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THR gwenc's recovery

hi @gwenc oh yes, I would certainly expect pain at 7 weeks after sitting! I'd expect solid discomfort after sitting a long time at seven months! And as for the rest, it does sound activity related. I found my first hip took actually to years, possibly 2 1/2, to bloom to its fullest potential. However, I wasn't in such great shape as you are, so I'll say that you'd be ahead of me on that.

I have to laugh at your definition of moderate activity as including cleaning (as in mucking out?) three stalls, plus all that other stuff. In many books that's a high level of activity! :cool:
I am very glad that it's a good day after bad ones. May this trend continue for you!
 
Zauberflote: In my book, any day which does not include riding or doing groundwork with at least one horse is "moderate" activity. However right now I am quite pleased with having had a good day even after driving the tractor - which is very "stiff" to step on the brake. Hopefully if I am very careful I will be back in the saddle in September.
 
@gwenc re that tractor with the stiff brake, yeah, I feel that. I tried all kinds of cycling machines post op, because everybody was being given them in PT, or doing it on their own, and "it's the only exercise I can do pain free" but wow, I just could NOT make it comfortable! So as it's not my favorite activity unless I'm actually tearing up some pretty scenery, I gave up. Walking was and is my fave. My PA for the last hip told me the elliptical would be my new best friend, but I don't have the lungs/heart for it-- just starting the thing up sends me into high gear.

Your activity level book is probably so good it's old-fashioned! As in, not dumbed down for couch potatoes! But, as I'm not in the kind of shape you are, those things would still be high activity for me until I'd done them daily for a few years and gotten tough to it.

I hope today is a good day for you and the horses!!!!
 
Thanks, so far so good! In fact a bit better than yesterday. Pain level not over a 2. Just stiffness ("peg-leg" sensation) while walking, but it doesn't really hurt, just feels weird and I know it looks weird. No meds yet today other than a glass of red wine and the oil. Hmmmmmm - am I onto something here????
 
Yay @gwenc !!!! I am re-learning my tricks to walking smoothly in recovery-- I find that if I do a whole pile of glute squeezes, quad contractions, seated ankle whatsits, etc, while still seated, that walking is slightly more graceful at the start LOL
 
Thanks for the tip I will try that. Did not sleep well last night. Still morning started out well until a few hours went by. Now getting mild twinges and a lot of stiffness. Took 3 Advil last night and 3 more this morning.
 
That stiffness takes a while to go away. It's more than likely swelling inside the knee. As that goes away, so will the stiffness. For only 2 months, you are doing great!
 
sistersinhim said:
That stiffness takes a while to go away. It's more than likely swelling inside the knee. As that goes away, so will the stiffness. For only 2 months, you are doing great!
Click to expand...

Swelling inside the knee????? Its my hip, not my knee, LOL .... I don't have any swelling in my knee at all, thank goodness!
 
Ut oh, sorry about that. I thought you had the knee replaced! Great that you knee isn't stiff! :rotfl:
 
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@gwenc So, hip or knee, whatever,--- did your knee swell up back in the early days of recovery? Mine is still very sore-- it feels like a piece of chicken that's been tenderized Very Well... For the other hip, it was bad, but not like this!
 
The outer part of my upper thigh and up into the hip are still swollen, but not severely. I did not have terrible swelling even shortly after surgery. I consider the swelling I have "normal" I understand it can take 6-12 months for every last little bit of that swelling to subside.

OK, so report for yesterday is about the same as day before, maybe a tad worse. Pain minimal upon rising, then maybe up to a 4 by bedtime. I took 600 mg Advil (3 tablets) 4 times in last 24 hours, which is the maximum dosage. Plus the magic oil, LOL.

It's more like stiffness and extreme tiredness in the thigh, but there is also pain in the hip joint as well. I also find that my butt cheek on the operated leg is very sore by the end of the day (I had anterior surgery so this nowhere near the site of the incision). Its almost like I have a cramp in my left butt cheek and its impossible to get comfortable when sleeping. I can sleep on my non-operated side with a pillow between my legs for a while but after an hour or two my hip gets sore like its stretching too much. I know, I know ...what a whiner, right? I see my doc next Thursday and I am hoping he can at least take an xray and put my mind to rest that everything still looks good inside. I think all of my issues are due to LLD. The nurse at my orthopods office recommended putting a Dr Scholls insole in my non operated leg shoe. That helps a bit, but it still does not make up for the LLD, whether it be real or perceived.
 
