THR Cats land on their feet

[myglasshalffull]

OMG 4,000 trick or treaters! That is crazy Halloween street for sure!
I live on a dead end & my driveway is stone & long & dark so we never get kids here. In 22 years that I've lived here I think maybe 2x's someone rang my doorbell.
But we know many of the kids in neighborhood now just from walking & me walking "Ernie" dog I watch frequently. So we are setting a table up at top of driveway to hand out candy. Supposed to be 70 during day next Thursday.
Since the influx of new folks in neighborhood many have very fun decorations out.
Happy to hear wound is healing & you are slowly getting back to activities. Slow but steady wins the race for many of us.

 

[Layla]

4000 trick or treaters is unreal! I'm guessing with the way you and your neighbors set the perfect scene word has spread and many come by for the whole experience. We have a street like that in my town. They obtain a permit to block off the street and it's packed with people on foot, houses all decked out, loud music etc. My kids are grown now and since I didn't live here when they were of trick or treating age, I've never been.

How do we steer this conversation toward healing hips?
Sugar is bad, but tastes oh so good!
High sugar intake can promote inflammation which may slow the healing process and increase discomfort.
The yummy treats can contribute to weight gain placing additional stress on the hip joint during recovery.
The sweet stuff weakens our immune system making it more difficult for our body to recover from surgery. It also causes fluctuation in blood sugar which can affect our energy level and overall recovery.
Ta dah, gave it my best shot there! Did I earn a Snickers bar? Just one...bite size?
Who can eat just one?!!

Thanks for all of your support of others here, @luvcats and for sharing your joint replacement journeys with grace and humor. You're appreciated.

 

[luvcats]

How we take crazy Halloween back to hips @Layla is to say again how excited I am to be able to walk down the street (slowly, with a cane) and admire my neighbors decorations and participate in the community atmosphere. This is our 3rd Halloween here, but the first I'll be able to walk the street that night and participate in the excitement.

On Friday I had a visit from Home Health PT, at my request. I really wanted feedback and suggestions from someone who knows what they are seeing.
My gait is not as awful as I feel it is. That is excellent news. The small gentle exercises I'm doing on my own are the right things to do. When I do heel slides she suggested using my lifter strap to see if I can get more range of motion without pain from using entirely my own muscles to do it. That seems worth a try.

@marieltha she recommended our old favorite 'half step' to pay attention to the weight shift and help build strength in slow increments. And I was reminded to spend more time just doing a few minutes of standing on the sore leg while holding on to the counter, to build some muscle. She'll be emailing me some of the ideas she came up with, but generally I'm doing the right things and not as bad off as I thought. I'm not going to be getting multiple visits since I just do a little at a time.

That said, grocery shopping, a pt interview, and then going out to dinner was entirely too much and today is icing and contemplating my life choices. lol

 

[Hippie Chick]

Halloween candy- a moment at the lips, forever at the hips!

Sounds like fun! The trick or treating not the other thing.

 

[Layla]

Happy Three Month Anniversary!
I hope you had a nice Halloween, luvcauts!
@luvcats

 

[luvcats]

Thanks @Layla. I'm not where I wanted to be at 3 months, but I did have that reset after a month in a lot of ways.

Halloween was fun but exhausting. On the up-side, it pushed me to do a lot more than I thought I could. I was sore, but I've dramatically improved my ability to stand up straight and if I'm careful I can get up off a proper height chair with no hands!! That's huge for me.
On the downside, I did mention sore? I never expected my arms to hurt! lol. No joke, we handed out 3500 pieces of candy and gifties between 5 and 8:30 when we ran out. The craziness went until 9:45. We were not the only ones on our street to run out early.
A young friend came to help us out so I could take my new hips walkabout and do a tour of the street for the first time. I got to meet some neighbors I didn't know! We were all having a very good time, and my step count on Halloween was a post-surgery high.
The next day might have approached a step count of zero if I hadn't had to do my usual grocery shop. Yesterday we put things away and once again I was delighted at how much I could participate. Today we are almost recovered.
This is our set up. That gargoyle is actually the friend who came to help.

