THR Sometimes peachy, sometimes the pits
- Thread starter Peaches
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Maeve
senior
TeeEm
senior
@meave Ive dropped the 90% rule ! Havent been told too, but Im gone 6 weeks now and enoughs enough ! Im not forcing anything though. To cut my toenails, I sat on the bed and bent my knee towards my chest. I havent tried shoelaces yet though .
Liveringer
graduate
LeeApril26
post-grad
TeeEm. Liveringer. You are giving me hope. I've been very worried that once the precautions are lifted I won't have the flexibility to cut my nails. Thanks for sharing.
TeeEm
senior
Liveringer Keep trying. You'll find one day you cant do it, and the next you can. 
OP
OP
Peaches
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TeeEm ... I actually did cut my toenails on the non-op foot a couple of weeks ago, but don't recall what I used to elevate the foot just the right height so I could do so. The op-leg's nails didn't like it one bit, being left behind, so it forced the left foot's nails to grow ultra fast so they could be too long too quick, the same as the right foot's.
As for the toilet and low seats, the bus seat that I have accidentally sat down on before putting a pillow on it: It was not nearly as low as my toilet seat is at home, or as low as regular toilet seats I've seen out in the world. (I do think my home seat is lower than usual, though I never notice that before.) When I sat down on the bus's seat, I didn't settle in and all ... I had barely been sitting before I got up, so it wasn't hard.
I was out and about yesterday and went to three different public bathrooms and each time I managed fairly easily to just stand and squat slightly and go. I don't think I could have sat down on the seat and pulled myself up easily, but who knows. I am now practicing at home in preparation for returning to the workforce; I've removed the nasty toilet thing temporarily, parking it in the shower, so I can practice standing.
I am so hoping those restrictions are lifted Monday! I am going back to my weekly report from last week and will update it as I have now completed another week.........
Liveringer, I am glad you were not caught in that freak snowstorm! I couldn't believe it when I heard about it on the news!
As for the toilet and low seats, the bus seat that I have accidentally sat down on before putting a pillow on it: It was not nearly as low as my toilet seat is at home, or as low as regular toilet seats I've seen out in the world. (I do think my home seat is lower than usual, though I never notice that before.) When I sat down on the bus's seat, I didn't settle in and all ... I had barely been sitting before I got up, so it wasn't hard.
I was out and about yesterday and went to three different public bathrooms and each time I managed fairly easily to just stand and squat slightly and go. I don't think I could have sat down on the seat and pulled myself up easily, but who knows. I am now practicing at home in preparation for returning to the workforce; I've removed the nasty toilet thing temporarily, parking it in the shower, so I can practice standing.
I am so hoping those restrictions are lifted Monday! I am going back to my weekly report from last week and will update it as I have now completed another week.........
Liveringer, I am glad you were not caught in that freak snowstorm! I couldn't believe it when I heard about it on the news!
Liveringer
graduate
For real Peaches and today is suppose to be 90 degrees and you are probably even warmer poor thing. Speaking of toe nails whoop, whoop about 15 minutes ago I cut mine. It is not at ease as it should be but easily done more so than pre op. And....and shaved my legs with a regular razor. I'm a happy camper today, now to call a girlfriend see if she wants to go for a walk or go to sisters and get in the pool maybe both.
LeeApril26
post-grad
OP
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Peaches
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Awww ... I just wrote a weekly update and it got lost!! It is gone.
LeeApril26, I have hovered over public toilets now and i have not done any squats at all.
LeeApril26 ... I didn't mean "look at me, look at me ... *I* can hover without wall squats." .... I just meant, "If *I* didn't need wall squats to hover, you won't, either, as you are stronger than I am."
LeeApril26, I have hovered over public toilets now and i have not done any squats at all.
LeeApril26 ... I didn't mean "look at me, look at me ... *I* can hover without wall squats." .... I just meant, "If *I* didn't need wall squats to hover, you won't, either, as you are stronger than I am."
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Peaches
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Okay, everyone ... try, try again. Here's my Weekly Peachy Pie AND Pits report:
Six weeks under my belt. Bring on Week Number Seven!
--Edited just now to add that I am now going into pubic rest rooms and hovering successfully.
--Still fumble and bumble my way around this forum. Just wrote a long report and lost it before it got posted. Very little progress in this area!
--No change in at-home PT exercises; her last visit is today. I will ask my surgeon at checkup time about outpatient PT and may or may not start it, depending on work schedule, etc.
--Still take extra-strength Tylenol, usually 4 or 5 a day; sometimes 6. Sometimes 2 at one time (1,000 mg total) or 1. Just saw elsewhere that Jo said taking only 1 500-mg. Tylenol does no good; you must take 2. Will try that moving forward.
