OP
OP
Bone-obo
graduate
United StatesProgress report:
Right hip - day 251
Left hip - day 54
I'm on the other side of Challenge Week: the week of not quite testing to destruction, where I stared the ODIC in the face and double dog dared them to bring it! Not by design - it just kinda worked out that way.
Roughly, there were four Challenges: distance walking, my job, partying, and triking, which I'll take in order.
DISTANCE WALKING
Once the kind Dr. V freed me from all constraints, bonds and obligations last Monday, on Tuesday I set out to amp up the walking from 1.5 miles to a solid 2.0, including all manner of light hills and uneven sidewalks. That seemed to work okay, and the logical and appropriate thing to have done would be to add maybe .25 miles to the walk on Wednesday and see how that went. Yeah, no: I doubled it to 4 miles. Which is exactly what I did last time, which landed me in the ODIC for a week, proving yet again how slow a learner I am and how short my memory is.
This time, however, aside from minor knee soreness (ice, ice, the beautiful fruit...) there were no serious repercussions. So 4 miles/walk seems to be a safe distance. Huh.
RESULT OF DISTANCE WALKING CHALLENGE: PASS
MY JOB
Part of my job is shooting video, something that sent me into the ODIC something fierce when I tried it at 3 weeks last hip. This week I had 3 shoots, all simple 1/2 day interview style, with a minimum of equipment. A lot of my gear weighs 25-35 pounds (11-15 kilos), and it has to be lifted off the floor, which means squatting - something I've never been able to do very well. This time, though, no problem!
Well, some problems. All those sleepy muscles in my hip and hamstrings suddenly woke up and have spent the week grousing at me every time I move. Not a big deal - they'll get over it, and I'll have stronger hips when the soreness passes.
RESULTS OF MY JOB CHALLENGE: PASS
PARTYING
A friend of mine invited us to her 90th birthday party, and no way could I or would I miss this event. The downside is that parties require standing for hours while you chat or get chatted at, and before either hip was replaced if I stood more than 15 minutes, my hips would lock and I'd need a smallish crane to relocate. This time, I stood for 2 hours, and other than some minor discomfort on the youngest hip, the left, I was fine, and nobody needed to help me down the stairs. (Which actually happened once. Humiliating.) I could offset the discomfort easily by shifting my position while standing, although I'm sure my friends probably thought I had to pee.
One nice thing I heard a lot of was "wow, you're so tall now!", which is almost as affirming as "wow, you've lost so much weight!"
RESULT OF PARTYING CHALLENGE: BIG PASS
TRIKING
This was the one I anticipated the most! I'd cleaned the chain, changed the crankset for one with longer crank arms, shortened the boom, and generally babied and fussed over the machine while waiting for some free time to get outdoors on Saturday. The weather Saturday was perfect: 60º, partly sunny - idyllic cycling weather. We took our trikes out to a flat spot on the local greenway trail, and set off. The first thing I noticed was that my left foot was still moving the same way it did before surgery, twisting on each pedal stroke like I was crushing a cigarette. Focussing on straightening the left side out, the right knee blind-sided me, suddenly shrieking "ALERT! ALERT! MALFUNCTION IMMINENT! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" So less than 1/4 mile in, we turned around and limped back to the car.
RESULT OF TRIKING CHALLENGE: FAIL FAIL FAIL
Ah well. Clearly I need to spend some time with my trike on the trainer this week before I get out in the real world.
Other than that, I tried out @Klassy's suggestion vis a vis shoes: I just bent down and grabbed the shoelaces. EZ on the right, challenging but doable on the left, especially with the newly awakened and excessively whiney hip muscles. I also tried getting on a regular upright bicycle while I was shopping for trike stuff: hahahahahaha. Dunno if that'll ever happen. No biggie if it doesn't.
Right hip - day 251
Left hip - day 54
I'm on the other side of Challenge Week: the week of not quite testing to destruction, where I stared the ODIC in the face and double dog dared them to bring it! Not by design - it just kinda worked out that way.
Roughly, there were four Challenges: distance walking, my job, partying, and triking, which I'll take in order.
DISTANCE WALKING
Once the kind Dr. V freed me from all constraints, bonds and obligations last Monday, on Tuesday I set out to amp up the walking from 1.5 miles to a solid 2.0, including all manner of light hills and uneven sidewalks. That seemed to work okay, and the logical and appropriate thing to have done would be to add maybe .25 miles to the walk on Wednesday and see how that went. Yeah, no: I doubled it to 4 miles. Which is exactly what I did last time, which landed me in the ODIC for a week, proving yet again how slow a learner I am and how short my memory is.
This time, however, aside from minor knee soreness (ice, ice, the beautiful fruit...) there were no serious repercussions. So 4 miles/walk seems to be a safe distance. Huh.
RESULT OF DISTANCE WALKING CHALLENGE: PASS
MY JOB
Part of my job is shooting video, something that sent me into the ODIC something fierce when I tried it at 3 weeks last hip. This week I had 3 shoots, all simple 1/2 day interview style, with a minimum of equipment. A lot of my gear weighs 25-35 pounds (11-15 kilos), and it has to be lifted off the floor, which means squatting - something I've never been able to do very well. This time, though, no problem!
Well, some problems. All those sleepy muscles in my hip and hamstrings suddenly woke up and have spent the week grousing at me every time I move. Not a big deal - they'll get over it, and I'll have stronger hips when the soreness passes.
RESULTS OF MY JOB CHALLENGE: PASS
PARTYING
A friend of mine invited us to her 90th birthday party, and no way could I or would I miss this event. The downside is that parties require standing for hours while you chat or get chatted at, and before either hip was replaced if I stood more than 15 minutes, my hips would lock and I'd need a smallish crane to relocate. This time, I stood for 2 hours, and other than some minor discomfort on the youngest hip, the left, I was fine, and nobody needed to help me down the stairs. (Which actually happened once. Humiliating.) I could offset the discomfort easily by shifting my position while standing, although I'm sure my friends probably thought I had to pee.
One nice thing I heard a lot of was "wow, you're so tall now!", which is almost as affirming as "wow, you've lost so much weight!"
RESULT OF PARTYING CHALLENGE: BIG PASS
TRIKING
This was the one I anticipated the most! I'd cleaned the chain, changed the crankset for one with longer crank arms, shortened the boom, and generally babied and fussed over the machine while waiting for some free time to get outdoors on Saturday. The weather Saturday was perfect: 60º, partly sunny - idyllic cycling weather. We took our trikes out to a flat spot on the local greenway trail, and set off. The first thing I noticed was that my left foot was still moving the same way it did before surgery, twisting on each pedal stroke like I was crushing a cigarette. Focussing on straightening the left side out, the right knee blind-sided me, suddenly shrieking "ALERT! ALERT! MALFUNCTION IMMINENT! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" So less than 1/4 mile in, we turned around and limped back to the car.
RESULT OF TRIKING CHALLENGE: FAIL FAIL FAIL
Ah well. Clearly I need to spend some time with my trike on the trainer this week before I get out in the real world.
Other than that, I tried out @Klassy's suggestion vis a vis shoes: I just bent down and grabbed the shoelaces. EZ on the right, challenging but doable on the left, especially with the newly awakened and excessively whiney hip muscles. I also tried getting on a regular upright bicycle while I was shopping for trike stuff: hahahahahaha. Dunno if that'll ever happen. No biggie if it doesn't.
right off. 
