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THR 1st Surgery has 2nd Surgery

Thanks @Layla @Mojo333 @Jaycey for the kind words, much appreciated - and wow! I actually got my diploma, so excited @Mojo333!! I'll use it well. Guess you could call it my BS-BS degree. :). No BS! One situation where you're happy to remain at graduate level and not go into post grad work... 2 recoveries are just enough, thank you! Take good care, I will stop in and check in. Thanks again!
 
A quick pop in update here.

It has happened. (Is this the confessional room?) I did it. I actually went to the ODIC lobby and had a single cocktail at their bar, full of people ordering big iced drinks to rub on their legs I might add... It's quite a raucous group in there. I had to make a decision to go to the ODIC... or retreat from work commitments by asking - can I please go lay down now and ice? And there was really no good time to do that so I was a trooper type and worked for many more hours than I should have. Many... And that then landed me right at the feet of the doorman at the....infamous ODIC! :yikes::yikes:

Once I realized where I was,(pain both sides was my indicator) I lowered my head and tried to blend in. Imagine the shame as the former founder of the fondly remembered overly cautious dot org gang, imagine being caught ....there. Shameful. Unacceptable. So one quick drink and I scurried out. But I'm thinking it's maybe not so egregious if you did it for work ?? - not like I was out testing trampolines at a party or running marathons.

Anyways just wanted to say the cost was a day mostly spent in bed on ice and all seems well now. Lesson learned. Won't do again. But I went there.

The twins are doing very well now and walking devices are pretty much abandoned except part time if needed when out and about. But mostly I just lug a cane and try to find a place to post it where it won't fall and it always falls. I thought of @An54 the other day....I knew it was time to put the dear walker away when I found myself pulling it along behind me like a kids wagon. Stopped in my tracks and said Huh?! Why am I lugging this to the next room? And I thought of when An54 was carrying hers so as not to wake her hubby!! We do silly things us recovering hippys.... and I think we sometimes heal faster than we are aware of. Besides a brief visit to the ODIC, I did learn that I was ready and capable for more than I'd thought --by simply attempting the task at hand. I had underestimated how much healing had taken place while I slept! This was of course a pleasant discovery!

I wish all healing hippys a new corner to turn coming up and endless ice in the meantime. And I wish everyone the quiet relief that comes when the pain subsides. Nothing better. Hubby had to remind me the other day of how bad it was before either surgery, how I was walking, or trying to walk. I had blotted it from memory ...it was so crippling. And he told me how hard it was for him to see me struggling so, in such pain and disabled. He kept up a cheerful face then but said it really broke him to see me like that. But he's right. We need to recall where we were to appreciate the journey and how far we've come, even mid-recovery. It just gets better.

I left the bartender a nice tip at the ODIC and asked him to please keep quiet about my visit. They do serve great cocktails there, I'll give them that. But they overdo it on the rum.... Guess I should've expected that. :)

Thanks again to everyone here for helping me get through it all!! Big hugs.
:roseshwr::wave::roseshwr:
 
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:heehee:We certainly won't tell...it does happen.
I know I certainly landed in the club a few times after returning to work...and had to make a concerted effort to edit myself, remind people who also thought I was good to go that I couldn't overdo, and some days justmake it home to assume the position just like early recovery days.
My twins appreciated it.
Good to hear realistic update and hope you will take it easy the rest of the week and certainly take the weekend Off!:friends:
 
Thank you @Mojo333! It's DH's birthday tomorrow so we'll be doing a dinner out, and I'm going back to the track on the weekend - where I was walking when righty first started to act up and said, "Nope. Walks at the track are NOT on the menu" Now I can take them both for a walk! It's a beautiful soft rubbery track with gorgeous landscaping. Looking forward to picking up where I left off when righty sent me back to bed in July. Promise not to overdo it. I'm still adhering to the original Overly Cautious protocol! And Rest is Good!

You take care and keep up the good work halping to feed the hungry. I just read that my state is now number one in poverty with 45% of children living in below poverty level households. Almost 60% of Californians spend half their income on housing (rent/mortgage) And we have 7.4 million Californians who fall into the "poor" category, unable to make enough to meet their needs. I donate to the local L A Food Bank, they do great work, but have massive numbers to contend with. And of those 7 million+ - this study said 80% are employed ...so we're not talking about a class of homeless per se (even though I think we are #1 in homelessness also) 5th largest economy, CA is, like it's own country... and this is how we end up. Study was in recent issue of the Economist if you're interested. Love my state, makes me sad to see it crumble. Like a deteriorating femoral head... (see how I did that? Back to hips?) :)

Pain free weekend wishes to all hippys!

And @EL11 if you're out there, belated congratulations are due for the Sawks win!
 
EL11 said:
Thanks, @1stSurgery ; great to see your update along with such an apt metaphor., sad as it is. I lived in CA more than half my life.

Happy Birthday to your DH!
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Thanks @EL11! It's very sad! Been here over 40 yrs to witness the erosion. I'm hopeful though... it is such a beautiful state.

