THR Boofit's recovery in Hong Kong

I was hoping that by 6 months I would be fully recovered, back hiking and pain-free
Unfortunately you are only half way through a process that can take one year (or longer). Patience my friend. You certainly gave that hip a workout during your trip.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year!
 
:wave:@Boofit
It is hard, after many months of recovery, to not get concerned about ongoing niggles and not wonder if there is "collateral damage ":nah:
I certainly was still dealing with aches and tightness and found, even at 6 months, there was an ebb and flow - where days when things felt less angry, I could overdo and then pay later.
Similarly, days of too much laying about made me stiff and achy:hairpulling:

Hope the New Year brings more improvement and I know the nice warm trip will be just splendid!
:happy-new-years-toast-smiley-emoticon:
 
@Boofit, it’s nice to hear from you. I’m with you on the aches and pains trail, sometimes it’s my back, sometimes my knees and sometimes it’s everything! I‘m staying positive and, like you, think it’s much better than before my surgeries, but hoping that one day it’ll sort itself out.

It’s great to hear that you have another trip planned, it’s nice to have something to look forward to.

Happy New Year x
 
@Boofit happy to hear you're back home and feeling better, though still having some pain. You mentioned you had trochanteric bursitis and tight IT band on your op side. That could definitely be what's giving you issues. It seems to be something that you need to stay on top of to keep it at bay.

I have also been diagnosed with trochanteric bursitis and tight IT bands in both hips. I just have to be different! :heehee: I have pretty much been dealing with bouts of this in either one or both hips for what seems like forever. I had a second opinion with an orthopedic surgeon almost a year ago and that's when I was told it was both sides. He gave me injections in both hips to help alleviate some of the pain and recommended stretches. He said it was going to be a long haul and I'd need to stay on top of it.

Plus I have other issues with arthritis and have had spinal fusion so I realize I'm going to have aches and pains. We just try to get through it as best we can. I have started signing up for a lot of free online classes such as a Tai Chi one that I'm very interested in. Hopefully you can find that happy medium you need to feel better. Wishing you a Happy New Year!
:happy-new-year-smiley-emoticon-4: :xmas-wave-smiley-emoticon:
 
Nice to hear from you, Boofit. It sounds like you had a nice time in Sydney! I am sorry the pain ramped up your last few days there and its good to hear its easing now that you're resting back home. Thankfully you have a healthy attitude toward your recovery and realize that it's not uncommon to feel as though you still have a way to go since you're only six months post op. I hope you're able to rest up for your return to Sydney and have an enjoyable time there again.
Happy New Year! :happy-new-years-toast-smiley-emoticon:
@Boofit
 
I had my 5th Covid vaccine (bivalent Pfizer MRNA) two days ago. Except for soreness in the upper arm which lasted for about 24 hours, I did not have any adverse reaction. I did experience a mild nagging ache inside my hip during the night after my shot though, and wondered whether this was a reaction. This achy feeling disappeared very soon however.
I was debating whether or not to have this 5th shot but decided to take it eventually because I will be travelling in two weeks' time and again in mid April.

Chinese New Year is coming up, and this is a big festival in Hong Kong. Chinese New Year falls in January this year (the 22nd being the first day of the lunar new year), which is early as it is usually in February. Having just taken down Christmas decorations, families and businesses are starting to decorate their shops and homes with fai chun ( red and gold banners that contain phrases of good luck and prosperity ) lanterns and other ornaments. Pop up shops selling flowers, red packets and decorations are seen in many districts. Restaurant bookings are filled with family reunion dinner gatherings leading up to the 22nd of January. Shops and eateries selling traditional Chinese New Year food such as turnip cakes, steamed rice cakes, coconut puddings, fried taro and fried dumplings, poon-choi (a dish containing seafood, various meats, mushrooms and vegetables that originated in the New Territories), chocolates and candies etc. are doing brisk business... Banks are busy with customers queuing up for newly issued bank notes which will be placed in little red envelopes (known as "lai-see"). Doormen, waiters and service staff seem to be particularly attentive in the weeks before Chinese New Year, as the custom is for people to give lai see (red packets) to these people as a sign of appreciation during Chinese New Year.

It has not been really cold since I returned to Hong Kong end of December. On TV I have seen deadly storms hit many parts of the US and I see many parts of the UK have also been devastated with heavy snow, ice and freezing temperatures. I pray that this extreme weather does not last too long as accidents happen when the paths and roads are icy. I pray my Bone Smart friends are keeping warm, staying safe and recovering well..

Sharing a saying that has just come to my mind: "In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." (Albert Camus)
Spring is just round the corner, and here's to better days ahead :)

This past week I have started doing more strength training, but have been mindful not to over-do it. Hip abduction exercises in side-lying position, clam shells, and single leg standing for 15 seconds at a time. I also do the Thomas stretch (for my hip flexors) and IT band stretches daily. There appears to be some improvement as the hip abduction exercises are not as painful as when I first started doing them and the same for single leg standing.

Today I walked 5000 steps (not in one go, with rests in between) and did some stairs. Some of those steps were taken with the aid of a cane. I now have some aching in the hip and have applied heat and done some massage to the IT band with a yoga massage stick.

So much for my long rambling post. Off to bed. Tomorrow is another day!
 
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I have also been diagnosed with trochanteric bursitis and tight IT bands in both hips. I just have to be different! :heehee: I have pretty much been dealing with bouts of this in either one or both hips for what seems like forever. I had a second opinion with an orthopedic surgeon almost a year ago and that's when I was told it was both sides. He gave me injections in both hips to help alleviate some of the pain and recommended stretches. He said it was going to be a long haul and I'd need to stay on top of it.

