Hip Replacement Update

We're now into day 9 of post-surgical healing.

Husband is still using a walker, and the physical therapist (?) person came and removed his bandage on Monday. The cut is about six inches long; the bruising covers most of the backside of his leg and some of it has moved down into his calf. I am keeping an eye on that.

The biggest struggle has been compression stockings. He is to wear these every day, and I have struggled so to get them on him that I have sprained my left hand (which obviously doesn't help with the situation). My fingers last night were swollen; I had to ice them. My hand is swollen today, too. His right ankle, the same side as the new hip, was fused together in 2019, so that foot is especially difficult as he can't bend any to help slide the socks on. What a workout every morning!

He has physical therapy exercises that he tells me he is doing, but I can't exactly see that he is doing them.  I can't see if he's sitting there squeezing his butt cheeks together or pushing his knee down like he's supposed to.

The physical therapist told him to continue using the walker until he sees the doctor next week, although I personally think he should be using a cane more, like for short trips to the bathroom. The longer a person holds onto a walker, the harder it is to get them off of it.

He is getting up a lot at night, and he can't get back into the bed without help, so I am not getting much sleep. If I can catch a day when there isn't much going on, I need a long nap.

It is too hot and sticky for him to spend time outside because then he'd have to shower again, and I can't handle drying off his lower legs but once a day. With my abdominal issues, all of that bending over is difficult.

The hospitals really should ask if the caregiver is actually capable of giving care, and maybe a nurse should have demonstrated how to put the damn compression stockings on before surgery. I think true health care would focus not only on the patient, but also on the immediate family, because it affects them as much as it does the patient. I mentioned numerous times to the doctor, the PA, and anyone else, that I was disabled, but no one cared nor asked about it. Had someone asked me if I thought I could deal with this, especially the physical aspects of it, I would have said no. I can fetch and carry and feed him, but these other chores that require bending and physical force are almost (though obviously not entirely) beyond me. The fact that I have hurt my hand doing these things is a good indicator that I shouldn't have been doing them, in my opinion.

I see my chiropractor to get my back adjusted, because I've pulled it out struggling with the compression socks. I'm not sure how long an adjustment will last under the current circumstances.

Anyway, we're still plugging along, and I'm doing the best I can, and that will have to be good enough.