--Still take frequent five-minute hallway walks; walks outside for a few blocks. At most I have walked outside nonstop 15 or 20 minutes, but do not cover much mileage as I deliberately walk slowly and with a cane. I should clarify I am NOT walking 15-20 minutes outside with no stops routinely as in every day.
--Sleep problems still there, but I have had them long before surgery.
--Added bus rides to my "activities this week." It is scary each time as I never know what I will encounter in terms of crowds, not getting a seat, how high that particular bus's step is for getting on and off. The bus rides are not smooth sailing at all--lots of lurching around and while perched on my high pillow, I have to hold on to the pole for dear life. One time this week a young mother plopped her tiny child in the seat next to me and turned her back to concentrate on dealing with her other child and fiddling with the massive stroller clogging the aisle. All of us felt for this mother. I was suddenly the designated babysitter for the toddler beside me. So I kept putting my arm across her when the bus would lurch, and she kept giving me the side eye, like "what the heck are you doing, lady." Pretty funny. But my point is that getting on the bus really helps me see that it's hard for MANY PEOPLE, not just widdle ol me with my "routine" THR recovery. I have seen and talked with many seniors with canes on these bus rides, all of whom are so kind to me and offer a hand when they see me lurch around. Some of them have had multiple THR or TKRs ... and have mixed-bag results. Here they are, a few years later, still with a cane and not getting off the bus easily. So once again my eyes have been opened, I am humbled, and I have lowered my expectations a bit, while always keeping a bit of hope alive.
Having said that, once I go back to work, I will be getting on and off the bus at locations where I know for a fact I will be able to get a seat; plus, at some point I will NOT have that darn pillow to sit on. So it will be better than now.
--I went out for a couple of hours Wed. and many hours Thurs. to just get back into my world of buses, walking, standing in line, stopping in stores, running errands. Also, got to meet friends on each day for a leisurely, long diner breakfast. Taking the hard pillow to sit on was murder on my tailbone; got up every 10 minutes to shake off the pain. The soft pillow was too soft. Before long I hope to need no pillows. Thursday was the real test as I was out for hours, even got my hair cut! (Yes, I needed to take the pillow, but didn't care.) Then with my cane, hard and soft pillows in a shopping bag, and a heavier than usual tote bag strapped across my shoulder, I just ventured out, the happy wanderer ... trying to get used to be up and out and standing and walking. I made sure to take plenty of rest stops to just sit for a spell. And truthfully I don't think I ended up actually walking more than one mile. But being on my feet for so long plus walking and the jaunty bus rides added up to a lot of activity for me. The good thing is that my lower back did not hurt at all; neither did my knee! The only thing that hurt was my feet, which felt normal. Folks, this was my first day of feeling back to normal. I knew of course I'd pay today....
When I got home, I lay on the bed with my ice packs. Later at night I took two brief laps in the hallway. Then my simple toddler-style practice of steps (7 steps up and 7 down is all I do; the steps have been too high for me to go up them like a big girl). Then, just for kicks ... I decided to try the steps like a big girl. Well ... I did it! Trembling, tentative, shaky, with cane held tightly as well as the bannister, but I did it. Not sure I will push this today, as I am sore. But I did do it. Up and down the steps. And no knee pain!
Today ... I feel kinda of beat up. Hip is sore; knee on that side is sore. FEET feel swollen; my sneakers are a little tight. Lower back kinda sore. Arms and shoulders and upper back a little sore, too. Stiff. Have taken a few slow laps in the hallway, but will not push it.
Was it worth it? YES!
If any pre-op person is reading this, please be aware that my progress is slower than many others, so don't go by me.
I hope everyone has a good day!
Six weeks under my belt. Bring on Week Number Seven!
--Edited just now to add that I am now going into pubic rest rooms and hovering successfully.
--Still fumble and bumble my way around this forum. Just wrote a long report and lost it before it got posted. Very little progress in this area!
--No change in at-home PT exercises; her last visit is today. I will ask my surgeon at checkup time about outpatient PT and may or may not start it, depending on work schedule, etc.
--Still take extra-strength Tylenol, usually 4 or 5 a day; sometimes 6. Sometimes 2 at one time (1,000 mg total) or 1. Just saw elsewhere that Jo said taking only 1 500-mg. Tylenol does no good; you must take 2. Will try that moving forward.
--Still take frequent five-minute hallway walks; walks outside for a few blocks. At most I have walked outside nonstop 15 or 20 minutes, but do not cover much mileage as I deliberately walk slowly and with a cane. I should clarify I am NOT walking 15-20 minutes outside with no stops routinely as in every day.
