THR Heal first, then exercise, then dance!

[1stSurgery]

@An54, I concur with @Mojo333, Ricola is great for stopping a coughing jag! Otherwise, regarding holding your leg on, have you tried duct tape?

DISCLAIMER
The above commentary is not to be construed or interpreted as medical advice from an actual medical professional who wears a white coat and has framed certificates of expertise on their walls, but rather as the uninformed musings from an average layperson in phase 2 of home hip remodeling.

 

[Alitm]

Ricola it is, but you must have stitches in your side from giggling about @1stSurgery 's "funny" . I sure had a chuckle, but I'm not the one coughing, and I'm giggling at your @An54 expense, knowing how nasty that smoke is. Hang on to your leg, suck on Ricola drop, ice and whatever else works...very disconcerting when that happens, I can only imagine. I've been taking Reactine and NimJiom syrup to combat the smoke related issues. Take care!

I do remember friends visiting me in hospital after I had our twins by C-section. They were making me laugh, while I was still doing the crouched over C-section shuffle down the hallway, and I was BEGGING them to stop .

 

[Mojo333]

but rather as the uninformed (possibly somewhat informed but unsanctioned) musings from an average (if you are average, I'm scared) layperson in phase 2 of home hip remodeling.

Hope you had a good day, @An54

 

[SurreyGirl]

Thought of you an54 when I went to a neighbkurs party recently. I survived three hours but went home at 6pm and put my feet up to ice and relax and fell asleep before I knew it! Glad I went though.

 

[An54]

So here is my approaching-six-weeks-post-op recovery update.

I have been strongly motivated to at least appear completely independent at this point because I wanted hubby to get out in his little sailboat; that would mean leaving me on my own here at home. He has been waiting on me, and assisting me for a good part of the summer. Now as the summer winds down, it's his last chance to get out there on the water with his sailing buddy. It's also likely the last year of the boat, so I am eager for him to get the most use from it. So the boyz sailed off and I don't expect to see them for a couple of weeks. If they return alive without involving the Coast Guard, I will consider that a successful voyage. (we've got a bit of the Laurel & Hardy dynamic going on there)

I have been out on a couple of occasions for socializing, and also get out--walking-- for some grocery shopping and errands, but I keep the outings short, and followed by rest. I had the right hip done, and have been hyper-aware of how left hip and leg are coping. I'm taking 1stSurgery's warning quite seriously and when I feel strange tweaks in my left knee and hip, I am very sensitive to it, hoping the left hip won't surprise me and suddenly cave in. On the other hand, there is something to be said for getting both done and getting it over with....

The Red Cross aids have been returned, so I am no longer using the tub bench, toilet seat riser or crutches. I set up a short kitchen ladder/ folding step thingie to use as a hand-hold when I get in and out of the tub for a shower. When I am outside I use the Nordic walking poles for support. I'm still limping, and walk slowly. My new joint feels strong in itself, but my right leg is still quite stiff at times. Yesterday I had some very intense sharp shooting pains flashing down my op-leg, very painful but thankfully short-lived. Maybe it was a few nerves firing up here and there. I practise the heel-toe gait, as recommended. My worst habit is not eating properly when I am on my own, like having tapioca pudding for dinner . I have been craving a lot of milk products, cheese, puddings, yogurt. I tell myself it's the nutrients... it's not a tapioca pudding entree, it's a calcium entree ;)

 

[Layla]

Hi,
My mouth dropped when you said hubby will be gone for a couple of weeks. Not because I think you can't handle being on your own, but because I figured you were going to say he was out sailing for a couple of hours. You must be feeling confident in your progress which is a good thing.

Getting rid of those Recovery Aids one by one is a fantastic feeling. I piled them in a corner by my door, one by one, until I was finished with them all, loaded them in my car and returned them to my dad. It felt so good!

I'm glad you're using the heel-toe practice for the limp. I found it to be very effective in losing the limp.

