keepridingforward
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THR slightly worried and could really do with some advice.
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Hi fwizzi. I'm only a few days ahead of you, and also suffering from occasional insomnia. Mostly, I think, down to having to sleep on my back and getting uncomfortable through the night. The only suggestion that I have is to nap when you can during the day to try and make up for the sleep that you are missing out on at night.
keepridingforward
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oh and also regarding the sleeplessness - you can get something OTC with the vitamins called Melatonin. it's very low dosage and very helpful. my son's ped had originally introduced it to us for him; you can start with like 3MG. it def helps zzzz's !
hi, sorry about the delay in replying to y'all, had some internet issues! so please don't think i was being rude or ignorant, as always you're all there to help and advise and thank you all again! have read the insomnia stuff now and yet again, feel soooo much better knowing im far from alone!!
after all my reading i have decided there's no point trying to stay awake through the day to ensure sleep at night as that soooo doesn't work! so new rule... sleep whenever i can lol!!
also had my first little journey outside the house yesterday, i only went for an ultrasound of my hands at the hospital. i thought i pretty much had it all sorted, my walking had been coming on leaps and bounds, i had regained so much confidence (maybe a bit too much) then once outside, that confidence faded fast!! i realised i still have such a long way to go! there was such a massive difference walking outside on uneven, hilly, bumpy paths, i felt aches in muscles i haven't felt for ages! don't think having to sit on rather low seats while waiting for the actual ultrasound helped either! i also noticed i regressed slightly in the way in was walking and was much more reliant on the crutches than i have been for about a week! as soon as i got home i elevated, iced and relaxed all evening. although yesterday i almost looked at the whole thing as a set back, this morning, i'm much less achy, feeling more positive and think i need to start doing more walking outside, even if its just a walk round the garden twice a week initially.
yesterdays outing has really opened my eyes and 'im really glad that i did go out and experience the difference now rather than in 3 weeks when i go for my 6 week check as i think i would have been sooooo devastated if i would have struggled outside.
anyway that's my little progress report over. hope all of my hippy friends out there are having great days, getting some sleep and enjoying more positive milestones than negative setbacks in their recovery and everyone is feeling the benefits of their surgery. xxxx
after all my reading i have decided there's no point trying to stay awake through the day to ensure sleep at night as that soooo doesn't work! so new rule... sleep whenever i can lol!!
also had my first little journey outside the house yesterday, i only went for an ultrasound of my hands at the hospital. i thought i pretty much had it all sorted, my walking had been coming on leaps and bounds, i had regained so much confidence (maybe a bit too much) then once outside, that confidence faded fast!! i realised i still have such a long way to go! there was such a massive difference walking outside on uneven, hilly, bumpy paths, i felt aches in muscles i haven't felt for ages! don't think having to sit on rather low seats while waiting for the actual ultrasound helped either! i also noticed i regressed slightly in the way in was walking and was much more reliant on the crutches than i have been for about a week! as soon as i got home i elevated, iced and relaxed all evening. although yesterday i almost looked at the whole thing as a set back, this morning, i'm much less achy, feeling more positive and think i need to start doing more walking outside, even if its just a walk round the garden twice a week initially.
yesterdays outing has really opened my eyes and 'im really glad that i did go out and experience the difference now rather than in 3 weeks when i go for my 6 week check as i think i would have been sooooo devastated if i would have struggled outside.
anyway that's my little progress report over. hope all of my hippy friends out there are having great days, getting some sleep and enjoying more positive milestones than negative setbacks in their recovery and everyone is feeling the benefits of their surgery. xxxx
I find that each time you venture outside it gets a little easier. The first time I left my house I was a wreck trying to get into my car and walking on the uneven ground, now I try to get out every couple days even though most of the time its just to take a quick ride somewhere. Gas is a little expensive esp. in my suv but its a small price to pay to have a little sanity to see different things than my house. Thankfully my husband is understanding and doesnt mind driving aimlessly. I think it reminds os of 17 years ago when we were such young first time parents and would drive around to get our daughter to sleep, lol.
