Today marks 14 weeks since my THR. It has been quite a journey. I am so thankful for this group to help me through some of the "bumps" along the way. Two weeks ago I had a "mishap" where I stepped off a curb that I didn't see. I didn't fall, but jarred my leg and it was very painful for a few hours. A couple of days later, I felt things were back to "normal" (well at least my normal). But the really neat thing is that in the past week or so I feel like I have made a definite upswing in my recovery. When I wake up, my leg is not as sore when I initially bear weight on it. Throughout most of the day, I can stand up after sitting for awhile and not have to "stutter step" until the weight bearing feels okay. I am so happy! I know I have more months of healing to go... but I feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel. Especially since my mid thigh pain is mostly non existent after recovering from my mishap. Mid thigh pain has been my main problem since the surgery.
So I've settled into the following routine:
When I get up in the morning, I put on my orthopedic flip flops right away to give my legs more stability. Some days I will use a cane for the first 5-10 minutes until my legs "wake up" and my gait is smooth. I take one Ibuprofen and 1 Tylenol- then head to the gym. At the gym I do 25 minutes on the treadmill (4 km/hour) and some core exercises on a floor mat. By the time I'm done, I've kind of forgotten about my hip, because it is not bothering me at all.
For the rest of the day, I try to alternate between sitting and moving around the house/office. By evening, I am able to stand in the kitchen for an hour and the leg is still feeling pretty good. After dinner, my leg starts hurting more. I usually hold off on medication, though. I really do need to ice it in the evenings, maybe even in the afternoons. But it just isn't part of my routine right now.
Sleeping is going well. The numbness has mostly worn off around my incision. So it's not as comfortable to sleep on that side (it was more comfortable a month ago when it was still numb). But I alternate the two sides through the night (I have never been a back sleeper).
My biggest challenge is going up stairs. Not a huge challenge, but I can feel it in my butt and my leg. It's okay if I have a hand railing to hold onto on the side opposite my operated leg. But I feel the strain if there is no hand rail, or the hand rail is on the other side. In those cases, I sometimes just touch the wall and that helps some. Here in Indonesia, alot of stairs have no hand rails.
I realize I went into this hip surgery with the unrealistic expectation that after 6-8 weeks I would be finished with recovery. That might happen for some, but for me I have learned to be patient with my progress and measure it in weeks instead of days. My surgeon wants me on hip precautions for another 2 months, and that's okay with me because I am so used to them by now that they pretty much come naturally. I'm so glad I had the surgery!
United States
Thanks for the nice update!
Well done...being patient really pays off and it's so exhilarating to be shed of that awful hip pain.
You've got this...Month Four really was my biggest turnaround.