In craving dairy, your body is craving protein. You're body needs it for healing. I'm posting a list only because at times another persons suggestion may sound appealing and be something we haven't thought of. So much of this is snack like, and may work for you since you probably don't feel like cooking meals for yourself while hubs is sailing the ocean blue.

Enjoy the week! Come by and visit often, we'll keep you company

Nuts
Trail Mix
Turkey roll ups (cheese or veggies rolled inside the turkey)
Greek Yogurt
Cottage Cheese
Hard Boiled Eggs
Tuna
Veggies & Hummus
Peanut Butter and Apple
Peanut Butter on Celery
Cheese Slices
Beef Sticks
Protein Bars
Protein Shakes
Canned Salmon on Crackers
Edamame
Chicken Salad
No Bake Energy Bites (many online recipes)
@An54

 

[Bchbum4evr]

Yesterday I had some very intense sharp shooting pains flashing down my op-leg, very painful but thankfully short-lived. Maybe it was a few nerves firing up here and there.

This is going on for me literally right now! And I'm 6wks today! Odd.... I too hope it's just nerves for both of us. I didn't do anything new and didn't even do my long walk yesterday. Been sitting on ice most of the morning!

Wow! Weeks in the Ocean Blue..sounds amazing! But you are probably ready for some alone time too.

Happy to hear you are doing so great!

 

[Bionic]

@An54
I am sure you are going to be fine on your own for a couple of weeks and you must be feeling confident to have given up your Red Cross aids.

I bought my shower stool, 2 toilet seat risers and a donut cushion but haven't used them for the last week. They have been stacked in the bathroom just in case I need them but now they are going to be stored in the garage until I have the next hip done. It feels a leap forwards.

I hope you don't get any more of those pains flashing down your leg. It sounds nasty but good job they have been short lived.

Is the weather good with you at the moment? If so hubby and his friend should be having a lovely time. I am sure he deserves it after playing nursemaid.

I have told mine I will take him for a nice meal when all thus is over.

If you get lonely or worried about something while he is away there are lots of us around to practice your moans on.

 

[An54]

@An54
I am sure you are going to be fine on your own for a couple of weeks and you must be feeling confident to have given up your Red Cross aids..
.

@Bionic , In fact I was stalling a bit on returning the Red Cross items because I thought it was a bit early at five weeks, and I was wondering about setbacks, but was reminded --more than once--about the people waiting for items, and got 'guilted' into an early return, so to speak. On the other hand so far I am doing fine without them, so I may have been overly cautious, as I was with the walker.

I hope you don't get any more of those pains flashing down your leg. It sounds nasty but good job they have been short lived.

Yes, they were alarming, flashing up to 9 on the pain scale, and had me thinking about blood clots and emergency wards. But after several streaks of lightning pain, it stopped.

@An54

If you get lonely or worried about something while he is away there are lots of us around to practice your moans on.

It does make such a difference to have such a supportive community. I am one of those Grateful Patients

p.s. I am practising my quotes ;)

 

[Mojo333]

I had a few electrifying zaps, breathtaking but gone before I could rightly figure out what the???
Hope you continue doing well....remember...no falling down and going boom!
Hugs!

 

[1stSurgery]

Wow @An54, I hope you have neighbors nearby and friends close by that will be visiting as well. And maybe even bringing home cooked food?! I agree with Layla that your probably craving protein. I have to confess I indulged in a second chocolate ice cream binge the other day, and it wasn't even hot so I had no easy excuse other than.... My bones made me do it, craving protein. Enjoyed it so!

Must have felt liberating giving up the devices and post op items like that. Mine are still sitting there in waiting for round two. You know i bet you don't experience what I did with evil twin hip because I think you'd have sensed it by now. It was about 3-4 weeks out when she started acting up and disintegrating. And I had to slowly trim back the walking and so much movement, just because of her. But you've been good and seem to be getting along very well so you have likely avoided the sadistic evil twin syndrome!!

Just make sure you get some good nutritious meals into your healing body while your Captain sails the open seas!!

 

[An54]

Wow @An54, ...

Just make sure you get some good nutritious meals into your healing body while your Captain sails the open seas!!

