Well, let me begin by welcoming you to my hip journey. I think we all can agree that we are first told we need a hip replacement (or two) – everything starts moving in slow motion and we leave our bodies. I was told I was too young and lingered in pain for two years and until I could no longer walk without a cane. I began to keep a journal and wrote in it daily as I hibernated from the outside world. The journal became a WordPress blog and a place for me to release my emotions as rapidly as they came up. Three years and two hip replacements later, I began rebuilding my life. I, like many, had complications which triggered me even more into googling, connecting, writing and remembering to breathe. Breathe. Breathe. S L O W down.
No matter how you applaud yourself (or if you even do after everything you’ve been through)…we applaud you… as you have now become a proud member of the Hipster Club… a community of bionic men and woman around the globe.
No one understands bone-on-bone pain or the landscape of the unknown until they face the challenges of a reduced quality of life and the fear of surgery. And, until you have sources of information, support and the knowledge that experience brings…it can be a scary process… Especially to go through or face alone.
For example, I would never have known, if I didn’t receive some good tips from a fellow hipster, to ask for anti-nausea pills in the hospital (caused by the pain medication). I wouldn’t have known what special devices to get (my grabber was incredible), or to hook myself up with a buddy to go on walks with or bring me food or take care of my pet in the early days after my hip replacements.
That’s why I created Hipster Club!
Hipster Club is here for you:
- For support, and to know you are not alone – we are a club, an initiation into becoming bionic.
- We get to share our experience, knowledge and become a community for each other to get and stay out of pain within our new bodies.
- We get to give and get advice and encouragement during a scary transition. I must add that things have become a bit different from when I got my first hip replacement (at 50). Now they have what I call “drive by replacements”…all in the same day. Every year, every month, every day – they have new developments in replacement surgery. And now with 3-D printing, joint replacements will become totally customized to your own body.
So, I welcome you to the land of becoming bionic and I thank you for finding your way here to The Hipster Club.
Look through the site and find resources, research, emotional support and the newest technologies to strengthen your body and begin your healing journey.
Time to add more movie channels to your TV – ask for a month free promotion.2. 
Add email and IM to your phone by getting a month free from your cell phone provider, says time and pain not to have to get up and check your mail; you get everything in one place.3. 
Buy yourself an adult “blankie” to curl up with and take with you in ever room you lie or relax in. You should be getting up and changing positions every 25 or 30 minutes. Taking your “blankie” with you helps to feel secure and safe in the womb of your recovery home. Mine is a soft, lion-type motif….reminding me that I am strong….like a mother lion.
Order groceries, water bottles and household items online (I used yummy.com), they deliver your favorites items (including hand-made deli food) and carry it up to your kitchen.
Find a neighbor who normally walks daily and ask them if you can tag along on a consistent basis, that way you don’t have to beg or encourage friends to come and take you for a walk.
Tell the mailman you’ll be recovering inside your home, and if he/she wouldn’t mind leaving your mail by your door. You can tip them during the holidays for this gift of convenience.
Have a buddy system with a few appointed friends, which you/they check in on daily, in the morning and at night. Other people and friends have their own lives, and it’s frustrating and almost depressing to feel like you’ve been forgotten during the recovery time.
The Hipster Club 