I hope your recovery is at or rapidly headed towards the past tense; recovered -- and that you're getting some quality sleep (now that there are no more 18 inning series games!) Etta sends Albert a big kitty kiss! :)
 
@1stSurgery lovely to hear from you my lovely. Sad about the poor state of California, shocking and very sad. Your posts cheer us up and I feel that all of the hippies on here will be drinking your words greedily! Lovely and eloquent lady and I am so thrilled you are doing well. May it continue xx
 
Oh my goodness, how did I miss this?
I'm sorry you landed in the ODIC. I'm happy to hear it was little more than a drive by.
I've missed your crazy sense of humor and delightfully descriptive posts.
I hope you have a fab weekend in sunny Cali. :SUNsmile:
Don't be a stranger, I need myself a good 1stSurgery dose now and then.
Big hugs to you!
@1stSurgery
 
Thank you so much @Bevlah and @Layla for the sweet and supportive comments. I'm very touched! I've not felt like I had anything meaningful or useful to contribute at this point since hip-wise things seem very good and very status quo. I've decided to continue to minimize residual pains and stiffness and am practicing to not even focus much on any of the minor post op twinges. I'm shrinking them to mosquito-sized. :)

Instead I'm working the new walk and enjoying so much doing anything that's pain free! Shoes, socks, walks, I'm even enjoying loading the dishwasher (woohoo! Fun!!) and picking stuff up from the floor! (Yowza, THAT'S a good time!!) Because I can. But mostly getting back into life and work and a very busy schedule for the next month or so. The timing was actually perfect. And if I can impart one thing I learned from this past few weeks is - I do think our brains lag behind our bodies and we tend to underestimate how far we've come in the healing path. Not encouraging anyone to go hang out at the ODIC (but if you do tell them not to overdo it on the cocktails) but don't be too timorous either about trying that next challenge, moving up a notch, to see if the body is actually ready for it.

I had to be ready to work at just under 4 wks from right THR, and with all the complications at the onset thought it would be impossible. Body thought differently and met the challenge very well, surprisingly. (Except for that brief foray into the ODIC..) But I was lingering longer in the safe comfy zone and just a touch too afraid of setbacks to move forward. Until I had to.

Do NOT go to the ODIC (besides it's crowded, noisy and there's nowhere to sit) But do not be afraid to keep upping the ante each week when you're not hurting and able. There's a big turning point when we go from disabled to able-bodied ... half of that turn is in the mind. This is such a long recovery for so many of us who haven't really been through surgeries... I think we can actually get a bit stuck in "patient" mode. What I loved about the recovery was the long periods of nothing much new were followed by sudden leaps of progress, seemingly all happening in one random morning!

I'm now trying to put my mind a step ahead of the body instead of a step behind it. Half of that is just shifting focus from the hips, knees, ankle, groin, feet, back, incision etc to...almost anything else!

I'm so grateful to be walking without any major pain now. A new world is opening!
 
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And @Bevlah - my rent a grandkid plan has not been very successful ...but I did find a friend who's invited her young niece & nephew to join us at the park on their next available weekend. I hope you're getting in some fun play with that cute grandson!
 
1stSurgery said:
Thanks @EL11! It's very sad! Been here over 40 yrs to witness the erosion. I'm hopeful though... it is such a beautiful state.

I hope your recovery is at or rapidly headed towards the past tense; recovered -- and that you're getting some quality sleep (now that there are no more 18 inning series games!) Etta sends Albert a big kitty kiss! :)
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Hey there, sorry for the tardy reply. Albert sends a kitty kiss in return to the gorgeous Etta.

I am SO happy that you are walking without any major pain. I figured we would be in a similar place healing-wise, the ops being only 4 days apart.

My recovery is proceeding well! 7 weeks 3 days since LTHR. Both hips still aching during the night and tend to wake me up around 3am, at which point I take an ice pillow from my Coleman carrier, elevate and ice, then usually drop back to sleep pretty quickly. It's improving subtly night by night; last night I got 8 hours.

I am getting out-patient PT in the rehab unit at the hospital, mostly from the woman who nagged me to see the OS last year, and has remarked several times on how well I am walking compared to pre-surgery. The surgeon gave me "freedom to abduct" on my (probably) last visit of the year, just not to force anything, so I am slowly increasing my stretching moves. I can loop around our block in Worcester with a pretty much normal gait. I just realized today that it takes me 15 routes now rather than 20 as it used to.
 
:wave:@1stSurgery Don't know how I missed so many of your posts! Except your brief cocktail at the ODIC, you sound great and life is moving along as it should when one is pain free from OA hips!!! Awesome!

Belated happy b'day to Hubs, and hope you had a lovely night out!

Super that you are heading back to the track, this time with dual bionic hips!

Always good to hear from you and that life is galloping on :fasthorse:
 
Great news @1stSurgery ! Before you know it, the only thing "wrong" with your hip will be "forgotten hip syndrome." While I'm continuing to deal with issues with the second hip, the first one hit that point long ago. When the doctor asks about my hip, I only respond about the second. They have to ask me specifically about the first if they want info there!
 
