THR Roxi rocking on

[Eman85]

I got a good laugh out of your toilet seat ordeal, not laughing at you but with you. I always recommend the bedside commode frame that goes over your toilet because I went through the raised add on toilet seat ordeal. With men it's really bad attempting to sit on it and get everything to fit through the tiny hole.
I can also relate to your ROM limits all of your life. Never understood why I couldn't sit cross legged as a kid. Had SFCE, basically deformed hips from the start. They inserted pins in the left to stop any further movement but the right was bad too. I don't know if you have checked but I was interested pre-op and laid on the floor and checked range of motion out to the side. Post-op I did the same test and was amazed at how far my leg would move compared to pre-op. I cannot sit crosslegged, not going to try at this point.

 

[Roxi]

I haven't checked yet I am too scared to at this point. I am going to give it until my 4 week checkup when hopefully I get the go ahead to start weight bearing again. I have been told that it should be amazing, so I am looking forward to it. My stretch goal that I shared with my PT and surgeon was to be able to sit cross legged and they said it should be doable! I am guessing it will not be possible until I get the right one done as well, so baby steps.

 

[Eman85]

I can cross my leg sitting in a chair and lean into it for a stretch or do it lying down and feel the tightness of the muscles. I'm not concerned about sitting on the floor crosslegged or willing to force it, not that important to me and the thought of dislocation does not sound like fun to me.
My initial ROM test was like doing a snow angel, quite a big difference in ROM that way for me. Riding motorcycles or even mowing the lawn on a rid on lawnmower became painful, now no problem.

 

[Roxi]

That is so great to hear. I am looking forward to that day.

 

[Roxi]

Last night was rough. I woke up at 3am and could not get back to sleep. Pain is minimal at this point. I am only on Tylenol and Meloxicam at this point. I plan to start weaning off the Tylenol soon, but I forgot to take my gabapenthin at night. I started taking that once I got off the Oxy because my restless leg syndrome has been killer at night. So because of that, and the fact that I tried to reduce the Pepcid to one a day instead of two, I had the crazy circus to deal with. Lay down: restless leg and heartburn, prop myself up: restless leg and itchiness of my incision, stand up: everything is fine, but I can't sleep standing at my walker. I would do laps, try to lay down again, then propped again, then did more laps. Finally at about 6am I realized that I did not have any gaba, so my husband convinced me to take some and put on a weighted blanket and I finally napped until 10am.

 

[mendogal]

During these early weeks sleep is often a problem.

I had awful reflux for a few weeks after my first knee replacement (side effect of a course of necessary oral steroids) and yes needing to elevate at both extremes of the body was NOT helpful!!!! I ended up sleeping in the recliner an hour here and there.

I hope the gabapentin and pepcid help.

 

[Roxi]

On the plus side, I am getting on and off of the bed and couch so easily now. Like, lifting my left leg is no issue at all. I could always lift it from day one without the leg lifter (never bought one), but it would take effort and lots of focus. Now it is just as easy as my right one.

 

[mendogal]

The little milestones that mean so much!

 

[Layla]

Bravo! You're doing it!
May it only get better!
@Roxi

 

[Roxi]

Today is my last day off and tomorrow I am back to work! I feel pretty good about it. I work from home and do not plan on working the full 8 hours any day this week. Will take a phased ramp up over the next several weeks. I did a trial run yesterday. Got up, got coffee, sat at my desk and arranged my wedge seat cushion and a back pillow to get comfy. I did some 'work' for my kiddo's school to mimic being at the desk. I was there for about 1.5 hours and then needed a break, but that is totally fine. I figure if I can do 1.5 hours before lunch, have a break and do 1.5 hours after lunch this week that will be ideal and totally looks doable.

Today is also my first day home alone. Hubby went back to work today. Turning a corner.

 

[mendogal]

Great idea, doing a rehearsal. Make sure that lunch break is long enough to prepare you for act ll!

 

[SurreyGirl]

I had a phased return to work starting at 4 hours a day for the first week and scaling up from there. It was much easier doing it from home rather than worrying about commuting. I would walk around our garden at lunchtime and that helped with the stiffness.

 

[Roxi]

I work from home all the time, so luckily I won't have to worry about a commute for another month when we all meet for an offsite.

 

[benne68]

I figure if I can do 1.5 hours before lunch, have a break and do 1.5 hours after lunch this week that will be ideal and totally looks doable.

That sounds like a good plan, but you should get up and walk around for a couple of minutes every 45 minutes or so. Most of us find sitting for longer than an hour at a time adds to discomfort and stiffness. You really only need a few minutes of movement and then can go back to your chair. I set set an alarm to remind me to get up and move because I would get so absorbed in work that I'd forget to move. (I had to put the alarm across the room from me or I'd hit snooze and keep working ).

Good luck tomorrow. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Roxi]

That is a great idea!

 

[myglasshalffull]

Nice you did a "dress rehearsal" for return to work, great idea.

 

[Roxi]

@myglasshalffull I am so glad I did it. It really made Yesterday go smoothly. The workday was good. Just two meetings and trawling through messages. I think I was doing a really good pace, but later that night I think I overdid it a bit on my bed exercises and then forgot my gaba until 2 hours into the night and had horrible sleep. It wasn't as bad as a few days ago, but still.

When I do the heel slides it really feels like my muscles are like those resistance bands. I suppose that just means they are stretched and angry from the surgery and the 1" of leg lengthening they did. So, I tried to go real slow and watch how far I was going and feel what it felt, but as a result I did more like 20 heel slides rather than my usual 10.

Milestone for Wednesday was going to work and I laid on my side for 15 min! It was glorious, but I did not want to stay like that for too long just in case. Took an obscene amount of pillows to work, but it felt great.

 

[mendogal]

Are you doing heel slides lying down in bed? It seems almost all of us get better, easier results doing them seated on a chair.
And yes, doing them very slowly, relaxing into a non painful stretch, with deep breathing, is a good approach.

 

[Roxi]

Yes I am doing them laying down on the bed. I am not sure how I would even do it on a chair, but I can look it up.

 

[benne68]

@Roxi I agree, it's hard to do heel slides lying down but that seems to be the way the instruct us to do them after a hip replacement. And, in the same breath, I was told to be careful not to let my hip go past that 90 degree angle!

You are still early days, so give it time. It does get better!