THR 26 days and I need a hug.

[lizzie66]

@Firebrand : Bo-ne wins the prize of best name. He is lying here beside me, comforting in his own silent way.
@ZF thanks so much for the clip. I called little Bo down to watch it with me and his giggles did me the world of good. We love Looney Tunes in our family (see it's not all dark!!) and when the clip was over he announced that we actually have that on a boxset in the house somewhere. Think we will dig it out and watch it this afternoon.

We have escaped a lot of the bad weather that N Ireland, Scotland and the UK are getting but it is soooo cold.

folks I had a really bad day yesterday! I think even the biggest hug in the world wouldn't have helped Queenie cos big Bo is doing his best. Yes Firebrand I do need help from my gp and am going up to see her tomorrow and though she is very reluctant to give sleeping pills we are going to storm the place. I didn't sleep really well last night (bar one definite hour when i first got to bed) but I was kind of nicely drowsy on my last precious sleeping pill after that and feel better today. I am one of those people who can find sleeping hard if stressed and i really need a good 8 hours at the best of times. Rang my sister in tears (both sisters live abroad so i miss them) to give Big Bo a break and she said i just have to get help quickly. I was kind of holding out for my 6 week check-up in 2 weeks but i won't last that long without some hope. Am also going to book an appointment with a kind physio i know. I know i have restrictions on my movements and can't do much on 2 crutches but my knees so badly need some TLC. Plus she may inspire me by talking about what we will do to build up my quads & strengthen my legs generally to take pressure off my knees once i'm allowed. I felt so much better after the phonecall as it distracted me from my aches and misery. Just need to see a concrete end to this, which at the moment seems like one of the hardest periods of my life (and like many people I've had some challenges thrown my way). Okay end of moan. I feel better this morning and we are going to wrap ourselves up today and set off for a short drive in the car and little Bo is talking about treating us all to some early Easter eggs with some money from his money box, bless!

by the way ZF 100 miles would almost get you right the way to the other side of the country in Ireland!
Glynis, I laughed at the exorcism incense! Maybe i should get some to exorcise this monster that sometimes can be found camped out in our house at the moment.

 

[lizzie66]

sorry Elosarabab didn't mean to ignore your post. Sleep-deprived brain here and all that you understand. Seems we have hip dysplasia diagnosed later in life in common. Apparently it often doesn't kick in (so to speak) til the 40s, and I am 46. Like you i feel it could have been worse and i could have had to have intervention earlier. A bit of a comfort i suppose....!

 

[Queenie]

Morning ladies!

Today I will mostly be having a duvet day cos there ain't no way I'm stepping outside in this weather! Jim jams, real fire, hot chocolate and lots of DVD's............lovely.

I went out yesterday to watch Exeter Chiefs play rugby against Leicester Tigers. Great game. Unfortunately we lost but we put up a grand fight seeing as they are 3rd in the league. I just couldn't get over how cold it was. I even swapped my usual pint of lager for a steaming hot coffee...........Now that's unheard of!
I had a few tears yesterday because I still feel a lot of fatigue in my muscles and find I run out of energy quite quickly. I feel like I'm going backwards. My husband says 'It'll come good', but I'm 3mths post op next week and I'm still very sore around the incision site. My rump is still very swollen and I still can't lie on operated side. I know there isn't an infection but I'm only 46 not 106! I can't understand why I'm still feeling exceptionally weak in my muscles. I've been a good girl and walked everyday and performed all the exercises I've been given. I'm going to give it another couple of weeks then I'm going to ring my OS. I guess I'm worried that there is something wrong that no one has picked up on. My OS didn't examine me, or look at the incision site or show me the x-rays of my new hip so I feel a right to be a little concerned. I think that was naughty of him and I'm a bit miffed about it now.
Anyway there are a lot of other positive improvements. I can shave my legs, put my socks and shoes on and pick things up from the floor. And although I can't walk very far before the muscle fatigue sets in, I did manage to walk through a very crowded bar full of rowdy rugby fans yesterday WITHOUT my cane!............. so I guess that's an improvement yes?