@1stSurgery , I am motivated to not only eat more nutritiously, but also to move carefully, avoid falling, walk moderately and generally creep around in a bipedal fashion on my Overly Cautious setting; if things go sideways, hubby will have --as of today-- a two-day sail to get back home. And he is heading northwards, ever farther every day. I suspect they are aiming for Alert Bay ( @Alitm will know where that is). Of course if I get into trouble, I will have siblings, friends and neighbours to call upon.

Ha! Talk about timing. He just texted, sailing out of Pender Harbour : "Grey, overcast but calm and dry. Heading North now. " I told him to write a daily blog. Or rather a Ship's Log. A Shlog .

 

[Layla]

Glad you're doing well today @An54
It's reassuring to know you have people to call on if necessary.
I'm happy to hear you're going to eat better and save Tapioca Pudding for snack time as opposed to dinner.
At least I hope
Have a good one!

 

[Alitm]

@An54 I need to keep my eye on you! I'm not on as much (my hubby is away and I'm on everything duty with fam and farm) and your husband has gone off sailing...sounds like my Dad...also a big sailor! Off to get my hair overhauled so I look stunning in the OR (NOT!), and will come back and read up on what you've been up to! I"ll be back later to catch up!!!

 

[1stSurgery]

Or rather a Ship's Log. A Shlog .

I think you've added a new word to the lexicon! A Shlog! Good one @An54!
Almost sounds like a warm adult beverage...

That makes your husband one of the first official Shloggers!

 

[Alitm]

@An54 I have not ventured to do quotes as yet!

So glad hubby is Schlogging you as he heads north! Truth be known, I am a transplant (just over six year ago) from another island, semi-tropical, situated in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. I come from a long line of sea going folk, so under stand all about family members heading off into the blue on a sailboat! I digress.. I know where Alert Bay is, but we haven't been that far north yet. We've made it to Mount Washington and Tofino! Having animals and one son still at home have kept us more on the farm (and at rugby games!) than off....but look forward to doing more once our last chick goes to uni.

I will say that the skies have cleared a lot from the smoke of a few days ago, and the nights with the moon are just lovely. Your hubby will have a beautiful sail north. We had a few sprinkles of rain here this AM. Did you get any of that? It wasn't much here....but something is better than nothing!

Great that you were able to return all the kit to the Red Cross. I'm going to get mine at the RC tomorrow, here in Duncan! Good timing, sort of!!! LOL!

Interesting how the body tells you what it needs in terms of the food cravings. I find it hard to eat healthy sometimes when my hubby is away. I find at the end of the day I'm super tired, and just don't have the energy to whip up something healthy. A garden salad (with whatever is kicking around in my fridge) and a baked chicken breast are my go to staple diet! I still have to feed my 6'4" rugby playing son, who seems to have a bottomless pit of a stomach!

Hoping that your major zip zap in your operative leg is just a passing phase, and the un-operated hip behaves herself. I shall have to remember this when my legs are zipping and zapping. It must be a very disconcerting, not to mention painful (I think you said a 9 - yikes!), feeling to say the least.

Nice that you have family and friends nearby. That way you won't need them!! Hows that for rational thinking! Please continue to be cautious anyway!

You sound like you are doing really well at six weeks! Amazing and wonderful. It must feel great to progress and be able to give back RC kit! I'm looking forward to that, slowly but surely, but need to get through surgery and the next week or so after that first!!!
Take care

 

[An54]

@An54

So glad hubby is Schlogging you as he heads north! Truth be known, I am a transplant (just over six year ago) from another island, semi-tropical, situated in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. I come from a long line of sea going folk, so under stand all about family members heading off into the blue on a sailboat! I digress.. I know where Alert Bay is, but we haven't been that far north yet.
Take care

@Alitm , The closest thing I've received to a shlog installment today is a brief text early this morning that they were in Powell River Marina, 'preparing to set sail northbound'.

