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THR Sharon's Anniversary Waltz

Sharon

I have lived in Alaska for the last 37 years. Though I am now longing to "snowbird" during the long dark winter (going to the southwest
Jan-Mar this winter, oh joy), I can't imagine I will ever leave Alaska for good. It is the most beautiful awe inspiring place I have ever seen. You will love your cruise up the inside passage, and where ever your land tour takes you. I hope you see loads of wildlife and enjoy every minute of your trip.

Suki
 
Hi Sharon, great to hear that cough is finally getting better and that it wasn't anything serious.

Just want to echo the other girls in congratulating you on your very important new position on the forum. Those 'guys who decide' know when they have a good 'un aboard. You're a keeper :)

Hope you have a wonderful trip to see your Grandchildren. I'm sure they all will be happy to see you are doing so well.

Have fun.

Take care

Ann
 
Hi all. I spent a long weekend in Denver, and airplane travel is always a good test for how my hips are functioning. Both hips passed the test nicely. Walking longer distances feels good. Sitting in an airplane seat for up to 3 hours is never a good thing, but at most, I experienced some minor discomfort. A slight shift in position, or getting up to stretch for a moment, resolved those issues.

I wish I could say the same for whatever is going on in my upper respiratory system!! After thinking I was fully done with the cough, it roared back last Friday. I attributed it to....not enough sleep (up at 3:30am to go to the airport!), change in diet (why does travel bring out the junk food addict in me?), and too much talking and excitement. I had been fine until we met up with my daughter and her boyfriend (whom I was meeting for the first time). We talked a mile a minute, and then all went over to my son's home....where all of us continued to talk a mile a minute, plus the addition of the two little girls to entertain us all. By early evening, I was coughing deeply and often.

This continued till we all said goodnight around 10pm. Strangely, the coughing pretty much stopped then. (I'm allergic to talking??) My daughter kept telling me to try wild cherry bark cough syrup. I pooh-poohed it, but the next morning we stopped in at Whole Foods to pick up some groceries, and I impulsively bought a small bottle to try. Figured it couldn't hurt, and if I started coughing again, I needed some way to supress it for a few days. Once we got to my son's home, I could feel the tickle starting up again, so I took a swig. Ooooohh....tasted terrible. BUT....the tickle did stop. Did that a few more times during the day. And then didn't need it again at all. My daughter loved that she was right, although I'm not discounting the placebo effect. But I was fine for the rest of the visit, whatever the reason.

Then....Monday morning....we had to get up at 2:30am to get to the airport....more sleep disruption, and an entire weekend of eating too much sugar! I started sneezing when I got up, and continued sneezing and runny nose progressively throughout the day. By evening, I felt miserable....the cold I never got with the cough had finally arrived.

However, after a good night's sleep, I feel much better today. Not 100%, but not sick either. I'm having a normal...busy! day. So is all this just my body trying to get back in balance after the disruption of travel, or am I still harboring a viral thing that wants to take possession of my life???? I don't know. I have about five weeks at home before my next travel time, so I will concentrate on pumping up my immune system and getting me back in balance.

In the meantime, my classes are getting close to mid-term time, and thanks to my weekend fun, I am now officially behind in homework, so it will be a crunch time for the next few weeks. Who has time to think about hips in the middle of all this? Part of me almost misses those early weeks when the only thing I had to do was absolutely nothing much!

Stay well, everyone. Winter is on it's way (except for our Australian/New Zealander folks) and we all have to fight the flu. I don't mind the cold so much; it's the decrease in sunshine that gets to me the most. And the snow. And the ice. Okay, I do mind the cold. I need to figure out how to be a snowbird who flies south for the whole winter.
 
Hi Sharon, glad your hips held up so well on your trip. Too bad about that cough, though. It should pass with time ...

Dorothy
 
Hey Sharon, glad you had a nice visit. Trips anywhere for me are really hard to stay on a healthy eating track. Brings out the worst in my inner overeater haha. Also gets me off track with stretching and any exercise besides walking and like now, being gone since Sunday, I can tell I am much more stiff. I have got to do some stretching before I get back in the car to go home today.

