Day 20 afternoon
Wednesday 10th August 2022
Overdoing it (part 1)
I got a reasonable amount of sleep (about 5-6 hours) and had a pretty active morning from 7-12 am mainly doing household chores, although I did watch half an hour of TV after breakfast. I realise now that 7-12 am is actually five whole hours, and it's way longer than I intended. So maybe I overdid it a little, okay, I admit it I overdid it a lot. I did stop for a break every now and again, honest, but knowing me probably not enough times. Thankfully, I feel fine this afternoon after about an hour's nap (elevated legs with hip iced).
I was going to have breakfast when I got up at 7 am, do a few chores including putting the dry laundry away, call the GP and then go back to sleep for a bit, but it didn't work out that way.
Prescription and allergy woes
At 8 am I called my GP to try to get a doctor to call back me back, so I can finally get my prescription for a sugar free laxative and itchy pills (Piriton). As it turned out, I got through at 8 am but there was a recorded message saying there was some kind of incident at the surgery, so it would take them longer than usual to answer, and to call back later if it was not urgent. Well, potential constipation and itching up a storm are both urgent for me, but I decided not to bother, as I couldn't deal with the stress of being told "No" again. Last week it took them 4 days to refuse my request because they had no proof I still needed this medication, and yesterday when despite having the proof as confirmed by the lady on the phone, I was told that I probably wouldn't get a prescription for over the counter medication. I replied that was not true, as I had got a prescription for a month's supply of Paracetamol the week before. I was then told to call in the morning to make an appointment with a doctor. As for the Piriton, I can raid my doggy's supply, although if she sees me do it she gets all excited because she thinks it's for her and she's going to get some ham. We buy Piriton in bulk (500 pills at a time), because she has to have a half pill every 12 hours for a dust allergy. If we go over she sneezes, and does what we call 'carpet swimming' where she rolls around the floor and tries to scratch that itch. I sympathise, as I'm also allergic to the house dust mite (and feathers), but since my adult years has thankfully become only an occasional annoyance. When I was a kid, I had a nasal spray for when I had an attack, after finally being diagnosed with a skin pin prick allergy test. When it was bad I used to attempt to rub my nose off my face. One time I was staying at my grandparents in a bed with both feather pillows, and a vacuum cleaner (full of dust no doubt) underneath the bed. That was not a pleasant experience, I can tell you.
Overdoing it (part 2)
Crikey, where was I? I got sidetracked again. That's another thing I'm really good at. Ah, yes I'd had breakfast, and watched a bit of TV, fed and watered the dog, and then noticed the roll of foil tape sitting on the bathroom window ledge that my wife bought last summer for heatwaves, and forgot about. I didn't even know that it existed until yesterday, as I'd mentioned we needed to do something about the bathroom window as the sun streamed in there in the afternoon, and heated up the place. So I then spent the next several hours (who knew it would take so long?) cutting pieces of tape to size and fixing them to both panes of the bathroom window to stop the sun from coming in. It really needs a pull down blind, but we are moving soon so it won't be our problem any longer.
Before (one window) at 8.42 am
After
Exercise time
Next I was going to have a shower, so got all ready before I realised that it would be sensible to do my morning set of hip rehab exercises before showering instead of after. It was too hot in the lounge, which receives the morning sun, so I decided to do them in the study. My desk chair was in the lounge, so I came up with the ingenious plan of raising my height adjustable desk and grabbing hold of that instead of a chair, which worked so well I am now always going to do it this way.
I was half way through my exercises when my wife entered to hang some washing up on the airer, laughed at me doing my exercises in the nude and said "What are you doing?" Well, wasn't it obvious? I was naked because I had just been about to get into the shower, and why dress again to exercise, especially on a hot day.
They are standing exercises mainly, which is fine by me. There's one laying down exercise (gluteal, the last one in the picture below), but I haven't got around to incorporating it yet, as it requires laying on the sofa in the lounge and I can only do that first thing currently as it's too hot after 10am. I know that I can't do it on the bed because it doesn't work on memory foam (I had to do the same exercise for the physio rehab when I strained my right groin last year), so I need to do it on a hard surface. The only one that hurts every time so far is number 3 (Hamstring exercises/knee flexion). I'm hoping it will get better over time, and isn't a sign that the OA in my right knee is flaring up again. My favourite is 4 (calf raises/heel raises), as I find it the easiest. My least favourite is 5 (mini squats) because I'm not very good at sticking my bum out, for some reason.
I am able to sit on the sofa now to watch TV, as I can easily get up using one hand on the arm or by pressing both hands down on the sofa below me. Last night I was conscious of making sure I got up every 30 minutes at least, to ensure my operated leg did not get too stiff. I managed to watch two whole episodes of the awesome new Netflix show
The Sandman, before feeling tired and wanting to go to bed just before 10pm. However, after about 45 minutes in I noticed my operated leg feeling stranger than normal, with a tingling feeling. As soon as I did this afternoon's new exercises my leg started tingling again. I now realise that yesterday was the first full day of doing these exercises (3 times a day 3x10 repetitions each), so it seems this is not something to worry about but is part of my recovery journey.
