bench (recommend bench, especially if she has a tub/shower combo), a sock aid (to help put socks on),and a long handle shoe horn. This is a short list. Most hip patients recover very well. Hope this info is helpful to you.

[kitty9]

Thank you all so very much. Your comments have helped greatly. Mom just went to rehab today and will be evaluated tomorrow. The one problem we're having is with our hotel. Because of the Super Bowl, we might not have a place to stay without paying a huge price. The less expensive hotels are sold out and the expensive ones have hiked their prices more than double. The room we're paying $300 for is going to be $750 a nite starting on Saturday. Not the best situation.

[cruie4ever]

Hi Darcie happy to read that your mom is progressing well. We enjoy cruising & try to take 1 or 2 cruises a year.

Had to cancel our April 22nd Celebrity 14 night Hawaii R/T cruise for 4/22/07 as I will be having hip replacement surgery tomorrow 1/27.It came from family history of arthritis.It is the left hip.However, at some near time I need the right hip replaced as well,although it doesn't hurt like the left.

 

The good news is I just turned 68 & I understand recovery is fairly quick.:D

[Wilbo]

Darcie, think positive. My mom broke her hip at age 81. they said she would never walk again. She proved them wrong. she used a walker at first and then a cane. For many months the cane was just for show and she didn't use it but insisted on having with her at all times. finally she got sick of it and now at 87 she is still going without the cane.

Think positive. I am sure she feels better than yesterday and tomorrow she will feel better than today. Next week she will feel better than this week.