THR Ray's Right THR Recovery

[raylo]

Indeed they are! Before this solution I was only successful with a couple of other strategies that proved to be too hard to deploy on a regular basis. And they defeated maybe a half dozen other things that I tried. They are relentless and smart.

...and congrats on outwitting the raccoons, who are worthy opponents!

 

[raylo]

I had a strange occurrence last night similar to one I had after my TKR. I woke up at 12:30AM needing to go to the bathroom... typical... but I had no pain and stiffness. Not just in the new hip but ANYWHERE. I just rolled out of bed like I was 25 years old. Then 3 hours later I had to get up again and I was back to "normal", hip hurt, TKR knee, lower back and right shoulder stiff. Oof. I was thinking I should have stayed awake at 12:30 to try to lock in the pain free me. ;-). This is a strange phenomenon that I can't explain. Anyone else?

 

[Layla]

On any meds, OTC or prescription drugs that were in full effect at 12:30 AM, but not so much when you got up for the day?

 

[raylo]

Yes, same meds as always. A couple of Tylenol, celebrex and baby aspirin at 6:00 PM and half a tramadol at 8:00 PM. The small dose of tramadol helps me not be so restless in bed so that I don't have to roll over so often and possibly strain the hip. I am going to try to duplicate this again tonight... but really is the same as I have been doing daily anyway.

 

[cold_brew]

Idk, but hopefully a sneak preview of recovery to come…

 

[mendogal]

I had the similar, and quite rare, moments of grace, so to speak, during my recovery. Probably twice.

 

[raylo]

Well, my experiment failed. I did everything exactly the same last night except what I had for dinner, and had the "normal" amounts of pain and stiffness when I had to get up to go to the bathroom. Oh, well... It was nice to be totally pain free at least that one time.

Then today I went to the C&O towpath for a nice flat walk... beautiful day, heard some owls hooting back and forth then saw one zoom across the path low to the ground going to visit the other one. I believe they must have been trying to hook up!

The hip started out gimpy with weight bearing and I used my cane maybe half the time on my outbound mile. But then it started feeing better and I made the return trip without it. Now home a couple hours later the hip still feels pretty good and I don't need the cane. It'll be interesting to see how it settles out later and then tomorrow morning. It may be a fine line between not doing enough and joining the ODIC, but I honestly don't know where that line is... and I am afraid it might actually move from time to time. This recovery is a mysterious journey...

 

[raylo]

I decided to get on my indoor bike for a spin yesterday evening. It's an old hardtail MTB with higher handlebars and shorter stem for a more upright riding position, and a dropper post which makes it easy to throw my new hip over. This mounted on a Kurt Kinetic fluid 2 trainer. The ride was a great success... I did 30 minutes and even worked up a slight sweat. I kept the cadence down to around 70-75 rpm, a bit lower than my normal ride cadence, and the hip felt fine. Gear selected to have resistance at a mild aerobic level. Zero pain or discomfort, like a totally normal hip. So, I went down again today and did 45 minutes. Getting back on the bike makes me feel like I am really on my way back.

So, the only time I have any real pain anymore is with weight bearing. That varies from where I am looking for my cane, especially in the morning... to other times walking OK without the cane and a near normal gait. As long as the riding doesn't set me back for that, I plan to keep it up pretty much daily. Onward and upward...

 

[cold_brew]

weight bearing

Patience and you’ll get there, hopefully. For me I still got an unpleasant achy feeling if I came down hard on a heel for a long time, like 6+ months, but it did (by about a year) eventually go away. So hopefully any pain related to “weight bearing” will slowly fade.

 

[myglasshalffull]

Pain free weight bearing can be slow. But you will be fine. You are out walking & riding bike so that's very good at this early stage in recovery.
Took me a good year to really feel confident walking, I was fine but still overdid it some days then off to couch to rest & ice. I'll tell you, year 2 is amazing. Now I'm not saying it took me two years to recover because I achieved various milestones along the recovery highway, but this year since my two year anniversary in February it's been amazing how "normal" I am. Almost tried to drag 40lb bag of bird seed into garage on Friday until the little voice in my head asked, "are you nuts?"
Also my stamina is back! I can clean my entire house in about 3 hours. I used to have to stop, sit & wait, so annoying, I'm kind of whirlwind personality, I like getting stuff done.
And in last two days I've walked 12 miles! I had my dog sitting buddy here from Thursday until early yesterday & he is like an energizer bunny, walks & walks, we logged 6 miles a day. Of course not all at once, broken up over course of day. He was gone early yesterday & I tore my house apart & cleaned. So that's my two year recovery success.

 

[raylo]

LOL... birdseed... a couple days ago I lugged a 20 pound back of black oil sunflower seed and several grocery bags up the stairs. I did not use the new hip leg to lift the weight, just used the good led up mode. But got it done. I am enjoying the feeder again now that the racoons can't drain it. But the birds empty it almost as fast, finishing off a full load in about a day and a half!

Unfortunately we lost our little dog back in mid March. My GF wants to get another soon, but IDK... As much as I miss him I am not sure I am ready to be on the potty break clock again yet.

