Those PoAers that also know me on FB are aware that this Monday morning I had a total hip replacement of my right hip. I’ll start a thread here to catch the aviation side of this procedure.
I scheduled this for Monday so that I could attend a couple of days of Sun and Fun, which has become an annual event for me. I especially wanted to fly in this year just for the experience of doing this in the 414. Had a good time.
This procedure was indicated by arthritis in the joint and bone spurs that prevented motion in the designed axes. This forced the muscles making hip movements to go in directions they weren’t designed for. The muscle soreness was what drove me to do this, not pain in the joint itself.
I had an anterior procedure where the surgeon goes in from the front of the hip, rather than the more common (85%) posterior method. This avoids cutting through various muscles and should make for a quicker recovery. Tougher for the surgeon though. Mine does about 300 of this type a year. That’s what you want. The incision is about 4 ½” long. The new joint has both a ball and socket of oxidized zirconium.
Surgery itself took about 1:40. After about another hour I was out of post-op and recovery and in a regular hospital room. I got to eat some liquids and then shortly after a normal lunch. I didn’t have much pain at this point. After awhile a physical therapist came by and had me out of bed, walking and going up/down some steps. This is kind of a test. If you can do these things, they’ll release you if you want. I wanted home and left the hospital about 10 hours after the surgery started. Sue is taking good care of me.
Obviously I am self grounding myself from flying for now. They gave me a 5mg Oxycodone prescription for pain. Being concerned about the return to flying I was a little too adverse to taking these. In the end I took about 7 over the course of 3 nights. I’ve been off them a couple of days now and expect to just be using ibuprofen.
I used a walker for the first few days and today am using a cane. The one thing I do not want to do is fall. Dislocating this new joint would be a very bad thing. My thigh muscles on the affected leg are very weak. I can’t lift the leg at all...not an inch. I don’t know how much of this is surgery recovery and how much is weakness from the years of misuse of these muscles. I have an appointment for PT on Moday and will start to work this out.
To fly safely, especially with primary students and in light twins, I need to be fully confident in my ability to use the rudder pedals instantly. To me this will determine when I think I’ll be safe to fly again. I hope the recovery continues to go as well as it has so far.
I scheduled this for Monday so that I could attend a couple of days of Sun and Fun, which has become an annual event for me. I especially wanted to fly in this year just for the experience of doing this in the 414. Had a good time.
This procedure was indicated by arthritis in the joint and bone spurs that prevented motion in the designed axes. This forced the muscles making hip movements to go in directions they weren’t designed for. The muscle soreness was what drove me to do this, not pain in the joint itself.
I had an anterior procedure where the surgeon goes in from the front of the hip, rather than the more common (85%) posterior method. This avoids cutting through various muscles and should make for a quicker recovery. Tougher for the surgeon though. Mine does about 300 of this type a year. That’s what you want. The incision is about 4 ½” long. The new joint has both a ball and socket of oxidized zirconium.
Surgery itself took about 1:40. After about another hour I was out of post-op and recovery and in a regular hospital room. I got to eat some liquids and then shortly after a normal lunch. I didn’t have much pain at this point. After awhile a physical therapist came by and had me out of bed, walking and going up/down some steps. This is kind of a test. If you can do these things, they’ll release you if you want. I wanted home and left the hospital about 10 hours after the surgery started. Sue is taking good care of me.
Obviously I am self grounding myself from flying for now. They gave me a 5mg Oxycodone prescription for pain. Being concerned about the return to flying I was a little too adverse to taking these. In the end I took about 7 over the course of 3 nights. I’ve been off them a couple of days now and expect to just be using ibuprofen.
I used a walker for the first few days and today am using a cane. The one thing I do not want to do is fall. Dislocating this new joint would be a very bad thing. My thigh muscles on the affected leg are very weak. I can’t lift the leg at all...not an inch. I don’t know how much of this is surgery recovery and how much is weakness from the years of misuse of these muscles. I have an appointment for PT on Moday and will start to work this out.
To fly safely, especially with primary students and in light twins, I need to be fully confident in my ability to use the rudder pedals instantly. To me this will determine when I think I’ll be safe to fly again. I hope the recovery continues to go as well as it has so far.
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