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THR My new hip!

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Hi @Sommers16
I wanted to pick up on what you said about comparing your progress and being on track. I've had such different experiences with my two hips that I can't imagine how there can be any real comparison when you also throw in the variables of different people, different surgeons and different processes. Do what feels right to you and don't worry about anything else.
 
@Zelda - thank you! Advancing in one's own journey day by day really is the only way to go because whereas we hippies share so much in common, there are all these other variables unique to us as individuals. Being human, and being a tad competitive by nature, it just sometimes makes me pause when it feels like I'm behind in some way. And it has more to do actually with having concerns that I'm doing "ok" rather than keeping up with someone.

This fake example below is obviously exaggerated for effect, but this is how on a "downer" day I can process the information.

Fellow fake hippie post: Today I walked 10 miles and then did the shopping, prepared dinner and re-grouted the bathroom tile. Feels good to be on day 15. Only wish I hadn't run out of daylight before getting all the tomatoes planted and the rose bushes pruned."

My fake corresponding post on the same day: Again, narrowly made it to bathroom before having tinkle accident on clothes. Whew! Washed off in sink a bit and spent 15 minutes trying to get dressing tool unhooked and de-tangled from pants. Occupational therapy in hospital made these devices look so easy! Dropped TV remote on floor so hard the battery cover and batteries came out. Used grabber stick to pick up remote, but one of batteries rolled under couch out of reach. Guess I will nap since I've now heard the weather report for Chinese provinces five times as the TV is stuck on this channel.

Ha Ha

It's important to laugh and to be patient (somehow) and to acknowledge all the small victories along the way. There have been challenges, and the things in my fake posting above have happened, albeit in less dramatic fashion. But I try and remind myself that even struggling to get dressed today is an improvement over "yesterday's" still needing to have the surgery and having that to face.

One step at a time, one day at a time.
 
Sommers16 said:
and being a tad competitive by nature,
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Me too! I'm having to pretend @kwarendorf doesn't exist at the moment, he's doing so well! :heehee:

I'm clearly going to have to start posting in more detail about my recovery - if only I'd known you wanted to know about my amazing ability to drop a whole carton of blueberries all over the floor (try picking them up with a grabber!), drop my cane down a flight of stairs and have meltdowns in the kitchen because it's just too hard to carry cups of tea or plates of food across the room!
 
I actually got an irrational pang of jealousy watching a guy on a tv show squat down to talk to someone sitting in a chair. There is so much "new" that I can do again that I should be thankful for, but I still fixate on some of the things I can't (or will never do again).
 
@Zelda-
And @gullimac : thanks! Oddly enough, that does help, because I can relate.

Just think- one day this will all be but a hazy recollection - a blurred set of memories that won't seem to be a big deal at all. Just a necessary means to a rewarding end.

Thank you for sharing and for caring alongside us and for making the journey more pleasant.
 
Oh my, I just laughed out loud at this last topic! I have experienced to pre potty tinkle and the berries all over the floor (I just let my dogs eat them!). Grin. We humans are a competitive species, aren't we?! I am trying to just go at my own pace through this mess, thank heavens for all you great bone smarties who help me keep it all in perspective! Hugs!


RTHR 1/15/2016. Posterior approach. Due to AVN. LTHR on May 26, 2016.
 
This week heralds one month since my hip replacement surgery! Feels like there should be a confetti and balloon drop. :yes!:

Overall, I am pleased at how things are progressing. I am grateful. I am thankful for this site and its contributors. I've said that before, but it's true. It has been so helpful.

If you have had this surgery, you know recovery is more like crock pot cooking (slow) than microwave cooking (fast). Isn't time an odd thing in that it is both so slow and so fast at the same time? How can that be, even?

Yesterday with physical therapy I walked with the cane for the first time. I got a HurryCane that I saw mentioned here, and it is working well. I am a little wobbly and need to work on my form, but the return of some strength is so nice physically and emotionally. Very encouraging.

At times, it is difficult looking past today. At other times, it is hard just focusing on the here and now and not looking at the past or trying to peer into the future. I guess one needs to take a survey of it all. I've been challenged trying to find a healthy balance and maintain perspective.

I'm not taking a lot of pain medicine, but what I am taking is needed for now. I took it a little later today and got into some discomfort. Sometimes I think it is easy to get lulled into a false sense of things when you forget how the medicine is helping you. That doesn't sound very clear. What I mean is, you feel ok, so you think maybe you don't need the medicine, and then you realize you do, and the medicine was helping you to feel ok.

