THR I've Got a New Attitude (OK, Hip)

[ladylorn]

Thanks, @Josephine, that's reassuring; it had been concerning me, even though this is MUCH better than it had been last week this time (and definitely better than 2 weeks ago: I looked back at a picture my sister took of the wound right after they took off the wound vac - there was a gaping hole there!!! ).

Slow and steady wins the race in this case, I guess.

 

[Layla]

That is reassuring, LL
I know it would make me feel better. At least someone around here knows something
We're just the fluff
Hope you're feeling great today...Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Hugs
@ladylorn

 

[Mojo333]

Hey my Jamaican pal
Hope that incision's looking better and you are feeling better.
Hope you have a good day!

 

[ladylorn]

Hi, everyone, saw my doctor yesterday; he says everything is looking good and the incision, while not pretty where the cavern was, is healing well. I still have to keep the "scabby" part covered - they want the scab to be protected til it's ready to come off by itself, rather than it being pulled off by accident as it might be while uncovered. Hoping that I'll just have one more week before I can finally get this thing fully uncovered and get on with things - my skin is weary of adhesive (yes, my skin has its own "mind", and can be quite contrary! ).

Other than that, I'm doing pretty well; still getting slammed with fatigue at random times (the past few days moreso than usual), still dealing with some healing discomfort, etc. But I know it's all part of the process, so I'm trying to just go with the flow of what my body needs to the best of my ability - now let's see what happens when I go back to my commute/working in the office next Monday!

 

[Layla]

I'm glad you had it checked again, LL
It's worth the reassurance and peace of mind it offers as I know it's concerned you.
Hopefully in another week all will be good as you mentioned.

Rest up for that office commute in 6 days, I'll bet it's tiring initially.
You'll probably do nothing more than fall onto the sofa after work to ice, until you begin to feel more energized.
You're doing great! I hope your day is all you want it to be
@ladylorn

 

[BeBe]

@ladylorn
So glad you've had a good report from your OS and your incision is closing well.
And you're back to work next week? Hoping you can ease into that routine again and not hit the ground running!

 

[ladylorn]

It's healing nicely now, @Layla; still scabbed over, but at least everything actually looks closed (aka, protected by the scab). Hoping it'll drop off in the next week or so.

I didn't realize (or maybe accept is a better word) until this morning just how much more tiring the return to work will be with TWO healing hips!! I may not have a choice but to ease back in, @BeBe ; I have to be up by 5.30am and out of the door between 6.30 & 7 in order to (hopefully, if traffic isn't insane) get to my office by my starting time of 8.30 - but I'm having trouble getting out of bed by 8am these days!!!!

My boss will just have to understand; as magical as he and the others in my office seem to think I am, even I have to defer to the humanity of my healing!!!

 

[Layla]

Happy Thursday!
I hope that evenings consist of crashing on the sofa, recliner, your bed, whichever is your comfy spot until you're further into recovery and your energy level increases. You're in my prayers @ladylorn
My heart goes out to those who have to return to work while in reality you're still in recovery.
Two major surgeries in a matter of months!

I'm happy to hear the wound is scabbed over. Stubborn one this time around.

Enjoy your day and the weekend. We have a Fall like day on tap here. It feels cool this morning with a high of low 70's predicted before the heat and humidity returns again this weekend, UGH!
Fall where are you? Love it, it's my favorite season!
Hugs

 

[ladylorn]

That weather sounds delightful!!! I prefer warmer months, simply because my body despises snow with a passion (mind you, that might change once these hips o' mine are fully healed - I remember loving snow days when I was younger... & we're talking late 20s, early 30s younger! )!!! Fall is just a perfect season, though; great temps, not too much humidity... just wonderful.

This morning I woke up to a temp of 79... that "feels like" 85 ; I can do heat, but the humidity that makes the "feels like" go up is a major drag.

Anyway, enjoy that beautiful weather, and have a wonderful weekend, @Layla!!!

 

[Mojo333]

95 degrees today and balmy
Just like Jamaica!

