@salsss I just had visions of your cat sitting on the porch as you disappeared inside to fetch your phone... with a "don't leave me out HERE, there's things that can get me" look on her face; they aren't stupid, she knew where she was best off - bet she's stayed close since
You sound like you're doing great in your recovery. You echoed a thought I had early in my recovery; we are so worried before surgery about how we'll deal with the pain/disability/discomfort we'll experience post surgery (well I certainly was) and don't credit the fact that (if we are suffering from bone on bone OA for example) we are dealing with a considerable amount of all those things PRE op!! I found from Day 0 that some things were easier, and certainly less painful, than they had been right up to getting on the bed to get my IV in! I said in one of my early recovery posts that the only thing that felt "odd" the first time I stood up and used the hip (a few hours after surgery) was that it didn't FEEL "odd" - I was expecting.... well something
and it just felt stable...and painless.
I think we concentrate so much on getting things in place to deal with the post op issues we hear about (and need to know!), we don't realize we're planning for THOSE "problems" at a time when we already have problems... ones that at least some of which will be gone once the painful joint is gone; so we think of them as
extra issues whereas in fact some at least are substitute problems: For instance I had the sleep-on-my back-precaution, I tried to practice beforehand - which was a good idea and worth doing, but I found it really uncomfortable as my leg wouldn't lay flat... first thing I noticed on waking after surgery was that my leg was FLAT! So when I was trying to work out pre surgery how I'd "cope" with back sleeping I had factors in play that didn't exist post op. I, naturally, was worried about post op pain, I can honestly say it was NEVER worse than pre op pain.... that said I was happy when it stopped altogether
but when I was anticipating it I was thinking (without realizing) I would have that pain in addition to the pre op pain - I also to be quite honest didn't really realize how debilitating the daily pain had become.
I was very worried about the not bending too, and it was a nuisance for sure, but again I realized that I'd made a lot of adjustments to the way I did things to accommodate the arthritic hip - probably the only blessing of having a "frozen" joint - I had workarounds in place already without even knowing it. I was VERY stressed about breaking those restrictions, the OS that was going to do the surgery originally (long story, about a wimp with a hip
) called them restrictions, and made me very fearful about "breaking" them.
The OS that did the job, and it was pure chance that I got him to do it, called them "precautions" and just put the whole deal in better perspective for me. He essentially pointed out that it's a numbers game, if I bent past 90 degrees once I've risked dislocation once.... be pretty unlucky for it to happen in that one time, but if I bent past 90 degrees twenty times a day, well the chances are UP that a dislocation would happen. It is a sliding scale too... the further out from surgery the lower (the already VERY low) risk becomes. I had Posterior also, and 12 weeks of precautions... I was "over" them at the end, I won't lie, but it was really good to feel that I was in control of it; so much in this process happens TO us... it's nice to feel
you did something positive towards your recovery.
So, not picking up your cat from the floor was a good decision :cool: but if you HAD to do something that "violates" precautions don't be terrified that it's BOUND to result in a dislocation... if some of that wildlife were heading your way, I'd be bendin' is what I'm sayin'
Hope your recovery continues apace
Donna
United States
