[THR] Here We Go Again!

[CricketHip]

Wow! That is some serious looking stairs.. good for you for getting up and down them.

 

[Barbaraj]

It's a dreary start to the day, with wind blowing the rain against our bedroom window this morning and waking me up--grumble, grumble--around 6:00 AM. I am one of those who, once awake, finds it hard to simply lie in bed for very long after. I need to use the bathroom and with hip recovery, I immediately become aware of how stiff I am and the need to get up, stretch and totter!

Still feeling shaky this morning, a hangover from my strenuous long weekend, but I've got PT this morning so I'll be able to take advantage of that and whine to my heart's content. I realized this morning when I turned on my laptop and saw my calendar pop up, that today I'm three months out from surgery--wahoo! I continue to heal well, I think, my normal routine restored and despite ongoing stiffness and ache, particularly in the morning or if I sit for more than 30 minutes, I am plugging along. Am I healed? Well, no, but I'm getting there! I don't push recovery and I'm lucky that I recovered sufficiently early on that life actually looked pretty positive after a few weeks. I still don't walk very fast, and don't climb mountains or go for lengthy strolls anywhere (well, except for those long hikes up and down steep stairs this past weekend) but I truly believe that with every passing month my full strength, flexibility and endurance will return. Downside is that age is also playing a factor here--how much, I can't say--but I sadly know I'll never get back to that mythical time when all physical activity and movement was easy and mindless. But one of these days I will STOP thinking about my hips and even the ugly looking (but matching!) welts will fade somewhat. I hope...

 

[gertie]

I sadly know I'll never get back to that mythical time when all physical activity and movement was easy and mindless.

So true and a good thing to remind ourselves of as we assess the success of these surgeries. I think age can affect how quickly we become deconditioned pre-op and how long it takes for getting back in shape post-op--aboth muscles and cardio.

 

[Calgal]

Happy 3 month hipaversary! It gets better and better from here on, as you know. But this time it's second and done! So time for a happy dance.

 

[Elf1]

@Barbaraj those steps were pretty scary looking, kudos for you doing them multiple times a day. Happy Three Month Anniversary for Lefty, you continue to amaze me with all you can and do, do! Sorry your weather is dreary, hopefully it will clear up a bit.

 

[Barbaraj]

Thanks for the 3 month anniversary wishes, @Calgal and @Elf1 And, it is sad, isn't it, @gertie, that we can't simply bound back to our pre-hip nonsense days. From here on out, it is going to take regular exercise and commitment to keeping active if we want to stay as healthy as we can.

Got some encouraging news from PT yesterday--my therapist said that she's releasing me at the end of October (I just have two more appointments) because I'm doing so well. I could cheerfully remain in PT for the rest of my life (I'm a believer!) but I doubt if insurance would cover that. So, I've asked her to review the exercises she's given me the last two months and let me know which of them I will should continue doing and how often. She also told me I was okay to go back into Pilates if I wanted to so I did check the city's parks and recreation guide but I am not sure I can make it work this fall. I guess I'll fall back to my original plan which was to return to a weekly class in early January. My regular Pilates partner is off next week for a 3+ week trip anyway so she couldn't have gone to the fall classes either. But I told her I was ready to go back in January and she was happy about that.

I'm off east of the Cascade Mountains tomorrow, for a book group overnight at the vacation home of one of our members. It should be a fun outing--wine, dinner, book discussion--and I'm going over (3+ hour drive) with a friend and we'll have lots of time to chat and catch up. I wasn't wild about the book ("The End of Your Life Book Club") although, in reading it, I did use it as an opportunity to reflect back to my parents, both of whom were voracious readers (floor to ceiling bookcases in every room but the bathrooms) and as the book discusses various books the author and his mother (who is dying of a terminal illness) read together, I thought about each book mentioned--had I read it or not? Did I have an interest in reading it if I hadn't already? Would my mother have wanted to read it? Out of all the books the author mentioned, I'd actually read 29 of 'em. So although the book was "ehhh…" I did use it as an opportunity to have an inside my head conversation with my dear mother, whom I miss very much.

Here's to a great weekend for all of us! Hipsters rule!

 

[KathyB]

@Barbaraj Have a wonderful time in the Cascades. We visited your beautiful Mt. Rainier NP a couple of years ago. Such a beautiful place.

 

[Fit4Family]

Hope you had a good weekend with friends @Barbaraj What a fun group!

Congratulations on being released from PT. With hip number 2 behind you, you have much to celebrate. I have come to really care for my PT group too. It will be a sad day to say goodbye, but I am sure you are thrilled to begin the post recovery chapter. Hope you slept well at your friends house and come home recharged.