Yes lizzie66 my daughter did return home safe and sound, thanks for asking. She said the ferry trip was awful. Lots of illness as you can imagine. The weather was terrible on Friday. It's so lovely to have her home. She sings constantly and we missed her beautiful voice around the house. All safely gathered in and that's the way I like it.
I absolutely LOVED Dexter. I've watched every episode. Brilliant programme. I also loved Brothers and Sisters....Did you watch that?
Big Bo, little Bo and little Do...........love it.......and it all started on BS.
In our house I'm Momo, my husband is Dodo, my eldest is Yoyo and my youngest is Jojo. My Mum is called Nanny Woofta(she had two little Dogs when my girls were small) and my mother in law is called Nanny Melons.............Don't ask. I love all the funny nick names families come up with.
Have you and Firebrand looked into eating almonds or turkey(on whole meal bread) near bedtime? Both these are said to have sleep inducing qualities...................hence why most folks fall asleep after their Christmas dinners!
I had terrible problems sleeping and only now feel like I'm getting a half decent nights sleep so it will improve for you and I'm hoping it will continue to improve for me.

Hi glynis , yes I'm very lucky living in this part of the country. We've got the Jewson lot here. Beautiful countryside, lovely beaches and lots of interesting little old towns where you can purchase all the paraphernalia one needs to perform an exorcism......YIKES.
Totnes attracts an interesting array of folk.........something to do with the Ley lines..........You and your Hubby are interested in Ley lines aren't you?
Thanks for the conker tip.

ZF - I love the sound of your weekly trip to see Granny across the river and through the woods. It is a long way to travel(don't forget I come from UK where we think 20miles is a long trip!) but sounds like a grand day out.........including the grilled cheese sarnies!

Mmmmmmm........now that's made my tummy rumble. Think it's time to get off my IPad, out of my pit(its 10.30....naughty naughty) and go and have some breckie.

Wishing you all a fab Sunday.

Queenie xxxxxx

 

[Firebrand]

Hi lizzie66. Good luck with your GP tomorrow. I personally agree that sleeping tablets shouldn't be doled out indiscriminately by GPs, but this sounds like a first rate case for real need. Recovering from the major op is hard enough without sleep deprivation on top - it certainly leaves me feeling like a basket case. I hope that she can help you - and don't hold back if she doesn't appear to be getting how real your need is.

I don't know when your op was, and I don't know how the health system works in Ireland, but you must still be under the physio of the hospital - can you give them a call and get an appointment to look at helping you with the knee problem?

You're lucky to have missed the snow. It is pretty miserable here. I couldn't go out at all yesterday. What part of Ireland are you in? My grandmother was from county Wicklow.

 

[Queenie]

Sorry lizzie66

We must of been typing at the same time so I missed your last post. Sorry to hear you got upset yesterday..........you see? You are not alone. I've had some real ups and downs. My poor husband can't keep up with me.

I agree that you should speak to someone about your knees. This is just an added complication on top of your THR op that you could really do without.

Hope you have a better day today.

Queenie xxxxx

Ps....Don't forget to give the turkey a try. X

 

[lizzie66]