--Sleep problems still there, but I have had them long before surgery.
--Added bus rides to my "activities this week." It is scary each time as I never know what I will encounter in terms of crowds, not getting a seat, how high that particular bus's step is for getting on and off. The bus rides are not smooth sailing at all--lots of lurching around and while perched on my high pillow, I have to hold on to the pole for dear life. One time this week a young mother plopped her tiny child in the seat next to me and turned her back to concentrate on dealing with her other child and fiddling with the massive stroller clogging the aisle. All of us felt for this mother. I was suddenly the designated babysitter for the toddler beside me. So I kept putting my arm across her when the bus would lurch, and she kept giving me the side eye, like "what the heck are you doing, lady." Pretty funny. But my point is that getting on the bus really helps me see that it's hard for MANY PEOPLE, not just widdle ol me with my "routine" THR recovery. I have seen and talked with many seniors with canes on these bus rides, all of whom are so kind to me and offer a hand when they see me lurch around. Some of them have had multiple THR or TKRs ... and have mixed-bag results. Here they are, a few years later, still with a cane and not getting off the bus easily. So once again my eyes have been opened, I am humbled, and I have lowered my expectations a bit, while always keeping a bit of hope alive.
Having said that, once I go back to work, I will be getting on and off the bus at locations where I know for a fact I will be able to get a seat; plus, at some point I will NOT have that darn pillow to sit on. So it will be better than now.
--I went out for a couple of hours Wed. and many hours Thurs. to just get back into my world of buses, walking, standing in line, stopping in stores, running errands. Also, got to meet friends on each day for a leisurely, long diner breakfast. Taking the hard pillow to sit on was murder on my tailbone; got up every 10 minutes to shake off the pain. The soft pillow was too soft. Before long I hope to need no pillows. Thursday was the real test as I was out for hours, even got my hair cut! (Yes, I needed to take the pillow, but didn't care.) Then with my cane, hard and soft pillows in a shopping bag, and a heavier than usual tote bag strapped across my shoulder, I just ventured out, the happy wanderer ... trying to get used to be up and out and standing and walking. I made sure to take plenty of rest stops to just sit for a spell. And truthfully I don't think I ended up actually walking more than one mile. But being on my feet for so long plus walking and the jaunty bus rides added up to a lot of activity for me. The good thing is that my lower back did not hurt at all; neither did my knee! The only thing that hurt was my feet, which felt normal. Folks, this was my first day of feeling back to normal. I knew of course I'd pay today....
When I got home, I lay on the bed with my ice packs. Later at night I took two brief laps in the hallway. Then my simple toddler-style practice of steps (7 steps up and 7 down is all I do; the steps have been too high for me to go up them like a big girl). Then, just for kicks ... I decided to try the steps like a big girl. Well ... I did it! Trembling, tentative, shaky, with cane held tightly as well as the bannister, but I did it. Not sure I will push this today, as I am sore. But I did do it. Up and down the steps. And no knee pain!
Today ... I feel kinda of beat up. Hip is sore; knee on that side is sore. FEET feel swollen; my sneakers are a little tight. Lower back kinda sore. Arms and shoulders and upper back a little sore, too. Stiff. Have taken a few slow laps in the hallway, but will not push it.
Was it worth it? YES!
If any pre-op person is reading this, please be aware that my progress is slower than many others, so don't go by me.
I hope everyone has a good day!
Elosarabrab
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Peaches, 
You sound like you are doing really well. Just reading what you have been up to makes me tired. Getting practice with bus travel is something I will have to do too. Luckily it is a short bus ride to work.
Glad you perfected the hover manoeuvre (had to check spelling
) Also tackling stairs. I feel safer if I can hold on to something both sides when going up and down stairs.
Slow and steady we all get there in the end.
You sound like you are doing really well. Just reading what you have been up to makes me tired. Getting practice with bus travel is something I will have to do too. Luckily it is a short bus ride to work. Glad you perfected the hover manoeuvre (had to check spelling
) Also tackling stairs. I feel safer if I can hold on to something both sides when going up and down stairs.Slow and steady we all get there in the end.
Liveringer
graduate
LeeApril26
post-grad
LeeApril26
post-grad
Peaches. Wow! What great progress and no back pain or knee pain. Terrific. You are very courageous. I can do the stairs going up, but am terrified of trying it grown up style going down. Have a vision of broken me on the bottom. Your being out for many hours is great. I walk to PT, do it, and return to rest. The heat today made it more difficult. I hope you feel wonderful about doing all this cause you should. Now rest and ice!