Hello and sorry to be late in replying but have been consumed with the horrific fires here. We are safe but have friends and relatives who are evacuated -- there are currently 250,000 evacuees and that's likely to go much higher with more high winds forecast this weekend and the biggest fire being 0% contained. It's worse than I've ever seen here, just devastating. Much of the affected land is horse country so people are frantically trying to save animals, but in many cases they are forced to flee so fast it's not possible. One man in Malibu lost everything today, his house, car, etc ...but after that, he saved two horses from his neighbors stall by freeing them -opening the gate for them as the fires came swooping in, and they escaped to the beach area. The neighbors had already evacuated. One brave girl went back in to save 48 horses, most of them hers, but not all. And she nearly died trying to drive out her car surrounded by flames, she had her cell phone on showing what she drove through. So many houses burned, so many people who won't have a place to return to tomorrow. :(

This on the heels of the shooting in the same area as the fires. Most of the people said that the flames came up so fast, one area had nine houses go up in just minutes. Many were evacuated too late. The Santa Ana winds were gusting up to 50-55 mph. Many prayers for our wonderful but super fatigued fire crews and for all those affected. Hips... This does tie into hips. ... One fire broke out near the LA zoo today and the firemen could only access the fire area by climbing up this very steep rugged terrain with all their gear.... Very steep. So they really needed those flexors and abductors to be in strong healthy shape! :)
 
And speaking of abducting.... Congrats @EL11 for being given "freedom to abduct"!! Free at last!! So happy that you're sleeping better and walking well! That sleep and rest thing is a huge key IMO to recovery speed. I'm doing remarkably well so far too. Been driving... but to my dismay I've discovered I may need a new car. The very low and utterly anti-ergonomic seat in my car causes great pain when stuck in LA traffic, which is just about always. I need to try...more pillows!! The answer to everything it seems post THR! A day of errands with about an hour of driving and several more hours running around left me tired, cranky and sore. Back to the reclining with ice mode. But it's all better now. I am still trying to find that sweet spot of doing, without under or over doing. It's a fine line!

But I'm elated to be walking pretty much pain free now. Some tightness, stiffness but can't call it pain really. I'm up to 5 laps walking at the track and could do more but am gently increasing it by each week. It's just under a mile. But pain free! All devices have been put away. And as of today I can sit longer without getting tight and sore. And sleep in a better variety of positions. It's just the dang car.... I was squirming and trying 37 different positions on the long grid lock ride home. Need more cushions.
 
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Thanks @Alitm! You are in countdown phase now, right? ONE WEEK? But who's counting??? I hope everything falls into place for you with hubbys procedure and the barn angels helping out. Thought of you watching all these people WALKING in the middle of pacific coast highway here today-- with donkeys and horses in tow. Trying to save them from fire. So sad... Our birthday dinner was lovely, thanks. No more cane, and no more seat cushion needed in restaurant. Just in car. Wishing you a flawless smooth surgery on the twin and know that you ARE so doing the right thing by not waiting longer, trust me. I wish I would've been able to do righty sooner. I will come to check on you. Keep meditating beforehand.

And Thank you @SurreyGirl -Yes, I appear to be back to walking without pain again, but... "normality"? :heehee: I think that's a bit of a stretch... :)

@SaraK - I hope #2 slowpoke hip soon catches up with #1. These hips really seem to have a timetable all their own as to when they're ready to be in full on operation again. And it's non-linear. I thought drama queen righty would take a year to calm down when she was so painful right out of the post-op gate. But once the inflammation got kicked down...she had a sharp healing spike that I think was faster than smooth & steady #1 hip. Made little sense but you just go with what the hip wants. I feel blessed to be functioning again and in motion, sans pain. Been sooo long, I marvel all during the day at how exciting it is just to walk, bend, move. I hope your twins will soon walk in the same pain-free cadence!


Dear Universe: Please send more firemen and women to California!! We are stretched too thin and need more help from anywhere to fight these fires! Our guys haven't slept in two days. They are so courageous and amazing. And have fantastic flexors and abductors. :snork:
 
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@1stSurgery Coming from BC and the last two summers of fires, my heart goes out to you all in California, and to all the brave men and women fighting the fires. Many prayers going up for everyone's safety :praying:
BC had firefighters coming in from all over the world, and I'm sure California is getting the same help. It is horrible with livestock involved as well.

So great about the walking but bummer about the car. I have noticed that bucket type seats are very uncomfortable, and I prefer something flatter. I have to be very precise about sitting in the middle of the seat in some vehicles.

I will post more on my thread about hubby and his procedure. He is doing OK and no emergency, but has to restrict his activities, which is hard for him!! I am lifting more now than he is!! LOL!!

To you and all Cali hippies in the areas of the fires, please stay safe! :sad: Prayers for you all :praying:
 
:beg:I pray for all of those affected by the wildfire...and for the safety of the brave men and women fighting them.
Just horrible!

You sound wonderful 1stSurgery.
Hope all continues to get better and better!:friends:
 
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