Queenie. Turkey sandwich it is then. sounds yum actually. Maybe not tonight as Big Bo swears he is not leaving the house again today in this cold. Sorry you had a bit of a downer too but yes you are right to think of calling your surgeon. I remember reading how underwhelmed you were with your 6 week check up. I am going to go in with a long list of questions. And when he is finished with my hip, he can look at my knee!! And Big Bo has a gammy knuckle so we are thinking of tagging that on too. It costs €100 for us to just say hello to the man so we are going to get our money's worth.... (well impressed with you walking across the bar without a cane, by the way!!!). Didn't get into Brothers & Sisters, can't remember why but I think maybe it wasn't one we would both have enjoyed. Not that I don't watch programmes on my own but it is nice to sit down to something together-new episode of Dexter tonight yippee!!. Homeland has been mentioned here and we really liked that too...TV becomes extra important when you're stuck and home recovering, doesn't it?
Firebrand. No am not really under a physio in the hospital. I had hip done about 80 miles away and although they did offer physio at a discounted rate it is too far too drive. I was told the exercises they sent me home with would suffice (and normally they would, my Dad has a totally successful, problem free op at 65 and didn't even need pain relief - I AM NOT COMPARING, but it is hard not to in this case !!!!). Anyway i will get some now but it will cost me €45 a session. I will ask my gp (€40 a visit!) to put my name down for free physio through the local hospital but I could be waiting ages to be called. Ireland and especially our health care system is a mess at the moment. Probably closer to the US inthat private health insurance is getting more and more expensive but otherwise you have to wait longer and longer to be seen if you go public. We may have to look at doing that soon though if our financial situation doesn't improve. Wicklow is lovely! We are "somewhere over on the west coast" - wild and windy!!!
off now to find something for everyone on the TV -including little Bo and Bo-ne which rules out Dexter....

 

[zauberflöte]

glynis we do have horse chestnuts, but I've never heard the nuts called conkers. I always wondered what conkers were, when I'd read about them in old "Brit Lit". Wodehouse and Sayers.... two of my favorite authors... I'm going to keep my eye out for one and steal some nuts next fall....would be great to have No Spiders In The House. Or maybe all we need is your exorcist incense?
18 inches of snow!! Gloryoski! -- does she usually get that much in a winter snowstorm? It's snowing here at my house, in a place where snow in January(traditional snow month) is very rare. Spring schming!
Good for you for going 1/2 mile easily! Is it paved, or dirt road? I'm not till May, and I can do some distance on the treadmill, but pavement I don't think so. Too hard...
Spring has sprung
the grass is riz
I wonder where
the flowers iz?
(We have camellias, daffodils, forsythia, cherry trees, and if I had any crocus, they'd be over by now!) chris
Queenie I thoght the turkey was to ice with... had quite the picture in my head LOL

 

[lizzie66]

Good morning everyone! I am not bragging but i got over 5 hours sleep last night!!! Okay I am bragging! It was probably exhaustion finally really kicking in but it felt good.
Queenie. When I woke in the middle of the night I was thinking of your turkey sandwich. I tried to visualise it (as I knew I wasn't going to get the real thing at 3.30 am!) so maybe that's what made the difference.
@ZF and glynis. Here conkers and horse chestnuts are the same thing. It is a tradition for little Bo and me to go looking for them in a certain spot every autumn. I am going to insist on it every year until he finds a wife!!! I remember when he was just a toddler and how he loved kicking up the leaves and how gorgeous and shiny they are if you get to peel them out of their shells. We don't do much with them, mind, no conker fights or anything. I would find loads of them in little Bo's coat pockets weeks later..... Thanks for the nostalgia trip Glynis. oddly enough we didn't find any this past autumn...
@everyone. sorry for moaning a bit yesterday about money. It has become a National Pasttime in Ireland recently where we are so fed up of draconian austerity measures. I will not bore you any more with it and I look forward to making some appointments to get some care this week.
Hope everyone else is doing okay? At the very least we should have a chocolate fix to look forward to this weekend...

 

[glynis]

Hi Lizzie

You sound loads better! The restorative powers of sleep are pretty important, aren't they? I'm surprised you didn't find the Kalms helpful. They seem to work for me.

I don't know how many kids these days play traditional conker games. It's probably only a matter of time before they'll be able to play Virtual Conkers on an App on their mobile phones.

