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THR Spring in my step

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Peaches So glad your pain is responding to the extra strength Tylenol, maybe I should try them at the moment I am on normal Paracetamol which is the same as your Tylenol and Ibuprofen as I am a little concerned about the length of time I have been taking anti inflammatories. I tried doing some stretches which had been successful for Firebrand twice a day but I think this was too much for me as the thigh and groin pain accelerated so after consulting with Alexthecat who suggested doing them plus a gentle groin stretch for the tendinitis on alternate days.However just as you said the energy drain is back as if I was a new hippie ! It would be wonderful to have a post op class for those recovering from THR as there doesn't seem much out there for us once we get over the first 3 months add to that all the conflicting advice no wonder we are confused as to how much and how often we need to do exercise or activity and getting the balance right.I had no physio to speak of after my hip replacement and have to wait now to be seen.I could see someone privately but then the NHS physios would have nothing to do with me and I feel better seeing someone with a connection to my OS.

I think your idea of shorter but more frequent walks is a good one and worthy of trying as it can't do any harm and it is so true that sitting for any length of time is lethal.I walked to the shops this morning (1.5 miles) and was going to have another short one this afternoon but it is pouring with rain now.We are staying in our holiday home which is very small too.My mood swings from being optimistic to total despair.If only we had a crystal ball to show us that we will fully recover at some point then we would happily take each day as it comes but it is not knowing which saps the spirit.Take care and keep your spirits up.
 
Peaches. No apology required. I do like to know and prepare, and my knees are already painful. Will wait a bit to try Tai Chi. Last Monday I went for an APOS therapy evaluation-it's a treatment for knees developed in Israel. (Www.apostherapy.com). It involves wearing shoes with discs on the bottom to keep you slightly unstable and they say it develops the muscles to support knees. I informed them of the hip surgery and they said it was fine. When I walked in the shoes I felt great, but it took them 1.5 hours to adjust them, with me walking back and forth, sitting, lifting my legs, etc. They said I would be sore the next day. Hah! I was in PAIN, and have been ever since-both hips and both knees. Back on NSAIDs, and pain pills at night. I think I was wearing them much too long for the first time. So, even people who supposedly know how to take care of you can screw you up. I am slowly getting better.
It seems that at four or so months post op, when you begin to try to move normally you are very vulnerable. I went for the evaluation because my knees were sore from increased activity, I think. Anyway, long ramble to say moving more hurts!

The stylus is really helping. I think Kim22 suggested it. Still have the OA pain but the nerve pain is improving.
 
Kim22 Peaches LeeApril26 I love that idea of a center just for recovering people-- I'm thinking that @Maeve's experience with her rehab was something like it. How things stand now though is that right here is our "center/class"-- we are helping each other, and that's the best thing in the world!

Kim22 your comment,"If only we had a crystal ball to show us that we will fully recover at some point then we would happily take each day as it comes but it is not knowing which saps the spirit," is so very very true-- the spirit is sapped, which takes the body and the emotions right along with it. Another form of post-op blues. Total recovery in about a year-- we are none of us even halfway there yet! Cut ourselves some slack, says I :)
 
zauberflöte I will try to cut some slack and accept that it can take a whole year to recover.Not feeling great at the moment due to the roller coaster ride.Felt great yesterday and even had a walk on the beach on the firm sand before we came home.I was so happy and very grateful as it was such a gorgeous day and the ocean was so beautiful and it is so easy to think this is it,my recovery has really began when you feel so good but had a dreadful night with a throbbing left knee and lots of pain in the left side today with groin ache of the right side.I probably did too much again. Still in pain now and fed up.its 4 weeks until my appointment and every day I ring up to see if there is a cancellation.I really need some advice and to find out what is going on in the left knee. I hope you are ok
 
Kim, full recovery can take up to two years, according to my OS. This is both good and bad news, but mostly good I think. If you feel great by one year, take the money and run. But if you still aren't where you want to be at one year, it can get even better. Now this all supposes that there aren't other issues clouding up the picture. If your knees are in trouble, that's a different problem. If there is soft tissue damage/tendinitis of some sort, that's a different problem. Our bodies....complicated pieces of machinery, yes? But always room for improvement, I like to think.

