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Peaches My PT said that as long as I continue to walk and do the at home exercises ai have been assigned, I will not regress if I delay outpatient PT for a couple of weeks. To get to mine, I will have four block walk through extremely congested streets, then the PT, then the walk home. Not sure if I can do it. may try and then delay if I feel pushed. I have a five and a half week check up in two weeks. I was wondering if you could find a PT near work? Would that be easier and save you from more travel?
 
Hi, Lenora. Well, I think that tacking on PT before or after work or on a lunch break will add to the long workday's stress and will be physically taxing. I did find a few places near work, but by near it means walking several blocks to and from in a very congested area. Then walking a few blocks to get a bus, then a long ride home. I will be leaving at 7 a.m. and staying at work till 5. So tacking on extra walks outside, extra bus rides, then an hour of PT is too much for me. I can't wrap my head around it.

I do have a place in mind near home and it is a 9-block walk one way (7 blocks down from my apartment and then 2 blocks over). They have Sat. hours, so I am envisioning taking a bus (if I can get up and down the big step) there for 7 blocks down and then walking the 2 blocks over. Doing the PT. Siting and resting after. Then walking and taking the bus back. I think that will be a big deal for me.

I think with your cane you might be able to slowly walk to your place, as you sound stronger than I am right now and I tested a walk that length last week and I could do it. I walked 7 blocks slowly with a cane; then had to stop and sit and rest. I know we are different in our journeys, but you do sound much stronger than I am, so I hope I have given your encouragement. Just slow down and look at the sidewalk and move to the right to let all the foot traffic go around you.
 
Peaches Yes, you have a long day. Scratch that idea. I'm not sure about strength as haven't done seven blocks at a stretch yet-just have always been limber and flexible. I think I can walk the four blocks and if I can rest when I get there, but I am concerned that there might not be an elevated seat, and I am reluctant to walk on the crowded, crooked sidewalk with a cane on one arm and an Ikea bag filled with pillows. I am surrounded by schools and a large commercial area at the end of my street.
bottomshollow. Thank you. I need the reinforcement. The home PT pushed a lot but what I've learned on BS has helped me say no when I am asked to do too much.
 
Lenora, I hear you about lugging the cane, bag full of pillows, plus a purse, I guess. The jaunt to and from anywhere is daunting, isn't it. And all those school kids. Have you called the outpatient place to ask if they have a "high chair" for hip replacement patients? You never know! Also, is it possible you can make do with just one pillow to lug along with you in the Ikea bag? I know at home I was thinking I was needing to sit on multiple pillows, like on a throne, and my PT laughed at me and said, uh, you really are okay with just the one pillow. I swear, this poor girl has the patience of a saint as she has shown me more than one time where the dreaded 90-degree mark is.
The only good thing about that cement-hard "official" pillow I got in "hip kit" is that it is lightweight (ironically) and fits neatly into a shopping bag and I can carry it in one hand, my cane in the other, and a lightweight tote bag with a long strap that goes across my chest diagonally (I am such a pretty sight).It is doable. But a bag full of pillows would not be. You do sound much more ready than I, with your pre-op PT classes. I'm sure they will have served you well.

I read somewhere on bonesmart that we don't have to please the PT and don't have to win a
best in class prize in the PT's judgment. I try to keep that in mind, but confess wheN I first started out I wanted to be seen by the PT as a patient who worked hard so it would look like I was trying my best. Well ... four weeks later I realize the PT hasn't gone through a hip replacement, so she doesn't know the multiple sensations we are experiencing! No clue. So I just want to mine her expertise for tips and help, but make sure I remain in charge. I hae learned my lesson (I think! I hope!).

Please take care.
 
Peaches I think we must match with out cross strap bags, canes and pillows. I did not buy the hospital pillow cause I was feeling cheap, so I usually need two. I am 5'7' and large. I marked 20 inches on my cane with type, as I was told not to go lower than that. Even a couple of handicapped toilets I've tried are lower than 20 inches.

