Ok so the saga continues - the hips are wonderful! There are a lot of us BTHRs around right now some of whom are doing very energetic and athletic things - ah but I'll stick to the mundane to let those of you who are less athletically inclined know that there really is life and fun after hip replacements! I've had several more visits with my stepbrother and his family (a 2 hour drive each way) - with musical entertainment provided by nephew Kenny and his band Sol Seed - and of course where there's music there is dancing - energetic reggae dancing
. And a few
, some
, good company, and great food too
And I've been overseeing some renovations in my basement (which included several trips to the huge warehouse store Home Depot for hours of wandering and deciding on all the parts and pieces needed plus picking out colors etc) - and the acquisition of 2 new housemates - Brandy is my first housemate's fiance and Isabelle is her 5yo daughter. The renovations were to create a room for Isy
That is now done and she loves her own special space - decorated in Disney princess theme. Along with the girls we also have another purramedic in residence - Kasper - who is a 1yo boy cat - a bit of a demon and not real good at taking direction from his elders (aka the coonie girls). But he is a sweetie and a nice addition to the menagerie. He's even gotten fat cat M'Toulin to move her fuzzy wucket - and I do believe she's actually lost a bit of weight. He thinks her fluffy tail is a wonderful toy and keeps pouncing on it and of course then she has to chase him to try to teach him some manners .... great entertainment!
The most recent hip work out was to clean the furnace filters
after all the construction was done - means getting down on hands and knees in a small space to reach and drag out the filters - then stand up in small space and lug filters over to the utility sink for scrubbing - then back to small space on hands and knees to put them back. Hips didn't even whisper an oooh owie. Not a glamorous activity - but it sure showed me how far I've come as before surgery I could not have done that at all.
The shoulder - meh - it hurts BUT the surgery for that problem has been scheduled finally! So Tuesday March 26 it's back to the OR for shoulder replacement - Tuesdays are a good day for surgery I think - my hips were done on a Tuesday
So March will be a busy month with pre-op visits etc and also my friend Linda is having knee replacement on the 11th and I'm her transportation and in hospital advocate. Plus may spend a couple of nights with her after she's discharged. After the 26th she and I will have to Skype I guess as neither one of us will be able to drive for a while.
Sleep is good except when the shoulder wakes me up - weight is steady - pain meds needed now for shoulder and of course it being bone-on-bone they only work a little bit ..... ah well this too shall pass. And yes I can put both socks on without effort - can put each foot on the opposite knee, get down to and up off the floor, can squat, can bend over and pick stuff up, can trot up and down stairs, - I can even skip .... lol hadn't done that in 55+ years but had to show Isy how it is done ;)
So all you fellow bilaterals - and any unilaterals reading this - keep on keeping on - it does indeed get better and better. New normal on pain free hips - Wheee Hawwwwww!
Australia
We are now working on strengthening arm muscles and reaching behind my back .... I can get finger tips to reach back there gotta see if I can get up to shaking hands 
Every one is such specialists these days - my current PT gals are terrific ..... and know their shoulder rehab thoroughly - but they don't know hips ..... lol I demonstrated putting each foot on the opposite knee and Tracey said "Are you supposed to do that? What about hip precautions?" I about ROFLMAO! And nicely explained that hip precautions are only in place for about 6 weeks after surgery and previous PT gals and I had spent 9 months (in the case of the right leg) getting foot on to opposite knee! 
