Hi everyone! I hope all of you guys are doing OK today
Well, it has been exactly a month since my op, and things are progressing slowly but surely.
It's a week since my last update; I haven't been visiting so regularly because I didn't really have anything new or interesting to say! But here are some highlights of the last week, just for the record...
I'm still doing very little. I've started some basic household tasks, like cooking family meals and doing laundry - but not all of it. I'm doing what I do slowly and carefully, and in between these jobs and my set exercises, I'm just resting. I am still not getting out much - three times in the past week, I think. I can do most things quite easily and independently - get in and out of bed, shower, climb stairs, get dressed - most things except put my shoes on (which takes time and a 'grabber') and shave my legs - though I have taped a razor to my shoe horn to try!
I've managed to walk as far or a little bit further each of the past few days. It is slow progress, and I am a bit frustrated not to be able to manage a mile yet, quite. I walked 1.25km/0.75 miles yesterday for the first time without a rest and I have a sore knee and a bit of swelling today, so I am obviously not quite ready for it yet.
I'm still taking some pain meds but I've cut back: 2 tramadol (bedtime and when I get up), 1-2 doses of paracetamol and 1 of my regular prescription NSAID Etoricoxib. I haven't had much pain or swelling at all, though oddly the FIRST visible bruising I've had appeared just the day before yesterday.
Also, notably, I had 3 consecutive days at the beginning of this week when I felt a weird, sudden, very brief (just 10-20 seconds) dramatic stabbing pain - exactly as I imagine it would feel if someone stabbed a knife into my leg! But as I say, these pains were fleeting and only happened for a few days, and they haven't happened since... I guess it was some sort of nerve re-growing thing!
I saw the senior physio (PT) person on Thursday. She came because the junior rehab woman requested her visit to check on my 'twisted gait', if you remember. She did a very thorough assessment - walking, climbing stairs, doing my exercises and lying down - watching and feeling me move, with and without resistance. She is satisfied that I'm walking well and not twisting; she thinks the tightness and cramping I'm feeling is in my hamstring, and that this makes it feel like I'm a bit wonky. She also pointed out that my knees are very weak (they are; I was having physio for them before the extent of the damage in my hip was picked up) and said that "You've got the smallest kneecaps I've EVER seen!" Obviously I need to strengthen my knees too, both for general mobility, and to protect them and my new hip joint... So she added a few new specific exercises to my routine. She was very clear - as all the rehab team have been - that 5 repetitions 3 times a day is enough. I must say, I am very impressed with the 'at home' rehab/physio service our health trust provides, and when I told her so, she said we are the only area in Yorkshire and Humber (a large part of northern England) that does - so I count myself lucky.
Best of all though, the physio told me
I CAN SWIM 
from 6 weeks, so long as I keep my restrictions until I see my consultant (just a few days later)... He is apparently 'quite conservative' and likely to tell me to keep full hip restrictions for 12 weeks, so swimming might be the only thing that keeps me sane!
All in all, I fluctuate between feeling like I'm doing pretty well, and being frustrated that I can't do more! I am very impatient to be able to drive and swim - and then I'll feel like I have got some freedom back, and can focus on
living again, rather than just
existing!
Australia
That was a walk of 1km, there and back. I did a bit of pottering in the garden. And I think I have Read Everything on the Internet! I am in an odd state: bored, but still too tired and fuzzy to work out what to do, and of course limited by hip restrictions... Pre-op, I filled times like this with swimming, but I am still Not Allowed...
There are lots of 'reasons' for it: I am feeling very isolated now that my friend has gone home, and I have been on my own for about 68 of the last 72 hours. I am still tired and dozy and not able to work out what to do with myself - I can't do any of the things I can think of doing, like gardening and swimming! And the weather is gloomy, which definitely doesn't help. And perhaps worst of all, my eldest son seems to have dropped out of college, just before his exams, so close to the end of a two year course... And I can't dissuade him... That makes me feel very sad and frustrated and useless. This too shall pass... 
Remember that your blues are a natural part of your recovery and just another speed bump in that road. Have you been to the social room here? there are lots of things there to extend the grey matter?? I can relate to your feelings regarding your son too - our son went through a similar thing and now he is doing what he loves and is very content. Hope it gets a lot better for you Fiona and thinking of you. 
I jolted my whole body - I ached from ankle to neck, and my back and shoulders still ached this morning - but my hip was fine! It could so easily have been a dislocation - but it held! 
PHEW! 
Here's a pic of where I got to. 
![[Bonesmart.org] Well here I am on the Other Side... :)](https://data.bonesmart.org/attachments/18/18415-2af8de98404a8367281cf0ff1c597579.jpg?hash=KvjemEBKg2)
