Hello Everyone, Day 5 here.
@CricketHip sorry to hear about your 'spill', you might try Nature's Miracle (you might even have it since you have a pup) it is good to get almost anything out of a carpet. Believe me I have had almost everything over the years. Now I have all tile floors! It is warmer her though than in PA and I have radiant heat so in the winter my floors are warm, it will be nice to be able to sit on them again.
I slept quite well last night, I did get up twice but that was to pee and I went back to sleep quite quickly, I am already more comfortable than I was pre-surgery. Waking up is a by product of all the fluids but I think it is better than the alternative. I looked at my incision this morning and at first thought it had really swollen however on closer inspection I realized the swelling in the surrounding tissue had subsided which makes the incision area look more swollen, I keep it iced continuously while I sitting or in bed. The incision is interesting, it appears to have a piece of netting extending about 1" on all sides, that is covered with the 'glue' which holds in all together. I'm told it will start to loosen around 3 weeks post OP. The pre-surgical information said there might be a stitch at each end, I don't see one but it could be hidden by the netting and swelling.
Getting in and out of bed is much easier, I get out of bed on the right and it is my right hip. Now I am able to sit up and using by hands to raise my butt I can pivot my legs out of the bed - BIG improvement. When I get back into bed I can actually now lift my surgery leg up onto the pillow I use for elevation, also a major improvement.
My pain is minimal however I do find that every time I stand up, whether for thirty minutes of three hours, it is helpful if I stand and put weight on the surgical side before starting to walk. I don't know why this helps, the PT impressed upon me NOT to walk with a limp and I realized that if I started walking immediately I limped because it hurt, not terribly but enough to cause me to limp. If I stand still and allow my self to let the leg settle in I can take that first step without a limp.
Yesterday I did quite a bit of walking, I do not have any additional pain or soreness however I do feel less energetic today, spending more time resting today which means my 'morning' shower will be even later today, probably around 1:30 after I take my next pain med. I have definitely found that taking meds 30 minutes before extra exertion really helps.
My diet, and the Colace, has me reasonably regular, once a day, although not a really normal BM. Lots of fruit, veggies, organic prunes, and prune juice, probiotics and kiefer or yogurt. High fiber cereal for breakfast too.
I haven't started any 'formal' exercises yet although some, like the ankle pumps, I find myself doing automatically just to relax and stretch my legs. Tightening the quads is such a wonderful feeling for me as it was so painful before I didn't do it. Standing up straight an pulling my tummy in is also a real treat, my posture had really suffered over the last several years, I had realized how much the painful hip changed my day to day life. I have to say now I have no hip movement pain and now knowing I am on the road to improvement, rather than the alternative, is great.
It is another beautiful sunny day here, I hope everyone gets to see the sun today and is continuing to recover and appreciate how luck we are to have this opportunity.
United Kingdom