Almost tried to drag 40lb bag of bird seed into garage on Friday until the little voice in my head asked, "are you nuts?"
Also my stamina is back! I can clean my entire house in about 3 hours. I used to have to stop, sit & wait, so annoying, I'm kind of whirlwind personality, I like getting stuff done.
And in last two days I've walked 12 miles! I had my dog sitting buddy here from Thursday until early yesterday & he is like an energizer bunny, walks & walks, we logged 6 miles a day. Of course not all at once, broken up over course of day. He was gone early yesterday & I tore my house apart & cleaned. So that's my two year recovery success.

 

[trailrunner]

Then today I went to the C&O towpath for a nice flat walk

We must be neighbors. I have run and ridden on the C&O more than a few times. I rode the length of the C&O from Cumberland to Carderock a few years back. I'm looking forward to riding there again when I'm better, and might add the GAP section.

 

[mendogal]

Then today I went to the C&O towpath for a nice flat walk

We must be neighbors. I have run and ridden on the C&O more than a few times. I rode the length of the C&O from Cumberland to Carderock a few years back. I'm looking forward to riding there again when I'm better, and might add the GAP section.

And I have really good friends who live on their acreage just adjacent to the C&O in Sharpsburg. They are martial arts buddies of mine and she's a bodyworker (Rolfer) aiming towards early retirement soonish.

 

[raylo]

I am in Germantown and Frederick. I have mostly been a hard core road biker and the roads and terrain here are great for it, but I am aging out of that scene. But the towpath is a great resource and a perfect place for a quiet safe ride and I have been riding there more and more the last few years. We used to hook up our Houndabout trailer and drag the little dog to Harpers Ferry for lunch and ice cream. Good times. No cars, so absolutely perfect place for safe rehab bike rides, too. Just don't ride off the trail and down the berms. That could hurt.

Then today I went to the C&O towpath for a nice flat walk

We must be neighbors. I have run and ridden on the C&O more than a few times. I rode the length of the C&O from Cumberland to Carderock a few years back. I'm looking forward to riding there again when I'm better, and might add the GAP section.

 

[trailrunner]

I'm a bit south of you in northern VA. I've ridden all around Germantown and Frederick on both my road and mountain bikes. I was riding in the 'shed in the mid-90s, testing lights for night racing, and at Schaeffer Farm when it first opened around 1997. I've done plenty of road rides in the nice countryside out in that area. I don't often run on the C&O canal, although about half of the JFK 50 was on the towpath. Too bad White's Ferry closed - we did some nice VA-MD loops, with a stop at the ferry shop for a hot dog or ice cream.

Nice to make the connection.

 

[luvcats]

I'm a bit south of you in northern VA.

We just moved away from Alexandria in 2022.

 

[raylo]

I can ride out my door and get to Schaeffer Rd in 5 minutes, then off to Dickerson, Poolesville, Sugarloaf, Frederick, heck, even VA or Gettysburg. Even with all the development since I moved here I can still be on good rural roads that quickly.

I also did some night rides at Schaeffer back in the day. It was a little eerie when the lights reflected back off hundreds of pairs of deer eyes. The last 10 years or so they have been running scheduled hunts there and in all the adjacent parks to thin them out. And that they have done. And they have kept adding more and more hunting days along the way in November, December and January which is also the best time to ride the trails. I used to see a herd of 30 to 40 running around behind my house in the winter when the leaves were gone but I haven't seen a single deer back there for years now.

It looks like Whites Ferry may have another chance to reopen. We'll see.

I'm a bit south of you in northern VA. I've ridden all around Germantown and Frederick on both my road and mountain bikes. I was riding in the 'shed in the mid-90s, testing lights for night racing, and at Schaeffer Farm when it first opened around 1997. I've done plenty of road rides in the nice countryside out in that area. I don't often run on the C&O canal, although about half of the JFK 50 was on the towpath. Too bad White's Ferry closed - we did some nice VA-MD loops, with a stop at the ferry shop for a hot dog or ice cream.

Nice to make the connection.

 

[raylo]

4 week update and visit to OS this morning: Doc is happy with my progress and strength and the x-rays look good. As I suspected they frowned upon me going out for any real bike rides this soon, they want at least 10-12 weeks to give the bone a chance to grow some into the implants. Until then they want no high impact and, of course, no falling. And even after that I suspect the bone will get a lot more solid over the year it takes for full healing so my initial rides will be on the C&O Towpath. Maybe I'll get back on the road in the fall... we'll see. So, even though my hip feels totally normal riding my indoor bike, indoors it will have to be for another couple of months. :-(

Unless anything changes or arises I guess there will not be much to update for a while going forward. I'll just be in my workout room spinning my wheels... and walking, walking, walking.

Oh, about that darned tape strip... I was ready to get rid of it but it is to stay on until it comes off. The bottom 1/2" or so has come up so I trimmed that off. But it looks like the rest may take another week or 2.

 

[raylo]

Just a quick update... I seem to have turned a corner about 4 days ago. No "steps back" since then, only forward. The hip no longer gets sore and tired when I walk, only better as it warms up, and no pain when it takes on the weight of each stride. So, I am walking with no cane and no limp. I just did 4800 steps at the park, and will get back on the indoor bike this evening. Yup, I am doing 2-a-days. This improvement happened about the same time I started riding my indoor bike last week. Not sure if that is a coincidence or if the bike is therapeutic. Either way, I'll take it.

 

[Layla]

Hope those 2-a-days aren't catching up with you, especially on this special day, Happy One Month Anniversary!
Thanks for sharing your hip journey with us, Ray
Enjoy the weekend!
@raylo