I'm also a private patient, and it certainly adds up, doesn't it? The one bill I really resented was the physios in the hospital who charged £51 for sessions lasting typically 5 to 10 minutes. The only time I had a longer session was when I fainted one time, and 2 physios enthusiastically fanned me with their clipboards.

The girl I see now privately charges £35 for 45 minutes, but is worth every penny. I went through a couple of pretty much useless ones before I found her.

Here's to a better week for you.

 

[Firebrand]

Hi lizzie66 You have every right to be proud of that sleep. Well done! Let's hope that you have turned a corner and are able to get a decent rest at night. Do keep having naps when you can in the day as well though.

I think you have every right to moan about the cost of things in Ireland. I had no idea that your system was more US than UK.

I kept in touch with a woman that I met in hospital, and she has seen a private physio as well as the NHS appointments. She said the two are completely different, with the private one being much more hands on. The trick seems to be getting a good one, either private or NHS.

 

[zauberflöte]

lizzie66 Woooohoooooo 5 hrs sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't see you as whining about money-- those sound like prices I pay ON TOP OF my monthly health ins premium which is larger than the (modest) mortgage.
You want chocolate???? I got chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!
* runs (in cyberland I can run) to kitchen*
*peeks in oven*
~~~smells awfully gooooood~~~~~
*pulls out brownies*
*never mind plates or napkins*
*well, ok, napkins*
*passes spoons (!) around*
*dig in, yall!!!!!!!!!!!!*

 

[zauberflöte]

Queenie I'm so far behind in my reading that I've lost everything you did, vanished from my mind! Oh look-- therre it is! We don't think 100 miles is short, either, but we've done it every Sunday for nearly 6 years now, and dh does it again once to commute to his office Wed-Fri. We are used to it, and it is a lovely drive to tell the truth. hard on the gas(petrol) budget tho, let me tell you LOL.
Here's somethign you may not know-- "Momo" is, in Japanese, both "peaches" (or Peach, don't know) and "Thighs". There's a story behind that LOL lOL
PS I give up on this keyboard and my typonese. if i stop to correct everything, it takes twice as long LOL chirs

 

[lizzie66]

Queenie how are you? You haven't been on and I miss you. Are your energy levels still low? Have you tried a tonic (i know, it is annoying when other people make obvious suggestions!!). After my physio session yesterday (and i did very little) I was absolutely shattered. It was the first time I understood how so many people on here report on low energy levels. I suppose I am doing so little - sitting round on my backside, pottering up to do some physio exercises every few hours. That's it. Big Bo is doing all the cooking and keeping our house pristine (ahem!!). Anyway look after yourself and maybe you should ease off a bit if you are tired.
glynis I totally agree about the physio. I don't care if it's private or public once i feel i am being pointed in the right direction. Once my OS gives the all clear my GP is going to refer me to a local physio (public, hence free!) who is supposed to be very good. It would be much handier to drive to also.
zauberflöte thanks for the kind offer but KEEP YOUR CHOCOLATE!!! c.f. above sitting on backside all day!! I am upping my carbs a bit to help sleep (it is maybe working) and don't want to come through all this hip-replacement-knees-shot trauma 14 pounds heavier. I'm not particularly overweight but i can put on weight v quickly if i put my mind to it.
Healthcare in the US has also sounded like a nightmare. It is going that way here and we are scared not to pay it. My GP told me yesterday I would have had to wait 2 years for surgery if I hadn't gone private. I may go public next time though.
Re the sleep- maybe i am kidding myself but i do feel i have turned a bit of a corner (if such a thing exists) in that instead of lying awake feeling "wired" I now do sleep about 5 hours. A friend has a theory that it takes a few weeks for the anesthetic to leave the body and that is what causes post-op insomnia. Anyone heard of this??
got to go now as Big Bo needs to work on the PC. Take care all. x

 

[lizzie66]

Firebrand sorry that physio comment was for you too. I know people complain about the NHS but it seems to beat what we have going on here!!!

 

[zauberflöte]

