Bilateral THR Cold-brew's Big Bilateral THR Adventure

[Mojo333]

Bravo, and glad you are able to get back to your passion @cold_brew
Hip Hip Hooray

 

[cold_brew]

Big day today - rode my non-electric bike to work and back today for the first time in…I don’t even know, 3+ years? I’ve been waiting to take this on for a while since there’s a solid San Francisco uphill on the ride home. But I made it! More cowbell!

 

[djklaugh]

@cold_brew Wow that is a great accomplishment! And almost on your 2 year bilateral hip-iversary, too! Congratulations

 

[cold_brew]

Just 1 year actually!

Unless you count 2 hips x 1 year = 2

Got some X-rays last week to prep for my 1 year checkin with the doc this coming Tues. Will post here with an update!

 

[djklaugh]

Oops you are correct @cold_brew my mistake. But happy hip-iversary anyway!

 

[cold_brew]

It's been 1 year to the day since I woke up with a couple of fresh incisions and a pair of log legs. Here's where we are now. A bit of a recap for anyone tuning in late

I wrapped up physical therapy about 6 months ago, and transitioned to working with a personal trainer to work on regaining overall strength and mobility, 2-3x a week. She's a 'virtual' trainer, which has worked out great - she sends me workouts, I video myself doing the workouts in the app (both for proof I really did them, and for feedback on form), and within a day or so she sends me back feedback. Plus we do occasional realtime video sessions for longer term planning and checkins. That experience has been great (pricey, but I'm worth it!) - much more flexible scheduling than live at a gym or a live video session. It helps a lot that my wife had already invested a lot in our home gym setup during COVID so I can do most of the working out at home. I've progressed a ton thanks to all the PT's and my trainer. Today I can do full-range bodyweight squats and lunges, even adding a few dumbbells to the mix. Pre-op I put down 'do a squat' and 'do a lunge' on my post-op goals list, almost as a joke, but ... here we are. It's a miracle. My trainer even featured me on her client of the month instagram, with a bunch of before/after videos of the results of 6 months of work. So now I'm instagram famous

I bought myself a nice road bike in the spring, and have been getting out for ~20 mile rides almost every weekend. Over the long July 4th weekend I put in 50 miles and 2000 feet of climbing on the bike over 3 days. Sign me up for the Tour de France?

If I woke up with amnesia, I honestly might not even guess that my L hip got operated on, other than the scar. It's 100%. R hip is a bit more complicated, but still totally great, I'd give it a 95%. Since day 1 the R had some tightness / soft tissue trauma in the hip flexor near the incision, and a bit less ROM than the L. To be fair, that hip was in worse shape pre-op. Those issues are SLOWLY fading; but at this point there's still a bit of extra stiffness in the R side, and the ROM is totally fine, but just noticeably a bit less than the L. There's also, still, a numb patch of skin on my R thigh which, honestly, goes in the "who cares" file given where everything else is at.

I just got back from the 1-year checkin with the doc this morning. X-rays are looking good, positioning and bonding of the implants are where they ought to be. The standing X-rays show some tilt to my pelvis and lower back (likely some muscle imbalance) which doc thinks I can improve with a bit of additional PT, so I'll be going back to my PT for a little while to work on that.

Doc greenlighted getting back out on the ski slopes this coming winter (!!!!) without a blink. "Just stay off the double blacks". I think I'll still invest in some padded shorts (as recommended in one of the other threads by a hockey enthusiast) and keep it chill on the greens and blues with my kids.

Next checkin with the doc is in 2 years.

Cheers all, and thanks to everyone on the forum for your advice and thoughts on this journey.

Admins: The title of my thread is feeling a little stale, now that we're so far into the adventure. Can we change it to something like "cold_brew's Big Bilateral THR Adventure"?

[edit, adding a couple of notes I forgot]

I still do feel a bit of discomfort when I accidentally come down hard on my heel. Body is definitely saying I'm not going to be going back to jogging, which is expected / fine. Maybe if I lost 15 lbs magically?

Speaking of weight, so far I haven't been very successful taking off the pounds I added in the years running up to the surgery -- so far I'm down just a couple of pounds from my post op weight. Better than up a couple pounds, I guess, but taking a few more pounds off is a good goal for year 2.

 

[benne68]

What a great, detailed report, @cold_brew! It is wonderful to read how well you are doing. Your posts will provide hope and inspiration to those who are following you in this journey.

Have a great 2nd year --and do come back and update us from time to time on your new double-hippy adventures!

 

[Layla]

Good to hear from you! You're doing so well. I can believe it's been a year already.
Happy One Year Anniversary and cheers to many, many more!
@cold_brew

 

[cold_brew]

Getting closer to one of my few remaining post op goals. Today I went on a 40 mile bike ride. Woohoooo! Tired now but feeling great! (And hungry!)

When I get to 50 mi I’ll get to check one of the last couple of boxes. At the time I wrote them it was almost a joke, “ha wouldn’t it be great if I could do long bike rides again” … but here we are!

 

[Mojo333]

Glad to see you are enjoying your new hips

 

[cold_brew]

This was an inspirational read. Hopefully me when I’m 70

The Mind Is Willing, So the Body Doesn’t Have Much Choice

These men, many in their 80s, may have titanium hips and implantable defibrillators. But they plan to play hockey until they go to that big locker room in the sky.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Lupyhippie]

Way to go. You are so brave to do both at once !! We are at the same place almost. I had my 2nd done 7/14 and here I thought I was the only person who watched all 2,160 miles of the Tour de France. Since this was my plan all along thought I’d share my special toes in honor of the surgery and occasion!!! Wasn’t it SO much fun to mindlessly watch !! I’ve moved on to “old classic movies/musicals” as I can’t seem to concentrate reading. Good luck and keep posting

 

[cold_brew]

Fond memories of 4am Tour de France & Percocet in the recliner a year ago.

My toenails don’t look as good tho

 

[cold_brew]

Big day today! After a few warmup rides earlier in the week, today I finished a 50-mile bike ride.

I’d had that on my original post-op goals almost as wishful thinking, but now…it’s checked off! Can hardly believe it myself.

Pretty tired, time for a cookie and a nap, life is good

 

[Mojo333]

Life with new hips IS Good!
Well Done, my double hippy friend.

 

[cold_brew]

Pretty good day yesterday, back to my old swimming shenanigans. It’s been a couple years since the last escape but tell the sharks at Alcatraz I’m back! A little sore today after a salty mile and a half in SF bay.

 

[Mojo333]

So happy to see you back to life in a big way...with a big smile!

 

[cold_brew]

Thankful today, for a lot of things!

For a sunny Northern California November week perfect for putting some miles on the bike

For my surgeon, PTs, and trainers and everyone else on the team who got me back on my feet over the last year and a half

For my wife’s support getting through it all and making sure I get up early for my workouts

Hope everyone had a restful and healing (US!) Thanksgiving week and lots of healthy (lol) food to fuel their recoveries. And best to everyone outside the US that may not have loaded up on as much turkey.

 

[Mojo333]

Glad you are doing well, my double hippy pal...I'm still a grateful double hippy too.

Christmas will be sweet this year!

 

[myglasshalffull]

You are doing great! Awesome, we've been having some very nice weather here in Northeast as well. One day last week it was 64 so put up Christmas lights outside, seize the moment!
Chilly last couple of AM's but today 50??? I'll take it for late November.
Enjoy your bike rides.