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THR New hip 3/7/12

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Cardie, no prob, we had a side bar goin on about an imp part of it. The pelvic tilt is still there but sooo much less. I actually asked her if she thought it was time for a lift for that last bit and she said no, I am doing so well, let's just keep doing what we are doing. This was the first time I tried to stretch out the chiro appt to 3 wks instead of two, so guess I will stick with 2 wks for now. I think several things added to the breakdown of stability. ...and you and Sharon are right, gotta get going on the journal, though this time I knew what I had added just days before so I could pinpoint it to those things.

Thanks Sandy, and unfortunately the ladies and I have chatted on the side and will not be able to hook up this time. My available time this time will be kind of limited and with Dorothy back at work etc. it won't work. I will be going back so there will be other opportunities. I am looking forward to the drive, the leaves in the Adirondack mountains, which I will drive through, are changing and will be gorgeous. I will drive on Sunday.
 
Took me forever to get the dali lama joke about the pizza, now I am LOL, both about the joke and how long it took me to get it. I've always been "slow" on the uptake. But, thanks for the laugh, it does our souls good. Have a wonderful trip!
 
Yes, this back to work stuff is not working well for my social life!

Have a great trip, Cathy. Drive carefully and enjoy the pretty leaves in the Adirondacks.

Dorothy
 
Hey Cathy

I just checked out the schedule... Are you attending for the whole two day forum? It sounds wonderful, am envious!

https://oneworld.syr.edu/

Enjoy! I am sure you will, it will be so good for your soul... Our souls need recovery just as much as our hips :)
 
dianemarie :rotfl: you crack me up, I can't wait till we meet,you KNOW we will be laughing.

Poppet I am going to the Monday morning lecture and the benefit concert on Tuesday, you are too sweet looking it up. I saw the "DL" in N.Y. A couple years ago, and he is quite a presence, and really funny too. ...and you are right, our souls need it too, and of course I will get to be with close friends again too, which will feed my soul also.

Thanks all, I will keep you posted, cathy
 
Enjoy :)

I am still envious!
 
What an ecclectic blend of musicians for the concert, a little something for everyone!!

Your Monday session looks like it will be fascinating -- WoW!!

Have an awesome time and drive carefully,
Cardie
 
Yes drive carefully honey :)
 
Hi Cathy!

How was the Dalai Lama and the concert? And how did your hip hold up on the trip? I'm assuming the trip was beautiful with the autumn colors. Such a treat for the eyes this time of the year.

Hope you are well and still feeling stronger every day.
 
Hey ladies, thanks for thinking about me. First off what a crazy beautiful drive it was. The Adirondacks were so gorgeous. The events with the Dalai Lama were great, especially the concert. He is a funny guy, aside from being profound :heehee: Long walks to the events from where we parked so I had to take my cane which irritated me to no end :sigh: , but let's not focus on that. I held up pretty good body wise. I did not run around as much as I did last time and mostly hung out with a couple of friends who are like family to me. I just stayed with them this time the whole time. As much as last time, seeing many friends was just what I needed, hanging out at my friends house was just what I needed this time. I did see a few other people, but mostly hung out.

I am trying to focus on the good things and be grateful for the things I can do but am being a tad frustrated in a way. Seem to be spinning my wheels a little, not making much progress. The last part of this LLD is taking forever. This too shall pass right? Can I just say I want this all to be over with? I know I can say it, just can't make it happen :rotfl:

Saturday I am going home to Milwaukee for a week and a half. My mom is having some physical issues and I am going to try and help out some. It will be nice to see my family. I was not planning to go till Christmas, but since I am not working I thought I might as well go. It might help her feel better. I will try and work on her every day ( in a past life I used to be a massage therapist - back in the 90's). I feel people like my mom don't get any touch and it can be so theraputic. She is 85 and has has rheumatoid for years.

Hope you both are well . Coming back the first part of December, so who knows, maybe we can connect then.

Back to Sunday night football, my Packers are winning, Cathy
 
Cathy, your trip sounds lovely, I love driving along amongst beautiful scenery.....pleased my hubby insists on doing the driving (like a lot of blokes he THINKS he is the better driver......so what if I shout a bit at other drivers :whistle: ) I get to watch the world go by :).

Sorry that LLD is still annoying you, it is a bit of a bummer having it isn't it but there's still time for it to settle down....that's what I'm telling myself anyway!