lizzie66 Ok, I retract the choccy. it is, however, cyberchoccy, which has ZERO calories, I thought edverybodfy knew that! Upping carbs for sleep is good. How about melatonin? Can you get that OTC? My sons use it just to get to sleep on a daily basis. A small dose at the same bedtime every day.
We have an "individual product' healthcare plan, as we're not old enough for Medicare and hubby owns his office, which has not enough employees to make a cheaper "group plan". Yah, I'm scared not to have it, even tho we're using the retirement to pay for it.
@everybody morning! I'm running out of time to spend on computer :-( Will check back later chris

 

[glynis]

Where are you, your Queenlike Majesty?

Your loyal subjects await.

 

[Queenie]

I've been lurking around other people's threads for the past couple of days. Showering my frustrations all over BS. It felt better than being miserable on my own thread!

There have been a lot of giggles on my thread for a while and I didn't want to burst the bubble with a wee bit(to be honest a lot) of negativity.

I've had a good cry and rolled to the bottom of the barrel but I've managed to drag myself to the top again helped by an endless supply of patience from my husband............ I'm feeling exceedingly frustrated and sorry for myself because I've got muscle problems and they don't appear to be improving. I feel I would like to see my OS again and get him to actually examine me this time. I'm wondering if I might have bursitis as I still can't lie on my operated side. I'm not sure that I've had the best advice from the physio as the exercises I've been given are not making any difference, in fact I would say the pain in my butt(just behind scar) and the pain in and around my scar feel worse than a few weeks ago. I still have a lot of swelling around my incision and boy does it feel tender. I'm pretty sure I haven't got an infection. Maybe I'm just a slow healer.
But in spite of all that I still managed to squeeze into my favourite pair of skinny jeans today...........I might of had half a tonne of muffin top hanging over the waistband but I got them on! I can also touch my toes and shave my legs, so its not all bad.
Thank goodness my husband loves my new fuller figure(probably something to do with the larger boobie- doos!). Now I understand why he was always saying 'another bickie darling?'.

Anyway peeps that's my story brought up to speed. I couldn't get hold of my surgeons secretary today so I will try again tomorrow.

Sending out happy thoughts and healing love to all.

Her Maj(The Queenster) xxxxx

 

[Firebrand]

Hey Queenie. Nice image to leave us with there of you bustin' out all over!

It's your thread, you have every right to use it for a pity party whenever you want. That's what the forum is so good at, offering mutual support if not advice.

I think that you are absolutely right to be trying to get an appointment to see the surgeon. Even if it means a few weeks wait, hopefully by then you won't need it, but always worth pursuing to put your mind at rest. Having said that, you are only three months out - so maybe this is what it's supposed to feel like?

Have you been signed off by physio now? Have you thought of trying a private session with one to see if they can give you some very tailored help?

 

[bottomshollow]

Queenie, I hope it will make you feel better to know that I could not sleep on my operated side for the first year. I am 27 months post op and have only in the last two or three months been able to roll over on that side without discomfort. And the lower part of the incision area is still a bit sensitive to pressure. Some of us are slower than others. But I agree, see your surgeon and have things checked out to put your mind at ease.

And pity parties are a good thing----lets you get rid of all that pent up frustration and get lots of TLC from your hippie buddies who understand what's going on. So don't feel you have to fake being upbeat with us---we've all had our moments and will probably have a few more before all is said and done.

Take care and keep us posted. We care.

 

[zauberflöte]

((((((( Queenie ))))))) I do like that image of the voluptuous lady in her skinny jeans I bet you look fabulous, dahlink! I am sorry you've felt blue and in pain, and in your place I'd be frustrated and even angry too. Everybody is right-- call the OS and put your mind at rest. The giggles will come back!
Zf bows and scrapes her way out of the royal audience chamber. ZF knows how to curtsey, and even did it as little girl, but is not sure she actually CAn these days....