THR Dogchick's Hippy Recovery Adventure

[luvsibes]

You're moving along, Dogchick, one step at a time. I know being patient is challenging. You are just past 3 weeks and are feeling the changes but slow and steady is the best. My OS at my 3 week post-op said if in doubt it's best to be scared and wait for another moment to try something. Togo send pup love back to you and Kalia!

 

[InkedMarie]

Sounds like you’re doing well, DogChick! Doesn’t seem like we’re three weeks+ already.

 

[Bone-obo]

Three weeks is a big hipaversary, you guys! Congrats to you all! Still more fun to come - beware the dreaded energy drain monster, which lurks around the corner for another couple of weeks. Maybe. Still and all, I remember that 3rd week as the first time I felt good since the surgery. Wishing you the same!

 

[dogchick]

You're moving along, Dogchick, one step at a time. I know being patient is challenging. You are just past 3 weeks and are feeling the changes but slow and steady is the best. My OS at my 3 week post-op said if in doubt it's best to be scared and wait for another moment to try something. Togo send pup love back to you and Kalia!

I agree, I would rather take something slow than push it too much and end up hurting myself or setting myself back. I am trying to be patient, but it's hard when you are ready to start your life up already. Big hugs to you and to Togo from both me and Kalia!

Sounds like you’re doing well, DogChick! Doesn’t seem like we’re three weeks+ already.

It really doesn't seem like it's been 3 weeks already! I keep thinking it's only been 2 weeks, but, at least for me, I'm coming up on 4 weeks...One Month! On Tuesday! Shocking! How are you doing? I need to go visit your thread.

Three weeks is a big hipaversary, you guys! Congrats to you all! Still more fun to come - beware the dreaded energy drain monster, which lurks around the corner for another couple of weeks. Maybe. Still and all, I remember that 3rd week as the first time I felt good since the surgery. Wishing you the same!

Thank you! I had a HUGE energy drain last week...big time. I think I slept more than I was awake, and I'm not exaggerating. But I'll be on the look out for another one, just in case. This week I am feeling pretty good, doing more around the house to take the pressure off Dogdude. Today, I even walked down the stairs to my basement....scary since I haven't done it before and nobody was home, and there is only one railing. I needed more milk upstairs, and the extra gallon was in the fridge in the basement. I did ok, took it slow, both ways. Made sure the dog wasn't about to trip me by pushing by me, and it didn't hurt. Yay!! I'm about to post a little update about today next.

 

[dogchick]

So...guess who went to PT without taking Percocet?? This Hippie did!! Oh yeah I did! Guess what else this Hippie did?? Yep, this Hippie DROVE to PT! I still had Pup Prince #2 go with me, just in case there was any issue, sort of a practice run, I guess, but I did it! I feel so free! I can't even tell you. Even though I didn't go anywhere else today, it's nice that I could have if I wanted to. As I mentioned above, I also went down into the basement by myself! This weekend, I plan to go to Sunday services, but first a practice run tomorrow to see if I'll be able to sit in the chairs ok. But I'm pretty sure I'll be able to. I'm looking forward to it. So, that's my update.

 

[Quiltmom]

So...guess who went to PT without taking Percocet?? This Hippie did!! Oh yeah I did! Guess what else this Hippie did?? Yep, this Hippie DROVE to PT! I still had Pup Prince #2 go with me, just in case there was any issue, sort of a practice run, I guess, but I did it! I feel so free! I can't even tell you

Wow! I'm envious! Hubby went to work today so it was just me and my pups. He forgot to feed them before he left at noon.. at 3:30 they're standing in front of me crying. Dog food in laundry room in bin. Got a super market bag. Went down stairs and used golfer's bend to fill bag. Hobbled up stairs and dropped it in their bowls. All worked out.

 

[dogchick]

Wow! I'm envious! Hubby went to work today so it was just me and my pups. He forgot to feed them before he left at noon.. at 3:30 they're standing in front of me crying. Dog food in laundry room in bin. Got a super market bag. Went down stairs and used golfer's bend to fill bag. Hobbled up stairs and dropped it in their bowls. All worked out.

Good for you!! We all find ways to get things done that we think we can't do, that's for sure!

 

[Bchbum4evr]

@Quiltmom - you've encouraged me! I've not tackled our stairs yet (Master and main living area ground floor), but tomorrow girlfriends are coming for movie night, so I have to tackle stairs. Handrails both sides, so should be ok!

 

[Quiltmom]

@Quiltmom - you've encouraged me! I've not tackled our stairs yet (Master and main living area ground floor), but tomorrow girlfriends are coming for movie night, so I have to tackle stairs. Handrails both sides, so should be ok!

Go for it!!!

 

[Bchbum4evr]

@dogchick Kudos for being off opioids! It will also help to keep 'things moving' on the inside!

