Well. Guess where I am.

I fell Sunday night and broke my hip. Spent all night and most of Monday in the ER, awaiting a room and surgery ... finally got a room Monday night and surgery Tuesday morning.

Wasn't sure what forum to post this, but I do think it fits under long-term quality of life. All the treatments, stress, etc. have taken a toll on my body, leaving me more susceptible to other things, And then I had a bad reaction to the Cipro antibiotic (the muscle and tendon pain issue), which led me to being sore and loose--jointed, which probably contributed to the ease of hurting myself. (Though mostly it's because I'm a klutz who was wearing slippery socks on a wood floor, sigh.)

On the plus side, I'm a LOT better at navigating hospitals and asking for what I need than I used to be. Something to be said for experience! LOL. It's been eye-opening.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers, if you have a spare minute, This ouches pretty fierce.

Oh, and anybody else on here deal with low blood pressure? It's becoming a problem for me and was apparently an issue even in surgery, which was a first. They are getting concerned, which has ME worried. I've always run a little low, but not like this. I could Google, but....

John’s blood pressure never really recovered after chemo. He suffered from postural hypotension and had to take things slowly. Unfortunately he wasn’t the kind of person who would walk or move slowly. There were a few cares and then he fell and fractured a rib. If low blood pressure is an issue for you, do have a family member learn how best to help a fallen person to get up SAFELY. Just pulling the person off the floor isn’t helpful at all. There are a number of YouTube videos for training caregivers. Have a look at those. I’m sorry you’re back in the hospital, I hope you’ll feel better soon.

OH NO!!!!! Im so sorry to read about what you have been thru. I cant imagine how much pain you are in. Many OC patients/survivors have a condition that has wildly fluctuating blood pressure. Heres just a few of the threads that may contain relevant info. Im sure you can find many other threads about low blood pressure by putting the most relevant key words into the search box in the upper right corner of any page.

I forgot to add.... Some medications like many pain meds can lower blood pressure as can being dehydrated or even having a poor diet.

I hope you get well very soon!!!!

Low Blood Pressure thread.

Baroreceptor Failure thread

Motor Neuron Disease, ALS thread includes other long term survivor ailments

KristenS,

I’m sorry for your troubles, and wish you a speedy recovery!

You just made me think about the osteoporosis I have. For some reason, probably from hip pain, about two years ago, I was tested by Dexa Scan, which showed osteoporosis. I can’t take the medication that may help due to jaw fracture from radiation, Osteoradionecrosis, and basically forgot about it, except for the daily pain. It could be from medications or other definiency, but I didn’t see anyone else except my current doctors. Tylenol for arthritis does help got a short time.

I also suffer from low blood pressure. Actually, orthrostatic hypotension (postural hypotension) where my blood pressure drops upon sitting g and even more upon standing to the point of feeling light headed. I usually felt it coming on, and able to sit or fall into the chair or bed, but recently, I just passed out! This happened last October, and was hospitalized due to injuring my leg, but luckily, i didn’t fracture anything. A few weeks ago, after exiting a taxi, I had to hold onto the telephone pole for dear life, so I didn’t fall, until the incident passed. A week later I did faint in the house, got knocked out, after falling and hitting my face on a laundry bag, and then the back of my head on the wall and floor. I was lucky again, and held overnight for observation. The thing is when I fall I can’t get off from the floor, and have to pull myself to a phone, and unlock the door for EMS.

They have support stockings that may help, but the neuropathy in the legs were bothered too much. Getting up slowly, with your head downwards arching up, and stadiny In place for a minute. That’s my situation, but everyone can be different, and best to have your doctors tell you.

Good luck with everything!

oh my Kristen! Take care of yourself! I have prayed for you and your body.

my mom broke her hip during radiation during her recurrence. Not fun. Not fun at all. Hip replacement or was your hip pinned?

when we were seeing the orthopedists they said that for breast cancer now they are recommending people start taking osteoperosis drugs before treatment as incidents of breaks were way higher for people who didn't during and immediately after treatment. They said that recommendation hadn't been made for other types of cancer but that they were pushing to get those studies done because they felt like it might be a befit for way more patients than just breast cancer.

Interesting about the drugs! I'm several years out from treatment (not from side effects, alas), so not sure if it would help ... my doctor has said we'll run some tests just to be sure that we're not missing something. (He was due for a bone density test himself, so he was going to make sure it didn't involve any contortions before scheduling one for me while healing. He's cool like that.)

So far just screws (so I can't make any wisecracks about having a few screws loose anymore, LOL), but they did say if I'm not careful how I let it heal, that could change. Not sure if they were serious or just trying to make sure I keep off my feet as much as possible, but I'm trying to be careful. It's weird because it doesn't hurt as much as I would have expected ... it hurts, but not screamingly awful. Mostly when I do something I shouldn't, or when the dog climbs in my lap and uses my scar side as her way up (ouch!).

I thought it was radiation scatter when I broke my shoulder ... but no way that would be likely for the hip, so I'm guessing chemo (the orthopedic surgeon's nurse at my follow-up thought so too, after reviewing the bad opinions given by some of the hospital doctors). But if I weren't naturally prone to tripping, it probably wouldn't matter quite so much.

Long ramble ... sorry ...

My understanding is that screws fail a lot. My mom's orthopedic surgeon (who was also an astronaut not relevant but very cool and something that made me feel wildly unaccomplished) said we'd rehab it nice and slowly and hope for the best. Her screws failed at 1 year post treatment and she got a hip replacement and OMG. The rehab from a hip replacement is so, so, so, so, so much easier than the rehab for screws. She was just zooming all around like 2 days after her hip replacement. None of this partial weight bearing nonsense. I am so, so, so hoping you stay out of the OR again but if you end up needing the hip replacement don't sweat it.

Get the bone density done and if you need medication don't sweat it that's fine too but make sure your doc knows about your oral cancer status and treatments because certain drugs they don't do if you've had radiation.

Wow, THANK YOU for this information. (Don't tell my family though, or they'll never let me roller skate or ice skate again!)

Now I'm kind of wondering why they went with screws to start with... hm... but oh well, we have what we have. Some friends in my Sunday School class (older than me) were telling me their hip replacements were a piece of cake, but I thought they meant like what I was dealing with, because they were comparing it to knee replacements. (Which I hear are dreadful.)

My primary doctor is very good about keeping aware of my cancer issues and how that affects my future health, but if bone issues come up, we'll make sure he double-checks on medications. My pharmacy is pretty good too, but that might be stretching their genius a little too far. (They catch allergy issues for me all the time ... not stuff from my primary but from specialists.)

And the astronaut thing is cool!