No One Told Me There'd Be Math

Although this is a study for a condition different than mine, it is very, very similar, and affecting the same joint. But seriously, it looks like a math flow chart to decide what to do! The scary part is that after months of diagnostics, evaluations ,pondering, denial-ing and overeducating myself via the internet, I actually understand what's on this chart at first glance.

Alternative Sit Ups

Today Larry had me working on exercises that I could feel along the side of my belly, and in my core. It felt good to do them. Some even felt easy. THEN, he asked me to curl my wrists in while pulling a rope attached to weight machine. I knew it was too good to be true. Instead of being able to pull the rope all the way down for 15 reps, as I had been only seconds before, I was now only able to do about eight reps.  And. It. Hurt.

Damn, now I have to put a quarter in the 'I Can't' jar.

The good news is, all these exercises feel exactly like doing sit ups, except they are infinitely easier. Well, most of them are. I can feel them in my obliques (the muscles along the side) and the solar plexus and lower abdomen. And boy howdy, these are FAR more preferable than the traditional sit ups (which are bad for you by the way) with which you may all be familiar. You know the ones, the 1970s 3rd grade gym class kind that have bad gym outfits to go along with the wanna-be militaristic gym teacher who thinks they can 'straighten out' these little whipper snappers. Wait, are we still talking about sit ups?? Why yes, Virginia, there is a real sit up. But no, Virginia, you no longer have to do them. It's a good thing too. Because  this article leads with 'Consult your doctor' as the number one step to doing sit ups.

So, just see Trainer Larry and he'll fix you right up with a much more difficult version. But you can wear whatever you want. And he doesn't bark.

Bonuses

There are plenty of good days, where my hip hurts but it's tolerable. After my Rookie Move day, this week has been tough. Sunday I played soccer with the kids with wild abandon. Ok, not wild. Ok, and not with abandon. But with energy and disregard for my hip. The result has been a less than pleasant week. I just wanted to throw in the towel and stay in bed. 

Monday I could barely walk. Tuesday I couldn't work out with my legs, so trainer Larry put me through the paces with my arms. Feel the burn. Wednesday I pushed it pretty hard on the elliptical (I had to burn off the extra peanut butter I ate Tuesday night in self solace). Today, I was finally able to do a bit more. I popped my left hip (the good side) back in last night. Great, now I am worried that I have dysplasia on that side too. Truth be told, I've been worried about that since I first had pain back in 2009. It was in my left hip first, then mysteriously disappeared. All along otherwise it's been my right hip. 

Once it popped back in I felt a lot better, albeit with some pain. I got a small elliptical work out in before my training session, and ended up walking my son to school to register for kindergarten. A long, slow walk in the hot summer sun was just the thing to . . . 

a) burn bonus calories?

2) get a tan? 

d) require a heating pad, an ice pack and a muscle relaxer? 

** bonus points for you if you get the sequencing movie reference **

Anyway, in the midst of this it hurts/it doesn't hurt week, I received in the mail an amazing item from a fellow PAO/hip sister. She was kind enough to send me a couple of extras of the bracelet she created as her personal mantra. The acronym is very fitting, and I was grateful to receive it. What I am also grateful for is the community of hip sisters that is available 24/7 via the internet. Many of the people on the lists and groups have already endured surgery and recovery. Yet they remain on the lists as wonderful resources for those of trying to sort through diagnoses, 2nd, 2rd, 4th and more opinions, and surgical choices. To that end, persevering and overcoming seems a more likely bonus heading into this weekend, rather than throwing the towel anywhere but in the laundry.

Hand and Footwork. A Pictorial.

Apparently this is the direction my feet go when I'm not looking.

Trainer Larry's torture machine.
I mean, crutches strengthening machine.

I had a choice of ellipticals. It was overwhelming.

Pulling my weight. Well, hopefully not MY weight. 

Rookie Move

rook·ie   (rk)

n.

1. Slang

a. An untrained or inexperienced recruit, as in the army or police.

b. An inexperienced person; a novice.

2. Sports A first-year player, especially in a professional sport.

---

[Perhaps alteration of recruit.]

* * * *

This whole dysplasia thing is bizarre. One day I have pain, the next, very little. So after a few days of lessening pain, I woke up to a virtually pain free day yesterday. So what did I do? Play soccer with the family. Rookie move. It was just some kicking around on a field. But after five minutes, I started to ache a little. Ever the 'tough minded' one, I kept going, even drop kicking a few balls and running a bit.

Big. Mistake.

Today, my good side feels worse than my affected side. I literally almost had my husband run out to the drug store for a cane. I can barely stand on that side. Great too because that's the side I sleep on when my affected side hurts too much at night. Well done new kid. Well done.

Happy Hips

Wait, am I supposed to eat this??

Many people respond, "Oh, isn't that what dogs get? I have a Lab who . . ." when I tell them I have dysplasia. I have never heard of a dog getting hip surgery. Perhaps some do. But if they can eat what's in this can and get better, how come they haven't figured out how to can something for people?

So Hip it Hurts

This doesn't work.

This helps, temporarily.

One minute I'm scowling and grunting as I do the exercises Larry instructs me to do. The next minute I'm limping. One day I'm on the elliptical, burning calories away (I hope), then next minute I cannot find a comfortable way to sit, stand or sleep.

I push myself harder on most everything I do. So it's no surprise to me that I do that at the gym. I've been focusing on the 'game day' (surgery) and trying to meet goals. Like losing weight (not happening). Like getting stronger (I'm getting more sore). But I know crutches are looming ahead, and I really have no idea how the pain level will be. I have heard recovery from this surgery is horrible. but it is short-lived. So I have that going for me.