You are doing great! Can't imagine what it will be like to DRIVE! You go girl!!

Don't get too energetic...isn't it great to FEEL good!??

 

[InkedMarie]

Hi DogChick! Yay for no Percocet/PT & for driving!

I’m okay, having a few stupid things happening; check my thread if you want. I’ll live LOL

 

[dogchick]

@dogchick Kudos for being off opioids! It will also help to keep 'things moving' on the inside!

You are doing great! Can't imagine what it will be like to DRIVE! You go girl!!

Don't get too energetic...isn't it great to FEEL good!??

I keep expecting to have a bad day and having to go back to taking a percocet, but so far I haven't had to. It's early yet though. Driving was SO freeing! My son is a safe driver, but you know how it is when you are used to being the driver, and they handle situations differently than you would and because he is not as familiar with my vehicle as he is with his own....sometimes I would hang on for dear life and then to make him think I wasn't doing that, I would say, "It's just that the brakes in the truck are a little grabby and I have to keep myself from sliding in the seat."

Hi DogChick! Yay for no Percocet/PT & for driving!

I’m okay, having a few stupid things happening; check my thread if you want. I’ll live LOL

I finally found your thread. Sorry you are having those issues. I commented on your thread, but hope it gets better soon.

 

[dogchick]

Hey there all,
Last night was weird. Even though I didn't really get much of a nap during the day and I had a busy day, I could NOT go to sleep until after 3:30am. Thankfully, I didn't have anywhere I needed to be this morning. I slept until 7:30am. Got up, ate a yogurt took some Tylenol and watched some cooking shows that I DVR'd and needed to catch up on (Pioneer Woman and Trisha Yearwoods Southern Kitchen).
Dogdude came home from work around 1pm and did some stuff around the house. We then took the chocolate monster with us to go to the local Runnings store (Sort of a large Tractor Supply store if you are familiar with that, if not, it's sort of a farm department store). We had to buy a new waterer for our chickens because the one we had got rusty and stopped working correctly. My former student (pics in my pre-op thread) had come over to visit me and I was showing her our coop and chickens, when I questioned whether there was water in the waterer. Since you have to bend over to get in there, I couldn't check so that sweet girl went in there and brought the waterer out and we cleaned it out and filled it with more water..chickens were definitely thirsty! But we couldn't get the water to stop flowing out once we put the cover on (She had chickens and is familiar with this waterer, so she wasn't doing anything wrong) so we left the cover off and she put it in the coop like that. I don't know why I told you that, but good thing she was there to help me out because I wouldn't have been able to do anything and it is SUPER, SUPER humid out. Anyway, so we went to the store, and for the first time, I decided to attempt walking through the store using the cart. I'm not so sure that was such a good idea. I contemplated using the ride-on cart, but thought the exercise would be good for me. Before we even got to the back of the store I was having to stop and rest, and was starting to sweat. I didn't tell Dogdude I was feeling like that. Honestly, it was so much easier to just walk with the crutch than it was to use the cart. It just wasn't the right kind of support for me right now. Anyway, the chicken stuff is at the middle back of the store, so we got our pine shavings and a new waterer. Chocolate monster got super excited when she saw a little pug in the store and couldn't contain her excitement and barked excitedly. Everybody in that area of the store started laughing. Anyway, so I had to walk all the way to the front of the store to check out (saw another former student...actually a few that work there) and then waited while Dogdude checked out, and several cashiers had to come over and pet chocolate monster who was in her glory. By the time we got out to the car (it is still very humid out) I was feeling shaky, sweaty, and weak. So, looks like next time I won't use the cart. We had to stop off at another store to get some food, I didn't go in this time, and then went home. I was so tired, I ended up taking a 2 hour nap!

Finally, I got in the shower, took a shower and rested for a few minutes. I hope I sleep tonight, oh! We stopped off to see if I could manage the chairs and I could, so I will be going to our sunday services tomorrow morning! Yippee!! It will be good to see our friends! Ok, sort of a long update, but there you go.

 

[InkedMarie]

Wow, busy day Dogchick! I wonder if all this humidity is causing some of everyone’s issues.

Sleep? I got about 3hrs last night; hope you got more!

 

[luvsibes]

Hello @dogchick - Three weeks and it sounds like you are doing well. I recall that 3 week period when I could finally shower and was moving around more. It was a turning point! (Unfortunately, the bliss was interrupted by very high temps and humidity and our AC going out, but a new system is in now and all's well.)

Pacing yourself is important at this phase as I know you've gleaned from all of us a bit ahead of you in recovery. It's also a great time to be mindful of every move and get that muscle memory back correctly for gait, etc. Sleep was elusive for me still at 3 weeks but because of the lack of AC and sweating throug weeks 4-7 I really can't say what the cause of my sleep issues were. I'm still challenged and end up sleeping sitting up toward the end of the night/early morn. I'm waiting until I can sleep on my surgery side which is my natural sleeping side but I haven't been able to do it since a few months pre-op!

