4.5week Post Op Update
It's another beautiful day here in Hampshire, UK. I have just returned from taking a short walk in my local woods, initially joined by my partner and my two very bouncy dogs. They went off for a longer walk while I trundled back to my car with my crutches. I have an automatic and as its my left leg that was operated on, I just need my right leg to drive. Normally I would walk to the woods from my house, but its a bit to far for me to walk at the moment, so I did the a short drive from my house. Getting in and out the car is a task, as the seat forward/backward is manual , a lever under the seat which I am unable to reach without breaking the 90 degree rule while sitting on the seat. After a bit of fiddling about, I discovered I could tilt the back of the seat backwards, to enable my to get into the car without breaking the 90 degree rule and then using an automated botton to lift the back seat up again. - What a performance! Then when you get to your destination, it's important to park such that you can open the car door fully to get in and out - so many car parking places do not allow this.
Healing is progressing well. I am managing to get out of the house at least twice a day, sometimes three times and each time I can feel an improvement with my walking gait. The muscles around my operated hip need more time to strengthen around the joint, so I am still using both my crutches, though they are more to ensure I keep a smooth balance rather than having to leant on them for support which I was doing a week ago. Last week, I still had minor pain in my operated leg after walks/exercise and my other arthritic hip was complaining - just to remind me the arthritis is still lurking around, objecting to the extra work it is having to do to support the operated leg. In the past couple of days, the both hip/legs are just stiff with no pain. I no longer wake up every hour during the night with both legs stiff and aching, such that I have to get up to walk about to ease the uncomfortable stiffness - I am rather pleased about this. It is rather forfilling to see a little positive progress each day.
I am disappointed with leg length discrepancy. I thought perhaps the difference was just my perception and it would even off, perhaps I had pelvic tilt that needed resolving, some swelling impacting the joint position, muscles still not strong enough to be working properly and so on. There is a note from the operation that the leg length may be slightly longer due to the stem chosen to ensure stability, but having looked this up, this really should be minor and not to extent that it appears. I sought advise from a very experienced PT, who looked at my body posture in various different ways, including my movement and concluded that there is a discrepancy, but to confirm with my surgeon as to what may be causing it. I am have my follow up with my surgeon tomorrow, so have compiled a list of questions about this.
Other than the above, rehabilitation is going really well.