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THR Heal first, then exercise, then dance!

1stSurgery said:
@An54 what are ballpark prices for the rocky mountaineer? I could search it but the combo of the new meds with the pain meds seems to have magnified my dizzy brain fog feeling. And I need to do some work today, which should be funny.
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@1stSurgery , I just had a quick peek at the Rocky Mountaineer website. I was surprised to see so many options, from a 4 day trip, to 14+ days. I looked at the most basic, 4 days, Vancouver to Jasper (one way), "Silver Class", includes hotel accommodation, but the "silver" rooms, not the "gold" or platinum level or whatever, looks like about $2300 Canadian after taxes. It also appears that you can do a circle route, or connect it up with a cruise.

It would be a super reward to look forward to for recovering Hippys :)
 
oooh, how come the prices you got vary so much from mine? American dollars??
 
Vancouver sounds like a lovely idea. Another Hippie I met on this site @danabanana is in the Vancouver area.

You'd asked about dancing. I was always in ODIC but started back freestyling at 6 days (hey, it was my birthday - I couldn't just sit in the recliner) and started learning swing at about 5 or 6 weeks (although very basic with few turns etc for first few weeks). Less dancing recently due to psoas issue but have been out some recently. I'm sitting here with heating pad on m back after 3 mile hike (level path) with a friend - my back didn't bother me until they started trying to fix it!
 
SaraK said:
You'd asked about dancing. I was always in ODIC but started back freestyling at 6 days (hey, it was my birthday - I couldn't just sit in the recliner) and started learning swing at about 5 or 6 weeks (although very basic with few turns etc for first few weeks). ..
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@SaraK , hmmmmmmm, freestyle dancing at Day 6, then Swing at 5 or 6 weeks... That's pretty fast, certainly could be one of many possible doorways into the ODIC. Because I am running with the Slow, Like Ketchup cure :), I still think I will wait a bit longer before putting my dancing shoes on.
 
If you are feeling physically ready to see what you can safely do on the dance floor, then try it out for just a few minutes at first. Dance with a partner who understands that you need to stay on the slow side, nothing fancy or tricky. Something where you are basically walking a bit faster than normal. And where you can immediately stop if it doesn't feel okay. Do your few minutes and then take a 10 minute break. Walk around for a bit and if you feel fine, try another few minutes of dancing. Repeat this pattern for your first evening back at it. Maybe a total of 20 minutes of dance over the whole evening.

Pay attention to how you feel in the next couple of days. If there is still no indication that anything was stressed or strained, then repeat it again; this time add a few minutes to the dancing, take your break, and repeat. See how 40 minutes of dancing overall feels.

As long as it all goes well, just keep gradually adding a few minutes to your time (a few means 2, 3, maybe 4 minutes...not 10!) and slowly cut down the break time. Always stop for the evening at the first sign of stress or strain.

I was dancing last night...such fun, as always. I look forward to a full report from you. :)
 
Seems your approach to healing is working well!
Contemplating putting those dancing shoes on :happydance:
Sharonslp' s plan on easing back in sounds like a sound one.
I hope you have a great week!
@An54
 
Happy Three Month Anniversary!
You've been a kind a devoted supporter of others.
How about you....how are you doing?
I hope your recovery is coming along just as you'd hoped it would.
A great weekend to you!
@An54
 
Happy Three Month Anniversary @An54! Amazing!! Would love an update on how you are doing :-) Warm thoughts from across the Strait on your example setting recovery :loveshwr::yes!::flwrysmile:
 
@Layla , @Alitm , Yes, it's three months now, and so far, so good. I went over the the Island for a few days (Altim's back yard) , spent four nights in Victoria, two of them in the charming old James Bay Inn. The firmer mattress there resulted in a bit of tenderness on the surgical site as I sometimes slept on the op side. After Victoria--which I fell in love with all over again--I then went up island to spend a night with a friend who lives in the Cowichan Valley. Saw horses! The weather has been wonderful, and the leafy trees are at a certain glorious pitch of red. Through this pleasing backdrop I have been walking without any aids, and getting on and off buses and ferries quite normally, carrying my little overnight backpack.

