THR Diary of my journey to happy times

Two week anniversary! I had no idea that I would be feeling so good so soon. Today I ventured to the street. This involved quite a high step down, with no hand rail. I managed it easily, and the return too. It was nice see our front garden, bulbs coming up but the geraniums (pelargoniums) still hanging in there with a few flowers. Wreaths on front doors and Christmas decorations in the windows.

This means I can now go out and about when the mood takes me. H and I discussed last night where we could find stairs for me to practise on. I have been staying downstairs in our Victorian terrace house. It has a steep flight of steps which are shallow, not enough room for the whole of my foot. I’m sure I could get up, and if I wasn’t such a wuss I could get down. But I am a wuss and picture myself stuck at the top in terror of falling. So we will use some more generously dimensioned stairs as practice. H came up with a brilliant idea, a local rather posh furniture store which has ample parking and a cafe upstairs. I’ll just let them get their Boxing Day sale out of the way first!
 
Happy Two Week Anniversary! I hope you had a nice day.
Let us know how you do on the steps. You're definitely on your way. Life is good. :yes:
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2019!
@Klassy
:treestar: :merry christmas:
 
You are getting there @Klassy !
I'm glad you have decided to nap when necessary..and not sweat it if you aren't able to sleep all night.
It is a process for sure.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!:dancing:
 
Hey @Klassy, I just read your diary, and, wow - what a ride.

Congrats on the new hip, sorry about the spill, the low bp, and damn the doll in the car who gave me a really good giggle.

Remember all the pain and discomfort is temporary, but look after yourself and take things nice and easy. my new hip is 6 months old, and I love it. and so will you , yours. Give it time.

I love the way you write, and can’t wait for the next gripping installment. Make it interesting and wry and all. But *not* the kind of interesting that has you dialing 999. I will still use Netflix for that.

I wish you well. May your pain and discomfort alleviate quickly, so you can experience you new hip life.
 
Thanks @Harryn1. Yes let’s leave Netflix to provide the thrills.

I’m glad to hear you are enjoying your new hip at 6 months. On your thread you mentioned 3 lessons from all this: stay positive, never take good health for granted and thank god for a supportive spouse. Amen to all! I add one more, which comes through loud and clear from Bonesmart: be patient and avoid the ODIC. It’s hard isn’t it? Not only do we want to get back to having a life, and ticking off the achievements, but all the experts, not to mention the well-intentioned ignorants, tell us to exercise. The only hippie I talked to pre-op kept reiterating the importance of doing the exercises. Who knows, she might have recovered twice as fast without. The Bonesmart message took a while to sink in, but gradually I’ve cut the exercises to the minimum, mostly concentrating on walking little and often. If anyone who thinks differently asks me if I’ve been complying I may fib. Christmas has been convenient in this respect, because I would normally have had an appointment with a physio at two weeks, ie yesterday. Because of the holidays I will be going on Day 23, and that is fine by me.

This morning, with H in anxious attendance, I walked all the way to the corner of our street and back, about 200 yards, wishing warm greetings to the two complete strangers we passed. A joy to see new faces after 2 weeks of growing cabin fever! They returned the greeting politely after they recovered from the shock of being addressed by a stranger. It may be Christmas Day, but it is England after all.

I have a seasonal avatar. I will update it at some point, so for the record, I will describe it here. It is a small and solitary Brussels sprout, neatly labelled in its own plastic bag. This is not a sign that we hate sprouts, unlike many people, but that we have made our first foray into online grocery shopping. Ha! I wonder what the person packing it thought. @SurreyGirl suggested we use it as a bauble, love that!

H made a mercy dash to the supermarket for a more sensible quantity of sprouts, so Christmas dinner (just the two of us this year) hasn’t had to be cancelled. He is bustling in the kitchen, I am resting comfortably, something is starting to smell delicious, Springsteen is singing about Santa coming to town, and life is good.

Happy Christmas everyone!
 
It's going to keep getting better.
Glad you are taking it easy.
That surgery trauma needs to settle before we can expect that new hip to perform!
Good on you, for your Christmas greetings to strangers.
Hope your day was Merry and bright.:tree lights:
 
and life is good.
Yes it is! We sometimes forget as our pain increases and our flexibility and mobility decrease.
I often see member's post "Life Is Good" post op. Thankfully so! An attitude of gratitude.
Hope your evening is a good one!
@Klassy
 
Day 16: I had my first outing!

We drove to the sea, about 25 minutes drive each way. Getting in and out of the car was slightly awkward but painfree. I ventured for a very short walk along the promenade, H coming behind to shield me from boisterous dogs (nil) and small over-excited boys having their first ride on a battery powered toy car (1). I was very disciplined about turning around before I was tired.

Then I took to my bed and had leftover Xmas dinner for tea. Happy!
 
Night 16. I have been getting about 5 hours sleep per 24 hours, in pieces of 2 hours or less combined over day and night. Good news is that last night I got to sleep earlier, about 12.30 am, previously had been 2.30 to 4 am, slept for an hour, woke and turned TV off :) , got to sleep again quickly and got a nice continuous block of 4 hours. So still only 5 hours, but less of the lying awake feeling sleep-deprived. [edited later, fell asleep after posting this and got another hour. 6 hours, that’s almost normal!]

