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THR Sometimes peachy, sometimes the pits

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Peaches, No wonder you are exhausted. I hope you can rest up and relax a little at the weekend.
I haven't tried going on a bus yet. I will have to do this before I return to work. I have a walk to the bus stop then when I get off the bus at the other end. I count myself lucky I don't have to rush back too soon.
 
Peaches, it sounds as though your first week was a fantastic success! You got through it, you weighed the good and the bad, you cautiously noted that perhaps the pain was a bit less each day - that's IT!:egypdance: :happydance: :yay: I think you are doing very well, probably in good part because you are thinking it all through so thoroughly!

I am using the cane almost all the time. Today I went into a shop and didn't bring it, but that was because we pulled into the parking lot and someone had left a shopping cart near where we parked! Occasionally I go without the cane in the house, but I do begin to limp without it. Thanks, Poppet, for the reassurance that I am "reading" my body's signals correctly: if I limp, I need the cane.
The whole work thing is so .... tiresome, isn't it? I, too, am finding the gamut of reactions, from those who are overprotective of me to those who assume I am back 100%! I am finding that the important thing is to be clear within myself.
I hope you can rest some this weekend!
 
The whole work thing is so .... tiresome, isn't it? I, too, am finding the gamut of reactions, from those who are overprotective of me to those who assume I am back 100%! I am finding that the important thing is to be clear within myself.
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Yes, yes, yes! I feel so sick of myself thinking, talking, eating, breathing All Things Hip. I'd like to turn off the Me and My Hip channel ... in fact, unsubscribe from it from the cable company. Unfortunately, navel--er, hip--gazing is crucial, I think, to ensuring we don't jeopardize the long haul for minor short-term "victories." Still ... one of my goals this week has been to scale back talking about Me and My Hip to people. Well, some people. I did have a long talk this week with my cousin, the dear one who came to help me after my surgery, but that was answering her questions to bring her up to date. And we talked a lot longer about fun stuff going on with her and her family--that felt so good! To talk about normal stuff. I have felt rather alarmed at the ones at work who think I'm all well; they seem harder to deal with than the ones who fuss unnecessarily. To the "fussy" ones, I have told them I'm turning The Hip Channel off as it doesn't help me to talk about it anymore. And I have changed the topic to stuff on the news or in their lives, if they care to talk about it. It has worked fine except with one rather odd acquaintance who insists on grilling me and never being too happy with the answers. Oh, well.

Songlady, I have tried to find the post where you described your organ shoes. I remain in awe of how physically demanding, as well as mentally and creatively, of course, your job as organist is. I hand it to you for your "the show must go on" attitude in these post-op weeks.

How is your mother this week? You are not only grappling with the myriad details about your recovery, trying to find balance and do the right thing, but her circumstances as well. Not easy. But I know you are doing a great job I hope you know that, too.
 
Hi Peaches - Who knows where the Organ Shoe Post is? lol. Mine are "Mary Janes" - black, nicely shaped (not too pointy in the toe) with a strap across. They have leather soles for sliding across the pedals, and heels that are about 1 inch, so that if you need to play one note with your toe and then a note 2 notes away with your heel (say, going from A to C and skipping B), you won't hit the note in between.
We organists play with our heels and our toes. Um.... and our hands!:heehee:
Mom... I think I posted in my "second time easier (so far)" thread. We went to the cardiologist, who put her on several meds which made her feel sick. So... we are in the process of firing this cardiologist (she had not ever had one, he was simply assigned to her in the hospital) and she is going to stop taking whatever makes her feel bad. She wants to feel good so she can go home; she is very clear that she wants to be on her own, in her own place, ASAP, and not worry about taking various meds "for the future." We're not quite at the point of calling it "palliative care," but.... she wants to live her days on her own terms and go out at home, not sick and hooked up to tubes in some facility because her blood chemistry looks better this way! Big, big stuff.
 
Peaches, you are giving me hope. I am on day four and have almost exactly 8 weeks before I return to work. I have to be ready to start school on August 7th. From your reports it sounds as if I will be able to if I streamline my life at home to the max...easy meals and paper plates spring to mind. Build in as many rest sessions as you can into your week. We wouldn't expect a two month ols to be able to walk around carrying their body weight...and your hip is once a two month old baby now. Hang in there you are doing very well.
 
