Off My Walker

Today I am a little over 5 weeks post op. I have been using a walker to get around, and it's been nice to have the safety of the bar across the front of it. It's not like it could catch me if I fell, but it's visually comforting. While I have alternately slept in a drug haze or sat stone faced binge watching Friends re-reuns for the past several weeks, I have healed and not considered what is next. I didn't want to over think anything and be disappointed. So I was using my walker, and that was it.

A few weeks ago I started using my cane to go up and down the stairs, but the walker was at either end for me. The crutches given to me at the hospital were unwieldy at best when I was released, so I hid them at home behind the coat tree in a corner and forgot about them.

Today, my PT suggested I try them. After hurting a muscle under my arm when I was far less stable and able, I was extremely wary of getting back on those sticks. But lo and behold, it was easy! She showed me how to navigate the stairs with them, and I didn't ned the walker waiting for me. This is new freedom people. Now I don't need anyone to help me, only supervise in case I do a skater thing and get clumsy off ice. If you aren't familiar with skating, there is a well used item that is very handy for crutches.

These are called soakers. 

Figure skaters put them on after drying their blades to keep them from rusting. 

At the suggestion of a skating friend, I put these on top of the crutches and, voila! Instant comfort. Another skating friend sent them to me and I haven't skated because of my hip. So it all worked out.

I have my 6 week X-ray next week. The doc will tell me if I can bear more weight on my leg and when I can start PT and maybe drive. I have successfully distracted myself (with a little narcotic assistance) from being bored. I have a project that I had intended to do that hasn't happened yet. But I am planning to get to it soon. Not telling yet, but I'll post and detail when I start it!

For now . . . I'm off my walker!

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.