I have been using Bonesmart to garner views on the TED stockings. I haven’t found too many fans! I have knee high ones. The nurse measured me and tried and rejected one size, but I still think these are the wrong size. I have short legs and if I pull them up taut (as I do over and over) they come above the knees, as well as having a couple of spare inches hanging beyond my toes. Then of course they roll down and form a nasty little ring round my calf. Having assessed all views on here I decided to perform a little surgery, and slit the top inch. Of the stockings not the calf. That does feel better!
 
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I don't blame you for retrofitting your lovely stockings:oyvey:

Legs already feel super aggravated and those things annoyed me beyond measure!

You are doing just great...glad you thought to edit your walk...
Slow and steady wins this race.:thumb:
Happy Thursday!:tada:
 
Thanks @Mojo333 . I have just been reading the booklet that came with my TEDs ( when all else fails, read the directions, as they say in DIY) and it says “Do not cover any portion of the knee... Top of stocking is 1-2 inches below bottom of knee cap”. So I have been doing it wrong, and hopefully will be more comfortable now.

Despite a reasonable night, I feel tetchy and achy this morning. Maybe a touch of ODIC. I wanted to be a bit more independent in fetching for myself, so yesterday I began taking a few steps with just one crutch while I carried with the spare hand. But I don’t even feel stable with 2 crutches today.

Day 17 blues I guess.
 
Really early days..
And recovery can be anything but a straight line.
rps20171117_054543.jpg

Try not to get discouraged...you are probably at that first big left loopy thing.:heehee:
It does go up eventually!
Hope today is a good day!:tada:
 
Thanks @Mojo333 , I can say that drawing is absolutely spot on for the first section at least!

Night 17 was very good. Despite doing almost nothing but nap the previous day, I got a fairly solid 8 hours sleep. Amazing!
 
Oh my stars...how jealous am I?:sleeep:
I didn't sleep that long for months!
Restorative healing sleep.
Best thing in the world for recovery.
Have a great day @Klassy :SUNsmile:
 
:hi: Happy Friday!
Yay for sleep! A solid 8 hrs is awesome. Especially this early into recovery.
I hope you gave a great weekend!
@Klassy
 
Thanks @Mojo333 , I can say that drawing is absolutely spot on for the first section at least!

Night 17 was very good. Despite doing almost nothing but nap the previous day, I got a fairly solid 8 hours sleep. Amazing!

That is excellent so soon out from the op. Well done! Do expect bouts of tiredness during the day for no apparent reason and don’t join the ODIC! It is a crowded enough place already!
 
Day 18 was good. I walked in our street to the corner and part way round the next street. I really wanted to go round the block but once again stopped before I was tired and headed back. It was that little bit further than last time, so I’m content. I made short forays indoors using a single crutch; it’s great to be able to fetch things for myself and not have to keep troubling H. I even managed to turn the radiator control, which is low and frustratingly impossible to grip with my reacher, by doing that sort of curtsy dip.

I do feel a bit of a wimp for taking it so slowly, but I have taken the slow and steady message to heart.

Pain is well under control. I mostly have no pain when lying flat or sitting in bed. I have been a little bit sore when sitting in a chair (I don’t have a decent chair really) but today that was much improved, and I could sit at a table and do some admin bits and pieces on the computer. I get a bit of an ache on walking, but I don’t mind that as it reminds me to control my movements to avoid the possibility of dislocation. I have been taking close to maximum dose of paracetamol over the day, and usually have 1 or 2 codeine at night. I have just realised though that I only have 2 codeine left. I was given a pack of 28 when I left the hospital 15 days ago. Was I meant to be off them by now? This is a bad time to run out, coming up to the weekend. If I can’t get through tonight comfortably without codeine I’ll have to try to get to the GP tomorrow, Saturday, morning, or I’ll be stuck till Monday. But it’s pretty much time to settle down and try to sleep, I’m feeling no pain and I still have 3 paracetamol from today’s allowance to take if needed, so I should be ok without codeine.

This is a very dull post! But I guess boring is good.
 
My GP did give me some more codeine when I asked and I used it mainly at night but once or twice during the day when I overdid things.

You can get co codamol over the counter which has codeine and paracetemol. Just remember to include the paracetemol when working out your daily limit to avoid overdosing. That might help if you can’t get to a Gp.
 
Thanks so much for this suggestion @SurreyGirl . I looked up co codomal, it appears to have 8 mg of codeine to 500 mg of paracetamol. If I took the max allowed for paracetamol it would only equal half of my codeine per dose, but that is of course more than nothing and would be equal to 2 codeine tablets over a day. So I will get in a pack to keep in reserve, just in case I have a flare up. Things are looking good though, Night 18 I got 7 hours sleep and I didn’t need codeine.

Thanks also for your previous suggestion about sheepskin under my heels. Luckily we had a mat of roughly woven natural wool, much like a sheepskin except the sheep also is happy, and using that fixed the problem immediately. I’m sure that’s been a big contributor to my improvement in sleep.
 

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