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THR Hipster64's Recovery Thread

That first time out into the world is such a relief! Hope after a good rest and icing you feel back on track. Good luck with your snazzy new cane. You are doing remarkably well! @Hipster64
 
Hello everyone! Tried the cane this morning at therapy and was semi-successful. The therapist had to put a safety belt around me when I tried it. I did okay, but because my right leg is now longer than the other, the therapist felt that I should remain on the walker for now, but continue to practice with the cane in the house once a day. The therapist did tell me that I could now walk normally with the walker as opposed to pulling the affected leg forward first, like they taught me in the hospital. I felt that was fair. My last home therapy session is Friday morning, then I head to the ortho. Outpatient PT starts Monday. I guess I have to keep on truckin'!
 
Sounds like a good report from therapy. Practice at home with the cane and change your gait with walker sounds like good advice. Keep on truck'in :walking:
 
Hi Hipster64, Thank you so much for your updates. I'm one day behind you and appreciate your progress postings. It's really helpful to hear how others are doing. And your mention of Awful Awfuls brought back good childhood memories of Connecticut. Jealous of your cane (oooh, that makes me feel truly old, to be coveting a cane:snork:), so I am off to Amazon to see what cool designs I can find.
 
@Hipster64 sounds like you had a decent therapy session. I'm still hanging with the walker for now too, especially out in public. I love that you got a cane e with some design and of course your Tshirt! Had to get me a couple of tshirts and I think I have 4 canes now total. I shouldn't count the drab black one as I don't really use it. I do have a folding one that I threw in my backpack when we traveled prior to surgery, not the most sturdy cane but worked good from point A to B in airport. We have to have fun with this recovery and make the best of it!
:loll:
 
Bergame: I am glad my updates are helping. I practiced with the cane in the house and did pretty good, but I plan to follow the therapist's advice and bring both the walker and cane to my ortho visit on Friday. Also, glad to see someone else knows about Awful Awfuls!

Elf1: Except for the PCP, the quick shake stop (we brought them home) and a walk outside with my therapist, I haven't really been out in public since discharge. I do worry about pain and if it is normal at this point. I think I overdid it today and needed my ice more than usual. But then I have to remember I am only 9 days out, amd Rome wasn't built in a day either.
 
You are doing great by the sounds of things @Hipster64 at 9 days out i was still in bed 90% of the time and still in lots pain. With all this fancy cane talk i think i need to get myself one !
 
Fiona444: Amazon is your friend when it comes to fun durable medical equipment. Also, don't get me wrong, I still have pain and spend quite a bit of time on my couch, which is doubling as my sleeping quarters due to my only bathroom being downstairs. I just keep plugging.
 
Plugging along and enjoying the little moments of being out even if it is to go to the doctor will get you fully recovered and running around as usual. Slow and steady especially early on is so helpful for our bodies and our hips which will both let us know when we do the dreaded overdo.
 
Since our surgery dates are very close (I was July 17), @Hipster64, I am encouraged to read your postings as they will, hope give me an idea of what to expect today and tomorrow. Nice report from physio! I don't have any physio, per my surgeon's directive, until I'm at least 6 weeks out but I don't think I'd be able to do much at this point even if I had a session. It is weird that this time around, despite having more pain and discomfort (and, admittedly, I haven't been out of the house yet) I am hobbling around without any assistive device. I feel very stable on my feet, and when I do totter around, I remind myself to stand up straight, pull my gut and shoulders back, and practice a normal heel/toe gait. Still not doing a whole lot of walking yet but I do think when I venture out (maybe a walk outside tomorrow?) that I'll use the walking pole as both this time and last I really hated the walker and ditched it after only a few days. Anyway, have a great day!
 
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Barbaraj, you have a great rest of your day as well! I will be honest-I mostly only exercise when the home physical therapist shows up, and only exercise extra when something very specific is mentioned, such as doing my bed exercises, cane practicing or walking outside. I read the Bonesmart recovery notes in the hospital post surgery and based on them, I have made a personal and conscious decision to NOT kill myself with exercise right now. Even my therapist agrees that I should not overdo anything, to stop if ANY pain whatsoever is felt, that walking is the best therapy, and that hips can do a great job healing by themselves.

