THR Sometimes peachy, sometimes the pits

[Peaches]

This is my Peachiness AND the Pits Four-Week Progress Report:

Four weeks ago I was in recovery (the surgery was on Fri., April 19). So I have four weeks under my belt.

--Arthritic pain is gone.
--Lower back pain is back, almost all the time.
--Cranky knees, till yesterday, were quiet and behaving nicely. PT's new stair-step-practice exercises made something go wonky in my knee on the operated side, so I am now babying it and lying low on exercises. I am icing and elevating it. Doing hallway walks, slowly. Will consider today if and when and how much of the routine PT exercises I should do. I am disappointed for this setback, as I didn't want to lose a day. But obviously I overdid something, so I have to cope with it.
--Pain meds are this: 1 Norco every a.m. with breakfast; extra-strength Tylenol throughout the day--1 or 2; no more than 5 a day, sometimes less.
--Able to walk carpeted hallway numerous times, with cane, with what feels like a normal gait and could be a fairly normal pace. As I would rather be slow and steady, I slow down, concenrate on walking right, and do more laps.
--Am able to walk on the crowded, up-and-down-and-cracked city sidewalks, though with a cane and very slowly. One third of a mile; then a sit-down rest; one third mile back. Ice and rest afterward, but no excessive fallout.
--Hip pain and stiffness not altogether gone. This seems normal.
--Able to put my short leg over my high-topped tub, and planned to practice this weekend before trying to do a real shower. But the knee pain is now making me pause before doing it as I don't want to put too much weight on that knee until it is more or less back to normal. Overly cautious? Perhaps. But rather that and put up with more bird baths than overdo it.
--Able to get in and out of bed quite easily.
--Focus and concenration a little better, though I still get the blues frequently and get distracted by that.
--Thoroughly able to relish and enjoy many things--being outside, in the sun and glorious spring weather, among people, not having to be stressed out at work. Also thoroughly able to feel blue and stress and worries. I'm riding an emotional roller coaster as well as a physical one: In the course of the day (and it's not even noon where I am), I have felt upbeat and ready to tackle the world; then so blue about my recovery that I have actually said, when someone asked, "I am disappointed SO FAR about this surgery." I don't regret doing it, as I had no choice. But to be honest, I am not at the point where all the pain and mobility problems are radically different from what I am now experiencing. Prior to surgery, I was never able to predict how much I could do or go; when the pain would kick in. I had bone on bone pain in areas but not 100 per cent; thus my surgeon said that's why sometimes I could briefly walk okay. So my experience prior to surgery was easier than many of yours; and that's why now, when still experiencing pain and mobility inconsistencies, I am not seeing a huge change.

Sorry this isn't 100 percent peachiness, but this is just the way it is. I am optimistic that over time there will be fewer pits. I am NOT however optimistic that the "progress" will be the huge leap in the next two weeks that I need it to be. (I have a two-week goal: returning to work.)

Thank you to all who have encouraged me but also validated my feelings about the pits.
I wish everyone a wonderful weekend and hope your recovery issues are resolving themselves.

 

[Peaches]

Hello, Bottomshollo! Thank you so much for the lovely avatar. I do think I will stick to my peaches for now, though, as I love ripe peaches to eat and enjoy looking at them. I'm glad you liked the title of my thread. I am such a big believer in acknowledging the pits in the life and not pretending everything is peachy keen! In fact, acknowledging the pits makes the peachiness even sweeter, in my very humble opinion. And I am living proof that it is absolutely possible to be aware of and thankful for the good things in life and at the same time be aware of and acknowledge and tackle the bad things. I think the wording I would like the best might be "Life's a peach ... even with the pits!" (I had the experience of working one time for a real "let's be positive at all times!" group of people and they had a huge impact on my life. They were in total denial about anything that wasn't goody goody wonderful and it was stressful as you could never ever say the truth about anything without them putting their hands over their ears and singing lalalalalala to block out any reality.) Thank you for the lovely optiona avatar. I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I hope you are doing okay and have a great weekend.

 

[bottomshollow]

I agree---positive is good, but being in denial is really not a positive thing. And you're so right, the negative things in life give us a much great appreciation for the positive. You have a great week-end too.

 

[special lady]

Peaches

Sounds like your doing fairly well, I feel those ups and down moods as well. I can't compare what your able to do to what I can or can't because I'm still confined to the reclined position, 40% weight bearing, and the brace. Was your knee bothering you prior to your replacement? Hope your knee and back start feeling better for you.

