Drive after a total hip replacement?

I'm waiting for a hip replacement. Right hip is pooched. Have gained a LOT of weight the last few years due to reduced mobility. Trying to get that under control has been tough (as I sit at Dennys having breakfast)
;-( not good...
They are telling me 3 months off no driving. Is that really rhe case?

Hopefully I can go flat deck again when this is done.

 

Yessir. You can expect three months.

At least.

I am a aberration in the local area after this surgery having healed to where I am today 3 months later. I tell you right now if I had to drive a manual transmission with those heavy clutches it's going to have to wait another 6 months. There are tendons and muscles offline in the area, not enough to interfere with mobility and overall living but enough to interfere with tasks like shifting, climbing stairs and carrying 60 pounds of soil. Im stubborn. Im not supposed to carry that much, particularly with a ceramic joint.

Being less than 200 pounds the joint will last a long time. If I got fat to say 250 pounds it's too much. I think the upper weight limit for the joint now is about 30 pounds. Im already putting on twice that and it hurts. (No wonder dum dum...)

Statistically the blood supply to the other joint will fail at any time, and I already am looking at it so I expect another surgery for that joint within the year. Since Ive been through it already with the first one, the second one will be no trouble at all just another month or two of that physical therapy etc which I find annoying but necessary.

Finally but not last. This joint installation means that contact activity, Football, martial arts etc are forbidden permanently in life. I hate to repeat myself several times but my experience has been stellar. It could be much worse looking at other people who are enduring the same thing but not healing anywhere near as well as me. I usually keep my mouth shut in the office when they complain it's been two months and they cannot do this, that or other.

 

My father was a school bus driver and went back to driving after a hip replacement. I don't remember the time frame as it was a long time ago...
One of my co-workers just had his hip replaced right before Christmas and he was back driving (flatbed) I believe about the 3rd week of January (approximately 1 month)
My boss had his knee replaced mid-January and has been back in his W9 now for probably the last 2 or 3 weeks...

 

That tells me that there are still plenty of people with hard headed gumption to get back into trucking way before the doctor would let them. It wont be the first or last. Ive had surgeries in the past where I was told stay home 6 weeks. Who has time for that. Back rolling in 3 when my boss begged. It takes alot for HIM to ask anything much less beg. Too much money going down the drain sitting a big truck.

 

How did the knees go? Ive been briefed on both of mine and I am actually very reluctant to let the sawbones butcher them. Ive been cut, stabbed, trauma and so on on both of those for 50 years plus. At some point the material that holds the front center bone ball on the knee (The linchpin so to speak) must fail. I hear horror stories about being down a year.

I'd just soon chop em and put on peg legs using 2x4 or something from Lowes.

 

That's good enough for me, I'll just keep on trucking until they tear out and I call the waambulance. They can fix it then.

Note to those who are not familiar with ambulance calls. It's about a thousand dollars billing retail for a basic 20 mile run. Anything more than that you clock it at 1.20 a mile. And that is without using anything in the wagon.

 

The weight with me is the big one. I'm 56 in a couple months and with the lesser amount of activity (hard work) I'm loosing all my muscle. It's going to be a hard road back. I'm planning on the 3 months off and will be doing EXACTLY what the rehab person tells me and will also get a personal trainer involved to work on the rest of me. I'm half debating selling the truck and take a full year off and just working on me. I've neglected "it" long enough I think...