I hope your outing the services yesterday went well. I still bring stadium chair pads with me to ease the sitting on the still a bit sore wound. I also found (I'm only 5') that I needed something under my feet in many chairs during outings as dangling my legs was uncomfortable. We do get creative with our tasks! Hubby brought all the grocery bags from the car to put under my feet the first outing where that was a problem!

Keep up the slow and steady, mindful recovery and pace yourself! I haven't had many times of ODIC membership but I've been lucky (of too heat exhausted to move those past few weeks of heat!l LOL!) Togo is glad we have the new AC as it's back into heat wave for us again.

Take care and I'll look forward to following your next hippy adventures!

 

[dogchick]

Oh My Goodness! It's officially 4 weeks post op today for me! I can't believe it's been 4 weeks already. I have come a long way in some respects. I'm only taking Tylenol in the mornings right after I have a bite to eat, and then, if I'm feeling sore when I go to bed, I'll take some then too, but that hasn't been very often. I'm proud of myself for getting rid of the opioids. In other respects, I wish I could be further along. I still can only walk when I have 1 crutch. My OP leg just doesn't want to cooperate with that. I don't think there is any mystery about it. Before surgery, the muscles in that leg had gotten very weak because of the bone spur keeping my leg from moving out to the side and up very well, especially to the side. I often had to lift my leg into the car when I was getting in. I still sometimes have to do it. I still have trouble sitting or laying down and trying to lift it to move it over onto the bed, or if I'm trying to move it over in the recliner. I wish I could already do that without having to help it along. I just don't have that strength yet. Which could be the reason I can't use a cane yet. Using the shopping cart in the store this past weekend was a real eye-opener, I thought it would be a good support, but it was not, it was too far forward, even when I was using my elbows on the cart with my hands stretched out holding on to the cart. The crutch is the perfect support for me right now. I just want to move past that so bad, because I will have to go back to work at the end of August and I don't want to be using a crutch. LOL! Impatience on my part, I guess.

Yesterday, I went to PT, iced while there, and then drove over to the High school where I work to visit a co-worker who was working summer school with her non-verbal/medically fragile student. I usually work summer school, but obviously I am not this year. She is a nurse, and I just wanted to catch up with her, see how things were going, etc. I had a nice visit with her, about an hour long. Then I went home and had lunch. It was just a bowl of cereal because I was too tired out to actually make something. It tired me out being out that long. But it was good to see my friend and catch up on all the gossip and goings on. I wish I had more energy to do more than that, but that was about the extent of it for me, so another way I wish I was a little further along. I know not to compare my journey with others, but sometimes I wish I could do what others who had surgery after me are doing. I'll get there, I know...with....that dreaded word...Patience There's my update for now. Need to go finish checking out all my notifications.

 

[Jaycey]

Still early days @dogchick ! In my experience there were significant changes between 4 and 6 weeks. Patience is prescribed. There is also significant energy drain at 4 weeks. Rest when you can and don't be in a hurry to ditch that crutch.

 

[dogchick]

Thank you @Jaycey for the encouragement. I think I need that right now. I'm not feeling the huge energy drain like I did back on about Week 2-3, but I do notice even if I'm not expending a lot of energy, but just being out and about, it sucks some energy out of me anyway. I'm going to use the time to finish reading a book I borrowed from a former co-worker. It's really good, actually. It's called The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager. If you like mysteries, you might like this. It's about a girl who goes to a summer camp, and her 3 cabin mates disappear and they never find out what happened to them. Then 15 years later, she's invited to go back to the same camp by the owner to teach painting to the campers, and she tries to find out what happened to those girls. Anyway, it's really good so far, I would recommend it.

 

[Layla]

Hi @dogchick
There will always be those who are progressing more rapidly than you and those that aren't.
We aren't always fully aware of the limitations any given person walked into surgery with. How long they limped, how long they suffered pain, how long they used an assistive device, how deteriorated their joint was, what their general health is etc. We only know what people choose to share.

As long as you're progressing, your OS is satisfied with your progress and you're not suffering any complications.....just keep doing what you're doing. Contemplate Fractured, Mirielle, Clodaghcov, Chalcedonian, SCaprae, to name a few when you're feeling discouraged.
Mark progress by weeks, not days. Try weekend to weekend, it worked for me, might for you also.
Wishing you a great rest of the week!

 

[Bchbum4evr]

Great update @dogchick! It is so nice to get out of the house, especially if it's to visit and catch up with friends.

I'm a social person, so I do enjoy visitors. However, thankfully several of my friends have been through this so they are coaching others on dropping in

Keep on doing what you are doing - slow and sure!