good news and bad news for BBB

These devices sound quite helpful, and I'm guessing it'll be fairly straightforward where each one is kept for best use.

Just got a call from the rehab. BBB's hip has unexpectedly taken a turn for the worse. This morning she was in an extreme amount of pain after physical therapy and can't put any weight on it at all. They are preparing to send her for x-rays to see if the hip has dislocated since the pain hasn't eased at all.

If this is the case, she may not be home on Friday.

I'll keep you posted.

Oh nuts.

My late mother had had the same - a couple of days after the operation. (Due to her dementia, she didn't tell early enough)
The doctors didn't want to re-operate but "arrange" it manually in the correct position.

It obviously happened, because mother didn't follow their advice.
So, they plastered a stick around her feet. Thus she couldn't move/wrinkle her leg in bed anymore


All the very best for BBB (and you, too).

Ooof. That's rough. Thanks for the update, and fingers crossed re: the hip.

Thanks for detailed information. Hang in there.

I had all that stuff after a fractured pelvis. Already had a long handled shoe horn, and didn't ever use most of the rest of it. Except the reacher. You can do anything with that darn thing except sign your name, and maybe that too with practice. It's good to have more than one, for sure. If you drop one, you can use another to pick it up. By the way, I could put on socks with the reacher, and never used the tool intended for socks at all.

I used to position my walker and reacher beside the bed before going to sleep. Living alone, I seriously feared the cats moving either one overnight.

By the way, if she comes home with a wheelchair, don't move it from wherever she wants it, and make sure she makes a habit of leaving it with the brakes applied. Also, the new and smaller BBB should have one that fits her. They come in sizes, and some are too big to fit through some doors, though yours are probably big enough.

Darn sorry to hear about the setback. Very sorry for that pain, and also what it's going to do to her recovery time.

EDIT: My sister got me a powered recliner to help with recovery. It was great, but in addition to heating elements, it had a vibrator function. It was agonizing when I accidently turned it on, and you had to cycle through three increasing levels of intensity. If this is what she has, see if you can find a way to disable that "feature". It's worth whatever it takes.

That business about the inability to quickly turn off the vibrator function in the recliner device sounds like nightmarish for someone post hip/pelvis fracture or surgery. Hope that has some solution.

Her hip is much better today. Still no results from the x-rays, but the doppler showed no clots. The physical therapists thinks the hip just got inflamed from overuse, but she's on light activity until the x-ray results are in and she's cleared for more activity.

In a way, this is probably good that it happened because with this scare of a dislocated hip, maybe she will be more willing to adhere to the movement precautions instead of continuing to do things her way that put her at risk.

She doesn't have the lift recliner, but does have a recently purchased regular recliner. I bought a portable lift for the chair. According to the reviews, it is supposed to work well, but is a little uncomfortable to sit on for any length of time. She's got a padded seat cushion that will fit over it and help with that.

Knowing my mom, she will probably not use most of what I bought either. If that is the case, I'll make use of most of them. I've had a reach extender for years and could not do many things without it.

x-rays are back -- no dislocation of the hip. Just inflammation from overuse and under medicated for pain.

Diane is visiting her as I write and the two of them are enjoying a lengthy pleasant conversation. Diane has also been able to get BBB to eat a little more. The rehab staff has been concerned about BBB's lack of appetite and have been doing all sorts of lab tests on her organs to eliminate any of that as a cause.

Thank goodness for Diane!

I'm home, nursing a sore knee. Don't know what I did to it. Was sitting in the recliner last night feeling great after finishing a lot of projects around the house yesterday, moved my leg and suddenly the knee started hurting. I massaged it good and pushed something in the knee cap back in place. The swelling has gone down, but I'm not going to chance it with walking the long corridors of the hospital today.

Do you think you traumatized it while assembling BBB's stuff. I hate buying furniture that one has to put together on the floor for that very reason. Not to mention the trouble standing up after being on the floor for hours "assembling."
BTW, is there any food (like barbequed ribs) that BBB has regretfully avoided for health reasons and now could benefit her?

Oy, and good re Diane.

I think I think.. that as you learn to eat less, that that gets inculcated much as eating too much can, especially in bbb's situation re whatever surgical close off she has had re the gastrointestinal tract.

Very very glad re no dislocataion.

One of the issues with her appetite now is that she's not able to chew food easily. The bone in her jaw has mostly worn away and she won't even think about implants.

Any food she eats has to be very tender/soft. She'll also be on Coumadin for at least a few months once she is home so won't be able to eat any of the no-no's on the Coumadin list. That include most of her favorite vegetables.

She loves fruit of every kind and most soups that aren't too spicy. Pork and chicken are her favorite meats, salmon her favorite fish.

I don't think it is that. The staff is aware of that surgery. She just doesn't have much of an appetite. She keeps asking for half-portions but they keep giving her full portions of what she orders. She only takes one or two bites and the rest gets wasted.

So, she's not ordering much food because she doesn't want to see it go to waste.

You're welcome to try telling her that it is more important for her to get some nutrition than it is for her to try to conserve food waste.

Many have tried and failed....

I have no idea what I did to it. May have just moved it wrong. I really felt good when I first sat down. It may have just been one too many bends of the knee that day.

It is feeling better this evening. I've had ice on it for most of the day.

'k, I"m wrong. Plus it must be hard re the favorite vegetables.
I can understand not giving a hoot.

Don't mean to be pushy, but any news?

Hoping it's good news.

I have food not waster tendencies, so I sort of get that (it could go in soup! then I do put it in soup). But probably she has had plain lost appetite.


Does she vary on food interest at time of day?
I certainly do not want to associate BBB to a dog but stuff goes on for my new old dog, from total shunning to avid scarfing.

Some of this may have to do with smell and smell receptors - or, what? Time?

I'm no expert, more the one studied, since mine are near dead.

She'll probably be in rehab for at least another week. We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel though. In preparation for her going home, occupational therapy folks have been teaching her how to use all the assist-tools for putting on shoes, dressing, getting up and down from chairs, getting out of and into bed, in and out of cars, etc., without bending more than 90 degrees or extending her hands past the top of her knees.

The biggest obstacle at the moment is that her right leg is now about 1.5 inches longer than the other one and she will require special orthopedic shoes to walk at all times. With the length difference, she easily loses her balance and the shifting of the hips and back is painful for her.

I found a couple of orthotic places in Albuquerque to take her to once she's out of rehab so they can determine her needs and design some shoes that have the lifts without being so heavy that it easily falls off her foot. She has an extremely narrow foot (4A) and it makes finding a shoe that will work for her a challenge.