Home PT is discharging me tomorrow, then I see my PT at the OS, then on Monday I start outpatient PT, in the hopes of working more with the cane. I also am hoping that the OS or his PA confirm the 9/9 left THR surgery date is written in stone-they penciled me in on the surgery calendar and saved me a space, but the OS cannot officially clear the surgery until he actually sees me. We'll see what happens tomorrow!
 
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Happy Friday!
Good luck with PT this morning and then the Ortho. Let us know how it goes and if they firm up your
September 9th surgery date.
Wishing you a great weekend!
@Hipster64
 
Wow, you are a busy lady, @Hipster64! All that running around with appointments and then only a few weeks after that, assuming everything checks out, you'll be back in surgery. You are also a very brave lady. But you've got the momentum going with hip recovery #1, so on to #2! It will be a crazy year for you, but that also means that 2020 you'll be fully bionic and rarin' to go! Yay for you!
 
Hey there everyone! Just a quick ortho update. The staples-all 30 of them-were removed and replaced with steri-strips. No swimming for two weeks. That was better than what I was anticipating because I thought swimming was out for the whole summer. My dad has a pool so I can tell him I can at least use it in August. Also, this was the first day that I put somewhat real clothes on, wore my jewelry and fixed my hair. I felt like I had officially rejoined the human race! I was even able to stop in and say hello to my sister at her workplace, which is right up the street from the ortho. I used the visit to sneak in my cane practice.

The 9/9 left THR surgery date still needs to be confirmed. My PA said it all depends on how well I continue to do. He said I am right on track but we need to see what outpatient PT has to say. I am still in the process of transitioning from a walker to the cane. At the home PT session this AM, I walked outside with both and brought both to the ortho. Am using both in the house for now. But the best part of today was that a co-worker friend of mine stopped in to visit me this afternoon for a few hours to catch me up on all the workplace gossip which further cemented my rejoining the land of the living.

The adventures continue on Monday with outpatient PT. At least I can wear comfy and oversized T-shirts and shorts; in other words, I can wear what I wear to bed in the summer.

Have a great weekend, everyone!
 
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@Hipster64 pretty good report there and sounds like it's been a really good day so far! Will keep fingers crossed that the confirm your 9/9 LTHR. Have a great weekend!
 
Wonderful report, @Hipster64! I chuckled about how getting dressed, a bit of make-up and some jewelry made you feel as if you'd rejoined the human race! I feel like that as well, and it is such a mood booster to sit and chat with someone about how the outside world is doing, workplace chatter--so fun! I hope you have a great weekend, and like everyone else I'll keep my fingers crossed that your PT will give the go-ahead for the September surgery. I am certain you're not exactly "thrilled" about having more surgery, but the urge to get it over and done with, and back to living life to its fullest sans hip pain, that's what it's all about. Cheers!
 
Hello everyone, and I hope everyone had a peaceful and restful weekend!

Good news at my outpatient therapy update. They told me I no longer need the walker and can exclusively use the cane! They also told me I could go up and down the stairs myself and no spotters are needed. The goal is to get me off all assistive walking devices by the end of PT. I have two sessions a week until 8/29. However, if my next surgery does occur on 9/9, my hard-won independence will only be a temporary two-week tease, but a nice sample of what is to come!

They told me I had to practice the exercises at home when not in PT. They did make me do a dreaded bridge today. Like I said before, I will work hard in PT as expected but the only exercise I plan on doing once out of there is walking. I am too afraid to mess up my recovery and make my body do things it does not want to do or simply is not ready to do (although in the therapist's defense, she did state that if anything causes any pain, to stop immediately).

Hope everyone has an enjoyable rest of the week!
 
@Hipster64 Look at you go! I am so happy to catch up on your thread and read such good things.. I think you will be in a really good place by September. I must confess that I cringed a bit reading about your bridging but time will tell, and you know what to watch for.
You are in a place that's different than us single hippies, you are building up the new hip and trying to keep muscle tone in the worn one before another surgery. A definite balancing act. :flwrysmile:
 
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