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THR Chessie checking in!

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Well I was piddling out in the yard and garage today, and looked at my bike, and just decided...what the heck. I grabbed my helmet, eased my leg over, and did a quick 2.5 miles in the neighborhood. Piece of cake!! Man I am so glad I had this surgery and did not wait any longer. :)
 
@MajorHeidi , thank you friend. I am being careful - I promise. No impact, no sudden sharp turns or swings. I wouldn't do anything to screw up this marvelous new hip, really I wouldn't. :)
 
Well, last night I did my first weight workout at the gym. Did some "lightish" leg stuff, but definitely did not overdo. It went well! Tonight I walked 2.5 miles on the treadmill, and that was after running several errands today - so pretty sure I covered a great deal more that that. ( Forgot to put on my fitbit this morning darn it.)

Tomorrow - it's back to work! Hope I don't fall asleep at my desk mid-day :sleep:- I've gotten used to taking little naps each afternoon - no more of that!
 
@Chessie impressive progress. Hope you are not rushing it too fast. I saw the cycling post and was thinking oh my.

My sleeping is going to be one of the biggest hurdles I have resuming life. The endurance just isn't there to do 8hrs of even desk work yet.

Hope tomorrow goes smooth. I'll be taking my afternoon nap as usual.
 
Thanks guys. @rans0m00 , I truly am not rushing things, I have had no discomfort at all. Remember that I was working out and biking hard, right up until surgery. My hope was that this would help me to recover quickly, and so far it appears to working. :) I am happy to say that Tuesday night I had my first full nights sleep ( after being off pain meds) and it felt great! I did take a percoset last night because I was just laying there wide awake, thinking about being at work at 7am...and I was afraid I would think myself awake all night, so I caved!!! Oh well, tonight I should be back to normal after a 10 hour work day! ( We are on 4 10-hour days for the summer.)
 
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@Chessie that's very awesome. I think my waiting so long and so I lost a lot of that muscle and flexibility in my right leg has slowed my recovery. I should be on a cane sooner than later I think.
 
@rans0m00 , I agree completely. I don't know if you ever read my first thread here, but it was all about how long to wait. I was so torn between having surgery ( which just sounded horrible to me) and dealing with the increasing pain and the limits it placed on my life. My boyfriend had a good friend that was very active and had this surgery before he was so bad off he couldn't walk, and HE was back at work in one week. And then he turned around and had the other one done one month later. It didn't take very long for me to realize that waiting would only hurt me. So my one big takeaway from this experience, as far as giving someone else advice - is DON'T WAIT! :no-fin:


I think once you advance to a cane you will be amazed at how well you do. :thumb:
 
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@Chessie, ditto on going back to work fears. The night before, I took something to sleep because I was nervous if I could do it. I have been working until 3 p.m. everyday, and by 2:00 p.m., I am a raving lunatic in pain from swelling (desk job too, so blood floors downwards, no matter how many means I use to elevate under my desk).

I am using a cane at work, so lots of sympathy. However, I work in a political environment (politics, electeds), so I can see how just the stress of daily work impedes my ability to cope with pain. I am already high-strung, so I firmly connect my inability to cope with pain since Day 1, with my inability to calm down. All of this, combined with my unrealistic recovery expectations (I only read the good stuff)! Reading your posts inspires me.
 
@LoyalD, I hope you get your pain under control. I am fairly sure I could not work at all in such pain as I know I could not concentrate.

I made it though my first day back yesterday, and worked a tad late as we had a special thing going on this weekend. So at work at 7am, and left at 6:40 pm. I was SO tired! Really a very slow day though, thankfully, and I made sure to get up and walk plenty throughout the day. But man I was so sleepy - I actually took a 30 min nap in my car a lunchtime LOL! :sleep: I have never been a napper, but I sure got used to taking little naps these past couple of weeks. I am spoiled now - will definitely have to work out of that! Everyone at the office thought I was walking really well, most were a bit shocked I think. :) I was definitely whipped when I got home - my office chair at work really stinks - I would love to replace it with one like I have at home -I might see if I can get that done. Also, I had intended to take my cane to work with me, and I got in the car without it darn it, so by the end of the day I was feeling just a little soreness and I was glad to get home where I could use my cane for some relief. But anyway, I made it, and now I have 3 wonderful days to rest and play a bit, before my schedule gets back to normal on Monday.

One thing I have really noticed with my hip/leg now. In the morning, it feels great!!! By the end of the day, depending on what I have done, my left side might be a bit tired. But by morning - I swear it feels almost brand new. Such a great feeling. This is exactly the opposite of what I USED to experience. I used to wake up and almost hobble to the bathroom in the mornings, and it would take a while before I worked out the kinks. And every time I got up from sitting, soreness. Now - almost the opposite. Such a great feeling to wake up in the morning and not have that awful pain, and be able to move around freely! Yay!!
 
@Chessie my pain used to be bad in the morning then fairly good until about 5pm then it went bad. Since the hip swap it's good almost all the time unless I overdo it.

I am happy to hear you are resuming so easily. I am still having issues with my gate... I still try to protect my right hip even though it doesn't need it anymore. So far the only times I achieve this is when I am fully medicated and walking doesn't feel different than it used to. I figure it will work itself out as long as I stay on top of myself with the pt and walking.
 
@rans0m00, yes, as I am sure you were told as well, the very best therapy is to walk walk walk walk walk walk, and then walk some more. :) Kind of boring to hear it repeated, but it's what I have heard most. That and biking too. I am looking forward to getting on my bike a bit this weekend - amazing how good cycling feels now. Have you considered riding a bike at all?

Glad you are seeing improvement!!
 
Never a truer word written @Chessie - you have it so right about the walking - good for you :)
 
So 17 days out, and today I walked 3 miles and did a short 5-mile bike ride. Feeling very good!
 
rans0m00 said:
@Chessie so jealous!
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@rans0m00 , you will get there!! I know you will!! :yes:

On another note, I just noticed something today. I was out walking and noticed my reflection in a car window....and I no longer have that "hunched over" stance that I did. Did anyone else have that happening before surgery? I know it was due to my severely limited range-of-motion - my leg simply would not allow me to walk with a straight back...and that had just become noticeable to me in the last few months. My BF told me I was walking like an old lady...yeesh! So I am so glad to see THAT has gone away!
 
@Chessie I did the slightly hunched over walk. Unsure why but over time I developed it. Working hard to retrain myself to walk normally.
 
rans0m00 said:
@Chessie I did the slightly hunched over walk. Unsure why but over time I developed it. Working hard to retrain myself to walk normally.
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@rans0m00 . I decided to google this, even though I really know what the cause was ( in my case at least).
I found an article that states this:

Approximately 15 degrees of hip extension is required to walk normally. If hip flexors are tight then in order to walk, compensatory movement needs to take place through the lower back causing back pain and premature disc degeneration. Like other joints, if we fail to take them through their full range on a regular basis we eventually lose mobility.

https://www.stretching-exercises-guide.com/hip-stretches.html

Which makes perfect sense. I could no longer bend my left leg back at all - that was what caused me to limp as I had a shorter gait with that leg. And the worse my hip got, the less that leg would bend...so I ended up tending to "hunch" over when I walked. Probably the same thing for you. I expect that with time, you will work out of that as well.
 
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@Chessie awesome! That explains so much. I wish I had googled that a while ago. I wonder if correcting my walk will also help with my lower back issues too. That would be a pretty sweet bonus if this hip surgery turns around some of my back issues too. Thanks for passing on the information.
 
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