once the effects of yesterdays outing have settled down, and the snow/ice clears, im going to start regular short walks outside. otherwise in a couple of months i will be skipping round the inside of the house unaided and still using 2 crutches just to walk outside!! lol
you do what ever you need to do to keep your sanity, as long as it doesn't involve over using your hip momof3. once i find my little hobby/thing that helps me relax/take my mind off it all, im gonna jump on it lol
you do what ever you need to do to keep your sanity, as long as it doesn't involve over using your hip momof3. once i find my little hobby/thing that helps me relax/take my mind off it all, im gonna jump on it lol
Hi fwizzi I'm a couple of days ahead of you, and also trying to build up my confidence and stamina by going out. The problem is the weather has been so disgusting over the past week that it's not always been possible. I can now do 20mins, slowly, with one crutch. Yesterday I did that twice, which was stupid and the first lot was hard enough. So don't push yourself beyond what your body is telling you it can handle.
momof3 - funnily enough I haven't been out for drives at all, other than to medical appointments. We have a little car that shares every bump with you, so it just isn't a pleasurable experience. Also, when we were coming back from my physio two weeks ago, the road into our town was closed off by undercover police cars, etc, as there was a bomb scare! We had to drive around a huge detour when I was already feeling frazzled!
momof3 - funnily enough I haven't been out for drives at all, other than to medical appointments. We have a little car that shares every bump with you, so it just isn't a pleasurable experience. Also, when we were coming back from my physio two weeks ago, the road into our town was closed off by undercover police cars, etc, as there was a bomb scare! We had to drive around a huge detour when I was already feeling frazzled!
oh wow Firebrand sounds like you had a bit of a difficult journey with the bomb scare!! i see you're in the uk. whereabouts was this? am defo taking it a bit slow now, 1st couple of weeks i used to get really upset if i took things too far, as obviously it doesnt take much to knock you backwards in these delicate early days. im managing to get my head round it all a little more now, think a lot of it is that i was no where near prepared for the psychological/emotional aftermath of surgery. have tried the cat naps also but it seems to get me nowhere. thankfully im not due to work anytime soon so thats 1 less pressure! also one little question for you Firebrand how much physio have you had and have you had any follow up appointments? just that i only have 3 exercises and my 1st hip appointment is the 6 week check. kinda feel a little hung out to dry lol
Anniepops
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Hi fwizzi, great to hear you are coming along nicely, slow and steady is the order of the day. The first trip out is quite daunting as we can feel quite okay in the house but knce we go out into the big bad world our confidence gets a bit of a knock with paths and pavements and low seats. It does get much better andit is a good idea to have little jaunts out every day, just up and down the street is enough to start with.
PT isn't usually prescribed in the UK. Most of us are just sent home with an exercise sheet and quite often those exercises and walking is enough but occasionally some of us need a bit of extra help in the form of PT. This is best discussed at your 6 week check up if you feel you may need/benefit from it.
Keep up the good work, you are doing great
Take care
Ann
PT isn't usually prescribed in the UK. Most of us are just sent home with an exercise sheet and quite often those exercises and walking is enough but occasionally some of us need a bit of extra help in the form of PT. This is best discussed at your 6 week check up if you feel you may need/benefit from it.
Keep up the good work, you are doing great
Take care
Ann
Hi fwizzi. I'm in Surrey, very near Heathrow - whereabouts are you in the UK? I should have said of course that the bomb scare was fine in the end - suspicious package left in the street. But it's been a while since I've been anywhere where that sort of thing happened.
As for physio, I got a sheet of paper with a list of exercise when I left hospital - and had to demonstrate that I could do them before I was discharged. I had a check up with the physio at two weeks, and I'm going back again today at four weeks. They run through the exercises to make sure I'm doing them correctly, and adapt them for the next stage.
As for physio, I got a sheet of paper with a list of exercise when I left hospital - and had to demonstrate that I could do them before I was discharged. I had a check up with the physio at two weeks, and I'm going back again today at four weeks. They run through the exercises to make sure I'm doing them correctly, and adapt them for the next stage.
hiya Firebrand seems like they do things very differently even in this country! im in sunny leeds! originally from london though, so am very used to the bomb/suspect package thing, i remember being stuck on a tube inbetween stations for nearly 2 hours once while they checked out a suspect package! wasn't the best tube journey i ever had!! lol. hope your appointment goes well today! im sure your making really good progress. would be great if you could let me know how you get on.
