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THR Here We Go Again!

Good morning @Barbaraj
Wanted to say hi since you were so faithful in your encouragement. I did alot of thinking yesterday and realized:idea: for the last 3 years I've been sidelined because of the hips, getting treatment for the hips or getting surgery--- not that I haven't lived my life in the meanwhile, but in my mind I've been in an unwell person mode and it got me down. So slowly but surely working on my thinking to change that. Won't happen overnight but that's a vital piece I've been neglecting and now ready to do the work.
Our weather is spectacular, my daughters are coming and bringing my grandaughter, getting back to my church this weekend so all good! Thanks for your
support!
 
Well, we went back downtown today to the art museum. However, it was their "First Thursday" event, unbeknownst to us, so lowered entry fees and thus the place was jam-packed with folks--argh! But we did get in and out fairly quickly, skipping all exhibits except the special exhibit, "Victorian Radicals". If I didn't have a five year old with me, I'm sure I would have spent far more time checking out the exhibit (oh, the William Morris textiles! The beautiful ornamental silver vases! The lovely paintings by the likes of Millais, Rosetti and Holman Hunt!) but I hustled through such that "museum back" wasn't a problem today. After that it was lunch at a waterfront restaurant and then a ride on the "Big Wheel", a giant Ferris wheel on the Seattle waterfront.

My step counter says I walked a fair amount today, but feeling pretty good overall. The key for me is finding the right balance of resting and activity--too much of either makes me ache and stiffen up, a good mix of both makes for a decent day and night. And you are absolutely right, I think, @ahipgma, you are indeed now a healing person and as soon as that is done you'll be able to re-engage with your life fully, and it's going to be grand--great attitude for the future.

Nice thing about having lunch out (and I ate heartily) is that I have no compunction merely grazing tonight, no meal prep required. Nobody, least of all me, needs a big lunch AND big dinner. I will be scavenging for leftovers and even grandson, who is here today, tonight and tomorrow, will be eating whatever I can pull out of the fridge for him. He had a big plate of spaghetti for lunch so he, too, shouldn't be all that hungry--and he got a cookie and some milk awhile ago for a mid-afternoon snack so he should be set.

Onwards!
 
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You lead such a fun-filled life and appear to enjoy every minute. You are such an inspiration and I must say I appreciate all your words of advice and encouragement. Maybe a little sorer now but having experienced a prior hip replacement you understand what will come next. Your words resonate and I take comfort in your experience and look forward to your words.
 
Good morning, fellow hipsters. It was a cool start to the morning which made me a bit nervous as I need sunshine, and lots of it, today. We are headed to a local park with a water splash feature, our outing for the day with the five year old. Funny how much activity we engage in when we have our grandchildren here. We always plan one outing a day with them, to get us all out of the house. It's going to be a long day of kiddy entertaining (how the heck did I ever manage a fulltime job, four children spanning 20+ years--oldest was 16 when youngest was born--and keep a reasonably tidy house without driving myself into the ground?!!) and parks and water features are no fun when it's chilly outside. If left to our own devices, sans kidlets, I'm sure we'd be vegging out big time today--but that will be the weekend, I suspect, when we'll both be tired after two fairly active days.

Hips continue to be cranky in the morning, aligning themselves with my stiff back, and whining a lot. As usual, I need to get up and get moving for this stiffness and ache to dissipate after an hour or so. So looking forward to PT next week, I need to stretch out this tight, unyielding body of mine but want to do it in a way which doesn't mess up all the good work that's been done by my surgical team. Six months is my goal for feeling almost 100%. Yes, I've read that it really takes a year or more (yikes!) to get fully up to speed, but following hip replacement #1, I think by 6 months I was feeling pretty darn good although hip #2 was definitely starting to ache and be a pest. With both of 'em done now, surely I can get back to a more normal place of pain-free movement and better overall energy.

