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THR May is here!

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LeeApril26 - I've been reading a bunch of posts by you and Peaches, Mamarey and zauberflöte - this is some funny stuff we are managing to go through. Through the healing and pain - there is still humor - and that is awesome!

I went back to work on Monday - it was brutal, I won't lie. But I made it, and I was so proud of myself. My husband dropped me off in the morning, but I took the bus home. I'm not using a cane or anything to indicate I might be slightly "impared" in anyway - and I don't have sign around my neck that says "post hip surgery - beware of right hip". So I'm sitting there on the bus - 3 stops from home - and this very overweight woman gets on. When I saw her - I immediately started chanting to myself in my head, "please do not sit next to me, please do not sit next to me..." Okay - you can see the rest of this scenario - she sat right down ON me, on the RIGHT hand side, on my HEALING HIP.

Now my head is screaming, "ow, ow, ow, ow...", but words are not coming out. Then I start panting..which was a mistake because she had an incredible amount of perfume on, which was almost as HORRIBLE as the pain from the pressure of her "taking up more than her fair share of the seat".

At the next stop, I managed to get up, and out from underneath her, and I limped to the front of the bus to stand by the door for one more stop before I could get off. When I got home, I told my husband - and he was angry and asked me why I didn't just say anything to her about my surgery, etc. and ask her to move. I don't know why. I thought about it while panting, but it's Seattle Metro in downtown - some of these people are on meds, or off their meds, you never know how they might react - and I decided silently moving was the better course of action.

So this is a life's lesson, isn't it? After hip surgery, if you are going to be silly enough to ride the bus before you are fully healed, make sure you choose your seat wisely - or be bold enough to speak out if someone sits on you. :yikes:
 
PrincessMay. Thanks for sharing your awful experience. I never thought of it, but it is so likely to happen on a NYC subway or bus. As I was reading your message I was thinking, Oh yeah!" And, you really don't want to tick off a potential nut. I make a habit of being very polite and nonconfrontational, but I think I would have shrieked if someone sat on my hip right now. I may use the cane forever!
 
PrincessMay oh horrors! I was cringing as I read. Ow, ow OW! How about that cane now?
I'm glad you made it through the day then, and hope this week is going smoothly :) Glad you tagged me! humor rules. Go see the post on my thread that I purloined from a hip guy (ok, with his permission). He is a very funny man, and his powers of observation are stellar! :)
 
More bus drama - but this one totally has a silver lining. There are two different bus routes I can take home and eventually, they end up in the same place, but between work and home they run on parallel roads - one low along he shore of Lake Union and the other one about 100 feet higher on the "bluff" above the lake. I got on the first bus that came along, and today that was the bus that was on the lower route that runs along the shore.

Halfway home, we came to a complete stop, and stayed stopped. I assume some horrible traffic incident was the cause - which happens a lot on the lower route. Since I'm 4 weeks and 4 days post op - I didn't have any intention of getting off and walking - however, there were two gentlemen on the bus with obvious substance abuse problems and both were "under the influence" of at least one substance, if not several different substances. One was in a wheelchair and the other was his "caregiver". After we had been dead stopped for about 15 minutes, the one in the wheelchair, who seemed to be in and out of consciousness, complained to his caregiver that he was too hot, felt sick and thought he might throw up. I got off the bus.

I knew where the stairs were to get to the bus route on the "bluff" so I took them - three flights, straight up. There were hand rails on both sides of the stairwell, and I made use of them like a walker - and my operated leg took those stairs like a champ! This is something I could NOT have done pre-surgery due to the horrible pain I had trying to lift my leg to take stairs. I had a little cardiovascular challenge because I'm so out-of-shape - but I was grinning like a fool when I got to the top.

About two minutes later, a bus came along the "bluff" route and took me the rest of the way home.

Yeah for me! And I know I'm going to feel those stairs tomorrow - but it was so worth it, even if my motivation was something as negative as not wanting to get stuck on a bus with someone ready to get sick three feet away from me.
 