Hello dear sweet Peaches Where have I been? My goodness, you've had a whole week of work already and I was clueless. Last I knew, we were talking about your 6 week check up with the OS. I'm sorry that I wasn't on your thread to give you encouragement and praise. You've done very well, it sounds. Managing the walking commute, the office routine, coming home and taking care of yourself. Goodness, it's been busy and very successful for you. How brave you are, no wonder you're tired and you were sore!
I hope that you let yourself rest a lot this weekend. Just like one of the moderators said, listen to your body and don't push yourself. It sounds like you're getting a lot of exercise in your daily working activities and your commute, so now you should rest up. All of your hallway walking and your little trips around town really paid off, so that you knew what to expect going to work. Good for you!
 
Howdy-do, ByGosh! I was on my way to your thread to see how you are and the dreaded g-word, but also the beloved w (water) word. This week was a blur and I barely had time to post and also tend to get so lost in the threads. The work week was saved really by the unexpected of that angel worker from another dept. Otherwise it would have been stressball city. But, yes, by not pushing myself with extra unnecessary steps and activities, I made it through. Thurs. and Fri. were less painful. I am very much in need of ES Tylenol, ice, and heat. Do hope my lack of PT will not hinder me. Thank you for your kind and lovely supportive comments. I have read (I think/hope) all of them and they meant so much. This afternoon I walked one block outside without the cane, to see how it felt. It was on a residential street, not a busy commercial one. My right knee feels funky when I walk cane less; I'm aware of it, that is. Whereas the good side, leg, hip, and knee, I'm not aware of. If that makes sense. I will alternate walking with and without cane, and will let my body guide me.


Hi, nmscienceteacher! I'm glad you can get something from my "journey." Teaching is surely a lot more formidable than what I do, because you have to be "on" and I can scrunch down at my desk for the most part. Mine is just a paper-pushing job, "project management"--but no "people management." I did a lot of dry runs at home in the week or two running up to work, and maybe you could do that too. Standing on your feet for a while; whatever movements you do in your job. You are so right about minimizing unnecessary steps and things. And, yes: paper plates! I had a big stack of the already and in those early days, after my cousin who helped me so much had to leave to go back to her home, I relied on lightweight things like paper plates. I had to make trips back and forth from the kitchen to the living room to eat and sometimes if I was eating something quick and easy like yogurt, I just stood at the sink to eat it. It saved on steps. That way, I could practice real walking and do PT. It's kind of like counting calories: If I really want dessert, I'll cut out bread (ha ha--in theory, that is!).

You sound GREAT for day four. I was a basket case, filled with fears and zero hope or imagination or faith that I would break on through to the other side of that initial pain and instability. I see you have had a lot of experience with this surgery stuff. My hat is off to you. When or if you start PT, you might mention to him or her that your goal is to be ready for work and you want to work on stuff to help with that. My PT was pretty good about that, though I ended up ignoring her suggestion to do outpatient PT before going back to work. I didn't feel up to it since it would have involved public transportation and I was freaked out about doing that till I was steadier. I am a slowpoke, though, and not everyone is.

Please keep posting and let us know how you are doing! Soon you will have your first week under your belt!
Have a good weekend. Take it easy.
 
Peaches I sounds like as the week went by you continued to feel stronger. Isn't too bad that our other body parts can't behave now. My knees hurt too when going downstairs, I think it's still the body adjusting to everything and using different muscles now to depend on. And the backaches are hitting several on here too. Again we start to walk differently which probably pulls that out of wack. All in all you sound like you're doing great, I feel like I'm about where you're at in recovery. I limp some when I walk, my legs get sore when I'm on them for longer walks. The more I'm doing things such as bending and then I do kneel down, which is maybe why my knees hurt, the more my body hurts. We just have to be patient. Poppet said it well when she said the time to get off a cane doesn't mean the success or failure of your hip surgery.
 
Peaches, did I read in another thread that you are going to get a pedicure? Let us know how it goes! I am still thrilled that I did that 2 weeks ago, and I am looking forward to having enough time pass that I can justify it again!
Also, I LOVED your comparison of use of our physical energy to dieting! Great metaphor!! :goodpost:

@LeeApril, my mother got referred to a podiatrist for a bit of an ingrown toenail a few years ago, and now she goes to him to get her toenails cut, and it's covered by Medicare! (And if the staff happens to have extra time sometimes they "try out" samples of moisturizers on her feet...... sounds like what I pay for at the pedi place! :heehee:
 
Peaches I really felt for you having to go back to work before you felt ready. I'm so pleased you got through the first week not too badly, and your employers have been more supporting then you thought they would be. How did hovering over the workplace loo go ?
 
Hi Peaches Songlady TeeEm sandybeach (might as well get as many as I can) I hope you're resting up today for the work week starting tomorrow (sorry for reminding you). And I also hope you all are enjoying this most gorgeous day we're having here in the East. How's your weather TeeEm ? and sandybeach ?
Yes, how did hovering over the workplace loo go? I'm curious if it was a strain for you.