Curiosity about your 'another island, semi-tropical, situated in the mid-Atlantic' had me on Google maps, roaming back and forth across the Atlantic trying to guess. At first I hit on the Azores, but when I parachuted in on streetview, and had a look around, it didn't look very tropical to me. One view was so volcanic it looked like a moonscape. So I went back up to 300,000 ft, then zoomed down on Bermuda, which might fit the bill. I just love the google maps streetview function; I've visited many places while lying here convalescing.

But back to the Main Event; hips, and living with those hips as we recover. Yesterday I carefully took a shower (stepping over side of tub using kitchen step ladder as support) and all went well. It was my six week 'anniversary' of my THR, and I wanted to celebrate, so arranged to meet a friend at a nice restaurant/jazz lounge downtown. Took taxi there and back, and ate a large nourishing meal--salmon, salad, etc, and followed it up with creme brulee, and also enjoyed a couple of glasses of cider. There was live music, including a very smooth and mellow tenor sax player, lovely.

To backtrack to my shower; I have now seen--literally, in full length mirror--the full effect of my rest-and-eat-puddings post-surgical regimen . My body is actually assuming the contours of a pudding. My celery stick legs are supporting an apple-shaped torso of 45% yogurt, 25% cheese, and 30% tapioca pudding. And do note that I celebrated this by actually ordering a creme brulee dessert that very evening. Let that be my swan song for the Pudding Era.

Henceforth I will be shifting more and more towards healthier fats, fewer carbs, and more veggies. Thanks for the food list @Layla . My usual 'go-to' foods have been, and will be again: salmon, nuts, avocados, spinach, eggs (should eat more) yogurt (keeping an eye on added sugar), blueberries, raw veggies with dip, "less cheese than before", olives, rice crackers (not too many!) and of course coffee. And Old El Paso jalapenos; I'm addicted.

I have a few restrictions on my diet as I have celiac disease, plus I stopped eating meat when I was about 17, and never got into the habit again.

Generally speaking as I am moving into week 7, I'm going to continue to alternate active days with rest days. If I go out one day, shopping or whatever, I will more or less take it easier the next day. I don't count steps or exercise, but just walk and do regular things, and those 'regular things' become a bit more fluid and natural every day. I am so paranoid about not being about to dance again eventually that I am sticking to what many would probably think of as neurotically overly cautious approach. But the vision of being able to get out there again on the dance floor (to resume Swing Dancing, do more Fox Trot and Quickstep, and learn Balboa or the Charleston) is a very powerful motivator to not overdo it at this stage. Also of course I am keeping a close eye on @1stSurgery 's journey, because we are twins in a way. But non-identical.

 

[Layla]

You're so funny! The description of your reflection in the mirror is very creative.
I'm sure with the healthier eating plan you're moving back toward you'll be back in shape in no time.
Happy Six Week Anniversary! You celebrated in style. You're doing great!
@An54

 

[Alitm]

@An54 I just returned from...drum roll...the Red Cross...and was driving home with all the kit, having that wobbly feeling of "am I nuts to do this, what would life be like in a wheel chair" etc. etc. I read your post and wept with laughter at paragraph four and your torso make-up, by percentage It was just what I needed! As I was getting out of the car, I was thinking the same thing about my body becoming so soft and squishy from lack of .

Good that you are getting a daily "schlog"....nice to know where they are in the world! Is the final destination still a state secret? Perhaps hubby doesn't want to commit, just in case his concern for you makes him turn around early, before reaching it?!!

Yes Bda is it! We are a multi-national family with Bermudian Dads (we both have paternal American Grandmothers), Canadian Mum from BC (DH) and American Mum from NY (Moi). Hubby and all three offspring are Canadian and I am a proud card carrying PR of Canada! We have so many passports between us all we could work for the Canadian equivalent of the CIA! We are glad of all the "fresh blood" to dilute the genetic pool!

Your six week celebration sounded like a super evening, and healthy food choices until the, ah hem, said dairy product at the end (my favourite...neck and neck with cheese cake!). However, every celebration must have something yummy and fun as a part of it

I cut out sugar, wheat and dairy in an effort to help reduce inflammation in my body about a year ago. I would like to add back plain yogurt to help my gut with all the drugs coming up, in addition to what I've been taking since the spring to keep me going through to surgery. I REALLY miss cheese, and cheese cake of course !

