Country people go wild

On my orthopaedic placement, I saw many hip and knee replacements and came to know the expected progress of recovery quite well. Even saw some drawn out and complicated recoveries. However, I severely underestimated the constitution of country folk and their resiliency.
We had two country people have the same hip replacement surgery on the same day. One, a male, had lived what can only be described as a very full life. Having fallen off a 3 meter high truck onto his back, he didn't go to have help until driving to the doctor the next day, where they found he had fractured his pelvis in several places. You get the picture. So when he walked on the day of the operation, we expected it. When he excelled with his exercises to the point of being dischargeable by the end of the second day, I was impressed. He was ready for discharge, and so we told him this. Then we lost him, only to find him down at the reception where he had walked all by himself, awaiting to be picked up. He had thought discharge meant "go now" - no papers, no prescriptions, no instructions, just ready to walk out the door. I couldn't believe it. Not the amazing confusion of events, but that he had walked across the entire hospital post op day two on his own and was entirely comfortable with that!
The other patient also had no pain, walked well, even when nauseous, and by the third day had an interesting tendency of holding her crutches off the ground when navigating tight spaces, so walking effectively full weightbearing on her own. Amazing!
You can't keep them in bed. You can't explain things to them enough. Country people have amazing abilities to get on with things, so I learned through this experience to explain in detail so there are no confusions or "runaway patients", and to challenge them beyond what I would ask of any other patient. They can do it, too!!! Also, explanations are extra important for someone who is in a fairly foreign environment, undergoing a very clinical and invasive procedure, many k's from family and friends. Their context is very different from a metro patient, and so we need to consider this - even though they seem to be made of steel!