I still sometimes have a tweaky feeling running down my op leg, but it is starting to resolve. I'm not sure whether I'm limping slightly when I tire, or still doing the 'woddle' a bit (as someone delightfully spelled it somewhere here) . At the end of the day when I am out and about, I am still taking long flights of stairs one step at a time, like a toddler. No meds, no pain, I'm sleeping okay, and doing virtually everything except The Vigorous such as running, sprinting, swing dancing, hiking.

Thank you @sharonslp for the easing-into-dancing advice. I will start out with just freestyle dancing (dancing alone) , because partner dancing can vary so much. One chap last year continued to manhandle me even after I told him he might break my bones; there was no maliciousness on his part, but he didn't know his own strength and hadn't a clue about the concept of a gentle lead. He was on the Enthusiastic Muscular Caveman setting, and knew no other. I have a date to dance with the gentle and respectful (????) Groucho Marx on Halloween, so that will be my Inaugural Ball for my new hip.

In the meantime I am preparing for my first solo exhibit of my oil paintings, and trying to get my mind re-engaged with all the creative projects I start but only occasionally finish.

Has anyone besides me felt that their brains got all scrambled during surgery? Maybe it was the general anesthetic? I feel like my personality has changed too. For the better, fortunately ;)

I asked Hub about the "scrambled brains" feeling, and he said I wasn't the first to make that observation. I can't recall reading anything about that here on the threads I've followed. Is this the elephant in the room? Anyone else?
 
@An54 So close and yet so far! Looking forward to your visit to the Island in the Spring :) We have mostly maples and evergreens up where we are, so with all the gold and green in the sunlight, it has been spectacular.

The freestyle dancing makes a ton of sense to start with, and then moving on to dance with a confirmed gentle dance partner should work well.

Very exciting about your solo oil painting exhibit! My daughter promises me we will do a tour of the galleries in Vancouver in the spring. Will have to find out what and where you are exhibiting at that time :)

I found the narcotic pain meds rendered me cognitively incompetent in a big way. I couldn't focus, process or remember anything, although friends said I could hold a completely seemingly normal conversation, while on them. Once off them I felt great...but then at about four weeks, realized that I had more cognitive clarity again....that is when the friend mentioned it. When I looked briefly on line, I read about Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). I am wondering if @Josephine can guide us to some reading on this, as I couldn't find it in the library here. I am just able to focus enough on reading a novel, but do better with short articles. It really bothers me! Hopefully others will weigh in on it. Thank you for bringing it to light. I particularly want to know more, before heading into second surgery.
 
@Altim , Yes, the reading thing. I'm trying to start up our book club again; we discuss books online and aslo meet up in person. We've moved on to Stendhal, the Red and the Black. But after weeks, I've only read two chapters. Then I lost the book in Victoria or on the ferry, or bus. I have no idea where it is. I'm kind of wandering around in a mellow haze. I don't even care any more if I have the best translation of the work available, or who Stendhal was influenced by, or what the author himself was reading in 1835. ... all formerly fascinating subjects, but now I'm a bit "meh!" Am I still me? I think I might be someone else!
 
Yes, scrambled brain for sure! It took me several months. Couldn't recall if I asked someone a question, or just thought I did. Obviously that also told me I wasn't listening if they had answered me!
Personality change also in the sense I laugh out loud more than previously. I used to be more reserved now I just let fly. I've seriously noticed a correlation with surgery but haven't mentioned it to anyone thinking it silly.....what's up with that?!! Maybe you feel like your personality changed for the better and I laugh out loud more because WE FEEL BETTER, novel idea. Who knows :shrug: Interesting though.