Stay well ladylorn!

 

[BeBe]

@ladylorn
Getting our rest with these new hips is tough!! I average about 4 hours a night.
Hope you get enough rest going into the back to work transition.
It's hard to get into the early to bed early to rise routine.

 

[ladylorn]

Hi, everyone! Well, I'm back in the office as of yesterday; and, @BeBe , I'm not sure how I'm doin' it!!! I will say, the energy expended to get through a work day ensures deeeeeeeep sleep at night (okay, I also took a Tramadol - which is an extreme rarity for me, the most I'd been needing was Tylenol). But getting up in the morning... oy! My usual rise time on a workday is somewhere between 5am and 5.30 - I'm proud of myself for rolling out of bed at 6am these days; and if I make my 7am express bus on top of that...? I'm on FIRE!

{Whiny moment} One day in and I'm ready to go back to working from home (which I can't do; but I would if I could). The guys have been great about welcoming me back (I'm the office mom, aka manager; although I do much of my work via computer/phone these days, they missed my soothing - and bossy - presence.); but the sitting at a desk thing (even with me getting up to walk around fairly regularly) is ROUGH. I'm back to alternating between two chairs - when one gets too uncomfortable, I switch it out for the other one; the guys looked at me askance when I first started doing it (after the first surgery), but now it's just "standard operating procedure" for Lorna. {Whiny moment done}

BTW @Layla , you were absolutely right - I got home last night and crawled gratefully into my recliner to ice and was out of it! Not asleep, just completely immobile (a zombie had nuthin' on me!!!). I finally dragged myself to bed and was out for the count!

According to the weatherman, we're on the verge of a heatwave here in NYC, @Mojo333 ; but I get in to the office relatively early (usually by 8.30am) and don't leave 'til my workday ends (4.30-5pm), so I'll be missing much of the "big" heat (thank goodness; "Noo Yawk" heat is a totally different kind of heat than anyplace else I've ever been - between the additional subway heat, the smells, the people... lordy!!! ). Too much of that on top of this healing process might send me around the bend!!

"The Cavern" is finally filling in - one tiny spot left and I'll be good to go. Which is good, because I have my facility PT intake this Friday (after the hospitalization, I decided to skip the in-home PT altogether - I figured you guys knew what you were talking about and I needed to let these hips rest). I'm looking forward to starting pool PT (land PT, notsamuch ); I'll do only what I can and no more, but I need to work on getting these muscles firing - my glutes (the inner portion, not the part attached to the IT band) have been driving me crazy (talk about a pain in the butt!!! ), and I can tell that it's because they're not engaging properly.

*sigh* It's a process. I trust the process....

@BeBe, my hippie twin, I do hope you're healing well and that rest starts to come more easily to you. Wishing everyone a beautiful day!!

 

[Mojo333]

Ebb and flow...that's how we go.
You sound wonderful for what you are navigating right now.
I did the same after I got home from work as I went back early also
Glad you posted an update.
Didn't want to annoy you...but was wondering how things were going!

 

[Layla]

I know why you're so tired, LL, I've read it here and it may even be in an article. I'll look after I blab.
When we think about returning to work, you just envision yourself in the workplace. Not the waking early part, showering and getting ready and transportation to the workplace, all before you even start your work day. It's a lot when you're in recovery and you're healing from two major surgeries. I think it may take awhile and I hope you're able to come home, kick of your shoes, get into your comfy clothes and melt into your cozy recliner because you have a lot of healing to do.

Heat wave coming here again too. Calgon take me away! I'm so tired of it. Have to laugh because NYC does have a smell of its own. Not quite sure what it is. Vehicle exhaust, hot engines, subway exhaust, food, garbage, who knows but I love NYC!

I'm relieved to hear you say you'll do what you can in PT and no more. Remember, if it hurts, STOP.
Consider icing after each session preventatively also.

I think we'll need to have a virtual toast when that cavern finally bites the dust Oh Happy Day!

