Has anyone had any experience with you (or a loved one) having gone through hip replacement surgery?

One of my friend’s mothers is scheduled to have both a hip replacement surgery, and then on a later date, a rotator cuff surgery.

My friend lives in my city here in CA, her mother lives Ohio. She hasn’t spoken at length with her mom, yet, about the surgeries, and hasn’t yet had the chance to talk to her mom’s doctor, to get the whole lowdown on what to expect.

She’s convinced that she has to pack up and move to Ohio to care for her mom for 6 months, leaving her own home un-occupied, or quickly trying to find a renter for her house (which I think is another tricky situation unto itself). She has a toddler, a dog and two cats, plus a husband, and they own a home here.

Her mom has flat out refused to come out here to CA for the surgery or the recovery. She doesn’t want to leave her home. My friend and her husband fled from Ohio to get away from the snow 10 years ago. The surgeries would most likely start in October, meaning that her recovery would most likely be during a time when there is snow.

Her husband, could theoretically work out of Ohio. The type of work he does can be done from any city in the U.S. and he spends a lot of time traveling, so that means he won’t be home much to be able to help her care for her mother.

I found out that the mother has a sister who is able and willing to take her into her own home, in Ohio, to care for her. We’ve also brought up the idea of my friend and her husband hiring a nurse, to help care for her mom, either in her own home, or in her sister’s home. The mother also has lots of friends, who are likely to be willing to help out, in her hometown.

My friend is super stressed out and right now, she’s convinced that the only thing to do is to rent an apartment in Ohio, near her mother, to try to take care of her. I don’t think she’s taking into account that anyone taking care of her mother would need to be available 24/7 when she first gets out of the hospital or rehab facility, so being in an apartment would not be useful. It is not possible for her to live in the home with her mother for reasons I won’t go into, but it’s not because her mom doesn’t want her there, there are some logistics problems.

She also is not thinking about who is going to look after her toddler and pets if she is taking care of her mom. Normally when she and her husband go out of town, we look after the pets. She also hasn’t figured out how she might transport the pets, or how they would do, being left alone for much of the time, if she was the sole caregiver.

I’m supposed to visit with her tomorrow, but if any of you have any experience with what to expect, mostly regarding what needs to be done to care for a person after they’ve had this type of surgery, and how long the person would need round the clock care, and how long the person would need extra, but not full time, care before they’re able to live on their own again, it would be much appreciated.

Also, what are the legal ramifications for renting out one’s home? My friend is in a pretty big hurry. She wants to leave in the next 2 weeks, and pretty much leave her home, with everything in it, and have some one rent it out for 6 months. I’m going to try to talk her out of doing that, because I think, legally, you need to have everything just so and you have to have legal contracts drawn up, and in the best case scenario, one would also hire a property manager. I should probably ask another Q about this particular situation, but my limit is up for today, and this is all related to the initial question.

Thanks, in advance, to everyone : )