Bilateral THR DashingHippie Diary

[Dashinghippie]

Day 17:

shot my hoops today. 100 degrees on the court! love it.
shot 7/10, 7/10, and 9/10 @ foul line. not great, but not bad for 1st time out.
My 3-point shot is not there yet...not enough umphhh in my hips yet for the power to flow from my feet to my arms thru my hips. I shot maybe 60 shots all told, all from ~15 feet or so.

Then went to the pool...did not go in yet (will wait until this Friday for immersion, taking zero chance with infection). shower to evaporative cool every 15 mins is all I did, and sudoku.

Upper hip lifter muscle tightness continues...okay when warmed up, stiff after sitting.
Guess it needs more time to relax.

Am tired...physical activity takes it out of us THR peeps apparently.

better sleep thru drugs again tonight!

 

[Suzette]

Hi @Dashinghippie ..100 degrees that is just sooo hot! I would have passed out!!

You did very well at your hoops. Maybe you need to have a muscle massage on that tight hip muscle. A few people on here say it really helps. Are you still icing? See I too am learning from this forum.

Keep up the good progress and dont do too much

x

 

[Dashinghippie]

@Suzette "Maybe you need to have a muscle massage on that tight hip muscle. "
It's why I have a spouse!
lol

At my current stage of recovery, I seem to need warmth on some spots (to loosen up tight muscles) and ice on other areas (to reduce swelling, tho that's almost gone)...poor poor bodies we have, eh? They're so confused with all the regular beatings!
;)

 

[Suzette]

Yes the hips/ thighs have been assaulted ..a lot and mmmm I must get a massage from my other half too!

Do you find that, although you had both done at the same time, one hip is doing better than the other?

My left one is great my right one is not!!

 

[Dashinghippie]

left leg felt like my own leg and perfectly placed from day 1, tho it had the expected swelling and soreness...zero issues with it.

The right felt 'not mine', was more sore, had a small clicking in the piriformis area of the lower outer hip bone while walking, and toe turned in a little bit...all due to the changed geometry because they felt the need to lengthen it 1cm.
So, after 17 days, the left works almost normally, while the right is a work in progress...I'm retraining my brain to remap where exactly my right leg/foot is when I move it, so that at the end of the process, I hope to regain my foot/eye quickness on both sides equally.
The right is coming along with that retraining, and the clicking is diminishing every day, nearly gone now.

The surgeon said I had very large femural heads (like for a 6'2" or more guy, and I'm only 5' 10") and that the left and right side were like working on two different patients...my legs were that different and he'd not seen that before.
But they were both obliterated structurally, and he said, "I honestly don't know why you never felt any pain up until one year ago, nor how you even managed to walk for about the last 2 years!!??!!"
Answer: Big muscles, with lots of self-control over which muscles were firing off and contracting at all times to create a wall of muscle around my hips simultaneously, to be able to walk, ride, swim - essentially using my muscles as a sort of exoskeleton to take the weight off the bone on bone destruction. It got *really* hard to do in the 2-3 months leading up to the surgery, the pain got that intense, and I kept working out right thru it.
So now the recovery is fairly easy for me as a result of all that muscle work earlier.

 

[Suzette]

Thats good you built up all those muscles. Mine just disapeared and I am usually fairly muscular in the thighs. Still I will get them back. Not as quick as you though .

I didnt notice anything with my hips until last November when I finally tore the labrum, then it was downhill all the way until I had surgery. The pain was getting mixed in with the sciatica pain from my back.

Luckily the back surgeon recognised the new pain and referred me straight away for an MRI and the hip surgeon.

Then everything went very quickly in the usually slow NHS process. Phew!!

 

[Dashinghippie]

breakthru today!
You know how it's hard to put on undies, pants, compression stockings, socks, and shoes by yourself?

Well, today, my swelling dropped just low enough that for the first time, I was able to put on all those things while balancing on one foot at a time, like normal!
I had been doing it all along by lying on my back and reaching my feet with my fingertips.
A wee bit of normalcy returned on day 18!