Your Mam will be so happy to see you, it will be great if you can help her with some lovely massage.

Have a great trip

Take care

Ann
 
Thanks Anniepops I know it is not the end of the world and "annoying" is a good word for the LLD. I asked my chiropractor the other day if it was time for a lift and she said we are so close she would rather not. So, once again, patience is the key word. It is just enough of a limp that I cannot seem to get much more than a half mile without the cane. Except for long walks I don't use the cane but lately and since I am doing more, that SI joint is shouting at me. It is still some weakness to though, especially weight bearing.

In the grand scheme of things life is good and I have nothing to complain about ( though in the moment of a limp or carrying something a bit too heavy, or getting up off the floor and grunting ugh, it is hard to remember :rolleyes: ) when I get back from WI I might drop back in at PT to get a new plan. I have gotten a bit scattered with things.

...and yes, it will be good to see my family and feel like I can do at least a little something for my mom. It is hard to be far away when she is struggling.

Happy Monday all!
 
Cathy, your mom is so lucky to have you able to do massage therapy for her. Years ago, I wanted to give my mom a gift certificate for a massage for her birthday. She would have no part of it....she literally shuddered at the thought of it. I think she was unable to perceive that a person could touch her all over and it wouldn't be a sexual thing. I suggested that she start with just an upper body....back and arms, head and neck area....massage, but I couldn't convince her. As I watched her get older and less mobile, and also a bit cranky, it saddened me that she wouldn't allow herself to experience this kind of therapeutic activity. I would say it is a generational thing, but my SO is the same way. He has ZERO interest in a massage, and considers it a waste of money. Oh well....I do my best to keep a good massage therapist solvent. :)

It sounds very encouraging that your chiro thinks you are so close, that she is advising against a lift. I did not have any LLD issues with either hip, but I will say that my first hip was done in March (2011), and in October I was just able to come off all anti-inflammatories. But there was noticeable increase in comfort, strength, and stamina between October and the following March. It was at that point that my other hip was steadily increasing in pain, so all my focus shifted to that hip, so I'm not at all sure what gains were occurring in the first hip at that point. Just saying that at 7 months, you still have lots of healing and settling and adjusting to come yet. Don't plan your cane-burning party just yet....but you could start stockpiling some kindling.

Sharon
 
Gosh Cathy, you are trying so hard, but the hip is slow to come around. I think it's good that you see small improvements as time goes by. I saw you walk when we got together for lunch. I noticed the little limp, but other than that your gait was very spontaneous and fluid. :-) So the basics are there; you just have to complete the detail building work. I envied how you were able to walk up the stairs leading into the restaurant foot over foot--that looked like a piece of cake for you. So, some things are really quite good!

I think you are a lot like me in that we were very active before all this happened and but our mobility and pain had knocked us into basically sedentary people by the time we had the surgery. We want to be back to normal, and we want it to be yesterday! At least that's how I feel about my situation. It's very disappointing to want to do all these active things and be set back.

I remember even being concerned after the first hip (that went well and recovered quickly according to all the professionals I worked with) that it wasn't "back to normal" and completely strong by the 8 week mark. I thought something was wrong and I was never going to regain the strength because I thought the hip should be perfect by that time. After alll, that's when I was given the clearance to "do anything you want; just start slowly with new activities" by my surgeon. So, I took that to mean I was good to go and was all repaired. So, I began to get very concerned when the leg still didn't feel as strong as a normal one would when I would try new things. If it hadn't been for people here, I would have been panicking at several points along the first 6 months or so that it took to regain full strength in the leg. So, you can imagine what I'm like with the 2nd hip that has a real glitch--I'm not very patient and I want it to work--NOW!!!

After talking with you, I think we are both this type of person. It's so hard for us to wait this out and trust things are going to be OK and that we may have to jump through a few more hoops than we expected before we are good to go with all our activities. Again, though, I was very impressed with how you walked and breezed up those steps (remember how I had to go up the steps one at a time and not foot over foot??--you had me beat by a mile!).

I hope you have a great visit with your family. I'm sure your mother will be thrilled to see you and have you do some massage to help her feel better. I can tell you are such a kind and caring person, and you will do whatever you can to help her out.

Take care, think positive thoughts--you WILL get your mobility back completely!!! Give yourself the full 12 months before you give up on this.