Your measured approach to more activity, punctuated by rest days, seems like a great plan that is clearly working for you at this new stage of your rehab. Your life is starting to appear more "normal"! I understand how the desire to dance again helps you stay the steady course/be paranoid, as I think about dancing with my equine partner again. Good idea to follow your "twin" @1stSurgery 's journey, to give you some directional feedback!

My husband is not a dancer unfortunately, although wonderful in just about every other way! We used to have great hikes together, and I could easily keep up with his 6"5" persona. We walked together, vs. me always trying to keep up. Hind site is an amazing thing.....Christmas 2015 all five members of our family went for a minor hike through the hills behind us, and I just couldn't keep up. I was being teased about my long waist and short legged syndrome by everyone. Luckily our lovely Rhodesian Ridgeback faithfully stayed in stride with me! My stride had already started shortening. A few weeks later I could hardly swing my leg over the saddle...and so it had
begun I'm hoping my bionic hips will get me back to all the good stuff, after appropriate healing time and rehabbing! It seems that allowing one's body to heal, listening to one's body for discomfort/pain "comments" and not comparing one's self to others are keys to successful outcomes

I am beginning to really dread the first few weeks and become somewhat overwhelmed by the prospect. Not getting a good night's sleep has something to do with that I think. Despite all the reading, there is still some fear of the unknown, and not being able to contribute in any way as to what my body will or will not do post op!

So thrilled about your six week milestone, and all the progress that you are making! I do think if we give our bodies the chance to rest, we heal!

What are you doing medication wise now? Can you shed any light on that? I know I'll be different with two. I am just hoping that if I give my body the opportunity it needs, I'll make decent progress with coming off the pain meds. I drink very little and don't smoke, so the amount of drugs heading my way makes me cringe. I fully understand the need to be comfortable pain wise to rest and heal (endorphine release, not adrenaline, desired) but it makes me feel sick just thinking about it! I certainly do not wish to be in pain though. Ah...all these things to consider!

Looks as if we have some rain coming our way, from the west it seems. We SO need it. On radar it looks like one tiny cell that is coming over us, clipping SS and heading south of Bellingham...but it is looking quite stormy at the moment. Not sure you'll get any though.

Thanks for a giggle and a glimpse of what rest = healing looks like lift today. Just what I needed

Wishing you healthy eating

 

[1stSurgery]

Hahaha!! The pudding body is hysterical! Thanks for the laughs! (Not at your expense, I do empathize with what havoc pudding body can represent-- one needs lots of pudding-friendly tops that flow gently but not too widely)

I hope I haven't scared you with my saga of evil twin bad hip! As I said, I think you'd have seen / felt/ heard signs of the wicked one by now if it was going to sabotage you, like righty did to me. You're at 6 weeks. Mine started just as my walking was getting good, about 4 weeks in. I have video of me hubby took at the track, no cane, my old New York stride.... seems ten yrs ago but was only about a month or so ago. You seem to be doing very well and making wise choices in how to spend your active days. I am predicting righty will be a smooth, quick, seamless recovery story. I know she harbors not so secret resentment that I went with lefty first ...since SHE was the more severe one on X-ray, but HE, lefty, had the ouchy Labral tear and he made the bigger limp. Can't believe I'm still explaining it all to her. But yes, it will all be good and I'll be stepping and kicking by holidays!

On an unrelated note but worthy of a BoneSmart poll.. A friend's doctor just told her ...and I'd not heard this before... that people born with high level flexibility are often those who experience their joints wearing out soonest. I was born that way, feet behind my neck seemed a normal pose to me... and I noticed not without some minor irritation that my siblings, who were not, and are older, have just fine joints today. Maybe having that extra flexibility acts as an encouragement to do more, physically; to stretch further, dance, kick, run, climb, and hit the splits anytime the party gets dull. Not sure what the theory is but found it curious and maybe true? Anyone else here extra flexible from a young age?