I need a chart for my medications, there are so many. Here’s what it looks like:

I missed the written instructions that said I should take four of the blood thinner pills Tuesday night. I only took one, which was the dosage printed on the container. On Wednesday the nurse took some blood to test for PT-INR, a measure of how the blood thinner is working. It measured 1.3 and was supposed to be in the range 1.5 to 2.0. The nurse reported her findings to Dr. Tomford’s office Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday but got no reply. I stayed on four pills every night and the PT-NR stayed at 2.2. The nurse and I decided to drop back to three pills given the lack of instructions from the doctor. On Monday, the PT-INR was still 2.2. I called Dr. Tomford’s office and actually talked to Dr. Tomford! (How many times does that happen? The nurse was amazed.) He gave instructions for the blood thinner dosage and all was OK.

The nurse shows my wife how to change the dressing on the wound. Something like iodine is swabbed onto the wound as an antiseptic. Here's what it looked like nine days after the surgery:

You can see the staples, kind of like railroad tracks. The coloring along the wound is from the iodine-like antiseptic. The little scar to the left of the wound is where the drain was installed. The bruises from the operation are still visible.

The physical therapist also visited me at home and showed me the exercises I was to do. She also watched me walk and made sure I didn't put more than 20% of my weight on my new hip. (Some pressure encourages the bone to grow and hold in the prothesis. Too much weight and the prothesis could move which would destroy the bone growth and loosen the prothesis.)

I wrote down most of the notes from which this web site was derived on the Thursday I was home. So everything was fairly fresh but not fresh enough for me to be sure of the exact order of things.

I'm taking all meals sitting up. Bowels are back on track and working just fine. I stop the Duculax.

I walk on my crutches like a caged animal from front door, through hall, living room, dining room, kitchen, to the back door. I turn around and reverse the trip. Over and over. Once in a while I walk a bit outside. Here is one such example two weeks after the surgery:

Things get into a routine. I ease off on the pain killers. The staples come out 16 days after the surgery. I switch from Percocet to Tylenol the same day.

I am able to sleep on my right side with two pillows between my legs.

I visit Dr. Tomford 22 days after surgery. He says all is well. I can now put up to 50% of my weight on the new hip. I will have to use two crutches for another three weeks. Then I can switch to a single crutch on the good side. I schedule my second post-op appointment for the first week in January. Then he will tell me when I can switch from the single crutch to a cane.

I get off all pain killers the next day. There is no pain in the hip joint itself. The incision is still a little tender.

I start sleeping upstairs in our king bed with a pillow top mattress. It is much more comfortable. I only wake up once during the night now.

This is pretty much the end of the story. I'll add anything that is out of the ordinary that crops up. But I expect in two months to be walking without crutches or cane. In four months I should be pretty much back to normal but without the pain.

See Addendum.