Anniepops thank you for the positive reply, i see you're only 3 days behind me in the recovery stakes. have you had a thr before?
how are you finding recovery at this point? only asking as i feel like im in a kind of no mans land/limbo, im a million tomes better than i was in week 1 post op but mobility wise im still a million miles away from being as active as i was post op. everyone's kind of looking at me as though im better and everythings ok as im back to walking round the house mainly with 1 crutch (i was on one crutch post op) so on the outside i look like my old self but on the inside im still a long way off recovery and im finding it very frustrating, think that as difficult as the 1st week post op was, it was less frustrating as i was in so much pain that i didnt want to do anything and now that the pains significantly reduced, i want to do things but i cant.
think im gonna have to find myself a little hobby to pass the time.
how are you finding recovery at this point? only asking as i feel like im in a kind of no mans land/limbo, im a million tomes better than i was in week 1 post op but mobility wise im still a million miles away from being as active as i was post op. everyone's kind of looking at me as though im better and everythings ok as im back to walking round the house mainly with 1 crutch (i was on one crutch post op) so on the outside i look like my old self but on the inside im still a long way off recovery and im finding it very frustrating, think that as difficult as the 1st week post op was, it was less frustrating as i was in so much pain that i didnt want to do anything and now that the pains significantly reduced, i want to do things but i cant.
think im gonna have to find myself a little hobby to pass the time.
Hi fwizzi. Lot a lot of women on here, after a while of 'sitting around' which tends to go against the grain for us, we get to the point that you are at which is to start to think of all the things that you could be doing with yourself. Warning: don't! Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Push yourself to start mopping floors and stripping beds etc, and you will soooo regret it. You've just had major surgery, and your body is healing. Listen to it and let it do its stuff. Unfortunately we seem to be hard wired to be the only gender that notices when the sink needs a clean etc - so delegate those tasks!
Snow heading our way again I'm afraid.
Snow heading our way again I'm afraid.
oh Firebrand i wish i had read this post a couple of hours ago!! i have done exactly what you said i should not do! i was left home alone for a few hours, so i waited 5 minutes and like a naughty little school kid i took myself downstairs as i was feeling sooo well today and that little devil on my shoulder got the better of me.
i didn't go quite as far as mopping etc, tested the waters with a quick tidy of the kitchen table (which went fine) so that led to more adventurous things, had a bit of a tidy round, cooked dinner, had a friend round, played hostess and now im really suffering!! yet another lesson learned! am taking the positive and have seen 1st hand how easy it is to aggravate my bionic buddy so am gonna spend the rest of this evening and tomorrow resting it, icing it up and generally making up to it!! lol.
kinda glad its gonna snow, will ensure i dont step foot outside and will stop me feeling the desperate urge to explore the great outdoors.
how did your appointment go? hope it went amazingly well and recovery is being kind to you today. thanks again for the advice! you're an inspiration!! x
i didn't go quite as far as mopping etc, tested the waters with a quick tidy of the kitchen table (which went fine) so that led to more adventurous things, had a bit of a tidy round, cooked dinner, had a friend round, played hostess and now im really suffering!! yet another lesson learned! am taking the positive and have seen 1st hand how easy it is to aggravate my bionic buddy so am gonna spend the rest of this evening and tomorrow resting it, icing it up and generally making up to it!! lol.
kinda glad its gonna snow, will ensure i dont step foot outside and will stop me feeling the desperate urge to explore the great outdoors.
how did your appointment go? hope it went amazingly well and recovery is being kind to you today. thanks again for the advice! you're an inspiration!! x
Hi fwizzi. If I'm your inspiration, you've set a pretty low bar! If it helps at all, the testing of the boundaries that you did yesterday seems to be something of a rite of passage for many of us. Instead of pushing ourselves to the point of almost collapse to find out if it's possible to do all these things, we need to maybe do one little thing and leave it at that. And as others on here have said to me, if your family is anything like mine, they will come to expect that you are better now, and can in fact cook dinner every day from here on out. So keep on delegating!
Physio went well. My thread is 'can you hear me from the other side' - you will see something of a mirror there!