 

[zauberflöte]

Peaches I'm trying to catch up on your recovery from the very beginning (got to end of page 2), but decided that since the goal was to talk to you, I'd skip it for now. You are one very very strong lady, and NOT a baby. If I were in your exact shoes, I'd be the queen of babies!!
I see a pattern in your recovery, which is exactly like "they" (here) say-- roller coaster and 3 steps forward/2 steps back. And, everyody's hip is different. You really are doing very well (listen to me, I haven't even HAD my hip yet!). I'm saying that because the very experienced forum staff are saying that-- and they've seen it all!
We've chatted elsewhere, but I want to be here to encourage you. Will have tons of time (maybe no brains, but time LOL) after Tuesday! chris

 

[Songlady]

Hi Peaches, yes, some things are good and some aren't. Someone asked me the other day, "Are you glad you had the surgery?" and I was taken aback - but I answered, "Right now, the answer is no, but I am hoping and believing that a few months from now and a few years from now my answer will be a resounding YES!" That's what my experience was with the first hip, and if this hip experience follows that pattern, I will be very happy. A sense of perspective is so helpful!

 

[Littlejem]

It certainly is a roller coaster of emotions, energy and recovery, we've all been there and have a good idea how you are feeling. We are all very different in our recovery rates though and I probably felt better at 4 weeks both emotionally and energy than I'm feeling right now but that I think is me being back at work full time and hip number 2 saying 'hey girl don't forget me'!! Slow and steady is what you're doing and that's perfect, don't overdo the PT.

 

[Poppet]

Hi Peaches, hon.. You are very normal for just 4 weeks post.. a lot of what you wrote on your update was how I feel at 18 months post...

Recovery milestones come rapidly in the first few weeks, then recovery plateaus, then races forward again.. But each day gets you closer to full recovery. Slow and steady, be gentle with yourself, both physically and emotionally

 

[zauberflöte]

It is difficult to just ignore these two pains, as I had hoped the pre-op pain would be gone and all I'd have now is post-op tightness and soreness.

Peaches,I too am having more back issues sense my LTHR and I believe it's all the movement that went on during surgery, also the sciatic nerve sometimes gets moved around and irritated, any of these things can cause a flare up.

Hey Peaches ! Every time I see your avatar my mouth waters.... I too love peaches, and here in Virginia they can be very very good locally *drool*
I am actually expecting to have more pain post-op, for exactly the reason detazlady says. I have had S-I joint issues since I was 19, and when I saw the photo of the Hana table I almost screamed. My S-I joint will certainly scream
I also have had muscle pain in my legs since I was a child-- I'm sure now that I'm "old", it has different reasons. I expect that post-op i will want to get me a Thera-cane and learn how to release all those trigger points in my hips and legs. My OS said that often the S-I pain gets better after THR-- but surgeons are optimistic, aren't they?
A little thought-- in our house, lower back pain is caused too often by people not doing their core strengthening exercises faithfully. We learned decades ago that a strong core (abs etc) supports our lower backs and helps with body alignment and suchlike. So here we lie on the floor doing our Jane Fonda routines LOL. (and I may still have the "tape" that one inserted in the "VCR" and watched on the "CRT tube" television!!!! Which some of us still had to get up and "twist the dial" to "change channels" by hand!!!!!!

 

[LeeApril26]

Peaches. I am a week behind you, and in the last two days, as my activities increase and I take fewer meds (about the same as you) I am having knee pain in both legs. I have just started doing the isometric knee exercise more frequently. Do you know it- you put a small rolled towel behind you knee, and while lying flat tighten the muscles around your knee(quads?) and press the back of you knee into the towel. In the past I have done thirty of these on each leg, and it's helped, so I'm trying that and ice. Will let you know if knees improve. Also in the past I have had relief from lower back pain with acupuncture-don't know if that's something you would try.
Your mobility seems to have I creased a lot, so you must be working very hard.
zauberflöte. I think your theory about all the movement during surgery makes a lot of sense. What is a Thera-cane? Trigger point release is great; I'd like a better method than laying on a tennis ball.

 

[Peaches]

THANK YOU ... SongLady, LittleJem, Poppit, Bottomshollo, SpecialLady, Chris (I can't do the umlaut and hate to type your name umlaut-less), and Lenora!