Sorry to hear you have trochanteric bursitis and tight IT bands in BOTH hips. For what it is worth, an orthopaedic surgeon friend of mine recently suggested that at some point I might wish to try shock wave therapy for the bursitis. I have not done that yet, but before I go for injections I will try shock wave first. Meanwhile I am doing the stretches and also using a yoga massage stick over my tight IT band. I find it helpful. Hoping your pain fades away soon!
 
Happy New Year Boofers. I reckon that you ask a lot of your baby hip and it isn’t surprising that it grumbles. Overall your progress is brilliant: travelling, walking, enjoying life! I don’t think there is any point in suggesting you slow down a bit, just power on and your hip will catch up.

I like the idea of having a Chinese New Year. Yesterday was the day I should have taken down the Christmas decorations by our family tradition, but it was a dull grey day and the gold and silvery glitter of baubles and tinsel was so cheering that they are still there. But now I have a brilliant idea: take them down, embrace the winter for a week, then burst out with some Chinese red and gold. And after that, daffodils. And maybe a session of polishing our bits and bobs of brass so it gleams. You have inspired me!
 
Boofit,
Chinese New year sounds like fun.
I had ortho appt Wednesday, I had scheduled it back in November when I was getting a new kind of zap and zing in my hip after overdoing during Thanksgiving here. The pain was no longer but kept appt anyway cause so close to my one year anniversary and we will be traveling beginning of February.
I have bursitis as well, it's not horrible, just some discomfort. Comes and goes or floats around other than that I'm all healed up and ready to rock and roll.
Klassy,
One year we cut down our Christmas tree here and it was so beautiful I left it up until Valentine's Day! Took Christmas decorations off and replaced with red hearts, it was so pretty.
Our tree this year made it's way onto our deck and I decorate it with pine cones smeared in peanut butter and rolled in bird seed, then hung on tree, the birds love it.
We will be in the Virgin Islands for 2 weeks beginning 2/2. I never really mind January cause after holiday season it's kind of nice to have everything back to normal and quiet. then gone for 2 weeks in February speeds up arrival of Spring for me. I look forward to mid-March, usually we are done with really cold weather and snow even though we can still get several inches of snow here and there but days are longer and warmer so it doesn't hang around long.
Wishing all of you a happy weekend.
 
An update

It has been a busy start to the year for me. My husband and I travelled to Sydney again in around mid January to the end of the first week of February as my son in law had to go overseas for a few days to attend his brother's wedding and we wanted to be there for our daughter (and 2 month old grand-daughter). I have now flown on 9 hour flights for four times since my THR in June. On all flights I have used my TENS machine and this has helped a lot with preventing stiffness (even helped with being able to sleep on the plane!)

It feels like since about a week ago I have turned a corner - the pain within my hip (which occurs mainly during walking) seemed to decrease and suddenly I could walk longer without using the cane and without feeling pain. I am now almost 9 months post left THR and, up to about a week ago, have been feeling somewhat dejected with my slow recovery. Now I feel stronger and I think I am getting there. I feel MUCH better than how I felt before this THR, and the pain that I am experiencing now is definitely nothing compared to what it was like before the surgery. I do not need to take NSAIDs or painkillers on a daily basis anymore. I have no restrictions : my range of motion in the operated hip is almost the same as the un-operated one, and I can do the yoga child pose (almost full range) which I thought I would never be able to do! I remember 2 months ago I started trying to stand on the operated leg (somewhat like a modified tree pose in yoga) and could not do it because of pain within the hip. I can now maintain the pose for almost a minute without pain within the joint - YAY!!!
I still am plagued by trochanteric bursiitis and my tight IT band, but I am stretching and doing deep tissue massages for it daily. The pain from this bursiitis and tight IT band is tolerable and I am hoping it will disappear with time.

I continue to do stretchings (almost daily) and try to walk at least 4000 steps a day. I still sometimes use a cane when walking, especially when doing longer distances over uneven surfaces. Yesterday I tallied up 8000 steps because I did a walk in the morning and then spent a lot of time walking around in the hospital (xrays in the morning and my post THR orthopaedic check up in the afternoon). My thigh muscles feel sore today so I am having a "rest day" (walking around 2000 steps and doing stretches and floor exercises).

Xrays taken yesterday show that the prosthesis is nicely in place. The un-operated hip seems ok for now (joint space was still visible on x rays) and I am not feeling pain in that hip, so I don't need to do anything about it anytime soon I guess.

Things do seem to be much better for me than what it was a few months ago - so I hope those who are feeling discouraged by slow recovery take heart - some of us just take longer to recover (and there are many reasons for this: physical condition before the operation being just one of them). Just don't get down-hearted and try to be patient with yourself. It really is a year long recovery for many of us.

Wishing all my fellow hippies a good weekend!
 
All great news Boofit. I still have bursitis here and there, nothing crazy but it rears its ugly head now and again.
Overall doing well and getting on with life, to think it's already a year since I had my surgery, I can't believe it. Seemed like days, weeks ticked by slowly in those early days then all of a sudden it flies by.
I bet that little grand daughter already getting bigger everyday. So much fun, I have 6 grand children, 3 boys, 3 girls. My partner has two grandsons so we are definitely blessed.
Stay well!
 
Thanks for the great update! @Boofit I was one of those longer recovery hipsters. It can be discouraging but as you are a living example, patience is the key. I think the trick is to just keep living life and doing those activities you love. You may not be able to do them 100% but when you keep attempting them, you slowly remind your body that it CAN do them. It will relearn them. I think this is the one thing I remember from later in my recovery-oh, I haven't been able to do that in a while. Look at how easy that was! I know we tell our members that this recovery can take as much as a year or more to complete. I don't have trouble counseling that because I lived it and so are you.

Congrats on your progress and blessings for continued good healing!
 

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