Okay, off to the grocery store for picnic foods. Thinking mutinously about filling a thermos bottle with wine for lunch but will probably back off. I can think like a rebel sometimes but seldom act on it I just have a rich fantasy life!

Your words are so sweet, @mikeycat and while I shake my head at being an inspiration to anyone (could you talk to my children, please?) I am glad that whatever I've said has been helpful. I think that is what we all want to do on this forum--give comfort and support to others, and gratefully receive that back as well. This is a tough, tough journey for everyone and knowing a whole host of folks really "gets it" and has your back--pretty awesome, I think. As always, hang in there--that's what we're all doing.
 
You sound great! :wowspring:Glad the surgery went well. Yes, when the all the surgery pain stuff wears off, look out!! You will find the right "cocktail" for you to keep pain at bay so you do your lovely daily walk down the hall. I'm laughing because the loss of bladder happened to me too when they got me up for my first walk. Absolutely, had no control, nada, zip. So humbling... You've got a lot of rooters here. Be well...continued healing. :flwrysmile:
 
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Ha, ha, I do think you have me confused with another poster. I am 7 weeks out from surgery (a month before yours, on July 27) and it was my second and LAST hip surgery, first replacement being last September. I am thankful that, for all the indignities that this surgery can bring about, I never had any bladder problems. Never had 'em, to be honest, except once, after the birth of my first child, I made the mistake of going to an exercise class where jumping jacks were involved. I was, needless to say, horrified and so embarrassed! You are early on so you are entitled to be a bit brain fogged. It will pass, but from reading your thread it sounds like you're doing great--keep up the good work!
 
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A cool and cloudy start to my Saturday, and no let up this afternoon since, unfortunately, the sun has disappeared for a few days, according to my phone's weather app. Oh, well, yesterday it turned out sunny and nice and as it was the last day of grandson babysitting, I am grateful for that. We hit the city park with splash feature in the morning, along with a picnic lunch, and late in the afternoon we headed down to the beach so he could throw rock after rock into the water, something that never grows old for the kiddy crowd. I found walking on the rocky beach to be pretty difficult. I managed, but constantly felt as if I were wobbling along, the ground shifting beneath my feet, and my sense of balance seriously challenged. It was as if I was a bit inebriated so a very weird sensation. This just reinforces my view that I really do need PT to help with overall balance, gait and, of course, strengthening of all the musculature around my hips.

Last night, after grandson picked up, grandparents cheerfully waving from the door, then coming inside and collapsing on a couple of comfy chairs, we headed down to the home of some friends for a drink on their back deck. We were only going to stay an hour or so, but ended up being there until 9:30 (!!) sipping wine and chatting. After two days of kid focus, nice to be around other adults. The husband also stepped away from the deck for awhile and returned with a platter of freshly made pot stickers for us to gobble up--very tasty! I was truly exhausted when we got home, and I think I fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow.

This will be a complete "football widow" weekend, with a college football game tonight and the start of the professional football season (go, Seahawks!) tomorrow, with my husband attending both games. Not sure what I'll do in his absence. As the game today doesn't start until 7:30, I think maybe we'll go out to lunch somewhere. I'll also consider going to the gym both days for a short, easy workout. And an out of state friend and I were texting yesterday and we are planning to have a "gab fest" at some point this weekend when we can set it up. So, a good weekend ahead.

Hope everyone is starting the day off well, yet another day along the recovery trail. Cheers!
 
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Another cool and rainy day, and feeling a bit down this afternoon with this dismal weather. But, I had better get used to it as I am expecting "more of same" in the upcoming weeks as fall has really arrived, I think. Last night we had an incredible thunder and lightening storm, highly unusual for the PNW. My poor husband, who went to the college football game last night, had a terrible time as they called a delay in game fairly early on due to the weather and the game didn't resume until 10:30 PM (I'd have gone home by then certainly) and didn't end until after 1:00 AM. He didn't get home until after 2:00 AM, and to make matters worse, his team LOST!

