craftdee
graduate
AustraliaI hear what you're saying @Was_86 I "regret" having AVN too... but it's not like it's a decision I made "oh it's about time I got myself some AVN" It's happened TO us, we have to deal with it. I was really hating my "new hip" at about 4 weeks, questioning why I went ahead with the replacement. I am much more 'at peace' with it now, but I have to admit that there hasn't been the oh yes!, lightning bolt moment kind of feeling that many have and I was expecting. I am finding out about things that will be less than perfect in my life with an artificial hip and I suppose the best way to describe it is that I am "jealous" of all those people, the vast majority of the contributors to this forum for a start, who LOVE their new hip and are "so glad" they did it, have "all their pain gone" and all the rest of it. That's not been the reality for me - at this precise moment (at 5 weeks and 3 days) I am about as stiff and uncomfortable (with less pain, asI am still medicating) as I was pre-op - but I am overall more comfortable than I was last week, and projecting ahead see myself more comfortable again next week... which will mean I will be better placed than before the surgery from that point on... and improving instead of declining. You can but hope
My son is a gym fanatic (not that that's how he describes himself), he fractured three vertebra a few years ago (landed on his butt on a bouncy castle... don't ask!) the initial "treatment" nearly did him in mentally as he was not allowed to go to the gym AT ALL for six weeks. Once he resumed training he couldn't do the weights he'd been doing, did in fact have to change his whole regimen... he felt somewhat defeated before he started it (starting 'from scratch' is never easy) but once he started building his new program it actually invigorated him - made him think more about using more of his body less intensely and certainly broadened his range of gym activities. He goes to the gym six times a week again, his overall health is the best it's ever been and he is more aware of all the benefits that training can bring - not just body shaping. If you feel you will have to change your fitness activities (and you may very well not have to) then perhaps - on a good day- you can think positively about what new things you can do, and how it might be okay to mix it up a bit
Most of us with AVN are looking at multiple joint replacement, many are of an age that revision surgery is likely - I, like you, have 'dreaded' it since the day I was told I needed this THR, my first. I do realize I'm probably shortchanging myself as I will be wasting all the "good" days I could be having with this hip waiting for the "bad" days to arrive. I am adopting a wait and see position, if I feel in six months that this surgery was worth it then I'll probably stump up next time, if nothing else I'll have more realistic expectations. The AVN does complicate it as necrotic bone isn't just uncomfortable, it's unstable so you can end up with injuries that leave you with more problems than a joint replacement do, for sure. By all means curse the AVN, I do, regularly... but my Mum always said - and it's become my catch cry - that wishing doesn't make it so, wishing you didn't have it doesn't get rid of it so you need to find the tools to deal with it whatever they are.
Hope you'r'e soon in a better headspace, it seems to me to be as big a part of the "game" as the PT!! Upward and onward and all that jazz
My son is a gym fanatic (not that that's how he describes himself), he fractured three vertebra a few years ago (landed on his butt on a bouncy castle... don't ask!) the initial "treatment" nearly did him in mentally as he was not allowed to go to the gym AT ALL for six weeks. Once he resumed training he couldn't do the weights he'd been doing, did in fact have to change his whole regimen... he felt somewhat defeated before he started it (starting 'from scratch' is never easy) but once he started building his new program it actually invigorated him - made him think more about using more of his body less intensely and certainly broadened his range of gym activities. He goes to the gym six times a week again, his overall health is the best it's ever been and he is more aware of all the benefits that training can bring - not just body shaping. If you feel you will have to change your fitness activities (and you may very well not have to) then perhaps - on a good day- you can think positively about what new things you can do, and how it might be okay to mix it up a bit
Most of us with AVN are looking at multiple joint replacement, many are of an age that revision surgery is likely - I, like you, have 'dreaded' it since the day I was told I needed this THR, my first. I do realize I'm probably shortchanging myself as I will be wasting all the "good" days I could be having with this hip waiting for the "bad" days to arrive. I am adopting a wait and see position, if I feel in six months that this surgery was worth it then I'll probably stump up next time, if nothing else I'll have more realistic expectations. The AVN does complicate it as necrotic bone isn't just uncomfortable, it's unstable so you can end up with injuries that leave you with more problems than a joint replacement do, for sure. By all means curse the AVN, I do, regularly... but my Mum always said - and it's become my catch cry - that wishing doesn't make it so, wishing you didn't have it doesn't get rid of it so you need to find the tools to deal with it whatever they are.
Hope you'r'e soon in a better headspace, it seems to me to be as big a part of the "game" as the PT!! Upward and onward and all that jazz
you are in fact younger than my youngest son, but I am remarkable for my age 
Thanks too for asking about the pain/discomfort/burning down the front/side of my thigh/knee; it's soooo much better; the Physio said it was my IT Band and Lateralis something or other 
I had been overdoing "it" - on my feet most of the day and doing exercises, which I did feel able to do readily... and I'd stopped medicating in the day, apparently not the best mix. I had acupuncture, which I've always considered a bit of a crock and the relief was immediate! I've slowed down a bit, and started taking some paracetemol (Tylenol) in the day, though I forgot yesterday and still went okay.
Once I can get out and about without getting help (which I hate asking for) I think there'll be more distractions... though I'm not sure I'm willing to carry the stupid HUGE wedge cushion around the shops (in case I want to sit and have a coffee) like my hubby does for me, he's a trooper! I knew this time would come, it's really good because it means I'm getting back to "well", it's really bad because it SUCKS
They didn't do my shoulders either - probably because they're the one big joint I have no symptoms in. My sister in law, who's a born moaner, says all the time with a dramatic sweep of the hand that she has OA head to foot...head to foot (just in case we didn't hear it the first time- four hundred and first time, lol) and it makes me smile because I have OA "head to foot" and the vast majority of it doesn't hurt at all... if you haven't got two bits rubbing together it pretty much is uncomfortable at worst... the OA in my skull for instance doesn't bother me at all
Hope you're getting your head around your new fitness priorities. Look forward to seeing those beefed up legs!