Only a fellow hippie could understand such a seeming silly sounding achievement!

So tonight, I celebrated by taking my 6-spd manual car out for a spin to do a bunch of errands...YAY for normalcy!

 

[djklaugh]

Yeah for normalcy

 

[Dashinghippie]

Day 21:

been a few days since reporting status...new things:
1. can now sit on the floor with my legs sitting on my heels (haunches)...swelling nearly gone.
2. walk at 2/3 speed with full swinging arm gait
3. jogged slowly around the PT gym twice today. PT guy, "looking good, how does it feel?" good.
4. went in pool today for 1st time, felt good.
5. went down pool slide 3x, splashed wave all over the lifeguard at the bottom landing pool. it's the little things.
6. can now do the complete round of machines at the PT gym, roughly half to 2/3 weight that I did a year ago. Getting there quickly.
7. can now sleep on either side without pillows or drugs
8. no drugs at all any more as of a day or two ago.

 

[Suzette]

thats really really great. Bet you are very happy

My right is still giving me some problems but my left is good. Shame they are both not good. Never mind 50 % pain free, well nearly, is better than both being painful.

Keep up the good work

X

 

[Dashinghippie]

@Suzette, hope your right catches up with your left in this next week or so...nice to have them balanced.

My right is also worse than my left, and I tweaked the right yesterday doing a stupid 'kid' thing with my nieces on the water slide.
I was ripping down the slide for the 3rd time, with the full intent to swamp the lifeguard at the bottom with my 'butt wave'. As I rounded the final turn into the straight discharge chute, I saw that she had moved left in the water, so I angled my legs slightly to ride up on the right sidewall, so as to rip out the chute aiming slightly left.
In doing that, my left leg was raised and my right was lower, and my right foot, unfortunately, entered the water first, yanking my right leg back as the wave was created (hitting her pretty well!)...but it hurt a bit. I definitely strained the outermost hip muscle/tendons a bit, and they were already the most sensitive (as they are on you).
Better this morning, so probably okay...
Duh.
kids, we mess up sometimes!

 

[Suzette]

Ooooh @Dashinghippie yes that the same place I get the throb. You came off lightly...which no doubt your neice didnt, getting rather 'splashed' suppose a splash is better than the outer muscle being yanked. ..kids ah never learn!!

I am walking great around the house and garden stickless, just aware of the right side now aching. So time to rest it up.

I have to watch when I turn left or right, not to end up twisting the leg /hip changing direction, that causes a sharp intake of breath.

Cant wait to see surgeon on 24th to see whats next and hoping the incision fully heals, so I can at least submerge!! Its still bit open where I think a bit more stitch is popping out. Swelling gone down though.

Now be careful out there playing

 

[Grumpyjoe]

So have you tried heat therapy before any of your PT? Or even before new exercises? When training for runs and bike rides I would heat up muscle groups before hard workouts to soften the punch. Then after I would heat/cold/heat till relaxed.

Also hitting water is like hitting concrete. Must take care of impacts on water too, but still need to have fun.

 

[Dashinghippie]

@Grumpyjoe
Coincidentally, I have PT today, in 1 hour, and I was just sitting here with my microwaveable thermo-pad (a small heatable or freezeable pad that ties around the waist and sits right around the outside of the hip - about perfect for spot heating or cooling) on my right hip.
The right one is of course the one that's been a bit persnickety since day 1, and of course, it's the one I tweaked a bit on that silly water slide maneuver last week (not repeated...just went down like a reasonable human after that)...
so I'm warming it up even before my bike warm-up at PT in an hour.

Also, did a bunch of shooting on the hoops court again 2 days ago. I stayed sane so didn't tweak anything.
so, all good, still making progress, tho I seem to be at a bit of an expected plateau. Progress seems to come in bunches and then it levels out for a few days until the next progression of ability or feeling of improvement.

Still feel a little like the 'michelin man' at the very top front of both thighs (a feeling of both thickness and stiffness on usage), but slowly reverting to normal muscle movement.

