Hi, all. I saw my physical therapist on May 6, and got a lot of positive feedback. I'd noticed that at one point I stepped down with Righty, rather than Lefty, so I started wondering when it would be okay to step down with the opposite hip. I mean, I don't think that 20 years from now I'll be trying to remember which was the most recently operated hip. <lol> My PT recognized that I was at the point where I didn't need to follow the rules about which foot to use to step up and down so strictly. So he took me to some fake stairs and let me experiment by stepping up and down with alternating feet, and working on alternating feet as I went up and down, rather than bringing the second foot to where the first foot was before taking another step. He also invited me to consider walking outside without a cane, the thought of which sounded quite scary. But at church I had a solo to sing, and it was just a few steps away, so I had a choir member walk to and from the microphone with me, and found that I could do it. Once I knew that, I wondered if I could go out without the cane the next day for Mother's Day dinner. I decided to try it, since my husband and daughter would be there with me. It went very well, so I decided to go for our evening walk with the dog without the cane, which also went well. So I've been without the cane since Sunday night, going for evening and morning walks, and doing moderate aerobic exercises with my Leslie Sansone videos, with my PT's blessing. I'm still trying to listen to my body, and feel some pain in my quads mostly, which my OT says is normal, since that's where a lot of "malleting" was done. But I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I finally realized that I can brush my teeth and rinse my mouth by stepping back with Lefty to keep her from bending more than 90 degrees. I have one more PT appointment on May 20, then I'll need to wait to "graduate" on July 16. I'm ready to start having a normal life!