TeeEm
senior
Peaches What a great update. You are doing fantastically well. Really good that you managed the stairs and your knee pain didnt come back. I dont think your progress is slower than others. I think you are doing it just right. You are being sensible and not rushing it and are making good steady progress. 
zauberflöte
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Peaches !! WOW!! What a lovely Thursday you had! It may not be your instant new normal, but I hope it will become that soon 
All that walking and riding and toddler-minding and whatnot. And leisurely diner breakfasts-- I wish I could figure out a better cushion system for you! I have one that works for my back if I have to sit in a metal folding chair to play, but I don't know if it transfers. here tis anyway: take a pillow and a lightweight nylon "briefcase", you know, a cheap messenger bag such as (for me) one's husband is given at a conference as a party favor, and fit the pillow into the body of the case. Then for the top half of the chair I lock the flap of the briefcase over the chair-back. I've also put pillows in high-school/college size back-or-book-bags. That might not go on the bus so well. My seat cushion is enormous, and I can't think how I'd manage it on a bus! My hat's off to you!
helpless laughter here.....
All that walking and riding and toddler-minding and whatnot. And leisurely diner breakfasts-- I wish I could figure out a better cushion system for you! I have one that works for my back if I have to sit in a metal folding chair to play, but I don't know if it transfers. here tis anyway: take a pillow and a lightweight nylon "briefcase", you know, a cheap messenger bag such as (for me) one's husband is given at a conference as a party favor, and fit the pillow into the body of the case. Then for the top half of the chair I lock the flap of the briefcase over the chair-back. I've also put pillows in high-school/college size back-or-book-bags. That might not go on the bus so well. My seat cushion is enormous, and I can't think how I'd manage it on a bus! My hat's off to you!Let's hear it for hovering! When I lost the ability to squat, the daily activities I had done squatting stopped also, and suddenly hovering became more difficult. So I am certainly hoping that I can squat again soon, and build up that strength. One really does want to hover in all public restrooms, one thinks!
You might want to check that sentence again..... LOL
For me, even 650 is a dose that works. I was cut back to 3000mg or less as the new minimum pre-op, so instead of taking 1000 three times/day (tylenol doesn't last 8 hours on me) I took 650 three times and 975 once per day. Actually I'm still doing that, what with the percocet+tyleol.
Songlady what are you on, girl?? Too many sixteenth notes in the pedals??????
helpless laughter here.....
LeeApril26
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Peaches
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Thanks very much, Elosarabrab, Liveringer, TeeEm, LeeApril26, zauberflöte!
Today's payback for yesterday's fun was Lower Back Pain all day long, especially when sitting. It usually abates when I'm parked in a chair with a heating pad, but not this time. Nevertheless, I got up off my duff and took a 6-block walk during the day and then around dusk headed out 5 blocks to a market to get something for dinner. By the time I started back home, it was almost dark and I realized yikes, this is the first night walk! But it was okay. Funny how you can be obsessed with our temporary "new normal" with the restrictions and pains and canes and all the paraphernalia that comes with this surgery ... and at the same time, you can forget all that and without thinking revert to your pre-op routine. Like leaving your cane behind, or starting off at dusk and not thinking twice about the fact it will be dark when you return. Also ... when I was on my bus rides this week, I was staring out the window like a tourist, marveling at seeing all the old landmarks. Kind of like Emily in "Our Town" when she revisits her life (it's been a while since I've seen or read the play): "hello, coffee! hello, clocks ticking!" (Thornton Wilder is spinning in his grave ... sorry, Thorny!) So I'm doing the same thing with Barnes and Noble; movie theater; coffee shop; health food store; etc. So happy to see them all again.....
Lenora, my final visit with the at-home PT went well. I really like her; very professional and also a terrific bedside manner. She is always mindful of the restrictions, the fact that I should clear things with the OS first, and my odd knee pains ... so she showed me ways to add extra challenges to the same-old, same-old exercises I have been doing since returning from the hospital; she added a few things she thought would help strengthen and stretch me---just maneuvers, really, on a step thing I have. She cautioned me to NOT go hog wild taking deep stairs like a big girl, as she said stairs are a killer for bad knees. Her final advice to me was to work on core strengthening exercises.
She also did an informal test of my range of motion (at my request) and thought it seemed pretty good. I will miss this gal. She's been the one go-to person I could talk to ever since my wonderful cousin left a few weeks ago. Friends are well meaning, of course, but they don't know what a professional knows.