These are my pre-op/0-2 weeks post-op exercises.
I prefer the new standing ones, as some of the others above were a right pain to do because they required sliding my foot on a plastic bag, which would invariably decide to move after a few reps, so I had to reposition it. Once my log leg disappeared and my right operated leg decided I could control it again, they became easy enough to do on silk sheets without a plastic bag.
A lucky escape from a possible hip dislocation
If you've been reading my journey, then you may remember that I leant my exercise bike to my sister a few days before my op, so she could try it out and see if she enjoyed it. Her chiropractor (grrrrr!) recommended that she try biking, as it's not weight bearing and she suffers with a bad knee (she has osteoarthritis in her knee like me, but is newly diagnosed). She goes for daily 1 hour walks (weight bearing) in a local park, and does not want to give that up and bike instead, but she thought she would try to see if it would help her knee.
Anyway, my 21-year old nephew picked up the bike, and to his mum and dad's surprise he tried it and took to it like a duck to water. He needs to lose some Covid lockdown weight, as he's put on quite a lot in the last couple of years, and has also been suffering from depression, so hasn't been working for over a year now. He spends his days sleeping, and his nights playing video games mainly. So this turned out to be a lucky turn of events. When I heard how it was helping him, I told him that I would buy him the same bike as an early birthday present, as soon as I was given the all clear by the physio to use my bike again. That day came on Monday (the all clear), so yesterday I had a new bike delivered to him, and told him I didn't need mine back in a hurry, as it's going to be too hot to do much until early next week. Plus I can only do 10 revoltutions x 3 in each of my 3 daily exercise sessions. So, it was delivered yesterday and then I got a call from my sister this morning, who sounded rather anxious. It turns out that my nephew had been riding the bike last night, while watching TV, and it suddenly collapsed and he ended up on the floor with the bike on top of him. Thankfully, he was okay and didn't suffer any injury. He was mortified that he had broken my bike, but when his dad inspected it there was a pin missing, hence it was only a matter of time before it would collapse.
My sister told me that he said it was glad it happened to him, and not me, as it would surely have dislocated my new hip for sure. Luckily it is less than a year old, so I should be able to get my money back under the 1 year warranty.
Appointment news
I got the call I was waiting for this morning at 9.41 am from my surgeon's secretary, asking me if I could come in for a follow-appointment on Friday at 1 pm (following my recent redness/infection/cellulitis episode). I confirmed, and she told me that he (Mr Nice Guy) has extended his Friday morning clinic to ensure that he sees me this week. That made me feel special, in a more positive way than being the 1 in 100 who gets a wound infection after THR! I know he's concerned about me, as he was willing to return early from his holiday to see me last week, that is until he found out that Mr Old Guy was doing a fine job of following up in his absence.
I don't think I mentioned previously that before my surgery, he asked for my email address once I had confirmed that I would be happy to take part in surveys before and after my surgery to include in a study. I have had about 3 surveys so far, which I have responded to pretty quickly. The last one I received and answered while I was in the waiting room on Friday last week, waiting to see Mr Old Guy for my follow up. The questions were all about Mr Nice Guy, and whether I would recommend him, what I thought of him etc. I gave him a glowing review, because he is honestly one of the nicest medical professionals I have ever been treated by. I don't blame him for the infection, as it is a risk with any surgery. I don't suppose I will find out why it happened as it was a deep tissue infection, not surface, and there was nothing to swab when my dressing was taken off as the wound was dry. I did follow the decolonisation advice before my operation of showering my body/hair with a special soap and also used a nasal gel daily to kill anything unpleasant in my nose. The only advice I didn't follow was to change the sheets every day, as I thought that was rather excessive and it was the week of the extreme heatwave so we only changed the bed twice instead of five times. This is my third major surgery, and I've not had a problem with infection before. The only time I have had an infection caused by the bacteria that live on the skin was about 15 years ago, while giving myself a beta interferon shot in the stomach (for MS), and developed an ulcer that eventually healed with the help of antibiotics. I must remember to mention that to Mr Nice Guy on Friday.
So, tomorrow I need to go through all my recovery posts and create a timeline to share with him, and give him some insight on what happened, as he was away on holiday last week and missed all the drama. I must also prepare a list of questions for him, including 'Is this going to set my recovery/return to work back?'
Afternoon with/without my doggy
My early nap today was just before midday, and wasn't as good as normal simply because my doggy was out having a furcut, and I missed her cuddling up to me. She has a new sleek fur-do, and her groomer said she was great and didn't exhibit any mobility problems, so that confirms again that her rehab is working.
When she returned with my wife (who then disappeared off to the gym), Piper and I shared a homemade ice lolly (popsicle), which she adores. However, she won't eat one by herself, but if I eat one she always wants some. Apparently hooman food is always better than doggo food!