Available now
Elders Flourishing · Vol. 3
Handing My Body to Strangers
Bilateral Hip Replacement: Redefining Independence
Available on Amazon Australia
About this book
What it means to accept help
What does it mean to hand your body to strangers, wake up with two new hips and temporarily surrender the independence you have spent a lifetime protecting?
At seventy-three, Belinda Bates chose to have both hips replaced in a single operation. She prepared carefully. She researched, and she organised her home, her support and her recovery. She thought she knew what she was walking into. Some things, however, cannot be prepared for on a checklist.
This book follows the experience from the decision to have surgery, through hospital and early recovery, to the gradual return to ordinary life. Belinda writes candidly about vulnerability, pain, unexpected kindness, bodily indignities, dependence, friendship, family, fear and humour — and about the strange negotiations involved in allowing other people to help.
- A first-hand account of having both hips replaced in one operation
- From the decision to have surgery through hospital, early recovery and the return to ordinary life
- Candid about pain, dependence and bodily indignities — and about humour and unexpected kindness
- On what it takes to accept help when independence has always mattered
Frequently asked questions
About the book
Is this medical advice?
No. It is a personal account written from lived experience. It does not replace the advice of your surgeon, physiotherapist or medical team.
Does it cover both hips done at once?
Yes. Both hips were replaced in a single operation, and the book follows that experience from the decision to have surgery through to recovery.
Is it only for people having surgery?
No. It is also about vulnerability, dependence and the business of accepting help — things many readers will recognise whatever their circumstances.
Is it available on Kindle Unlimited?
Yes. The Kindle edition is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, so it can be read as part of a subscription as well as bought outright.
Where can I buy Handing My Body to Strangers?
The book is available on Amazon Australia in both paperback and Kindle editions.
Lived, not clinical
Written by someone who had both hips replaced at once, about what it was actually like.
Honest about the hard parts
Pain, dependence and indignity are named plainly, alongside humour and kindness.
About accepting help
What it takes to let other people help when independence has always mattered.
Read the whole story
Available now on Amazon Australia in paperback and Kindle — also on Kindle Unlimited.
Also by Belinda Bates