I have now heard back from the physician assistant (physician's assistant?) who was in the OR with my OS during my surgery. He said knee pain is common after a THR, but lower back pain is not. He then said I probably have lower back pain because I had a short leg I'd walked on for many years, with a limp; the short leg was because the ball had "shortened" due to cartilege erosion; that they had lengthened the leg to make it once again the same length as it was prior to the arthritis; and that my back was adjusting to my new gait. He said they can refer me to a physiatrist--which I'd never heard of--if I want some relief. I will ask the surgeon about this on Monday. Because of work looming and thus no free time to speak of, the idea of trotting around to another specialist, doc appointments, taking time off work just makes my stomach churn. Like Scarlett O., I'll have to think about this stuff tomorrow ... can't worry about it now.
zauberflöte, thanks much for the pillow talk and the Tylenol talk. I'll get a bottle of the regular-strength to try your formula. I'm thinking now that just a small pillow for the various chairs I need to perch on might do the trick.
I took a two-hour nap at 5:30 p.m. today. Yikes. Must have been the heating pad lulling me to sleep. Shudder at ho this will mess up my sleep tonight.
I wish everyone a good weekend, filled with mini milestones leading to ultimately many milestones; and lots of hope. I have hope tonight--and I am not someone who is hopeful very often. I attribute some of it to my mini milestones this week ... but more than that, to my lovely bonesmart kin. I love you guys, I really do. Thank you!
Today's payback for yesterday's fun was Lower Back Pain all day long, especially when sitting. It usually abates when I'm parked in a chair with a heating pad, but not this time. Nevertheless, I got up off my duff and took a 6-block walk during the day and then around dusk headed out 5 blocks to a market to get something for dinner. By the time I started back home, it was almost dark and I realized yikes, this is the first night walk! But it was okay. Funny how you can be obsessed with our temporary "new normal" with the restrictions and pains and canes and all the paraphernalia that comes with this surgery ... and at the same time, you can forget all that and without thinking revert to your pre-op routine. Like leaving your cane behind, or starting off at dusk and not thinking twice about the fact it will be dark when you return. Also ... when I was on my bus rides this week, I was staring out the window like a tourist, marveling at seeing all the old landmarks. Kind of like Emily in "Our Town" when she revisits her life (it's been a while since I've seen or read the play): "hello, coffee! hello, clocks ticking!" (Thornton Wilder is spinning in his grave ... sorry, Thorny!) So I'm doing the same thing with Barnes and Noble; movie theater; coffee shop; health food store; etc. So happy to see them all again.....
Lenora, my final visit with the at-home PT went well. I really like her; very professional and also a terrific bedside manner. She is always mindful of the restrictions, the fact that I should clear things with the OS first, and my odd knee pains ... so she showed me ways to add extra challenges to the same-old, same-old exercises I have been doing since returning from the hospital; she added a few things she thought would help strengthen and stretch me---just maneuvers, really, on a step thing I have. She cautioned me to NOT go hog wild taking deep stairs like a big girl, as she said stairs are a killer for bad knees. Her final advice to me was to work on core strengthening exercises.
She also did an informal test of my range of motion (at my request) and thought it seemed pretty good. I will miss this gal. She's been the one go-to person I could talk to ever since my wonderful cousin left a few weeks ago. Friends are well meaning, of course, but they don't know what a professional knows.
I have now heard back from the physician assistant (physician's assistant?) who was in the OR with my OS during my surgery. He said knee pain is common after a THR, but lower back pain is not. He then said I probably have lower back pain because I had a short leg I'd walked on for many years, with a limp; the short leg was because the ball had "shortened" due to cartilege erosion; that they had lengthened the leg to make it once again the same length as it was prior to the arthritis; and that my back was adjusting to my new gait. He said they can refer me to a physiatrist--which I'd never heard of--if I want some relief. I will ask the surgeon about this on Monday. Because of work looming and thus no free time to speak of, the idea of trotting around to another specialist, doc appointments, taking time off work just makes my stomach churn. Like Scarlett O., I'll have to think about this stuff tomorrow ... can't worry about it now.
zauberflöte, thanks much for the pillow talk and the Tylenol talk. I'll get a bottle of the regular-strength to try your formula. I'm thinking now that just a small pillow for the various chairs I need to perch on might do the trick.
I took a two-hour nap at 5:30 p.m. today. Yikes. Must have been the heating pad lulling me to sleep. Shudder at ho this will mess up my sleep tonight.
I wish everyone a good weekend, filled with mini milestones leading to ultimately many milestones; and lots of hope. I have hope tonight--and I am not someone who is hopeful very often. I attribute some of it to my mini milestones this week ... but more than that, to my lovely bonesmart kin. I love you guys, I really do. Thank you!
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