Have Past Surgeries Changed Your Lifestyle?

ClassicRockr

ClassicRockr

Well-known Member
Had ankle surgery w/two plastic screws and plate put in (1988). Hip replacement in 2005. RC surgery in 2007.

Now that I'm older, some arthritis has set into the ankle that had surgery. I do wear a cloth ankle support, but can't stand in one place very long and can't walk to long of a distance. If I do, later it will be ice packs and Motrin for a day or two.

Some arthritis has also set into the hip that was replaced. So, pending the weather, some pain can show up there. Again, walk to much and the old hip starts talking to me.

RC surgery.......no problems with that shoulder.

Can't Square Dance anymore. Can take walks, just not too long/too far. The hip replacement ended my rodeo days.

So, how about you..........any past surgeries say what you can/can not do?
 

If you have arthritis in your knee, hip, ankle, or any where else, that is not the disease that is a symptom of the disease. The disease is a degeneration of the body and only nutrition can reverse that. Getting a fake knee or hip doesn't fix the problem because in a short time it will be some where else. I have heard of people getting one knee replaced and in a short while the other and two years later the first one got loss and ad to be redone. There are supplements [nutrition] out there that can regrow cartilage and strengthen bone. Or become part machine your choice.
 

Have never had surgery (other than my tonsils out at age 8) so I can`t relate. But have two close friends with plates and screws in their ankles so I know it`s not fun. In fact one was going in at 4pm today to have a screw removed as it`s causing a problem. Waiting to hear that everything went OK as they very nearly killed her by ODing her on pain meds when she had the original surgery. They actually had to call a Code Blue and resuscitate her. The "joke" about it is that they sent her a $25.00 gift card to Cheesecake Factory as an apology for what they did! We laughed our asses off over that one-and the really funny part is that she eats a very restricted diet due to her son`s autism and Tourette`s so she won`t even eat in restaurants. She gave me the gift card :)
 
I had both hips replaced late last year and am SO happy I did. I now walk, bike, whatever I want, again, and the best part is I no longer have the awful pain I had before. I put it off for a long time because I was scared, but I can truly say it gave me my life back!
 
I've always heard you never the same after surgery. And have heard wildly varying estimates on the time back to "normal" being from 3-6 months to 3 years. I think 3 years is closer to reality. I'm still doing rehab excerises years later and they work quite frankly. I think that's where many go wrong with surgery. They do their prescribed rehab and they are done. You have to exercise year round.

They recently came out with a study on knee problems and they found those who started things like running earlier in life had fewer problems than those that picked it as adult because the early bird had a natural wear pattern on their knee joint. You get a replacement or screw you are creating or should create and maintain a new wear pattern that is practical and wont deteriorate the joint. People stop rehabing or working out they probably start losing a wear pattern that could turn into arthritis and/or affect flexibility, strength and movement of the joint.
 
Aside from having my children born by C-section; I have had three surgeries in my life, and each one of them has improved my lifestyle.
I grew up with crossed-eyes and had to wear glasses with tape over the inside half of each eye, to try and straighten them. The kids at school mostly shunned me, so I grew up to be pretty much a loner, and a hermit. After I was married, the Lion's Club arranged for me to have eye surgery. The surgeon said that he could not guarantee that my eyes would work together right; but it would at least LOOK normal.
I still have double vision, but having the eye surgery has helped my self-image tremendously.

Second surgery was for a badly broken leg from a horseback riding accident. The horse was bucking, and when i went to get off, she came down hard on my leg with her back hoof, and it popped in two just like a hot dog.
It was over 6 months before I was able to actually walk again, and that leg is still shorter, and not quite straight; but still much better than it might have been; so that surgery was important, too.

The last one is, of course, the heart procedure that I just recently had. Since about 1990, I have had a-fib, and around 12 years ago, it had gotten bad enough that I now have CHF as well. The heart procedure has stopped the a-fib, and I can breathe and do more than I have been able to in many years, and it should be even better when it heals up completely.
So, for me, the surgeries have been a good thing in my life.
 
Gall Bladder is gone, Thyroid Gland is removed, Prostate Gland is gone too, Bi Lateral Hernia Repair, Cartilage removed from both knees. Still swim, walk the golf course, a bit stiff at times, but no pain. Life goes on.
 

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