Physio went well. My thread is 'can you hear me from the other side' - you will see something of a mirror there!
good morning Firebrand im going to b going straight to your thread as soon as i have posted this. dont sell yourself short, you're doing much more than i am right now!
im definately having a delegating day today to try and ensure a good weekend, the snow has landed here and is showing no sign of letting up so at least the urge to get outside and do soemthing has gone as theres no way im going out in that lol.
may have a movie day to try and ensure i dont do anything, am not home alone today so that will help to stop me over doing it as i wont be allowed to lol
sometimes i really am my own worse enemy.
sooo glad your appointment went well! did they give you any additional exercises? if so, how did you find them?
hope you're having a good day today so far firebrand. xx
im definately having a delegating day today to try and ensure a good weekend, the snow has landed here and is showing no sign of letting up so at least the urge to get outside and do soemthing has gone as theres no way im going out in that lol.
may have a movie day to try and ensure i dont do anything, am not home alone today so that will help to stop me over doing it as i wont be allowed to lol
sometimes i really am my own worse enemy.
sooo glad your appointment went well! did they give you any additional exercises? if so, how did you find them?
hope you're having a good day today so far firebrand. xx
Hi fwizzi. The new exercises are quite challenging for me, I have to say. But them I guess they have to be as they need to build up the deep tissue in the hip in order to support it. I really don't want to come out of all this still limping, but my body does it automatically as I limped for so long pre-op. So I am having to think hard about posture all the time when I walk to address it.
Firebrand sorry to hear the new exercises are a struggle, but im sure in a couple of weeks you will be doing them effortlessly!! i know when i first got home i couldnt pick my foot off the floor due to the severity of the muscle weakness due to lack of proper use pre-op and 11 years of compensation limping.
i wish i had an appointment for additional exercises as im struggling with certain movements as my exercises are 3 very basic ones. but am sure i will get some more at my 6 week check. im trying to correct my limp myself which is a struggle as i have no idea how to do it, but am sure it will all sort itself out in the end and ultimately it wont be the end of the world to me if i have a slight limp as i was having to walk with a crutch all the time pre-op so as long as im able to walk unaided that will b a massive achievement for me! x
i wish i had an appointment for additional exercises as im struggling with certain movements as my exercises are 3 very basic ones. but am sure i will get some more at my 6 week check. im trying to correct my limp myself which is a struggle as i have no idea how to do it, but am sure it will all sort itself out in the end and ultimately it wont be the end of the world to me if i have a slight limp as i was having to walk with a crutch all the time pre-op so as long as im able to walk unaided that will b a massive achievement for me! x
hello again!! have been offline for a bit but am back now and thought i had better say hi and clock in with a little update! i had my 6 week os appointment last week, he was happy with the xray and my general progress but wont allow me to do any additional physio which im not too happy about as im still walking outside with 2 elbow crutches and can only really manage with a walking stick for a couple of hours indoors before the pain gets too much and i have to elevate.
he said he will see me again in 2 months and take it from there. my gp said she thought i would be more mobile by now and in less pain so shes starting me on my anti inflammatories again and hopefully that should help. im getting terrible sharp pains through the butt cheek of the operated side, down to behind the knee and up my back to my ribs. am hoping this is just part of everything healing and nerves fusing etc as the pain is quite intense when it happens. im also getting muscle twitches in the butt too. theres still quite a lot of pain and stiffness in the hip joint, is there anyone else who has had this? maybe im hoping for too much too soon, but ion the 1st 4 weeks post op i made massive progress and the last 2 weeks barely any progress at all! im still taking mst, only 50mg a day now though so thats not bad going from 160mg plus oramorph! my gp said that due to the condition which caused me to have the thr being so unpredictable she doesnt know enough about it to confidently give me a reason why things are the way they are so guess i just have to wait until os appt in 2 months and hope that things have improved by then! positive thinking and all that!!
he said he will see me again in 2 months and take it from there. my gp said she thought i would be more mobile by now and in less pain so shes starting me on my anti inflammatories again and hopefully that should help. im getting terrible sharp pains through the butt cheek of the operated side, down to behind the knee and up my back to my ribs. am hoping this is just part of everything healing and nerves fusing etc as the pain is quite intense when it happens. im also getting muscle twitches in the butt too. theres still quite a lot of pain and stiffness in the hip joint, is there anyone else who has had this? maybe im hoping for too much too soon, but ion the 1st 4 weeks post op i made massive progress and the last 2 weeks barely any progress at all! im still taking mst, only 50mg a day now though so thats not bad going from 160mg plus oramorph! my gp said that due to the condition which caused me to have the thr being so unpredictable she doesnt know enough about it to confidently give me a reason why things are the way they are so guess i just have to wait until os appt in 2 months and hope that things have improved by then! positive thinking and all that!!
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