Dorothy
 
sharonslp thanks so much for the reminder that much healing can occur between now and 12 months ( and longer I hope). I know this but have to keep anchoring it in my brain when I get frustrated. Like today, I cut the grass. I need to be grateful I can cut the grass, not frustrated I am sore after and that is took 2X as long, or that now i need to wait 2 days to see if something acts up because of it. I keep bringing myself back to the present moment and trying to focus on the part of the glass that is half full, though sometimes that alone is a full time job [Bonesmart.org] New hip 3/7/12

Don't you worry rider1960, I won't ever give up, i am too young to not get more of my life back if i can. Thanks so much for your thoughts. Yeah, I guess when I hear people are doing this or that, somehow in my mind I think I should be doing everything "normally" instead of how I am doing things. I, sometimes have to do the basement steps one at a time, depends on how I feel at a given moment. . ...and yes, I was active, as I am sure most were, and I wonder if waiting so long to have it done has me taking a bit longer to get strong, though it Might not have made any difference at all and I am just being impatient. I swear the doctor should let people know how much of a battle of the mind it is, though for some, I guess it is not. Then again I did not listen to him when he told me it would take a full year, why would I listen to that :rotfl:

Thanks both of you for your positive words. They mean a lot today - I needed them.

All I can do is keep on keepin on (and turn my brain off sometimes)
[Bonesmart.org] New hip 3/7/12
 
I think surgeons concentrate so much on the physical aspects of the surgery and healing because they are programmed that way. Surgeons generally don't like to communicate with people a lot--that's why they prefer their patients to be anesthetized while they work. I'm sure mine has wished that I had been given a long term anesthetic that didn't allow me to complain about my 2nd hip recovery until 6 months had passed, lol. That's what he generally says it takes for those of us with glitches to see things level off, but there is variability in that as we so often read here. I think they just hope for the best and don't want to be discouraging before they know how our recovery is going afterwards.

My surgeon gives handouts of his very generous and optimistic, I think, guidelines for the 2 week point and the 6 week point post op--exercises and activities that are OK or that he wants his patients to be doing. When I went for my 6 week post op visit where I saw him (saw his PA for the 2 week f/u) and he wasn't that concerned about my slower progress with the second hip, I waved the page of guidelines in front of him and said "I can't do most of this stuff that you said I should be doing by now! How can you think I'm doing OK???" He reinforced that they are only guideslines and aren't meant to be absolute expectations or requirements. His words were "I'll put it this way--you are more worried about this than I am." (meaning he thought nothing horrible was going on and I would catch up and be just fine with time)

I do think that some of it has to do with expectations. Younger people tend to have higher expectations of our recovery and we are generally very impatient. As an example, a co-workers 75 year old relatively sedentary-all-her-life aunt had a uncomplicated hip replacement about the same time as my first one. She wasn't good about doing exercises or even walking. She was still using her walker at even 8 weeks; I need to check back with her and see if she still needs it. She refused PT after the first couple of weeks and didn't care about doing much more than walk around her house or maybe an occasional outing to a restaurant for lunch. She was just thrilled her pain was gone; mobility was not a big concern for her. I told my co-worker that I would have to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital if I had still needed to use a walker to get around my house at the 8 week point! I would have been hugely depressed and upset! Everyone has different expectations and goals for after surgery.

But, the bottom line is that a slower recovery IS difficult to deal with. I vent on here and to just a couple of friends who seem to understand and empathize. I think it's good to do that--otherwise we will just hold it inside and get depressed. For me, my new goal is to be pretty much back to normal except for maybe a twinge or a little weakness here and there by horseback riding season 2013, which usually starts around mid April. That would also be about the 1 yr point for your hip too. How about we both have that mutual goal? If you are in the area again around that time, we can get together to celebrate! If you aren't going to be here then, maybe we can meet halfway between my place and yours.

Hang in there, Cathy. You'll get there.

Dorothy
 
Hey, it's also my birthdate in April. Looks like we are going to have alot to celebrate Dorothy. It's a deal! Rendezvous to celebrate my birthday, my year anniversary (and my feeling great) and you riding again. [Bonesmart.org] New hip 3/7/12

Thanks my friend :)
 
When I lived back East that drive in the Fall was unbeilable I am so glad that you got to drive it. Your MOM is very lucky to have you help her. I hope you have a good stay. Tashia
 
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