I would also mention that even firm sand is a lot more difficult to walk on than the usual pavement. My groin aches just thinking about it. Me....anything with even the slightest incline or decline, or anything that isn't smooth pavement is usually problematic. I suspect my trail hiking days are behind me. And yet.....give me a smooth wood floor, and I can still dance. :)

Don't give up...you have lots of recovering yet to do.

Sharon
 
Hi Kim22, we are twins with our joint replacements both having had our right hips replaced (although I am 21 months post with mine). Hubby and I are having a mini break from work. Our ocean village is very hilly and we had a wander around two days ago, around the village and the beach on hard sand, enjoying the blue, blue ocean, sky and soaking up the Vitamin D... But today my left groin and knee are both playing up and the groin in my right hip is complaining.... I hear you... It is frustrating when it seems one step forward and two back... Hang in there :)
 
Kim22 I don't blame you for being fed up! Pain, unrelenting undiagnosed pain like you are having, is enough to drive a saint up the wall. You will get a diagnosis for whatever's going on, I'm sure. Meanwhile, keep coming here and venting! :)

Your walk yesterday sounds delicious. Why is the weather always gorgeous on the day we have to go home, eh? That has bugged me for decades! For my family, either it's the first gorgeous day in a week but we have to leave, or we're running away from a hurricane (no kidding). When do you get to go back?

Thanks for asking-- I'm doing very well. The hip is strong and will get stronger, and the op-side groin pain is still there and getting worse, but I'm still hoping it's just from more and more general living activities, and I apply ice every second I'm sitting down! The other hip really wants to be done, and I have no idea when it will begin its headlong downhill tumble into decrepitude LOL.

You know, thinking about walking-- I walk a mile in the neighborhood every night before bedtime now, with very little pain from op hip (other hip is a different story). This is something I absolutely could not have done for many months pre-op. The only thing that has allowed me to do this is the new hip-- so I'm very thankful for that, and hope this ability is only one of many new abilities to come! (Like dancing all night as sharonslp does!!)
 
sharonslp Thank you for your words of encouragement and Its comforting to know that if we are not where we want to be at one year the improvement will continue even though it is slow. Patience was never my strong point and its been tested to the limit since March.My problem has been meeting and listening to people's amazing recovery stories, if not quite tap dancing off the operating table but one lady who said she was back to normal at 6 weeks and a neighbour who climbed Scar fell at 8 months but I guess everyone's recovery is individual and its no good making comparisons.There are a lot of elderly people who are more than happy to be able to get to the shops and back so are thrilled with their outcomes.The younger we are the higher the expectations.I must admit that I would be upset if walking on the beach was not going to be possible without experiencing pain as I am passionate about walking as you are about dancing.I love dancing too but walking and hiking in the fresh air is my very favourite pastime.What type of dancing do you enjoy by the way ?
 
Hi Poppet Sorry to hear that you have had the same pain as me following your very pleasurable walk on the beach in lovely weather.I guess it must be getting towards spring down under ? Your retirement home sounds gorgeous and I do hope you will soon be pain free and able to really enjoy it to the full.I am feeling better today so I can only deduce that as per normal I pushed myself too far on Tuesday.As my passion is walking and especially by the sea maybe discomfort is the price I am going to have to pay from time to time ?
 
zauberflöte I am so glad that your new hip is getting stronger and you can walk on it well but its a shame about your other side and the groin pain.I should be more grateful for the improvements that the operation has given me which is the same as you have experienced.I can walk a lot better and the biggest change is that I can walk for much longer without needing to stop and sit like I had to do very frequently before my op.I am also having problems with the left side which is mainly in the knee which is exactly the symptoms I had on the right side before I got my new hip.I am still experiencing right sided groin discomfort and like you I am hoping its due to increased activity and it will eventually settle down.I must admit that I rarely use Ice in fact the physio told me not to.I feel ice was to blame for the injury which caused my original injury which caused the groin strain as I got up to use the loo after icing and twisted awkwardly.This is just my theory mind.