I agree with sandybeach about the other body parts acting up. What is it with the body? My goodness, I thought it was just my hips that would be different, but it's the whole body it seems. Aches here, pains there - it's discouraging and a PIA, if you know what I mean. Not bad enough we're recovering with the hips, but we're trying to avoid aggravating everything else now, too. I'm so busy complaining about my groin pain, (Miss Pain in the Groins), that I'm not even bothering to complain about the rest of it. I'm actually tired of hearing myself complain, to tell you the truth, so I won't. :)

Well, dear Peaches - I hope you sleep tight tonight, have sweet dreams, and your work week is even better than last week. Take care, and go easy on yourself.
 
Sounds like you are doing great Poppet. I cannot imagine how tiring it must be going back to work. I am scheduled to return July 8th, which will be at 8 weeks. It is a big adjustment, no matter what kind of surgery. My work friend returned to work at 7 weeks, after breaking her ankle. She said she returned too soon, and should have come back on a adjusted schedule. We both drive A LOT for our jobs, in and out of a car all day, and stand a lot. She said she came home at the end of the day and had no energy for anything else. She would plop on the couch. Any surgery is tough, but I think a THR really ranks up there. Take good care, take breaks, get up and walk around often. I know that when I went out to dinner last week with my besties, I sat for two hours. I should have gotten up after an hour and gone to the bathroom or something, because when I did get up, I was so sore and so stiff. It was difficult to walk.
 
LeeApril26 & Poppet: "To cane ... or not to cane: THAT is the question!" When I walk on my carpeted corridors in my apt. building, I can walk nicely without a cane most of the time, only occasionally limping. When I go out on the street, I take the cane and sometimes limp and sometimes don't. It's never predictable. I don't know what to do at work. I feel I have to be "consistent" at work and either use it all the time or not. Isn't that silly. LeeApril, when I walked caneless on the city street last night, it was an easy one. Today, I walked half a mile on an up-and-down avenue, and there was no way I would have had the stamina to do that without the cane. As long as I am not doing any harm by using or not using the cane, I guess that's the best guide. My OS asked few questions when i saw him last week, but the one thing he asked and wrote down was when did I start walking without a cane. I thought that was interesting.

sandybeach, I know what you mean about all the other body parts, from the waist down, piping up. Almost like a game of -- what is it called? whack-a-mole? The more I do, the more they pipe up. But then again, the more I do, the more they, over time, kind of quiet down. I still get the lower back pain, but it isn't as constant and as bad as it was. My knee on the op side feels kind of jelly-wigglyish when I walk--not exactly unstable, but not quite "right"--but i went slowly down the stairs today (the ones where I've been practicing them toddler style for weeks) like a big girl so to speak and my knee didn't hurt. I think it's getting better or stronger or something. As for YOU, you have two THRs to deal with, so I think you are doing spectacularly.

Hi Songlady: Well ... I decided to "saw away" at my toenails with emory boards taped to a Swiffer stick (thanks to LeeApril26's suggestion about the emory board and Kylesh 's husband's idea about taping something to a ruler. And I gotta say, my toenails look just fine! Plus, I saved some $$$$$ . Now, I realize the bar is pretty low for how good my toenails usually look.... :) You know, I read here about asking a podiatrist to cut your toenails, and I thought about that. But then didn't get around to doing it.

I think someone should invent a Swiss Army Knife for Bone-Smartonians: It's a cane! It's a grabber-reacher! It shaves your legs! AND it cuts your toenails! For that matter, it could scratch your back AND soap your body while in the shower ... and apply lotion to the op side's leg. What else?

Hi, TeeEm: Thanks for your support. Most of the coworkers were very nice and welcoming at best. A few seemed a little cool (as in "golly gee, you got to take off all that time from work"), though. Truthfully, I think my supervisors weren't thrilled I took of "so long," but ... I'm hoping time will cool their jets. They were nice enough to me. in the end, years from now, when i look back on this, I will be glad I took every stinking minute i needed. I also think I was wise, frankly, to not push it and ask for more weeks. We all have to know our company's culture or climate and know when to advocate for more time off and when it's best to lie low. Having said that, I would certainly hope that anyone here who has an understanding boss ask him or her to take more time that you'll need, just in case.

