It is good, isn't it? I hope that doesn't sound smug. But it would be easy just to think, oh, my knee hurts a bit and forget why. Writing it down here I see how far I have come, and I am amazed myself! Bless the inventors of the THR and their brave pioneer patients.
Here comes a long post.
I’ve been summarising my recovery at 10 day intervals. I’ll put the full record here, so that if I want to find it , it is all in one place. Now I’m at 126 days it is getting harder to identify changes to catalogue, it is more a case of doing the same but more easily. I may go to once a month from here on, I’ll see how it goes.
Day 6: lay in bed recovering from the previous day spent in A&E after a fall due to fainting. Constipated and uncomfortable, but relieved to be in one piece and not in great pain. Walking, only to next room in the house, with 2 crutches.
Day 16: very excited to have first outing in car. Felt every bump and turn in the road. Very very cautiously venturing for short walks outside. Sleeping about 5 hours a night. Appetite and digestion good. Still enduring the TED stockings, but off the self-injections. Pain meds 8 paracetamol and 2 codeine, watching the clock for enough time to pass to take next dose, but pain never too bad. Took my first tentative steps with one crutch, indoors, but not feeling secure.
Day 26: walking (slowly!) for half hour spells indoors with 2 crutches. Able to get around with one crutch so more independent, but still preferring 2 crutches. Tackled stairs for first time. Longer walks outside, hands sore from gripping crutches too much. Pain and insomnia had reduced in previous week but then increased again, possibly through overdoing it or because numbness round incision being replaced by sharp twinges. Pain meds back up from 4 paracetamol daily to 7 paracetamol 1 codeine.
Day 36: walking (slowly!) for half hour spells outside on 2 crutches on uneven ground. Car trips (as passenger) comfortable and able to get around unfamiliar places. Walking comfortably indoors with one crutch. Taking first steps indoors without aids. Gaining confidence on stairs. No pain meds required for last 3 days.
Day 46: Suddenly notice that I don’t feel like an invalid any more. Still a cripple, but not a sickly one! Dizzy spells gone at last. I have developed an apricot-sized lump in the incision area.
Day 56: I have finally made it up the stairs at home. I have recently started to do some housework: tidying, cleaning kitchen counters, laundry. I can walk 20 yards without aids, nervously. Had been off pain meds for about two weeks but have restarted to take paracetamol intermittently and very occasionally codeine to get to sleep.
Day 66: Walking confidently without aids at home most of the time, still using crutch on first getting up in the morning. Walk outside with one crutch, at 2 mph. Confidently using stairs at home, though not with alternate feet. Can put on socks without using aids. Have made first cautious return to bellringing and gardening. The lump is now about the size of a cherry. Sleep is still not great but can manage about an hour on non operated side. Not much pain but a lot of stiffness, still take pain meds occasionally.
Day 76 : All walking at home and in the garden is without aids. Walking outside I take one crutch but only use it intermittently. Stairs are still non-alternating but working on it. Can almost but not quite reach my toes - in the race between toenails and flexibility I have conceded that the nails are winning and have made an appointment with a chiropodist (podiatrist) to get them cut. Hobbies getting close to normal. I’ve taken two long car journeys on successive days. I can still find the lump, but I have to search for it - a small divot is actually more noticeable than the lump now. I sleep about half the time on my operated side, which means better nights. I took a few pills in the last week. I still get a lot of stiffness but I think it is lessening.
Day 86. Can walk outside for .7 miles without aids. Flexibility has improved, though still not as good as on non operated leg. I can go upstairs at home alternating feet, with a lot of help from banister, and I have once gone downstairs on an easy flight of stairs alternating feet. I could probably cut my toenails if I really tried, ironically my podiatrist appointment for this purpose is tomorrow so I haven’t tried. Hobbies normal but for short periods of activity. I’ve driven for about 30 minute trips. Lump is still there but much less tender. I can sleep reasonably well except for the pillow wrangling. I’ve been back on the pills but in the form of cold and flu tablets. (Now I write that I’m wondering if that is why the twinge has gone). Stiffness remains but has improved. Writing this out it doesn’t seem like any major changes, but it does feel like the last 10 days have been a period of huge improvement. I guess it’s doing the same things but doing them easily.
Day 96: Can walk for 45 minutes without aids, about 2 miles. I leave home without an aid if I know the terrain will be level. Hobbies can be indulged in for longer, I can potter in the garden for a couple of hours and I rang my first post-op quarter peal (45 minutes non stop ringing). The lump has pretty much gone, there is just an area near the incision which is firmer to touch than the good leg and is still numb. Sleeping is bad but due to coughing. Stiffness much the same I think. Stair climbing much the same. Having thought the twinge was gone, it came back as a twang. A rather alarming feeling of something catching or shifting. It has diminished in the last week but is still there. At times I can make it occur by tensing my glutes, and then I can feel it in my hand resting on my thigh as well as inside the leg. I’ve decided to deem it normal healing activity as long as it continues to gradually improve.
Day 106: Days are whizzing past as much of normal life has resumed. Car journey of 4 hours ( as passenger) can be done with only 1 stop. Milestones of 10,000 steps in a day, 15,000 in a day, and .7 miles at 3 mph have been achieved, also first time sitting on floor, first escalator travelling up. Still using the banister a lot to climb stairs at home, though somewhat improved. Rang a bell up, rang a slightly heavier bell.
Day 116: already. Where did the last 10 days go? There was a significant milestone in the last 10 days, which was no longer needing a pillow between the legs to sleep. Plus a fair dinkum quarter peal, not an ease-back-into-it one like my first post op ringing. Developed a persistent pain in my left knee by trying to push it to walk down stairs alternating feet. I gave it plenty of rest and ice and it mostly settled down. I think the problem is that the stabilising muscles have grown weak from disuse.
Day 126: I sleep well on either side and change position without worrying. My hip is really reaching the point where I often forget about it, except when I stand up from sitting or lying and the stiffness is still quite crippling until I have shaken it out. The lump has gone, both thighs feel much the same to touch except that the area over the incision is somewhat numb. Range of motion is now actually better on left hip than “good” hip. (Good hip has OA, but luckily is not hurting yet). Unfortunately the left knee is limiting the distance I can walk. However, as long as I stop at the first twinge, there is no lasting pain. In the last 10 days I have started borrowing a dog to take walking. My crutch had a rare outing to help me with London transport, otherwise I feel very stable and haven’t even thought of using aids for some time. Similarly I can’t remember the last time I took pain meds. I have begun walking downstairs with alternating feet, sometimes it comes easily even on steep stairs, other times I have to abandon it due to knee twinges. I did a 1.2 mile walk uphill in 26 minutes fairly easily, the downhill return, after a rest, was harder, again due to knee, although hip also ached a bit after a long day. The twang in the general area of the incision is still there but mostly I don’t notice it.
Canada
He must be loving his walks. Like most dog owners, we have to spell W-A-L-K because a certain little lady gets so excited to go out. Dogs are funny little companions. 