@gwenc hmmmmmm take a look at this library article on piriformis syndrome....see if it at all describes your "cramp" sensation. I also had anterior, on both. And I have the problem piriformis on the right side. Waahhhh!

You are not a "whiner" unless you officially have cheese with it :heehee: I am wondering, if the LLD is perceived and not actual, would putting an insert in your shoe be useful? I'd be afraid it would tilt things the wrong way.

My first hip-- and this one is on track to match it-- was swollen exactly where you say for several months. A benchmark or even landmark day for me was the day I could wear a certain pair of white sailcloth pants without the purple ink up and down the incision pressing against the fabric! My surgery was in May, and I think I could wear those at the end of August... does your OS write all over the hip? Mine signs it in my presence when he asks which hip-- and he makes sure to name and then point at the totally wrong hip. So he points at the left, calls it the right, and asks if it's the right I'm having done.... purple ink, takes forever to fade!

I have had that pillow-between-the-legs stuff too! Last hip I kept waffling between a larger and a smaller pillow. This hip, the fatter pillow has disappeared into thin air, so I'm stuck with the flatter one, and it's not perfect. Time for some pillow shopping...
 
@zauberflöte I read the link and it may be my periformis related pain - my massage therapist who I have gone to for years has said I have a tight periformis even before the surgery. Fortunately it sounds like its not that serious and can be resolved non-surgically. I do sit on the ice pack sometimes just like it says. And I do the OTC anti-inflammatories and try not to overdo (still the hardest for me). I can't do that stretch they describe. In fact I never could do that even before the surgery. Just physically cannot put that leg in that position. The other one I can hug to my chest and across like they say.

Also, I wondered too about the insert in the shoe. but it was the ortho's nurse who told me to put it in my shoe. You would think she would not have recommended that if it was contra-indicated. @Josephine ?? What do you think? Will ask the doc on Thursday when I go for my checkup.

And yes, the ink was all over my knee actually, not the hip. But it took a couple of weeks to fade. I don't remember him asking me which hip in the O/R I passed completely out on the way there. Last image I have is of kissing hubby goodbye in the hallway.
 
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@gwenc can your massage therapist loosen the piriformis up? I don't have alot of success with that stretch because I can't LIVE that way, shaped like a pretzel, now can I. LOL. It feels really good, but only for as long as I'm doing it.

Wow-- I tossed hubby out waaaayyyy before that. He was invited into the prep room (where OS did the signing ceremony) but I'd felt I had to "entertain" him for the first hip, and I knew he'd be right out there all during surgery, so I kissed him byebye in the waiting room and he ran off for coffee!

I've had some experiences with my OS nurses that lead me to believe they don't all agree on things, and also sometimes say things completely opposite of what my OS says. I'll bet your massage therapist would be able to help with any pelvic tilt if it comes to that? I was convinced that, since I felt a HUGE LLD this time around, I must have a tilted pelvis-- but here at 2 weeks 2 days, it seems almost gone in my perception. I am ignoring it to start with LOL but my walk is becoming less rolling so something in my perception/proprioception must be settling down!
 
@zauberflöte - yes she is working on it. Its a chronic problem I guess, exacerbated by the surgery I am sure. I will ask my doc about the LLD and the insert. My perceived LLD is less than right after surgery, but still very noticeable. I'd say at first it felt like almost an inch and now maybe 1/2 an inch.
 
@gwenc we are in the same ballpark then-- I was feeling like "nearly an inch, holy moly!" and now it's just kind of "a little bit". I think for both of us it will all come out in the wash. Swelling feels different on everybody, I guess.
 
gwenc said:
and can be resolved non-surgically
Click to expand...
Actually there is no surgical answer to this.
gwenc said:
I wondered too about the insert in the shoe
Click to expand...
An insert is not going to help at all.
gwenc said:
I can't do that stretch they describe.
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I'm famously restricted to what I can do but I can do this one.

[Bonesmart.org] gwenc's recovery
 
Thanks Jo, I will remove the insert. I guess I was misunderstanding the stretch as described in the article. The stretch pictured above I have done before the surgery. However probably best not to do this one now at only just over 2 months??? I will ask the doc on Thursday.

So yesterday was a SUPER good day. Very little pain, just some stiffness. Only took 3 x 3 Advil. Hubby and I went out in the afternoon to listen to music. Had a couple glasses of red wine and I even danced a few steps and it felt fine. However, I have learned my lesson and stopped after just a minute or two because I didn't want to push it! This morning I woke up and did my PT and all feels good! Hooray!
 
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