my dancing days are over for now and at the tender age of 49 and 3/4 i need a hip replacement. the painkillers for my osteo-arthritis don't help any more and i'm at the stage where i base my shopping route through town on least amount of steps!
i'm quite cheery about it and have good insurance, great hospital & doctor and work that will allow time to recover
i wondered if anyone had experienced this procedure in France?
absolutely not looking for horror stories!
x teresa
Yep, it must get boring for the nurse who has to shave the various bits and pieces. I recall about 15 years ago having to undergo the removal of a cyst type thing on the right gooley. It was done by local anaesthetic but the nurse gave me the FULL Monty regarding a Brazilian ! I know exactly what my feelings were (pure ecstasy !) though I often wonder how the youngish lady felt as she fumbled her way around the unemployment register !
Well done you, the worst bit for me was the Brazilian and then painting from head to toe with iodine by nurse with no sense of humour whatsoever!!!!!!
i've done it, they've done it... i'll forever have a little bit of France in me now....
thanks for all your advice and good wishes and help - i'm glad i didn't know too much before i went in - but i'm home and all is good
Good luck Teresa, you'll be flying in no time, I'd prefer to pay higher taxes if we had a state system here.
thank you so much for your positive reply! i'm off tomorrow to hospital... After i'd completed all the various and many tests (heart dentist blood radio etc etc) i went back to the surgeon and got my appointment in 4 weeks.
i'm so sorry for you having to wait - my husband is irish and we met when i was working in county meath - along time ago - but i remember then saving up a few things if i visited the doctor - it was a nightmare to get it - and also - we had a polish worker on the estate and we all clubbed together for him to get private medical insurance for a problem.
there are massive taxes in france - but i think some if it is being well spent!
x teresa
Had mine done 13 yrs ago at the Polyclinic in Laval 53, I was 55 at the time and done with an epidural, Great job start to finish, never had any pain or problems afterwards, drove the car locally after 2 weeks, went back to work about the same time and rode a horse in Holland a month later. I was very fit, slim and active before the op anyway which is a big help and just took it all in my stride. I now live in Ireland and need the other one doing, am waiting over a year which is a disgrace and it looks like I'll be waiting a lot longer unless I pay the full amount and go private. If I end up not being able to walk and am forced down this route, I would hope I could come back to France for the procedure.
Ha!... that made me laugh so much - my poor suffering husband is an angel - but he put his foot down at painting my toe nails... I'm off to get some tlc from the 'paint shop' in town before my op to remind me!
and yes, looking forward to getting back to a different me! (and not being called 'hoppy' at home)
x teresa
You'll find it really hard after the operation getting used to what you can do again! It's very strange realising that it's now easy to bend down and pick stuff off the floor and that you don't have to lie backwards on the bed to put socks on. And your wardrobe changes, you can wear tights again, shoes that lace up or have straps, paint your toe nails...
yes - i do find it very difficult to walk - but we have dog, chickens, donkeys - so it's not a sedentary life. But the dog could probably use a bit more exercise too! I can cook and iron for hours, but i can't put my socks on now!
thanks for all the positive info Victoria
x teresa
we're in Vaison La Romaine - northern Provence - so i'm going to the lovely new hospital in Carpentras...
Italy yes - we can get to Turin through Gap in 4 hours or so - lovely
yes, i heard that knees are much worse - i think the best thing will be that the pain in my knee, ankle, back - all nowhere near my hip - will be gone pretty much post-op!
as my husband keeps saying 'so all along there was nothing wrong with your knee - you were just making it up' !!!
It was my doctor who told me to try and walk at least 1 km in a day, with two Dalmatians even when taking it easy I was doing much more than that. I was very lucky because everything went right and I got better so quickly that I was walking on only one crutch when I left hospital and was doing short distances without using the crutch at all. I have to say that the local physio disapproved strongly of the hospital physio encouraging me to do so much so soon though!
That's interesting Victoria because my surgeon was saying that he often recommended hip and knee patients to either do loads of exercises in the weeks leading up to the operation or indeed have physio to loosen up the leg muscles. The fitter and more lithe you are (relatively speaking of course) the easier you will find it during the recovery period.
Logical I suppose when you think about it ?
My hip op in September was even more successful than I hoped, my daughters said I was walking better when I came home after a week than I had before I had the op. You are still pretty young for the operation so your recovery should be fast but I would advise you to be as fit as possible before you go in - it really does speed healing up. We have dogs so I didn't have the option of being as sedentary as I'd like to have been pre-op as walking could be difficult but I was still having to do a slow stroll for about 30 minutes in total a day so I still had a reasonable amount of muscle tone.
Hi Dominique, i'm seven months into my new knee and it's absolutely brilliant. No pain at all save a few muscle tweaks. The outside is still a bit numb tho' I suppose this will dissappear eventually. Interesting that in the clinique in Limoges I was in with other knee jobs and several hip jobs and the impression I got was that the hip replacement was relatively painless and less complicated than the knee op. The point is Teresa that the pain, inconvenience and hassle associated with the hip op is 'minor' compared to the knee op so don't worry, it will be a doddle.
Good luck Teresa! I’m sure it will go well, a friend of mine in the Var has just had her second done, and She is recovering quickly. She had a stay in rehab after the op. You’ll be dancing off to Italy before you know it.
We are also Italophiles, and pop over the border (now non existent) as often as possible. Not sure where you are exactly, we are in Aups. All best wishes.
merci b
brilliant news!
Best wishes, I had a knee done in Marmande (47) and it was marvellous and knee are I am told far more difficult than hips. It is a year now, and I tend to forget it has been done.