Yesterday I had my six week follow-up. The doc told me 'to live my life'. This, after I got some answers to questions I had in regards to how far I am allowed to bend my hip. He told me no more than 120 degrees with my knee right in front of my chest, and that would be for a life time. I still was not quite clear about what that would look like and so I went ahead and sat on a regular chair. Then I bent over my affected leg and pretended to tie my shoe laces. That seemed like a pretty steep angle to me and I had always kind of worried about it. But he pointed out to me that I was bending my back and that would not affect my hip angle. So, to make it clear: it's the bend at the hip joint while the back is straight that matters. I also had a question regarding how far back I can bend my hip. He said: nothing extreme. That when I take a big step forward with the unaffected leg, the affected hip would bend almost as far back as I can go without dislocating. I am at 8 degrees there now when I lie on a flat surface on my belly and lift my leg up backwards. My PT measured the angle. A little bit more is okay, but nothing extreme. Well, that won't be necessary anyway. Today I start another round of PT per my request, because I want to get a better feel about stretching. I will ask my PT to measure the angle when I take a very big step.
My two incisions [anterior is 2.5 inches and on the side above the panty line it is 1.5 inches] look great. There is just some lumpiness and when I bend my hip it looks puckered. I asked the surgeon about that and he said that those are adhesions. By massaging them I can break up the adhesions. There is also still some surface numbness above my knee about a third up my thigh, slightly to the outside. That too will diminish over time he said. but guess what, that is not what is really important to me.
What is important is that I have no pain.
Another question I asked: What happens when the joint wears out? He said that it won't wear out, because the plastic liner is very hard. I said, 'Even if I ride 50,000 miles with it on my bike?'. He said yes. I then said, but if it does, is it possible to just replace the liner and the ball? He said, that's what they do if the implant is still firmly attached to the bone. I liked that answer. Obviously.
Next week I am going back to work
. It is so strange that I feel that way, because I have always loved my job. Maybe having this big surgery happen to me and also getting older and having grandchildren, tells me that there are things I want to do and while working I simply don't have the energy. This time off has been wonderful, but I can't go on having joints replaced just so I can have time off
, right? [Just trying to be funny.]
Thinking of everyone having hip replacement and wishing them a successful outcome.
Australia