I agree I hate to go home in lovely weather but like you we have also gone home in atrocious conditions not hurricanes of course but flash floods and snow storms.We are back up on 6th September as my daughter would like another break there with us before her maternity leave comes to an end. I feel very blessed to have somewhere in such a beautiful and relaxing place as I am sure you do too.Happy healing Chris and thank you for your wise words which are so encouraging as usual.
 
Kim22 I too love to walk! I think it is the only exercise I truly enjoy, or does gardening count? I cant wait until I can drive to our beautiful coastline here in Southern California and walk on the boardwalk at Carlsbad and have an ice cream cone at a little shop there. I haven't been since February and I miss it. But no sand for me! Walking up and down the hills here near my home is more than enough for me!
 
Kim, keep in mind that when you hear about someone's amazing recovery, you are probably not hearing the whole story. They might not mention that they still pop a lot of nsaids at various times (as I do in order to dance). They might indeed have very different expectations of what feeling wonderful means. They might just be naturally bubbly, positive people who always put a positive spin on everything. They might be people pleasers who want to say what everyone wants to hear. They might be just one overexerting day away from a nasty tendonitis/bursitis/torn muscle/whatever that sidelines them and sends them backsliding. Or, they might be lucky indeed.

But you are you, and you will deal with what you have to, and you'll learn as you go how you can deal with it most effectively. Patience helps a lot, and it was right around my mid-50s that I finally started developing that character trait, so there's hope. (I got serious about knitting, and for me it turned out to be a super way to calm me down and relax.) Of course patience can also breed passivity, and that might not be so good, so look for a balance.....that AA serenity prayer comes to mind....change what you can, and acquire the serenity to accept what can't be changed. Acceptance doesn't mean throw in the towel. If you want to walk on the beach, then somehow you will. Maybe it has to modified in some ways....shorter walks, different shoes, immediate rest afterward....you'll figure it out. And if the day ever comes that you really truly can't....well, that's when it's time to figure out the serenity part.

I used to do lots of ballroom, swing, and contradance. Nowadays, I stick to just contra (Here's an example....
)

zauberflöte In my heyday, I did indeed dance all night, but that is definitely NOT the case now. :)

Sharon
 
Hi Kim. I agree with Sharonslip when she says that we only real post the edited versions of our recoveries. Like you, I seem to deal with one niggle, only for it to be replaced by another. To look at my walking, it would probably look completely normal. but the pain that I feel now in my ankle and toes on my operated side (having moved from my hip to my knee), tells me that I'm still not walking properly. I have to concentrate very hard still to get my leg to do what it is supposed to do naturally.

And I also agree with the comments about walking on sand. When I was on holiday it was the surface that I found hardest to walk on. (Luckily?) Here in London, it's not a problem that I have to contend with...

I share your frustration, but I am trying to learn to stop and celebrate small successes in my recovery, which doesn't come naturally to me as I am a very impatient person. But the bursitis has been a real obstacle for me.
 
Kim22 Oh that's wonderful you get to holiday one more time, and with the grandbaby!! We can only vacation twice a year at most, and we're going for about 10 days in late September, I'm so excited, so I know just how you feel. No sand to walk on, but miles and miles of "walks into town", so I hope to survive that. Must buy some cold weather Keens$$!! Probably no biking, but I do feel good about trying the kayak.

