Tomorrow marks three weeks since my surgery. Boy, does it feel longer than that! I have written short (and quite eloquent, I might add) updates in my head each day, but the motivation/energy has just not been there. That is one of the things I was not prepared for...the utter lack of desire to do anything. I am not a person who sits often during the day....I rarely even watch tv without folding laundry, stretching, lifting weights or doing dishes--so this has been very new for me. I feel like I am clawing my way out of a foggy pit. I think recovery was hampered by how many people told me I was young (-ish 59), fit, healthy, active and would sail through it. "You'll feel better when you wake up than you have in years!" "Alice walked around the block without a walker the day after surgery." "Bill came to church the next week and said it felt like he was slightly bruised from a fall." and on and on. This has not been my reality, so it has been good to come on here and remember that there is a huge spectrum of recovery rates.
Today was a good day: I took two 1/2 mile walks with just one hiking pole, cooked and cleaned up all three meals, did a load of laundry and cleaned up a bunch of email. I will back up and try to remember my milestones:
Days 4 and 5 post surgery were really rough for me. I wasn't in a ton of pain, no longer taking the opioids, but I kept crying for no reason. I know going off the drugs can contribute, but I think it was also just the realization of how much trauma my body had been through. The Denver spring weather was lovely and I was able to sit outside for awhile but it made me sad to see so many people out on the trails behind our house. I felt like I was never going to walk again and maybe I should move because I didn't want to watch everybody else walking! I went to see my acupuncturist the evening of day 5 and cried through my appointment. It was very cleansing, and I woke up on day 6 feeling way more emotionally stable.
However, Day 6, when my husband helped me out of bed things were not good. (I spent the first four nights on the couch in my nest, even though stairs have not been a problem for me since Day 2, tried one night in our bed, then moved to the guest room for a week where the mattress is much softer). As my post surgery leg straightened out an intense pain coursed through my leg and I couldn't put any weight on it. It felt like all of the muscles in my thigh were ripping. I could only walk using lots of arm strength on the walker. The pain slowly dissipated and within 10 minutes or so I could walk normally with the walker. This continued after any long down periods. The doctor had me come in for an extra x-ray the next day, but all was good. My prolonged surgery might have beat up the tendon and muscles more than usual. Mornings are still rough, but getting a little better each day.
I made a decision that day to stop envying the runners/walkers/hikers/bikers I can see from my deck and instead visualize myself out there with them. I quit calling my new hip the "bad" leg and changed it to the new hip, the renewing leg, the recovering side, etc.
Things that have surprised me: On a positive note, the first time I "accidentally" took a few un-aided steps (8-9 days in) I felt like a new toddler taking first steps! Each day I can do something that I couldn't the day before. At 11 days I walked 2/10s of a mile with a walker and came home and slept for two hours! But five days later, I walked 7/10s of a mile with the walker, and now am taking my daily walks without one. We are fortunate to have many lovely paved paths here.
The day of my two week check up came with a lot of firsts: I got out of bed without my husband's help, got in the car by myself, started using light arm weights, and went out to eat.
I've also been surprised by what I call collateral damage. Some of these things might be because my surgery was so intense, but all things I didn't expect. While my actual hip doesn't hurt any worse than I expected, it's the pain everywhere else I didn't plan on. The muscle pain above my knee, weird tweaks in my groin and down the inside of my leg, an IT band that hurt to touch, swollen ankles (and intense ankle pain at night --likely from so long in the compression boots) a hand that wakes up numb (on the arm that was straitjacketed across my chest during surgery), crazy bruising around my knee and down my calf (I used arnica gel from day one on my thigh and have no bruising there, but the bruise behind my knee was so bad the sheet would hurt it), morning headaches and stomach aches from so much Tylenol, and absolute exhaustion (I lost a lot of blood and blood pressure has been low). And I know, I know I shouldn't have weighed myself, but shocking to see one week after surgery I was 7 lbs heavier than the day I went in! Two weeks later some of the swelling has gone down, but the scale has not.
The last couple of days I have started to feel a little bit closer to myself. I know that I will hike again! (motivated by my sister who hiked 6 miles last week--double hip surgery two years ago). I am accepting that a daily nap might be part of my routine for a while longer. I am taking collagen, high vitamin butter oil and cod liver oil, and picturing that working to heal my bones, muscles, tendons, and that shocking scar!
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So grateful to have the knowledge that the One who knit my bones together is still in the bone-knitting business and will be there every step of the way, making my body do what He designed it to do.
I will leave a copy of our Recovery Guidelines here and type more in a post below.
Surprisingly I even slept after that, which was unexpected.