Oh PM so pleased you survived that your first bus trip home from work.. They can be very daunting.

I had a similar experience but it was more the only type of seat that was available, it wasn't a single seat, more like a bench running parallel to the bus line (front to back)... I had no where to hang on and I was thrown around from side to side with my hip hitting the metal..

Glad you survived work.. How did you go with energy drain?
 
Poppet, regarding energy drain...honestly, I'm exhausted at the end of the work day. I come home, have dinner, relax and watch some TV. Sleeping is off and on - a few hours, then I'm awake for awhile, then a few more hours. But I'm doing it. It's hard - but I feel good...most of the time.

The seat I was on was a bench seat running parallel to the bus line as well. I had something to hold onto on the left - and nothing on my right to hit my hip until the large lady got on and sat on me. Now I make sure if I sit on the bench seat, that my right side is up again a solid barrier so no one can sit on me, on that side anyway.

I've been catching up trying to read everyone's posts - and it's interesting how many common experiences we have like blood pressure problems and family drama. And the prunes!!! Love the prune discussion - especially on @zauberflöte 's thread.

Well - I need to sign off and try to catch some sleep - tomorrow is Friday - one more work day, and I've made it to the weekend. Totally napping all weekend. I know you can't technically "catch up" on sleep - but it's going to feel so great to just lie there and know I don't have to get up, I don't have to take a shower, I don't have to get dressed, and I certainly don't have to get on a darn BUS.
 
Goodnight, @PrincesMay. Hope you have an uneventful trip tomorrow.
 
Sleep tight PrincessMay :)

By the way, you can catch up on sleep with napping.. do it all the time myself Zzzzzzzzzz!

By the way, are you still on pain meds? I found I got severe energy drain around 3pm in the afternoon when I returned to work, first feeling tired, then fidgeting, hurting and aching, so I took a couple of Paracetamol (which was prescribed by my surgeon) about an hour before and it did the trick and got me through the rest of the day.. and my working days are long... 9-10 hours! ... Just a thought, maybe discuss this with your GP :)
 
Poppet said:
Sleep tight PrincessMay :)
By the way, are you still on pain meds? :(
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Poppet - I take Tylenol during the day while at work, but when I get home I take 1 Oxycodone (5M), and if it feels pretty bad - I will take a 2nd one before I go to bed. Last night - I didn't take the 2nd one - I resorted to ice instead. I'm trying to stop the Oxy so that I can stop the "need" for prune juice or other such "movement" tatics. I also suspect the Oxy caused my face to break out - and the one thing I'm pretty vain about is my "peaches and cream" complexion...I know it's silly - but I'd rather deal with a little pain that give up my clear skin. I know, I know - very, very vain...but a woman has got to do what makes her happy.
 
Hi, PrincessMay! I'm sorry I missed your thread till now. You are doing GREAT. If you have ready any of my whiney postings you will perhaps recall that I have been stressing out even prior to surgery for the dreaded return to work day, along with BUS RIDES from hell. You have put me to shame! I went back to work this week, after six weeks. Took the cane for the bus ride and street walking (sorry, couldn't resist!) AND walking in the office all day. I have this crazy notion that I will stretch out my stamina and strength if I use the cane at work. Even though at home and in my apt. bldg. hallways I do not need a cane. I'll see how it goes next week. But I am definitely needing my cane on the streets and the bus. I really applaud you for handling those three flights of stairs, too. I would have perhaps risked being vomited on. Just kidding. That's a tough call! I hear you with those crazy bus rides. I always get a seat of my choice since luckily I get on the bus to and from work at the beginning of the route. I grab a single seat so I don't have the problems you've had. BUT just yesterday this weird man decided to stand RIGHT BY ME in my little single seat. His pelvis was disturbingly close. He could have stood anywhere else, but no ... right by me. (FYI: I am NOT even remotely attractive at this stage of the game; 60; frumpy and unpleasantly plump-y.) So I turned and stared out the window to avoid his pelvis. Then he embarked on these loud, exaggerated yawns. Every few seconds. Would not stop. I finally moved to another seat. The other day a child sat next to me and decided to bump into me on the operated side, right at the hip. So I gave him my best Oscar-winning Old Lady Glare Atop Her Glasses. Scared the bejesus out of him and he meekly stopped doing it and gave me a frightened stare as he and his dad got off the bus. :)

Seriously, you are doing so great! About those ice packs ... I use them all day at work as needed; and swap them out sometimes with a heating bad. My workspace looks like a hypochondriac's safe room: cane; grabber; pillows; heating pad; ice packs; OTC stuff. All I need to do now is tuck a kleenex inside my sweater sleeve.

