The last of my hip screws came out on March 22nd! FINALLY! My mom took me and stayed during the surgery to then drive me home and take care of me for the weekend/week to follow. The surgery went well! I had the best anesthesiologist I’ve EVER had. The man so kind and caring during the pre-op eval and told me that with his concoction of meds, I wouldn’t need to be intubated. Bonus! I woke up from the procedure quite clear headed, no grogginess and I remember everything from the moment I woke up. I was really impressed by all that and on top of it, I had no pain. So the concoction worked on all levels! I stayed in the PACU for the amount of time required and then we went home. I dressed myself, ate a little food and even walked around the unit. I didn’t need the crutches either. It was a very pleasant experience.
I took it easy over the weekend as instructed. I did walk a little each day and tolerated it well. I had more pain then I was expecting, but it was all incisional pain. I had to be careful with the clothing I wore, the positions I sat in and how I slept. I couldn’t sleep on my left side for about a week. I am so proud of myself though, I controlled the majority of my pain with just tylenol and ibuprofen and ice. The ice helped immensely!
I stopped taking the anti-inflammatories on day 4 and occasionally iced just to help with any pain or soreness. Around one week post-op, I did have some deeper, more muscular pain. It only lasted for a day or two and then I was ok. In comparison to all the other surgeries I’ve had, this one was a breeze! And mentally, I was just so happy to be done and have all the corrections and removals behind me. All the steps of this recovery was truly for the last time with my hips and that was really exciting. I got to keep my screws this time too, so now I have the most expensive collection of screws I have ever heard of!
Literally Hip 
How soon after your major op did you have the screws out?
I had my right hip operated on first and those screws came out 8 months post-op and at the same time I had my left hip operated on. Then I had the left hip’s screws removed 5 months post-op.
How long did you have to recover for and not drive. i am having the surgery on wednesday and wanterd some feed back on how you got on. it has been 1yr 15wks since having the PAO done. but i have battled with the pain of the pins for several months. i will be glad to have them out.
Hi Christine! Thank you for reaching out. I was fortunate to not need any narcotics for pain relief after the screw removal surgery. So technically, I could’ve driven two days after the surgery. I waited about a week until I did drive and that could’ve changed if it had been my right hip. The pain was manageable for me with just Tylenol every 4-6 hours and lots of ice. Ice honestly, felt the best. I took it easy for the first two weeks after and then started going for longer walks. I also had a lot of pain and discomfort from my screws and that was resolved by having them out! Hopefully this helps. I wish you the best of luck and congratulations on reaching the milestone of a screw removal!