Don't know how hard I'm working; I do keep a log of the pills I take, what I pill I've been, the exercises/activities I do, the pain, and now a food log, too, as my appetite has gone from being "good" to "TOO GOOD" and I want to continue losing weight as I am close to 10 down and have plenty to go. I do do the "easy" stuff more frequently--easy stuff are hallway walks and those bed, chair, and standing exercises from the hospital, plus a couple more from the PT; had the one knee not puffed up and gotten sore I would have carried on, but this weekend I took a break. It is one knee only, not both, and it looks and feels like something really went specifically waaaa with it. Am icing and elevating and babying it. Am not doing exercises that put full weight on it. Am waiting to talk to the PT next week when she returns from vacation; surgeon's nurse is also on vacation till Friday. Too scared to try too many remedies on my own. I don't have any extra days to play around with and lose--this isn't ME pressuring me. This is the big Wizard of Oz hourglass running out of sand toward return to work day in two weeks. Thanks for the tips about acupuncture, the thera cane (hadn't heard of it, so I had to look it up; looks promising), and core excursuses. Am so out of touch with my body in terms of exercises, I don't even know what a core is, much less core exercises (just kidding; but I did have to ask once and for all for the PT to be specific as "core" terms are thrown at me a lot by her). Yesterday the lower back was heated almost all day. Today right now it is a tad better. Hope it lasts.

Lenora, I have been doing that exercise with the towel, though without the towel since the hospital (and its handback) said the towel was optional. I think we're talking the same thing. I have only upped the exercises from 10 to 15 as of last week. I could add more pretty easily--but again I am really wary of doing one thing that will aggravate this knee. I am suippsoed to be working very hard on strengthening myself to be able to squat and bring myself up from a squat--if you get my drfit--at work in two weeks. I guess that is my main goal. eye roll.

Littlejem, you are back at work and because of that, you feel worse than you did at four weeks? That seems to make sense to me, too. Being at work isn't just sitting on your bum all day long; it's getting there and back; going to the loo (to squat or not) and other stuff. And noplace like home to take a nap or put your feet up for a good long rest. I imagine one would be pretty fried physically and emotionally at first? How are you doing?

Poppet, I did't realize recovery is fast at first; then plateaus (I've read the articles, but there is nothing like a layman(woman) to put it in terms I can really understand rather than charts and graphs. That's a dig at ME, not at charts and graphs.) Thanks for pointing this out.

SongLady, you have said what was lurking in my mind and that I dared not think or say: "I am NOT YET sure I'm happy I've had this surgery." I can't believe someone else feels that way, and I'm sorry you have, but I'm grateful you said so so that I don't feel so alone. For me I think I'm actually glad I gave the surgery a try--but what I have to admit that right now I am disappointed in it. I think too it just occurred to me that recovery is two-pronged: There is recovery from having surgery--and yes, whoopee! I am walking with a cane when only 4 weeks ago I was having sugary. But the other recovery prong is getting your life back to where you want it to be--and I am disappointed that my "progress" from the surgery recovery isn't lining up like I need it to be for going back to work in two weeks.

By the way, I thought I had responded to you a while ago to some helpful things you said to me. I cannot find your original post or my response but fear my response didn't get posted. I am very sorry. I have appreciated your talking to me and hope you will excuse my forum fuddles.

SpecialLady: YOu know, I did have knee pain when going down stairs only; erratic and hard to pin down. But went away for very long periods, so I have forgotten all about it. This new knee pain is one knee only and very specific--puffiness and pain at the sides. Not both knees. I clearly overdid something. Lower back pain only cropped up when the hip started going bad and I would walk (not walking around the apt. or office, but walking outside, city blocks). Never had a lick of back pain ever till this dang hip thing cropped up.

BottomsHollo: Glad you see my point about things. I do have great sympathy for people who have had so many negative people in their life, they move toward "let's always be positive!" and try to be open hearted toward them. But I really can't stand it when they persist in it to such a degree, you can't ever mention the pits.

Chris: You are facing surgery in a few days, right??? You sound like you really have your act together, so I'm sure I don't need to tell you to please disregard any pits I've written about as my experience and outlook and needs (work looming over my head like a big ugly monster lurching toward me) are uniquely mine and not at all what you should expect. I know you will soar.

I think the moderators should maybe put a big fuzzy blue blob over my posts, like people on the news who don't want their face revealed ... or better yet: maybe A WARNING: THIS THREAD CONTAINS A LOT OF PEACH PITS warning box/banner emblazoned atop the thread ... so that pre-op people don't get discouraged from my not always peachy comments.