 

[Barbaraj]

Well, the best laid plans... Here I am, still at home on the west side of the Cascades as there was a lot of snow in the mountains yesterday, and I think more predicted for today as well, so my friend and I ended up not going east. Both of us are total weenies when it comes to driving in the snow, although my car is all-wheel drive, but another book group member also bailed and the hostess has promised to reschedule the meeting, a dinner and book chat a local restaurant, sometime in the next two weeks. So, as a result, I was able to go to the gym and do my PT exercises, had lunch with two friends and then, because my husband was off for the evening at a dinner/auction, I had dinner with another friend. I was exhausted from really poor sleep the night before (I am convinced it is the changeover from summer shoes to winter shoes--horrid foot cramps punctuating my sleep all night) and fell asleep while watching the 10:00 news.

Still feeling more achy and sore than I have in past weeks, presumably still feeling the after effects of those miserable stairs during last week's getaway, but know if I can consistently do those dreaded PT exercises plus some cardio at the gym this coming week, I should feel better by next weekend. My husband is goin out of town for a few days beginning on Tuesday so I'll have the castle to myself. I see lots of lolling about, grazing meals and enjoyment of a peaceful and quiet house. Love my spouse, but also enjoy my alone time. Today it's off to the grocery store and the gym, and tonight is bar trivia. Oh, the fun and active life!

 

[Barbaraj]

PS Mount Rainier IS gorgeous, @KathyB and even though I seldom visit, it looms large in the horizon on a reasonably clear day, like a giant vanilla ice cream cone. And @Fit4Family, I love PT mostly because it provides structure and one more incentive to keep at it in terms of exercise and recovery. Yes, I can be disciplined to do it on my own, but I always appreciate the weekly assessment and suggestions for going forward. And I adore the ice pack and electrical stim which end each session. I'm going to miss those!

 

[Elf1]

@Barbaraj sorry your plans got waylaid by the weather but sounds like you still had a good weekend. I'm still trying to get used to the new mattress and the temperatures going up and down are wreaking havoc with my arthritis!

Need to get back doing my exercises as well have kind of blown them off the last couple of weeks getting ready for then cleaning up after Oktoberfest and then rearranging things in our bedroom so they had easy access to set the mattress up. I think the young lady at the store over emphasized moving things out of the way. Oh well, will work on putting everything back this week.

 

[bickypeg]

Oh different shoes and moving furniture @Barbaraj and @Elf1 tell me about it! I suffer ridiculously if I change my footwear and still can't find a really comfortable pair, and @Elf1 you will have @Mojo333 chastising you! Quite rightly...but it's so tempting...
Sorry you missed the trip @Barbaraj but you sound to have had a good time. Hope the aches dissipate as the week goes on.

 

[Barbaraj]

Well, it is the increasingly more usual than not start to the morning--heavy overcast and rain on and off all day. But other than PT exercises and maybe a trip to the gym at some point, nothing on my schedule. We're having canned soup (at least it's the "hearty" variety) for dinner tonight and I'll bestir myself to make a loaf of bread to go with it. My husband leaves for Omaha tomorrow and he'll be gone until Friday evening. The tough part is that I'll miss him and I'll be on my own for all that ballet chauffeuring but, if I'm honest, I will also be reveling in a bed all to myself (spread eagled and content) and not having to make a meal unless I feel like it (eggs and toast, cold cereal, easy salads: sensible meals for the gods) and no football on TV in the evenings. Ah, I will enjoy myself although eager for his return.

Leg cramps didn't return last night so I'm hoping my feet and legs are adjusting to the new winter shoes and cramping won't be a regular feature of my nights. Otherwise I can't say that anything feels better or worse this morning--same old aching in my left thigh, and lower back ache. Hobbling a bit but know things will look better by noon. Maybe I should blame the lower back pain on the weather, @Elf1 I have some arthritis in my lower back as well. But I know that once I'm up and about in the morning, that stiffness in my lower back does fade as the day progresses. In this tedious (and far too long) phase of recovery I know that constant, low level aching is the "new normal" and I just need to keep plugging along.

 

[Elf1]

@Barbaraj it is funny how changing shoes can cause us such issues. I'm always looking for shoes that fit comfortably as I have AVN in my right foot and it tends to swell really easy. Needless to say I have about a bazillion pairs of shoes! .

Crossed my feet yesterday afternoon and thought wow, those shoes today really did a number on me, top of my right foot was sore than realized it was black and blue. Realized it was probably from when I came back from the store and went to kick off my shoes but had a cat cross my path and I was walking down the hall, she accidentally got punted down the hall a ways.