This machine like it will chew me up for breakfast.
Fortunately the exercise was to pull away from it.  

I'm in Paining

I may have overdone it. I'll see tomorrow. We went away this weekend, sans children, and did a lot of




. . .  Walking. Walking people!!! Get your mind out of the gutter,

I have been going easy on what I do for exercise the past few months. My a$$ can attest to that, but I can no longer turn around enough to see it well. Blessing and a curse. Anyway, I have been taking Advil very sparingly, though I have taken it in regular and strong quantities for at least five years now. Now that the surgery date is looming getting closer, somewhere in my once-upon-a-time-passed-for-athletic-mind came the notion of training for the recovery pain.

Me: Let me get this straight. You want to stop taking anything that helps even mildly relieve this 24/7 pain now?
OUaTPFAM: Yes.
Me: you're out of your mind.
OUaTPFAM: No, actually I'm in yours.
Me: Ha ha, very funny.  Oh crap, it's true.

Ok, so now I'm having conversations in my head with myself. If you're enjoying this, I can assure you it will only get more amusing when I am actually taking medication in recovery. Plus, I'll be way bored.

I sometimes think that if I'm not in enough pain it doesn't justify the surgery. But that's just crazy. I don't want to hurt myself by pushing my activity level too far. It just doesn't always seem like its real. The plan is this - I'm in pain whether I work out or not. So I figure I'll work out. I walked myself silly this weekend and now I hurt more. But I'm still going to the gym tomorrow. What? Because my OUaTPFAM self wants to know how much pain I can handle before I cry 'uncle'. I want to be as strong as I can be physically going into surgery. But I also don't want to leave out the most important part of training: mental preparation. So I'm in training for the pain. 

Oh Snap!

Frequently with hip issues there are all manner of sounds and creaks that occur. I have been 'popping' my hips in and out of the joint for years, never suspecting it was anything more than the tendons moving over the bones (that's what makes that snap/crackle/pop sound). I have been doing this with just about any and all of my joints, including my neck, since I was little. I just thought it was normal. None of what has ever happened with my joints was ever bad enough to be evaluated when I was young (er), so nothing was ever noticed.

Now that I have reached old (er) age, the effects are presenting themselves. That old wives tale about cracking your knuckles causing arthritis? Well, there's no medical evidence that that's true. But I can tell you that the more you do it, the more wear you put on your joints. IF you have dysplasia or some other as yet undetected condition, that CAN then lead to degeneration of a given joint. I'm no doctor, but I do see it now, decades later.

In addition to my right hip, and possibly my left hip (which will be addressed post op and recovery), I have three discs in my neck that are indeed arthritic and displaced. Not badly enough for surgery, but painful nonetheless. When they 'pop' I feel relief, but the pain goes into my shoulder most of the time.

I always smile in photos.

It seems that I am just one big mess, although I really just feel big, courtesy of steroid injections that fueled my appetite. I just want to know when they will make one that makes you NOT hungry. Until then, I will walk around sounding like a box of Rice Krispies.

Werk It.

After several weeks of 'Oh my god, is this real?' and 'This can't possibly be my only option",  I decided to hit the whole thing head on. With five year old triplets about to enter kindergarten, I needed to act fast. I scheduled surgery for mid September, figuring that would give them time to adjust to new classes, teachers and friends. Then I'd be down for the count. Once I had their schedules set up and rides to and from activities arranged, I panicked about me.

I approached the gym tentatively at first. I had gone through a period of time where one isle in the market would do me in. Then, all of a sudden, the pain got better. I figured if it was going to hurt anyway, and the surgery would ultimately eliminate or reduce what I am dealing with and working around now, I might as well work out.

I called the owner of my gym and explained the situation. I asked for his guidance in working out and in meeting with a trainer. He pointed me in the right direction and I got going. It hurt, I won't lie. But after one week, I decided instead of thinking of it as 'I-must-get-in-shape-I'm-having-surgery-SIGH', I would do what I did when preparing for a skating competition. I have a deadline date and goals in mind.

Here's what I did:

1) Signed up for and pain in advance for private training (just like skating lessons)
2) Scheduled in gym time on my daily calendar (just like skating time)
3) Paid for the bulk child care option for one month so my son could come along (instead of the excuse that I can't go to the gym because he's with me)
4) Began using my fitness/weight loss app again (I hate seeing how much I have gained), but eventually it will be better
5) Enlisted two gym friends to do the app too so we can encourage each other (regardless of weight loss/fitness goals - they don't have to be the same)
6) Started thinking about my gym sessions and plans as I would with skating. Practice, practice, practice makes perfect, perfect, perfect.

I realized i had been searching for a way to think about all of this that would make sense to me. Equating it to something I know well did the trick. The process is really the same no matter what the details. And I've been doing this most of my life. So why not now? I felt relieved.

Here I was only being relieved of my comfort zone by trainer Larry. 

I also felt sore. The first session with trainer Larry was not painful, and was sort of easy. The next two? Not so much. The difference is the pain from injury or deformity is so very different from that of exercise and feeling the 'burn'.  I kind of like the latter. It's been awhile since I felt it. Hurts so good and all that. I look at the limping and pain tolerance building  as training too. I'll have plenty of it after surgery, I might as well get used to it. I've spent years working through the pain to 'werk' it in front of an audience. This time my audience is my family. I need to be in top shape to perform well. My short term goal is this surgery. My long term goal is to be able to lift my children. If I can't, who will show them who to 'werk' it in life?