I have a call in to the PT office but haven't heard back yet. I will ask about the chair. I agree that BS advisors have helped me say no to the PT when she pushed a very difficult exercise or too many reps. I wish I could just get in a pool and walk. That is the best, least painful PT. I could do that when I couldn't do anything else. But the OS wants to see the incision on 6/3 and no pools until then.
 
LeeApril26 and Peaches, I was just reading about all your walking......WOW!!! I think I'm doing SO well, and the absolute max I can do is 6 blocks in a day! You two are doing way more! And I am not carrying anything except my cane!
I see my OS in another week+ (it's a "6 week post-op" but I happened to be scheduled for 5 1/2) and the only thing he mentioned to me is not to use any of the anti-scar creams or gels or lotions until he gives me the go-ahead. Of course, when I last saw him I never dreamt the weather would get so warm I'd be wanting to jump into a pool........:gaah:
 
Songlady and Peaches. Six blocks is my limit so far, and the more I increase the exercises, the less I feel like walking. Today I did fewer exercises and rested. I start the outpatient PT at a local place on Thursday.
Thanks for the info on creams. I was considering arnica but will wait til my five and a half week check on 6/3. Also dreaming of jumping into a pool.
 
Josephine. I have a strange new symptom. It started for a few minutes when I was trying to go to sleep a few nights ago and seems to last longer each night. I feel an intense tingling that I would describe as like fireworks going off on the front of my thigh on the operated leg. I am only aware of this at night when I am trying to sleep, and it has lasted longer every night-maybe an hour last night. I have a lateral incision and was wondering if it could be nerve regeneration? There is no deep pain, or throbbing.
My OS gets his patients off of pain meds quite quickly. For the last week I have been taking one hydro condone with Tylenol 5/325 in the morning before my exercises, and I am supposed to stop that by the end of the week. The emergence of the symptom coincides with my cutting down on the pain pills. Have you heard of this before? Many thanks, and apologies if this is a dopey question.
 
LeeApril26 & Songlady:
I hear you about the walking. The more of that I do, the less I do of PT. I temper things now that I have a bum knee. I can't "do it all." I am forcing myself to get the nerve to go out on the mean streets so to speak so I am mentally prepared for return to work day. But I don't think I'm really overdoing it. Yesterday I walked 5 blocks (which I've been told is one quarter of a mile) and I did it nice and slow, with the cane, so I could pace myself. It tooks 15 minutes! That is slooooow. The lower back pain crept in after a block, my shadow companion. Then of course was on my feet longer as I had to stand at stoplights, go a block out of my way to go around construction site; sat in a bagel shop on my big cushion for about 20 minutes. Returned home the 5 blocks for another 15 minutes. Not in bad pain, but immediately sat down and iced myself. I think the big fear for me about going out and getting on with life is the fear that I will get stuck somewhere where I can't sit down; that's why the pre-op lower back pain rattles me. The pre-op years of always worrying if I would have a place to sit and rest when I went somewhere dogged me and really contributed to hibernating. Part of this is from living in an overly populated city where you never seem to get a seat anywhere; where there is a long line to stand in everywhere. I assume it's like this to some degree in other places, too, as the world seems to have gotten so dang crowded with people? Do other people have this fear of being stuck with the pain with no place to rest?

LeeApril26, let us know how your outpatient PT journey goes. Fingers crossed it goes well.

jellybean, you posted elsewhere about a daylong outing with your kids that sounds daunting. I can see why you want to go so bad. I wonder if you could find one of those portable stool things? Don't have a link, but have seen people take them to such events so they can just unfold them and sit on them. Only thing is, I don't know if they are high enough for the restrictions a THR faces. Let us know how it goes. I can appreciate your dilemma and concerns!
 