You know, the "hovering" over the toilet wasn't bad! The handicapped toilet is not as high up as a toilet that has the riser on it, but it is higher than the absurdly low toilet I have in my apartment (which dates from the 1970s or earlier), so I could handle it okay. I had the guard rail on the wall side and my cane, but didn't even need my cane. I think it just takes time for us to get strong enough to hover. I could not have done it a couple of weeks ago. My PT even thought I needed to do chair exercises to stengthen my thighs. Unfortunately, those exercises started hurting my knee, so I backed off them for a while and just let time take over. Don't know if you were part of the conversation some of us had a while back about those portable female urinal things, made of cardboard, that you can take with you in your purse or when you go camping, etc. A friend of mine who camps gave me a few to try out. Well ... they didn't work, for me. I made a mess. Read between the lines. So I was really glad the hovering problem took care of itself.

Dear ByGosh ... you don't complain at all about your horrible groin problem. It's a horrible injustice against the universe that you have to put up with this. You were just doing what you thought was the right thing to do. You were always an active person. You have put up with this for a very long time. Is your appointment next week with the other OS? I think you handle it very well. I do hope your weekend was okay and you were able to get some enjoyment in the water, despite all the precautions you've had to take on.

Yesterday I stayed home and rested, doing only a few hall walks and one walk around the block.
Today I rested half the day; the other half I walked one half mile, slowly and with a cane. I then sat and rested. Then stood for 10 minutes to wait for a bus. Sat for a short ride. Went into two stores. in one of them I pretended to be contemplating buying a couch, so I could sit down! Shameless, but I don't care. My feet and lower legs were really tied. So I rested. Then walked to the bus stop, sat down, and rode home. My feet were tired, and I had to lie down with the ice bags when I got home, but it wasn't a horrible aching pain. Just tired. I THINK I'm a tad stronger than last week and the week before that. Will cross fingers next week at work is a little better!!

Who else is starting work next week?????

Thank you to everyone for your support and I hope I can get caught up with your threads soon. You are all in my thoughts and I feel we are in one big Bone Smartonian army of sorts, battling post-op aches, pains, blahs, blues, growing toenails, and inconsistent instructions from our OSs. I shudder to think how we would soldier through this recovery without the collected info and brainstorming and brilliance of everyone. Because we sure as hell have not received much from our OSs but "broad strokes" info. And trust me, I really do like my OS and his "team" and have a lot of faith in him. i just think the post-op info is too sketchy. So thank god for Josephine and the this site!
 
Peaches.. If you are experiencing limping any time, it really is not time to give your cane away..

Don't worry about being consistent at work.

When I finally graduated off my walker at work and had my stick, I took it everywhere, meetings, bathroom.. Sometimes, I carried it over my shoulder, sometimes, I needed to use it.. then one day somewhere around the three month mark, I forgot to take it and then I realized I didn't need it..
 
Peaches Always clever, always right on target with what you say, always kind and entertaining and interesting to read. I love your posts!
I'm glad that you were able to file your toenails. You'd think I would have thought of taping an emery board to a stick, since my husband has already taped my razor and my heel scrubber stone to sticks! No, I had to wait until my intelligent friend, Peaches, gave me the idea! So now that's another little job for him to do tomorrow - at least find me another stick - I think I'm able to handle the taping by now.
Thank you for your wonderful empathy, I appreciate your kindness. I see the other OS this week, and have a list of questions, 2 or 3 sets of xrays, blood work results, a previous hip MRI report- everything is all set. I have been in a little less pain, which I'm always hesitant to admit, because one day can be good, the other not so good. And I was able to go to the pool again. I just hope I've been as cautious as I've meant to be and didn't overdo anything. This overdoing it seems to sneak up on me. Things can feel fine when doing them, but the next day WHAMO! - it's pain city again. I'm really trying not to let that happen anymore, as it's happened so many times, without really doing anything 'wrong'. Just something seemingly normal. Well, time will tell and I hope there's no more backwards recovery for me.
I'm so glad you were able to rest up from your first busy week being back to work. And you were still able to get some walking in, even though you got tired. That's to be expected, you do alot of walking.
Good luck at work this week. Keep using the cane, it can't hurt, and once you stop, you'll feel self-conscious if you need it again at work. Plus your co-workers may expect more of you if you don't have it, thinking you're totally recovered.
 
Peaches you are doing great with all the walking you're doing. Everyone says that's the best exercise we can get. ByGosh our weather is just not letting up. It's been cold and rainy or it's just plain cold. I want a weekend that is nice. We did go up to the lake on Saturday for a couple hours, I sat by the campfire with a sweatshirt on and watched more rain clouds move in.
 
Peaches said:
A few seemed a little cool (as in "golly gee, you got to take off all that time from work"),
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:hissy: Like you had a free holiday or something ! Well, you know what they say - what goes around comes around ! The boot will be on the other foot when they came begging you for a job at your highly profitable and successful 'Hips R Us' store !
 
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