Today he's off to yet another football game, this time our professional team but it's raining horribly at the moment and I'm sure he's getting soaked. You have to be dedicated to watch football live in the PNW sometimes. I was stiff as usual this morning, but virtuously trotted off to the gym in late morning, spending 30 minutes on the elliptical and nudging the resistance up one notch. Came home feeling better for the workout, showered and then proceeded to collapse into our upstairs recliner which is not a thing of beauty and broken so it doesn't fully incline. But I turned on the heating pad, opened my Kindle and promptly dozed off. It was only the sound of rain pelting on the roof which woke me up. Now feeling achy and grumpy again despite my little rest. Hubby should be home around 5 or 5:30 and we'll head off this evening to bar trivia. I need to get up and do laundry or something. Falling asleep and drooling in my recliner--cue little old lady vision--was dumb and I need to get up and moving. Argh...
 
@Barbaraj Had to laugh at the little old lady vision. I think those spontaneous naps are telling us our bodies need a break. I wonder if the rainy weather increases your achiness? Humidity seems to affect my replaced joints.
 
Barbara, what a beautiful and comedic descriptive of your day. I can tell you love writing, as do I. Couldn't help laughing out loud as I, especially, visualized the "drool." Love finding and playing with words and enjoying the writings of others who do the same. YES! The thunderstorm was something out of a movie last night. I've never seen Seattle so lit up. The funny thing was it never seemed to move away as storms do. It just hung out, so to speak, in the western sky. Freaking out is not my norm at things like bright lightening zigzagging across the sky with an immediate eruption of booming thunder responding at its heels.

But it reminded me of the year I spent in North Carolina. 1967... my husband was in Special Forces Training at Fort Bragg, Fayetteville, NC. The storms there terrified me through my core! I'd never experienced anything like those in Seattle which paled in comparison to the South's storm. People actually got struck scurrying to their cars, running from what began as a sunny day the beach with their families, and struck as they attempted to open their car door. Soldiers on practice missions who were on bivouac were literally knocked out in their "protective" tents or just hanging out in a hammock. One day I returned home from such a day to find the living room of my little off-post house filling with water. I'd left the windows open. And why not? When I left it was in the 80's and the skies were blue. Not now. The wind howled. It was frightening beyond belief and my new baby girl was screaming with her own terror.

Thanks so much for your fun story, though I know moving through days of recovery isn't actually what one would call fun. Entertaining? Sometimes. Because I and so many here have most likely had similar days, it was an entertain visual. At least you made it so!
 
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Ah, it's Monday morning and while overcast, it's not raining--hurray! Although I gloomily consulted my phone's weather app this morning and learned the wet stuff is moving back in again this afternoon, heavy sigh. And, yes, I do think I am affected by cloudy skies and humidity. My mood is surely grumpier and I'd love to blame extra body aches on it as well! But as I live in an area of the world where late fall through late spring involves overcast days and a good amount of rain, I need to adjust to this and refuse to let myself fall into a continuous funk. And, yes, that Saturday storm was pretty amazing. I went to college on the east coast where there were thunder and lightening displays which I found frightening, too. I remember scurrying from my dorm to a classroom in a far off building and being terrified by what was going on--very glad to reach the building all in one piece!

After a dullish weekend I have a busier week ahead--grandkid chauffeuring starts back up this week, with today, Tuesday and Thursday being given over to picking up a grandchild at school, schlepping said child to a class and then back home again after that. Today's chauffeur duty is a one-off as we're just filling in for another grandparent who is out of town but will return to resume his chauffeuring duties next week.

Nothing else on my agenda today but will return again to the gym. I upped the resistance level on the elliptical both Saturday and Sunday by one notch, although I stuck with my 30 minute limit. I don't know whether to increase the time today or to increase the resistance by a notch. Had no ill effects from notching up but it's hard to know how to proceed. I guess I'll decide when I get there. My usual morning achiness is still with me but I've been posting on BS so haven't gotten up and moved all that much. But within the hour I'll get dressed and head out.