I'll be at week 4 in just 2 days, so still feel like I'm improving regularly.

 

[Suzette]

Hi @Dashinghippie so glad you behaved yourself on that slide and shooting the hoops its funny this 4 week slump, I got past that bit , but now week 5 seems to be another phase, the deep muscle throb phase, that I am hoping represents the soft tissues/muscle repairing phase!! Plus I am doing more walking about the house doing normal stuff , well more like interfering really. By 6 pm I am flagging and disapear with my cup of tea and pain meds and chill in the elevated position.

Trying the gel thermo pads too, but warm rather than cold, to see if that helps. Seems to be settling down.

hope your PT went well

 

[Dashinghippie]

2 more PT sessions under my belt, successful - and hard - workouts (PT guys say I'm doing things and weights in workout that're usually reserved for hipsters of 3 to 6 month recovery stages), all good there.

Question:
My wife wants to walk with me up to the basketball court (instead of driving as before), and I'm not sure about that distance, tho it'd likely be fine.
It's a ~half mile to the court, plus all the walking around while doing the shooting routine...and mostly my concern is about then walking another half mile home.

Walking feels and looks about normal, at 4 wks and 2 days, but I haven't walked nearly that far in one shot yet.
still have minor 'michelin man' tightness in upper thigh area, around and above the scar areas.

Anyone have experience or thoughts about that length of walking?
Thx

 

[Suzette]

Hi @Dashinghippie, I definitely am not as fit as you either pre op or post, but I did walk 1.5 miles yesterday, Of course I know this from the 2 pedometers I was wearing (I am accidently winning the bid on ebay for another one..whoops) I used sticks , as I do if outside the house, I do end up carrying them some of the time, but have them just in case. I didn't really feel any ill affects until about 8 hours later when muscles starting complaining.

This morning when I woke, oooh very very stiff and achy everywhere from the knees up. This is obviously due to my muscles not having experienced this walking for a while. You may find you are ok with your walk as your muscles are already getting back into shape, but it is my right leg that is my worse, since the op, that is giving me trouble today. ...again, so you may find your worse tight hip/thigh starts playing up a bit after your walk and hoops.

What about you walking the half mile, do your hoops, but get someone to pick you up for the way back home and see how things feel, rather than just doing the whole thing in one go?

I will be doing a bit of stretching later...

Let us know how it goes x

 

[Dashinghippie]

@Suzette - 93 degrees hot before lunch - walked 1/2 mi there, shot maybe 75 shots, foul line and 3 point line, sweat like a pig, walked back home...so maybe 1.5 miles of pretty fast walk (I'd estimate maybe 4 mph). iced a bit when home, took a naproxen after lunch.

got a bit tired pre-dinner, like my body needed a recharge, so I relaxed in the nice AC and did some mild stretching is all.

A little restless tonight in the scar crease area and outer upper thigh/hip bone areas, both legs, but more right (as usual). took a muscle relaxant an hour ago, will take a percocet and trazadone at midnight (1 hr from now) and go to sleep ~2 hrs from now.
Should be fine tomorrow, but as always, we'll see!

like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get!


btw, light stretching while still sitting in a chair (I figured this out while playing lots of bridge over the past 3 weeks)...do you have that mastered yet?

 

[Suzette]

Hi @Dashinghippie that's great all went ok with the walk etc. I will be happy when the right leg settles down too!

Yes I have been stretching and all seems to be fine. I too have to take a muscle relaxant when the right hip starts, it will be great when it starts behaving itself !!

It is raining here and it's supposed to be summer, and it's cold!

 

[Dashinghippie]

After that ~7 hr sleep, I felt good today.

Swam, ran and side-crabbed a bunch of laps in the pool....tiring. It turns out that swimming freestyle moves the front hip muscles a LOT !! Who knew?

well, am fatigued tonight, so will do 1 perc, 1 trazadone, 1 dulcolax at midnight, and hope to repeat the great sleep!

Have duplicate bridge all day tomorrow, want to win the big bucks.
;)