No news is good news...

wow,I've really been a stranger - sorry followers that I've been missing. You may have guessed that this means the hip is doing great ! I passed the 3 month milestone last weekend and I am totally at the stage of forgetting 90% of the time that I even have an artificial hip - which has to be a good thing ! I decided to look back on my pre-op entries and found a list of things I hoped for post op..

Things I am looking forward to are:

*being able to walk upstairs like a normal person yep - can even run now...
*being able to walk upstairs whilst carrying something no problems - washing baskets,boxes, ladders, etc, etc
*not being stopped in my tracks by a nasty sharp spiky jab to the hip no more nasty spiky pain - yippee !
*being able to put my own socks on and tie my shoelaces (well eventually) yep - have done for weeks now..
*being able to paint my own toenails (hey a girl has to keep standards up)as above !
*being able to walk as far as I want to without worrying about how I'll get back 3 miles at the last count - unheard of !
*being able to meet a friend for coffee without having to go somewhere next to a car park
delighted to park at the furthest away spot now !!

wow, when I look back at those simple wants, I'm more than delighted at where I am 3 months post op and feel like it's just getting better and better. I also feel passionately about others who are on this journey not taking no for an answer and pushing back against that diagnosis of 'yes you need a THR but only once you're over 50....' No, not acceptable at all - there is a pain free life out there and I never imagined it would be this good. I feel amazed and grateful every day about my new hip.

4 1/2 weeks post op....

some more progress to report - am now walking inside and out with no stick or crutch ! Yippee !! Happened on Friday when I took my stick with me and I just didn't need to use it.. walking is very steady with no limp and the only slight issue I've noticed is going up a slope or hill - glute muscles are pretty weak and also stopping me from climbing stairs normally - still going up with the non-op leg first then bringing the op leg up and so on.

I'm not too surprised as I had this problem after the scope and I think it's partly residual weakness from surgery 2 years ago to repair a tear to my glute muscle. Will need to do some walking on the treadmill on an incline and do hills outdoors when I can. Today I managed to walk downstairs normally though so that's progress and I know that upstairs is just going to take time.

I'm starting to be able to do things like pull up my sock on the operated leg (kind of without breaking the 90 degree rule) and put shoes/boots on without needing a long handled shoe horn and I can now (oh I waited so long for this) walk around at my normal pace without thinking twice about it. I also made it to the supermarket alone today, with a trolley and had no problems at all. To be honest I'm having to remind myself I'm only 4 1/2 weeks post op and not totally overdo it...The hip is not sore in any way at all - I just get a feeling of pulling and tightness around the wound when I do a bit too much - and I know I need to rest for a bit and keep letting it heal as it's really only the skin that's healed up to now.

Oh and I managed to get onto my bike today with a bit of a hop and a skip so I'm going to do 15-20 mins a day on that this week and see how that goes. Felt fine when I tried it out earlier and I know that this will help with the glute muscles.

The only cloud on the horizon is my right hip. Annoyingly I've had to take painkillers a couple of times for it (just Panadol but even so...:-( )as it's a bit sore on the outer edge of my hip/thigh.. which is nastily familiar as that's what happened to my left - got trochanteric bursitis and the rest is history - the right niggles a bit when I lie on it and inside the joint is a bit nippy from time to time.

I'm really really hoping it will settle down now that the left hip is taking its fair share as I'm not ready to even think about any more surgery (the story on the right is the degree of dysplasia is worse than the left = centre edge angle of 17 degree and my surgeon reckons a PAO would give me a great result and potentially mean no THR ever required). To be fair it's no more than a niggle at the moment by comparison to the pain I had pre-op on the left but it needs to settle down and go away so I can enjoy this new hip.

4 weeks post op !!

It's my birthday today and I can't think of a better way to celebrate turning 36- with a brand new shiny hip !

wow, days are flying by. I marked the 4 week occasion today by going for a walk this morning with just a stick - no crutch !! Hip feels really really good and I'm managing a couple of walks every day of around 20 mins each time. Having had 2 previous ops in the last couple of years, this recovery is a walk in the park by comparison. I don't seem to have lost too much muscle strength and so I'm not limping really at all when I walk without a crutch or stick, and I suppose for the first time in a long time I actually have a hip joint which works properly - which makes a big difference !

I also drove for the first time yesterday (I have an automatic so in theory it's easy) although it wasn't the easiest to get in and out of the car so I'm not in a massive hurry to do it again. There's quite a lip to lift my leg over into the car so it just felt a bit awkward. I'm sure with a bit of practice I'll get there though !!

I've also been keen to get on an exercise bike although I have a recumbent static bike - a sit back rather than sit up bike and the angles are just not quite right to allow me to cycle without breaking the no knee above the hip rule. So I got my other half to rig up my mountain bike on a stand to try that but unfortunately as it's got a bar across I'm struggling to get onto that too ! Never mind, once the restrictions are lifted in a couple of weeks, I can get back on the bike.

Also getting a new hybrid bike for my birthday so looking forward to getting out on that - it's a step through bike so should be able to get onto that with no problems !!

Gettting better every day...

...wow the hip is feeling good. Managed my first proper walk outdoors today with only one crutch and I'm starting to get the feeling inside that I could walk around in the kitchen without any crutch/stick. I also feel like I'm ready to walk upstairs normally (even with the crutch) rather than one step at a time.

It definitely feels this weekend like it's taken a step forward - swelling less so I'm only icing once a day instead of 3/4 times - and needing less painkillers which is great. I realised this morning that when I woke up I didn't need a painkiller as the discomfort I felt was simply stiffness in the muscles rather than any soreness if that makes sense.

I'm doing physio exercises 2 or 3 times a day and they are also getting easier. The leg length issue seems to be resolving itself slowly too although it may just be I'm getting used to it.

Will be 3 weeks post op on Tuesday and can't wait for it to be 6 weeks so I can drop the restrictions. Going to see my surgeon on the 8th March for my review so hopefully he'll be pleased with progress and I can get back to doing normal things !

Today's achievements

2 things of note today - 1) managed to get a pair of jeans on - yippee !! easier than it sounds with a massively swollen hip but I did it and they're staying on ! 2) managed to walk round to friends - about a 5 min walk and back - took me double the usual time and I did it on 2 crutches but no ill effects so far !

Scar is still healing up nicely and almost all pink now - just some small bits of scabby skin left. Planning my first proper venture out tomorrow - off out for lunch with my mum to a local garden centre - will be lovely to be able to explore. Once I'm comfortably using 1 crutch outside the house (I anticipate next week at around 3 weeks post op) I'm going to give driving a try. Not as crazy as it sounds as I have an automatic so don't need the operated leg. Surgeon gave me the ok to drive at 3/4 weeks post op so will have to try it out. Not that I'm planning on any wild adventures but you never know !

Means if I can drive I can go and visit my physio (about 30 mins away) and get some new/extra exercises and hopefully get his seal of approval on progress so far. Also means I'll be able to take my dog for a walk - lots of places nearby I can take him in the car to and then let him off once we're there - which I think would be easier than walking him on a lead. Might be getting ahead of myself but we'll see !