Hope all my fellow recovering hipsters have a good day, wherever you are on the path. Trudge, trudge, trudge...onwards!
 
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Barbara you continue to amaze me with your rich and colourful life. It is wonderful to read about and I too love your writing style. Sorry about the achey hips but sure its only temporary and once moving will soon clear. I too love to veg and do nothing sometimes. This morning all I really want to do is read stuff on net and go back to bed. Alas I can't but its still dark and the dogs have gone back to bed after their brekkie so am not going to take them out this morning. Busy day at work today too. Sigh.....
 
Hello @Barbaraj

You have been such a faithful friend encouraging so many here. Love to read your updates. You seem to be doing remarkably well. I’m glad you took the wise path of taking it easy in the gym. Always better to go the slow and steady path. Love all that cool weather you are having. I would be ever so thankful if you’d send some my way. Hope you have a great week!!
 
@Barbaraj hopefully your weather is a bit better today, couldn't live up that way, need sunshine! That was one of the huge drawbacks when we lived in Germany, too many dreary days.

Glad you're finally back to the gym, know you were chomping at the bit. My main reason for the water walking is I can't swim for ****, love the water though so, water walking! :snork:
Have tried the elliptical before but I just don't seem to have the coordination for it. My big boss was telling me before the surgery that it's great for hips, just can't quite get the hang of it. I realized a while back our gym has Life Cycles instead of the recumbent bikes like PT and they just aren't comfortable so kind of the reason for the pool.
Hope you have a great Tuesday! :flwrysmile:
 
Good morning! I'm just back from my first PT session and feeling cautiously good. Therapist said I'm doing well for being less than two months out from surgery, but she agreed my gait/balance/strength/agility have all been compromised by surgery and it will take time to get it all straightened out. But, encouragingly, she said this was entirely possible with work and patience on my part. So, feeling hopeful with this news although aching today, more than usual.

I woke up around 5:00 AM, still half asleep and without thinking I tensed up the muscles along my hips and thighs and then--wowza--a major charley horse which caused me to leap (as much as one is able to "leap" following hip replacement surgery) out of bed and walk around to loosen up the painful ache. Got back into bed (husband sleeping blissfully through this despite my squeak of pain and pacing) and tried to get back to sleep but couldn't so finally dragged myself out of bed at 6:30, my usual rising time. Left thigh is still sore and I'm sure being put through my paces at PT, no matter how gentle, is contributing to a continuation of discomfort But, I know that sticking faithfully to PT exercises daily will be helpful even if I start out feeling as if they are too hard and I'm too much of a weenie to do them properly. This is definitely a time when "best effort" is needed, even if it's pretty feeble at first. But I'm committed--I've been living with hip problems for 3 really' years now and I want to be DONE! Like YESTERDAY!

Nothing on my agenda until late afternoon when we're off to grab granddaughter for her ballet lesson. We'll drop her off and then stroll down to one of the many restaurants and bars nearby where we can grab a drink and something to eat. Her lessons starting this year are an hour and 15 minutes long, so plenty of time for an early dinner or two delicious cocktails if we're just doing happy hour. Smiling at the prospect.

PS @Elf1 Do the ellipticals you've tried have moving arms on them? I find these actually easier than the ones with just static handles. Once you get into the rhythm they really are comfortable and you get great full body workout. But I also think recumbent bikes are great, my second cardio torture device of choice! But if water walking works for you, I'd stick with that--it's all about what works best for YOU!

PSS I will try to send some wet and cool weather your way, @Fit4Family, if you promise to send some sunshine and warmer temperatures to my neighborhood! I take it the weather in your area is a bit too hot for your tastes?
 
We will take rain and chill @Barbaraj Have not had good rain for weeks here. I had charley horse cramping a few weeks ago. PT told be to eat a couple of pickles. Cured it overnight. Apparently it is a cure for electrolytes imbalance. Very common after surgery or sports injury. Good luck this week!
 
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