I'm also with Firebrand and sharonslp that many people only tell the polished up version of what they can do and how they feel. But I do feel that many on here try to be very accurate as to what's really going on. I know if I leave stuff out it's only because I forgot it LOL. I think I get paranoid about all the niggles because i don't want to inadvertently turn them into a chronic problem-- so I may be holding back too much! But better safe than sorry? I have this discussion with myself every day! "Go ahead, just do it!" "But...what if it makes xyz pain even worse and then it won't go away at all?" "But you never know till you've tried it!" :rolleyes:

sharonslp I know those tunes, have played them many times! The next contradance for me to play is in November-- I'm hoping that by the 6 month mark I can dance a couple too :)
 
Kim22. zauberflöte. I've been following this discussion with great interest as I am also having pain issues. Post-surgery I was euphoric at the release from bone on bone pain. Though I stopped daytime pain meds at three weeks, I continued ibuprofen and it worked, but I wasn't doing all that much. Now, I want to do more and more. Sometimes I can do long walks, yoga, etc.but then I seem to hit a wall and get serious pain in hips and knees. Then I rest for a week or so, reluctantly, and it gets a bit better. Once I get more active, it gets bad. Luckily so far I don't have groin pain much. All this is so hard to figure out. I guess I am trying to do more than I've done in several years and my body is protesting.
Thanks for your open discussion. It really helps.
 
sharonslp.I loved watching the video of the contra dance.It certainly looks like fun as well as being energetic and I can see why you love taking part.We do the same dancing over here its known as ceilidh dancing and popular at weddings and fund raisers.My daughter had one at her wedding and we found that its much more sociable than disco dancing.My daughters friend got married in June but I couldn't dance due to tendinitis but I enjoyed watching and the music is great.It would be great to see you play the flute at a contra dance zauberflöte.

Thank you for your encouragement and you are quite right that given more time and patience I will make sure I can walk on the beach ( and other uneven surfaces ) in order to enjoy the countryside once again but as you say there may be modifications to put into place to make it happen.Where there is a will there is a way so they say ! I will be sensible however and leave beach walking until next year.
 
Firebrand So sorry to hear that you are now having problems with your knee,ankle and toes having recovered from the bursitis.I am still doing the exercises you gave me but on alternate days only as I find that is better for me.You are so right about having one thing after another.My left knee and thigh are giving me a hard time now.I have taken onboard your advice about celebrating small improvements and with me it's being able to walk a little faster and not needing to rest at every seat I come across as was the case before my surgery.Have you seen a podiatrist for a gait analysis ? It may be of some benefit to you.
 
zauberflöte I also need some more heavy duty walking shoes as I have 2 pairs of shoes I wear at the moment ; Pair of leather Ecco shoes and a pair of light New Balance trainers but they will be no good in the cold and wet weather.Although it has been another warm and sunny day (amazing for the UK especially up here) but there is a definite hint of autumn in the air and the nights are getting darker earlier.

I haven't been on the stationary bike recently since I started showing symptoms of bursitis but may give it another go next week if I feel ok as I was ok with it but I will need to start slowly again.Its great news that you will be able to get back into the kayak on holiday.I have never tried it but would love to give it a try.

I think you and Sharon have a point about some people putting a positive spin on their recovery stories for some reason.I am afraid I tell it as it is and like yourself and a number of other Bonesmarties always try to be honest.I really understand the dilemma of either holding back on activities as it is better to be safe than sorry of just going ahead with something and hoping that there are no long term painful consequences.I am trying to be positive and to celebrate the small achievements.
 
LeeApril26 I know exactly what you mean about suffering pain as soon as the activity levels go up.Resting is so frustrating at this stage of recovery as we didn't have the surgery to sit on the sofa with ice packs.My pains move around as well and swap sides.The other problem is that I feel great when I am engaged in activity but its the next day when it hurts.I would put up with the pain and discomfort if I knew for certain I was not doing any lasting damage to my soft tissues.This roller coaster ride is a real pain.I am trying to learn the art of patience and to take Firebrands advice of being grateful for any small achievement .
 
Kim22. I so agree. The fear that I might do something that could pop me back on the couch indefinitely is overwhelming. I would really like to know when that is no longer a risk. I could deal with that better than the uncertainty. I am grateful, truly, but have always been quite active-walking a lot, swimming, aerobics, rearranging furniture-not skiing or tennis, but always moving. This is driving me nuts.
 
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