I totally hear you on the lack of sunlight. The days already feel so much shorter to me and I really dislike that AND the snow AND the cold AND the ice. Hey, maybe being a snowbird is in my future too. I went from Milwaukee which was more cold less snow, to Syracuse, which was crazy amounts of snow, not as cold and now vermont which is less snow than Syracuse but colder. Mmm does not make sense. Cheryl must have forgot I told her the next job needed to be in a warm climate :rotfl:

Hope your cough is still at bay or gone so you can be healthy through your midterms. Take care, cathy
 
Hi Sharon,

You know they say that the cough is the last part of the illness to leave and sometimes can take a few weeks to fully abate. Good idea to work on the immune system and the winter avoidance plan!!

Good to hear that your hips did fine for the trip & events with family and have been holding up with all the coughing.
Take care,
Cardie
 
I'm basking in a sense of accomplishment today. I remember that I had three strong motivators for going ahead with my hip replacements. I wanted to play freely with my grandchildren. I wanted to be able to travel freely. And I especially wanted to dance again, without pain. This weekend I danced. And danced. More than I have danced in years. Probably more than I should have, although I'm not feeling any ill effects. But it's hard to stop when it feels so good. I'm feeling very lucky and very grateful.
 
Woohoo Sharon, how fantastic to hear you have been dancing, I'm thrilled for you. Watch out world, Sharons got her dancing moves back.lol.

You go girl :egypdance:

Ann.x.
 
It seems fitting to end the year with an update. In particular because a plan that was born out of my first THR, has now been fully realized. I often mention to people on this forum that a joint replacement can be a life-changing event in ways we never envisioned. The obvious change is that we escape from some pretty serious pain. But many of us don't realize how much that pain has taken away from us until we get rid of it. A whole renewed world opens up, and changes that once seemed scary now feel right and welcomed.

When I retired, I envisioned that lifestyle you see portrayed in all the money magazine....travel and family and pursuit of interests to whatever breadth and depth I wanted. Sunshine and relaxation and smiles. I have been a lucky person, and I really did get some of that. But as my arthritis encroached more and more, I was also losing it.

I felt such a surge of energy and purpose after my first THR. I promptly enrolled in a paralegal certification at my local community college, thinking that it would give me a whole new mini-career to pursue as much or as little as I wanted. From my very first class, I fell in love with studying the law. Reading, research, writing, investigating, debating, learning learning learning....I loved every class I took; even the ones with mediocre profs. The end of 2012 has brought the end of that course of study, but as I envisioned...it has brought new possibilities with it. One of those profs....an excellent one....has asked if I would want to take on some freelance research projects for him. OF COURSE I WOULD!!!! I've joined two professional associations, and it's fun to dress up again and go off to a business meeting and network. I have business cards now to hand out, and with a bit of experience, I can market myself to other attorneys for freelance research and writing work. I love the idea of controlling my work schedule to keep the flexibility of time for all the other parts of my life....family and friends and travel and the pursuit of interests.

If I had never needed a THR in the first place, perhaps I would have come to this same path, just earlier on. Or perhaps I would have gone down other equally interesting paths. But I did need a THR, and then a second THR, and regardless of the other possibilities that might have existed, I am happy to be exactly where I am right now.

On the cusp of a new year, there are a dozen resolutions I could make. I'll boil it down to just one: I resolve to be worthy of the gift of these new hips.

On to 2013, my Bonesmart friends.

Sharon
 
Sounds a pretty good resolution to me Sharon although I have one or two others in mind we really are lucky to be born in modern times were these operations can take place, the most important to me was my Cataract operation on my left eye just after my right hip the gift of site is sooooooooo important.
 
Hi Sharon,
What a wonderful post. So glad to hear things are going this well for you. Sounds like the new year is going to start out fantastically. It is true that sometimes when one door closes another one opens...and yes yes yes, resolving to be worthy, what a great resolution indeed. You've been a great inspiration to me over 2012 with all your positivity and wisdom and I thank you for that.

Happy New Year and may things continue to go well for you
Cathy
 
Sounds like a wonderful start to a new vocation and I envy you. It sounds as if you have the best of all worlds!
 
Hi sharonslp

What a wonderful update and such FANTASTIC NEWS. I am so thrilled for, I know what it is like to have dreams and goals that become passions. But then to be able to take it further into a new career....