Sometimes with the crazy weather here the ache just sticks around. Had 90s yesterday, cold front started coming through last night, had storms, high winds and they actually had tornado in the Dallas area about 3 hours North of us.

hope you enjoy your easy days with the hubs being gone even though we know you'll miss him.

 

[SurreyGirl]

Hope you have some peace and quiet and a good weekend coming up BarbaraJ. Sorry you had to cancel the previous weekend although the choice of book didn’t seem fun and was bound to depress! Congratulations on 3 months on your second hip!

and thanks for all the encouragement you have given me both publicly and privately

 

[Barbaraj]

Feeling grumpy and unhappy this morning. I am not only stiff and sore, but my left knee is somewhat painful and the right leg feels wobbly and unsteady. Overall, feel as if I've taken a giant step back from a few weeks ago. I went to PT today and she told me to knock off at least one exercise (no need as I was completely unable to do it yesterday anyway) and then she taped both knees. She opined that the heavy duty stair climbing I did the weekend before last is probably responsible for all this weakness and discomfort. Of course, she also cheerily told me that I do have some arthritis in my right knee (NOOOOO!!!) but that if I am sensible over the next five days (back to icing this evening--too busy during the day today) I should be feeling better. I know this is--she said to herself hopefully--just a temporary setback but feeling blue and a bit tearful at the moment. I have to walk down to a meeting in our neighborhood today and I still intend to do that, but wishing I were feeling more "up to it" and positive instead of gloomy and tentative. I am not used to feeling like this, I am Ms. Positivity normally but not today. Missing my husband, not excited by a busy day's schedule and hating how unsteady and aching I'm feeling. But, I will get over it, I'm sure. Sorry for the grouchy post.

 

[VSlowLife]

@Barbaraj So sorry you are having multiple pain issues. No fun to feel, and not a mood elevator.
Sometimes I will use an over the counter Salonpas menthol, camphor, salicylic pain patch on a complaining wrist or knee. I find the way it feels on my skin, can help distract from the pain, if it is an annoying pain, not a severe pain.

 

[Elf1]

@Barbaraj sorry you're feeling grumpy and unhappy today, it happens to the best of us. Hopefully taking the knees and taking it a bit easy for the next week or so will straighten everything out. And of course your schedule is busy when you're not feeling your best and hubby is out of town. Sending cyber hugs to you!

Figured this might make you giggle, looked at the weather forecast a few minutes ago and they're showing that Amarillo is 15 degree wind chill and McAllen has heat index of 99 degrees! If course you're going long way across the state but talk about extremes!

 

[bickypeg]

Poor @Barbaraj. It is miserable feeling you're not in control of your body and thus your life. Especially if you've always been a busy independent person as I know you have. Any consolation to know we've all been there? And it will pass? Just take one day at a time, knock off the exercising for now (think about those poor tendons) and baby yourself. Try some heat alternating with ice? And a radian b or similar spray? I'd be very surprised if any of us Bonesmarties weren't without some arthritis in the knee but as your hips get stronger they'll take more of the strain. At least that's what I tell myself. Can't you invite folk to yours while husband is away and you're taking it easy? No walking up and down hills. Stairs and slopes are still a real problem for me. All the best.

 

[Barbaraj]

Well, it's Friday morning and I dutifully iced in bed before getting up this morning. I am not sure it did much other than numb my knee and hip for a bit but I do intend to be a good girl, @bickypeg. My husband returns home tonight and while I bragged about how I was going to enjoy my solitude and freedom from cooking, I've actually missed him quite a bit (still just slept on my half of the bed, no wild tossing and turning) and will be happy when he comes through the door tonight.

It was hard to slow down yesterday, as I had multiple thing I had to do--PT in the morning, book group in early afternoon, ballet chauffeuring in late afternoon and then a ladies' dinner and game night at the home of a neighbor friend. I didn't get home until after 10:00 and was feeling sore and stiff. I iced for a bit while watching the nightly news on TV before turning off the lights and then, predictably, couldn't shut off my brain or find a comfortable position. Sleep was again not very good which is really frustrating as normally I'm a pretty good sleeper. But with hubby's return tonight I'm hoping I'll sleep like a log. I might have to check out Salon Pas, though, @VSlowLife if this grinding ache doesn't subside. I know this is just part of the recovery journey but it's disconcerting when I'd been doing so well. And, wow, @Elf1--Texas, crazy place to live, certainly weather-wise! Should be another cool and overcast day here, although as with yesterday the promise of some sun poking through at some point.

Workout buddy just called so I'll hit the gym with her this morning for a VERY slow and short workout. I will also try to do some of the PT exercises this morning, just not the ones which cause any twinges. So, just keep trudging along. Happy Friday!