LeeApril26 Sorry, new one on me. Obviously it is a nerve thing but I don't recall any lateral cutaneous nerves being involved in a lateral incision.
 
Peaches. You're right about the fear of getting stuck with no where to rest. Even if there is a bench, it will be too low to sit on.

I took a test "run" to the PT office today. Walked there and back just to practice for tomorrow. Streets weren't too crowded, so it was okay.
 
LeeApril26. Wonderful! You are doing great! Beautiful time of year to be able to walk again. I can remember prior to surgery and going out to a restaurant with my cane, and there were people who did nothing to hold a door open, move over so that I could sit down...and then thankfully for others, who went out of their way to be kind and accommodating. My heart goes out to those who live daily with their disability
 
Mamarey. I agree. It is difficult but enlightening to view the world thru the lens of disability. My particular "favorites" are people on bikes or joggers on the sidewalk who cut me off. It's happened several times.

From what I've seen on yours posts, you are doing well-going to the gym, and really moving. I am longing to swim.
 
LeeApril26 Were you a swimmer before your surgery? I swam for 30 years, a mile a day for about 15 or 20 of them. Until last Oct, then I cut it down because of hip bursitis (from the OA) and shoulder tendonitis (?from the swimming so much for so long, and ?legs getting weaker without my realizing) Then I had to resort to side stroke and back float to get across the pool. It's one of my greatest sadnesses, the inability to exercise now. But, I'm trying not to focus on now, I'm looking ahead to when I can get back to doing what I love.
 
ByGosh. Yep, regularly since 1995 when I first had knee issues. I consulted an aqua therapist at that time and have since then done 30 minutes of aqua therapy/yoga and then laps-just the crawl. I am a very slow swimmer but can swim for a long time. Have had neck issues from swimming at times but for me it was meditation and I miss it terribly. Haven't been able to swim since February. My hip never bothered me in the water but eventually the exhaustion was so bad I couldn't get down and up subway stairs to come home. Oh well, soon, I hope.
 
LeeApril26 .. It doesn't matter how fast you swim, it's just doing it that's important. Especially with the Aqua exercise. How great that is for you! It sounds like you have very good endurance to be able to swim a long time. I used to swim a lot faster, but since all of this OA started last March, I was just happy to get in and paddle around. I got my husband into swimming, and my son, too. We all love it as exercise. Like you, it's meditation for me, too. Such a lift for the spirits!
Coincidentially, my hubby left for NYC today to meet his brother and see some plays, eat out, etc. They're staying at a hotel on 44th St., which is right across the street from a bistro his brother likes. They're seeing Pippin and Matilda, and another one. My husband doesn't care much about those, but his brother loves going and is handicapped, so doesn't get around much. He's in a wheelchair now. Not easy, as you've said many times in your posts.
My husband wanted to swim while in the city, but he couldn't find a pool near where they were staying. He has gone to a YMCA there in the past when he went into NY, but not this time.
 
ByGosh. NYC has recreations centers. some have indoor pools. Anyone can join, not just residents, and for seniors it is $25 for a year.
Here is a list of locations: [https://www.nycgovparks.org/facilities/pools=]

If your husband doesn't mind walking, the one on E. 54th St. is lovely. He should check hours.

Both of the plays he is attending have been well-reviewed. Is is so thoughtful of him to go, and terrific of you to be willing to forego his company for a while.
 
Thanks so much for the info LeeApril26. I'll pass it along to hubby, but I have a feeling he didn't bother to bring his suit. :blush: Ut oh.....
He and his brother made these plans way before my surgery and of course, we thought I'd be all better by now. Too bad for everyone I'm not.. So I couldn't have him back out on it, as his brother spent a lot of money getting the tickets, etc. So...my kids are all enlisted to help out. It's good for them! Plus poor hubby needs a break, although who knows how much of a break he'll get with his brother, who is very difficult..Oh well. At least it's a change of patient - ooops! I mean pace! :heehee:
 
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