Thanks for stopping by. I love your updates.
Hope the rest of your week is good!
@ladylorn

 

[Mojo333]

Thank heavens for the weekend, right?
I bet you are frazzled...I know I was when I went back to work!
Just thinking of you...hope the weekend is peaceful and you are icing it up!

 

[Apricot]

Brave woman. Lots of strength to you.

 

[BeBe]

@ladylorn
Bless your heart!! I wish I could make you some hot tea or chicken soup
when you walk through the door after work.
Not sure how you're holding up. I hope well enough to get through your day.
Are you taking ice into work? I like the two chair strategy.

I'm hoping you have energy this week, and the work demands are tolerable.
Totally agree with what Layla said about the getting to and then coming home from the workplace.
Rooting for you!!

 

[Apricot]

Yumm a steaming bowl of chicken soup, the cure for everything. Please send some virtual soup across to my recovery thread.... Loads of it.

 

[Layla]

Hi LL
I hope all is going well with getting back to work.
Has your energy increased much? Don't forget the Protein.
In about another week and you and BeBe will be two months post op already.
Just think how great you'll be feeling by the holidays. Excited for you.
A great week to you!
@ladylorn

 

[ladylorn]

Hi, everyone! Well, I made it through my first week back in the office and am into the second one and *sung* I'm still standing (but only when I have to really, 'cuz "never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can go to sleep!" has become one of my healing mantras. ). I readily admit, working from home on Friday, then again yesterday, has gone a long way towards my being able to keep doing this commuter-work thing (I tried for the big Powerball last Saturday, but I guess I'm meant to keep working a little longer ).

I'd already known I'd be working from home on Fridays because my "land" PT is scheduled for Fri mornings but, at my intake last week, my PT told me that she wanted me to hold off on going back to aquatic therapy to ensure that The Cavern is fully healed and ready to go; which means land PT 2x/week for the rest of August (...which also means I work from home on Mondays AND Fridays, unless I feel that my body can handle schlepping into Manhattan after being put through its paces at 6.45 in the morning on Mondays. Errrrmmmm...yeh. That's sure to happen ).

@Layla, I found the post you were talking about re, work/fatigue; and yes, that's exactly what I was experiencing. It wasn't so much being in the office (although it's nowhere near as comfortable as my recliner... or my couch... or my kitchen chairs... all of which were in rotation during those weeks I worked from home); it was getting up and out of the door in time to climb onto a herky-jerky bus and sit on lumpy seat cushions for an hour and change... then do it all over again for 1.5+ hours coming home. It's no WONDER I was collapsing into my recliner every night (after "motivational mantra'ing" myself from the bus to my building/apartment - "You can DO it, LL; you can DO IT!!!!" ).

Re, ice, @BeBe: we're lucky enough to have a boss who seriously believes in having first aid tools available - we've got a number of ice packs that live in the freezer (AND a refillable ice bag!) that I use throughout the day (in addition to my ginormous one that I use when I get home); I am the ice queen (with every intention of someday becoming a dancing queen again )!! I could still do with some chicken soup, though... *planning next grocery list*. I do hope you're taking as good care of yourself as you wish for me.

BTW, Layla, I'm doing my protein (albeit probably not as much as I should; food and I have, as I think I've mentioned, a very odd relationship. LOL); and I think it's helping - THE CAVERN IS CLOSED!!!! The last bit of scab fell off on its own last night; so now it's just a matter of all the internal stuff healing up nicely. The fatigue has eased, despite my dealing with major insomnia for the past few nights - then again, this is my first day in the office this week, so who knows WHAT'S gonna happen.

@Apricot, I just caught up with your thread - it sounds as though you're doing WONDERFULLY well . The swelling can be such a bother, can't it? But icing goes such a long way towards making everything better - ice is my friend these days. That, and patience (with which, admittedly, I'm more an acquaintance than a friend ). Wishing you happy healing!!!

@mojo, I'm adding "Ebb and flow, that's how we go" to my "get'er did" mantras; thank you!!

Have a great rest of your week, y'all!!