TBK Tries- After the hip operation - day 1

So what is a hip replacement? It is where the ball and socket joint gets worn with old age and starts to cause pain as you walk, climb steps and bend over. When physiotherapy fails they operate and nowadays insert a titanium joint.

The xray shows the titanium implant on the right side which is the left hip. In the old days metal was used and this led to problems with airport security and could cause poisoning in some cases. Before my operation I had a video call with Bapco retiree Keith Gardener, now enjoying his retirement in Turkey. He was telling me about the two new hips which he had inserted at the German Orthopedic Hospital in Bahrain. Thanks to Keith, Richard Atkinson, my brother , Richard Porter and Wikipedia for all your input before the operation!

This is what it looks like inside, creating a nice smooth joint with no pain as you walk or bend . As people age, the bone suffers from arthritis, or osteoporosis causing friction and pain as you walk or bend. By replacing the joint with a prosthetic one this pain is removed, and according to Keith, its good for 40 years. The aim is to give me a new lease of life as I head to the Philippines to take up skimming , surf boarding and kite surfing as well as plenty of Lakad Lakad ( walking) on the beach and swimming in the beautiful clean sea off Palawan.

I am told that it will make me feel like a new man- I cannot wait! Charoot!

So what happened? Well after signing my life away and numerous checks on my name and ID number I was wheeled in my bed to the operating theatre and given an injection in my spine which took away all feeling in my leg then maneuvered onto the Operating table by 6 guys and onto my side. There followed 2 hours of sawing, drilling and banging as the titanium joint was inserted and secured to the bone. After one hour recovery in the holding area with constant checks I was wheeled to the X ray area to check it was inserted correctly then back to my room where the Physio guys were waiting with a walking frame and taken through an exercise routine before more checks, morphine and sleep.

Day 2 started with an early morning bed bath at 3 am and at 7 am breakfast arrived and then the Physiotherapist arrived who had me on my feet for the first time.

At 9 am I had not one but 6 doctors come to check on me and they decided that my next challenge for today was to have the Urinary Catheter removed . I was also given a laxative so that I could , with help, walk to the toilet and resume normal bodily functions. Until you have to do without these things you do not realise how much they mean!

In the afternoon my Urinary catheter was replaced by a Condom Catheter. If, like me, you had no idea about catheters the diagrams show the difference between them.


A urinary Catheter drains the urine through a tube inserted in your penis from the bladder into a bag

A condom catheter on a dummy ( for Zaid's benefit)

While all this was going on Corleen sent me a photo of the breakfast that he had made at my house. He said that once Jake arrived with my second driver, Ronald, they would go to Alosra for the shopping. Then Julz cooked for me ready for when I got home on Sunday. Corleen did the ironing and Jake did the cleaning, feeding the birds, and cleaned and refilled their water bowls and watered the compost. They also went to Aptex on Budaiya Highway to collect my Christmas cards. The week before my operation I emailed the concept for the 2021 Calendar to Chester in Manila who did the Graphic design and emailed it back to me to forward to ASK in the UK to print. One of the jobs on Julz and my post op task list is to sign all the cards and make address labels. We will then send these to Mark in the UK to distribute with the 2021 calendars which Chester and I worked on before the operation with ideas from Mark the plant and Jane ( CF) .

In the afternoon I had more physio, I slept, read some of a thriller by Lee Child and finished watching the movie Rocket Man. Many thanks to Phil and Di for sending me 2 x USB sticks of Movies to watch as I recovered. I also had lots of emails from Corleen who was at the supermarket and could not read the writing on my shopping list so I had to send him photos of satsumas, lamb neck and Porcini and Button mushrooms! I decided to type the shopping list for my second week of recovery. I blame my dad as he was a Doctor and Doctor's have bad hand writing!