I applaud you, my friend :)

p.s. you have duplicate posts, I know you are excited and just wanted to share it twice. I will let you choose which one you want to delete as you have 'Likes' recorded against both. sharonslp
 
Poppet I saw that! I have no idea why it posted twice. I guess delete the first one...150....I'll only lose one like....tearful person....sigh.

HockeyHip This makes me laugh. I was a teacher in my former life, and I encouraged my kids to be anything except a teacher. Of course, two out of the three of them are teachers. I tried!

forbesy You are so right about modern times. When I think about how cataracts used to mean certain blindness, I am so grateful that it's now just a routine procedure and zap...your vision is better than ever.

Cookie42 I do seem to be in a wonderful sweet spot right now. I knock on wood and cross my fingers and stay consciously grateful...life can change in the blink of an eye, so I try not to ever take anything for granted.

VThereandnow right back at you. :)


Sharon
 
Hi sharonslp

I have deleted Post #150 but added my 'like' so the old saying 'you lose one, you win one' or for you 'one door closes, another opens'. Your matching hips are doing well and now another door has opened with such a wonderful opportunity. It is THE perfect job for you..

I am so happy for you :)
 
Hi Sharon, I keep trying to wean myself away from BS, then I pop in here and read something fantastic that I just have to comment on. Firstly, congratulations on your elevated status - richly deserved. What an inspiration you are to everyone here! And it was just so uplifting to read about what a life-changing event your THRs have been, and about your new career and all the possibilities that is going to bring, to say nothing of the hard work and dedication it must have taken to get the qualification in the first place. I'm so glad that you've found something you feel passionate about, and I wish you every success on the path you have chosen. I'll keep your positive words in my head when I embark on a new course of study myself next week.

With love and admiration, Jane
 
Can't let today go by without a token mention that it is officially two years since my first THR (and almost 9 months since the second). I wanted to be able to post that I don't even think about my hip anymore, but that wouldn't be true. The truth is that I'm having difficulty weaning myself off of Celebrex, and that makes me think about it a lot.

To recap my drug history:
Mar 29, 2011 to October 2011: first 6 months or so after first THR. Then had a fairly comfortable drug-free time for 7 months until the other hip became a problem.

May 2012: resumed Celebrex to get me through until surgery on July 10 for second hip

July through Sept 2012: Used vidodin, tramadol, and tylenol post surgery. By end of Sept, off all the drugs, but still experiencing very uncomfortable stiffness in front/sides of thighs .... both legs, but worse in right leg. A few days with Celebrex eliminated all discomfort.

Oct 2012 to present day: Each time I try to break away from the Celebrex, I end up with tremendous discomfort in my front and lateral thighs.

I have currently been off the drug for the last 26 days. They have been rugged. Daily, constant stiffness from the top of the thighs down to the knees. I am able to walk without limping, but the stiffness certainly impairs my enjoyment in walking, and slows me down considerably. Stairs are awkward again. I am completely pain-free when sitting.

This all seems very minor in the giant scheme of things. But in the smaller scheme, it is uppermost in my mind. I really don't want to be dependent on any pain-killer to function. But I will go back on the celebrex next week when I'm taking care of grandchildren, and the week after that when I'm visiting kids/grandkids in Denver, and two weeks after that when I have a dance weekend to attend. And I'll use it when I go to Alaska in June.

If I'm still having problems in July, I'll bring it up with my doc when I go for my one year check up on the second hip. I'll ask him to check my knees (!!) just in case that's where this is coming from. (Really hope not!) Might ask for a PT referral if it seems warranted.

But mostly hoping that the long sedentary winter is the culprit, and that time will resolve all of this, as it frequently does. I'm much too busy having a good life to take time out for more muscle/joint/whatever issues. I know you all understand that feeling!! :)
 
Hi sharonslp,...dancing...flying....long walks....really something to look forward to...although my dancing only got as far as circle dancing which is quite sedate. :)
 
Congrats on the anniversary! Can't believe it's 2 years already!

Have you thought about PT to help with that stiffness? So sorry you are still juggling the meds. But I did the same for at least as long as you. Needed help to get more mobility - but eventually I could drop the meds. Good luck Sharon. Sounds like you have a lot to look forward to!
 
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