Sounds like a nice getaway to Victoria. I went as a kid, barely recall. We were visiting relatives in Seattle and took a huge boat. Huge to a 10 yr old anyway. Felt like I was on a luxury ocean liner looking back, haha. I recall walking down a large wide staircase and a man at a piano playing "state songs" as people yelled out where they were from and all who knew the words joined in. And the suction of the toilet flushing sounded as though it was going to suck me into the ocean. Seriously...these are my memories from childhood. Glad your trip sounded more interesting, beautiful and enjoyable. Nothing like the gorgeous display of color from Mother Nature. So fulfilling to get away when you're feeling better!

It sounds like you're doing well. Try the old heel-toe walking when you catch yourself limping. See if it helps.
Thanks for updating. I hope you have a beautiful weekend!
@An54
 
Well I never heard of it referred to as POCD - but plenty of members here (me included) found that concentrating on anything was an issue post op. For some it is a short period. But many have a problem for months.

Please don't worry about this. It fades with time. As your body heals you will have more energy to focus.
 
Just a chime in here--I am an avid, daily reader but while on narcotics could simply NOT read at all. I watched tons of mindless daytime TV (something I never do otherwise) although it served really as "white noise" while I lay in bed for the most part. @An54, I can't imagine trying to read "The Red and The Black" while recovering from hip surgery! I read it once when not on narcotic pain medication and thought it was incredibly boring, can't even remember the plot now although my vague recollection is it dragged on forever. But maybe I just had an inferior translation. Now back reading turn of the century mystery novels (gotta love manybooks.net!) and feeling much clearer headed as these are my odd but preferred reading material.
 
@Layla , @Jaycey , @Barbaraj , @Alitm
Thanks for the replies. and they would be mightily reassuring, except that I never was on the narco meds (except maybe during surgery), just went straight to Tylenol, and quickly dropped that. Who knows what my brain would look like right now if I had added narcotics to the mix! :)

But I'm not worried about it. It suits me. I'm less irritable, easier going, don't sweat the small stuff so much. I seem to have a better perspective on life. I am going to resume my oil painting, and also ink-pen drawings, and am planning an architectural series of drawings of old Vancouver buildings before they all disappear; I feel so confident about the latter that I submitted an application to a gallery for an exhibition, and I haven't even done the drawings yet. :)
I speak up (quietly and lovingly I hope) and say things aloud to clarify, and be honest. For example I communicated the following directly; I find Christmas difficult. I'm not going to participate this year; I am getting on a train Christmas Day and going across the continent to Halifax. I'm booked. Even found me a purdy little heritage AirBnB in downtown Halifax. It could be 20 below across the prairies, covered with snow. I'm pumped!

All is well. I am happy, looking forward to December for a change. All family members on board. Or rather, not climbing aboard. As my dear brother says: "It's all good".
 
I'm not sure I've read a 'proper' book for years! Thought it was old age! But so many excellent well-written thrillers out there and it's so satisfactory when they unravel and come to a just conclusion. Had a painful clear out recently but so many books I loved 40 years ago and was never going to read again.Hope someone is glad of them. I'll still find time for Jane Austen because she makes me laugh!
 
Wow, @An54, being able to chuck all things Christmas--good for you! I'd love to do that, but I have four children and grandchildren in the immediate area, plus family on both my husband's and my side. Still, I do fantasize about that, escaping for several weeks in December. My husband adores Christmas, however, and would miss all the folderol, noise and enthusiasm. I envision, in my fantasy world, escaping to a gorgeous mountain retreat (the sort where SOMEBODY ELSE has installed a gorgeous, festive holiday tree, the food is good and room service is impeccable). I'd wake up Christmas morning to a stiff bloody Mary and a thoughtful assortment of perfect gifts from my near and dear. I sit in my luxurious bed with 800 thread count linens, surveying the snow gently falling outside my window and getting quietly buzzed on my drink--ah, the good life!
 
I don't know if exactly scrambled...but do feel like the "no choice" recovery experience caused me to be in a more reflective, philosophical , um...maybe distracted state .
But then again, I had GA also.

Does make one see the importance of having health...and support...
And made me about more empathetic to folks with infirmities that are not to be alleviated.

Hope your showing goes well, friend!
 
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