 

[Layla]

WOW! The turnout you have is amazing. Are you handing out gold bars? At the very least you must be handing out the BIG candy bars. If not, it has to be the atmosphere on your street and if your neighbors all put in the effort it appears you do, it's no wonder it's such a success. Great photo!

I am sorry you struggled afterward, but it sounds like the fun made it worth it. I hope you've recovered and you're now looking forward to...dare I say, "the holidays"
Have a good week, luvcats!
@luvcats

 

[luvcats]

I apologize for disappearing. The fact that my leg continues to hurt, not from the joint replacement, but from the debridement and seroma, made me so surly and cantankerous I put myself in time out.

I spent November knitting and baking holiday cookies and giving thanks that my wound care nurse was a delightful person. And grumping about how much my thigh still hurt.

Baking was fantastic. It was good exercise too. I have a station set up so I can mix sitting down, but then get up and down for the baking. It was lovely to be able to do those things and clean up after and not hurt terribly.

In December I co-hosted a local cookie exchange and had a blast. 2 days later we had to say goodbye to my sweet kitty of 18 years.
And then we adopted 2 new kitties, because sad is a given, but at least the new kitties bring much joy.

On December 26 I was finally released from home care. The small piece of wound under my belly finally at long last healed from the inside out. On January 3 I saw my surgeon for what I hope is the last time. The hip is great. I still have muscle trouble with my thigh. I can't deadlift my leg. I have a heck of a time folding up to get into the car, I still need a lifting strap. But I need a lifting strap with no meds at all and I don't need to swear a lot after I do it. It improves slowly but surely. I started trying to one-foot into the car like a normal person, but I'm not up for that yet.

Now that I'm healed, I've been back to the pool 3 times. I'm aiming for twice per week in January, and then in February I'll go back to my regular aerobics class twice a week, and do some PT so someone who knows what they are looking at can help me with my gait. I think mostly I need to regain strength after 5 months of sitting on my behind.

It's been a longer road than I expected, but it was still the right choice and I'm happy with the new joints. It's wonderful to not be exhausted from pain all the time. This weekend I cleaned out my linen closet, a project I've been wanting to do for about the last year. I was able to stand and reach and bend and stretch with no trouble.

I keep trying to remind myself that 5 months isn't really that long. When I had my knees done, in July and September, it was March before I really felt myself again. And there weren't any complications from that adventure.

My new babies. Luna is 3, Maus was supposed to be 4, but is actually more like 1.

 

[benne68]

Good to hear from you, @luvcats, and even better to read that you are getting back to living your life after everything you've been through. I'll bet it feels good to be back in the pool and I'm sure that will help you regain your strength.

Wishing you continued healing! Don't be a stranger.

 

[myglasshalffull]

Great to hear from you luvcats! And sad to read about your elder kitty but happy you took the step to give a couple of new kitties a great new beginning.
My son & DIL lost two elder dogs late in year, 6 weeks apart, very sad.
Sounds like you are getting around better & baking & getting your "to do" list caught up.
And I agree, 5 months isn't that long & seems you are doing quite well. Keep in touch!

 

[Layla]

Nice to see your update, luvcauts! It's great to hear you enjoyed the holiday activity. Sad news about losing the kitty. I hope the new additions help heal the pain of loss.
Thankfully you're happy with your new joints. I hope 2025 is the year of perfect healing for you. Stay in touch!
@luvcats

 

[Elf1]

@luvcats awe, sorry for the loss of your sweet baby. Thank you for opening your home and heart to two that needed you probably as much as you needed them.

Totally understand the putting yourself in time out. I've been doing that off and on lately while waiting for my TKR, but we're close!

Love that you spent some wonderful time baking and found it was also a nice workout. I wanted to bake so bad this year but didn't really get there. Keep telling the family to look out at Easter! I follow a couple of baking sites on Facebook that just amaze me with the things people come up with. I know recently on the one everyone was discussing how therapeutic this group and baking were.

Hope you're enjoying being back in the pool, I am so jealous!