So glad your week back to work went so well! I too found the pain a little less with each passing day. Wouldn't have believed that to be true last week when I was dreading The Return so much.
 
Peaches said:
...So I gave him my best Oscar-winning Old Lady Glare Atop Her Glasses. Scared the bejesus out of him and he meekly stopped doing it and gave me a frightened stare as he and his dad got off the bus.
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Liveringer & Peaches - I think the "Kleenex in the sleeve" thing may be a lost art form that we might want to consider bringing back.

Peaches - Love the "Old Lady Glare" thing. I'm going to start practicing that look. I need an arsenal of bus riding defense mechanisms, for sure.

And the Pelvis Man...so funny...I think I've also had that experience, or something similar. I can see a sitcom all about things that happen riding the bus. Or at least a daily newspaper column, similar to a "Dear Abby" thing.
 
My TRH surgery was May 7th. I've progressed well with PT and not using cane much at all but, I still have swelling in my foot every day. Work from home only for now a few hours each day. Elevate and ice as much as possible. Of of script pain meds for a week now -- over the counter only. Still sleepless nights from overdoing it during the day and acheyness sets in. When resting or sleeping for a few hours my right leg stiffens up too. Takes a while to streght out. Reminders that we still have healing to take place :)
 
anitloop said:
When resting or sleeping for a few hours my right leg stiffens up too. Takes a while to streght out. Reminders that we still have healing to take place :)
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anitloop - Wow, my hip/leg was really, really stiff and felt hard this morning - and I can't think of anything I did differently yesterday - except maybe I did do some bending and lifting. Maybe that was it - or there is just some SERIOUS healing going on. I hope so. I'll be glad when it doesn't feel like I'm sitting on a tennis ball. How is your swelling in your foot coming along? Hopefully is it better?
 
Peaches, that's not an Old Lady Glare, it's a Tough Lady Glare. I used it for 30 years as a teacher with great results. Even though I'm retired and older than you by a lot it still works. The other day 2 young things thought they would cut in front of me at the Disney bag check. One look and they gave it up.:yes!:
 
Giraffe44, I've been waiting my whole adult life to get that reaction from The Glare!
How have you been? I've missed Robert Taylor......

PrincessMay ... I had a less than stellar day at work today, too. Woke up at 4 with enough hip pain to take Extra-Strength Tylenol. Got hit hard during work with the dreaded Energy Drain BoneSmart has warned us about (though it could have been lack of sleep). After sitting on the bus a good 45 minutes, I was really stiff in the groin area on my good hip side, plus had shin splint pains in both legs. I walked about 5 blocks after getting off the bus and the pains seemed to get a smidge better. But am now resting and ICING away. Just goes to show you, the Road to Recovery is not straight and narrow. I hope you are feeling better. Maybe the bending, etc., is the culprit. I have done more of that lately, frequently without thinking first.
 
Peaches - well, I have noticed that I pretty much break the 90 degree rule now, every day, all day long. From what Josephine has posted - I believe it's okay. My understanding from her posts were that your body will tell you when the restrictions need to be observed, and when they can start to be relaxed.

I am have also started consentrating on NOT limping. I find myself watching the people walking in front of me, and I try to immitate their gait/stride. Then I realized - to someone observing me, it probably looks like I'm checking out everyone's "behinds". Hmmmm. Well, too bad. I'm not going to stop because it is helping me change my stride and I'm getting the hang of it now (NOT limping I mean).
 
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