 

[LeeApril26]

Peaches. I think we are thinking of the same exercise. Started w/o the towel then added it. I may be overdoing it with 30, but I have this book, "treat Your Own Knee Arthritis" by Jim Johnson, PT, and that's the number he advises working up to for knee OA. I've had that for years and have been trying to avoid surgery. The lack of exercise be ause of hip pain, and I think increased stress has brought back knee pain. it does sound like you have a specific injury. What kind of squats are you doing? My PT had me doing wall squats, but the seem to be adding to the knee pain.

 

[ByGosh]

Peaches Well, I'm catching up on your thread and also drooling over your avatar. Nothing like a nice ripe juicy peach. On my first birthday that my hubby and I were together, he made me a homemade peach pie. I love pie! And it was heaven. I think that's why I married him.. Lucky thing I did, because he's been great through all of this roller coaster ride of recovery. Yes, one step forward, two back. And NOT being happy to have had the surgery Songlady is just where I'm at now. Although I know I needed it, I just wish things were "all better."
You sound like you've made great progress Peaches. Taking nice walks outside, and appreciating the good that life has to offer, as well as knowing there are downfalls (potholes, as you said in someone's thread) along the way. You're a realistic optimist! And like the rest of us, maybe just a realist on the down days.
What's good is that we all have the help and support of each other. It is so important to talk to people who've been there.

 

[TeeEm]

peaches I am a week and a bit ahead of you, and I was feeling exactly the same at 4 weeks - on the road to no where, bored, frustrated and fed-up. I think it may be a 4 week thing - the surgery is fading from your mind and seems way in the past, but full recovery seems far in the future and is hard to visualise. I hope your knee improves soon.

 

[Songlady]

Hi Peaches, ByGosh and TeeEm, maybe that's it - "it's a four-week thing." I sure have felt low lately. I keep reminding myself that a year after my first hip surgery, I climbed a mountain trail with "hands and knees rockface" and had no hip pain - so I'm trying to keep a sense of perspective.
That is a funny story, actually. We were at this friend's vacation house in Camden, Maine. My husband suggested we climb Mt Battie. He'd done the trail before. but he said this other trail he'd found was much closer to our cottage, so why didn't we try it?
So at first it was a regular trail. Then at some point the trees and path disappeared and there was just rockface! I remember climbing on my hands and knees (and avoiding the numerous little red ants, ewwwwww) and thinking, "I can't do this!" and then looking down thinking, "I DEFINITELY can't go back down...!!!!!!!" so I kept going. I was really proud when I made it to the top (and I'll never let Hubby live it down!) He DID go back down that way, to get to our car, and drove it around to the other side, the official gate to the park.
The attendant asked, "Are you here to hike?" and he said, "My wife and I already did; we came up the other side, I didn't realize I was making her work so hard! - so I need to drive up to pick her up so we can leave!" The attendant laughed and said, "That story is too funny to not be true. Go ahead - I'm not going to charge you the fee!"

And one observation, also for LeeApril26 - my OS specifically told me NOT to do an exercise which involved putting one foot forward and squatting. Is that what you are doing...?
Peaches, I've got to lose weight, also. It is so much harder at this age than it was 10 years ago - !!

 

[Littlejem]

Hi Peaches I did a few half days at work when I was 4 1/2 weeks but I wasn't doing too much else. As I've said before, the PT in the USA seems a lot more intensive, out of hospital, I've had just 4 supervised sessions and other than that just left to my own devices to do some stretches at home.

 

[ByGosh]

Songlady Too funny! You're poor hubby must've felt so guilty.

 

[LeeApril26]

Songlady. I think that is exactly what I'm doing, and I was instructed to do so by the PT. my operated leg is stretched out behind me, and I lean forward on my other, bended knee and lean to the side. Not too good at it and I feel like I can fall over. It works to pick up a magazine from a low end table, but not a,cane on the floor.

 

[ByGosh]

Ohhh, sounds tricky. Don't fall LeeApril26. Is it for picking up things that are low, or is it an exercise of some sort? Make sure you're near enough to something to grab onto just in case you lose your balance.

 

[Songlady]

Wow, LeeApril26! I've done a reach like that a few times in order to pick something up (off a low table, as you said) but my OS was afraid I'd strain things that otherwise wouldn't be affected at all by the surgery. He said that sometimes PTs get "overenthusiastic" and that I should firmly object if mine tried to get me to do moves that felt particularly awkward.....
Lenora and Peaches, I've noticed some knee pain on my non-op side when I've done the stairs more than once in a day. I think doing the stairs the one foot at a time way (good foot up, op-side foot and cane up to where the good foot is; good foot up, op foot and cane up to meet...) makes the knee on that non-op side do twice as much work and it's protesting!