Recent content by pdx_hiker

  1. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 938: I thought I'd pop back in and give an update 2.5 years post-surgery, at age 52: so far, so good. When I do nothing at all for several days, my hip complains a little bit. It wants to be active. I've been playing volleyball and disc golf regularly in the winter, and softball in the...
  2. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 295: Turns out it's really hard to get your hip scar and mountain scenery in the same butt-selfie. I'm pretty much back to my old hiking routine, although so far I've been keeping the distances on the shorter side: I haven't tried taking on more than about 8 miles in a day. But I haven't...
  3. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 194: Cabin fever forced me into giving volleyball a shot, with the understanding that I'd need to limit my motion: no jumping to block or hit, no lunging (especially to my left side), no slamming down hard on the kneepads. I started out OK, but as time went on, my instincts took over and I...
  4. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Me, I prefer indoor volleyball. I'm assuming I won't be playing anymore because jumping vertically, lunging sideways, and dropping hard to my knees aren't good ideas. Yeah, I know I could play and just take it easy, but I'm not sure I'd have the self-control. Plus, I don't like to suck.
  5. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 148: I've been cleared to do normal activities for almost two months now, but I finally went on my first "real" hike yesterday: 5 miles round-trip with 1600' of elevation gain. (By Pacific Northwest standards, this is a pretty easy hike.) I found that my biggest problem at first was that...
  6. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 71: I had x-rays taken yesterday, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with my implant. So I'll just keep on keepin' on, and hopefully my thigh will adjust and stop complaining once it gets used to the new regime. They did say I probably have some mild "trochanteric bursitis" and gave me...
  7. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Update: The physical therapist says the "thunk" on the outside of my hip is probably due to a stiff I.T. band, and she gave me some stretching exercises.
  8. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 63: Unfortunately, in the two weeks since my 6-week checkup, I've developed a few new symptoms: The incision/scar on my rump has been more noticeable lately when I move; it feels tight. I'm not too concerned about this; scars are scars, and they take a while to get settled. The physical...
  9. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 45: The knee pain has subsided a bit in the last few days, thank god. Let's hope it stays that way. This week, I had my 6-weeks-after follow-up with the orthopedic surgeon, and my third session with the physical therapist. Both said they didn't see any limp, and the OS said the range of...
  10. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 32: Life's a beach! :surfer: (I was NOT going to let an 80°-at-the-coast October day go to waste. The soft dunes weren't fun to walk up — are they ever? — but the wet sand felt great.) The supine exercises are easy; the abduction ones are much harder. But even those don't even remotely...
  11. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 31: Two days ago (Day 29), I had my first visit with a physical therapist. She didn't seem too concerned about the pain in my knee/IT band; she was optimistic that it will resolve over time. And she said I'll probably only need to see her a few times; she's mostly just going to give me...
  12. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 26: Put me in coach, I'm ready to play! Don't worry, I didn't actually play softball! (You can tell by my footwear.) But I did play catch, and then walked around picking up stray foul balls... and it sure felt good to be out there.
  13. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    I have tried that a couple of times when out for walks. It does seem to help with obvious limping, but I'm not sure if that's just a superficial improvement, so I'm not making it a habit just yet. I'm definitely going to ask the PT about it on Wednesday. Overall, it seems like my recovery...
  14. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Day 25: Did some yard work today (just raking up old hedge clippings and loading them in the compost bin). Got on a ladder and changed a light bulb. I'm not limping when I walk (at least not that I can tell, but an orthopedic specialist might disagree), but my left knee still hurts a little when...
  15. pdx_hiker

    THR A hiker's tale (male, age 49)

    Oof, that's right. I try not to think about the actual surgery too much... what a horror show.
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