My next doctor's appointment is in two weeks, and I hope to be really fluid and adept with the cane then, or maybe not even needing it at all.

I am looking forward to additional accomplishments, like being able to sleep in a different position, driving, easily taking a shower (not needing the shower bench, being able to confidently stand).

And I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but there's excitement building about just maybe being able to walk in the future with no limp and little to no pain. Don't want to jinx anything, but hope is such a powerful thing! :fingersx:

Here's sending you a dose of hope today, with a healthy heaping of patience and comfort mixed in. :loveshwr:
 
I'm so pleased that I wrote what I was really feeling! So many times I'll think something really nice about someone, but never utter the words and later I'll think, "Why didn't I tell them what I was thinking?" I'm sure happy I did this time! You really should pursue your gift my friend.
 
@Sommers16 ~ I've just caught up on your posts and agree so completely with the beautiful, meaningful way you have with words. In advance of my surgery the end of July, I already feel it will be meaningless to compare my recovery to any others.....only to report the facts, ma'm - just the facts....good, bad or indifferent, they will be MINE! Mine only. We are each so unique....as we should be. Thanks for placing that little nugget in my head - lest I begin to compare! ~ Your input around here has been a comfort.
 
Hello, BoneSmart Friends:

I am way behind on both posting and reading others' threads. I am working from home until I begin transitioning back to the office soon, so work has kept me occupied. It's a bit overwhelming trying to get up to speed.

I have ups and downs, naturally- that's just life. But most of the time I work on having an attitude of gratitude. Work can be stressful, but while I'm not excited about returning to work and all that entails, I am grateful to have a job. And returning to work means I CAN work, and because I can work, that means my health and healing have improved. All blessings in the bigger picture.

The air conditioning here at home went out and needed repair to the tune of $2500.00. I was able to get a financing option to make paying for it possible. So, yes, having work is a good thing. Ha Ha

I went to the orthopedic surgeon for a follow up this week. He says I am doing fine, that I "look better than the last time he saw me" (Is that a compliment? I guess I'll consider it one.) He wants me to come back in 3 months.

Meanwhile, today is my last day of PT at home, and I am to next do some PT in an outpatient facility. I was both surprised and not surprised that there is additional PT. The person who has been coming to work with me at home has routinely commented on how stiff I am and how I am favoring other muscles and my other leg to compensate for the weakness of the operated leg. I'd been doing that for years and years pre-surgery, so it makes sense that it doesn't instantly go away.

The PT at home has by and large been good and helpful. I had one day last week, however, that literally made me cry. The PT massaged the incision area and I had no idea how tender and sore it was/is. It felt like kneading shards of glass into flesh after it had been whacked with a sack of oranges a few times. I don't want to experience that again.

I'm just now trying to transition from sleeping on my back with the wedge cushion between my knees/legs keeping them parallel and non-crossing. Sleeping in one position on my back all night gets old and makes me achy. But I am having a time getting comfortable on my side too. It's ok for short bursts, but that's it. But, again, in the spirit of gratitude, while this may not be mattress commercial quality sleeping, I'm not waking up over and over with arthritis pain either.

I hope to catch up with your journeys more this weekend. Whatever stage you are currently in, hang in there!
 
Great update @Sommers16! FYI, it took about 90 days before my first hip felt quite "normal". I still get an ache or two if I overdo it, but all in all, both hips are doing great. Each of my THR recoveries have been different. My second THR seems to be lagging behind by about two or three weeks.
 
Sommers16 said:
I am favoring other muscles and my other leg to compensate for the weakness of the operated leg. I'd b
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Poor gait habits become very, very ingrained. I find that I REALLY have to focus on walking normally. A big part of that is trusting that your new hip is sound. It is :) As my gait becomes more normalized a lot of the other muscle aches and pains, caused by by altered gait, have begun to disappear.

Kyle
 
@Sommers16 I just love reading your updates! You really do have a way with words.
It sounds like you are doing great to me :)
My PT worked with me a little on my gait today, though I am still using the walker. All this time (2 years) I haven't really grasped exactly how I was moving to compensate, and he really showed me in a way that made sense. And the fact that we can start working on correcting it now, gently, almost brought me to tears. I hope your outpatient PT is a good fit for you.
 
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