Here I am ten weeks post op right hip. Definitely being reminded that this is a roller coaster recovery with lots of ups and downs. I am still in a flare, discouraged, tired. I see my hip surgeon in a couple of weeks. Then the shoulder surgeon a couple of weeks after that. I am actually concerned about the travel for both. I am struggling more with driving, sitting, standing again with this flare. We have done a week of pretty much rest, ice, heat, gentle movement as able with the basic early exercises. Every attempt at progress was met with an angry hip, so backed off again. The more advanced rehab exercises have been on hold, elliptical has been on hold, even stationary bike was on hold for a while. We attempted a short trial of pool walking, which has historically been a "safe" activity and that did not go well, even though slow, careful, short duration. So, that got things backed way down and another rest day. Lots of trial and error trying to figure out what the op hip in particular, and my body in general, will tolerate. I stayed home from church again as unable to sit or stand and not wanting to make things worse. I avoid driving other than appointments, and still use left foot to hold down brake at long stoplights to give right hip a break (no pun intended!). I used to drive a 5-speed once upon a time so do not dare even trying to drive or brake with left foot since it is used to a clutch.
It has been really hard to go from steady progress, to no progress, then loss of progress. A week and a half ago I was up to 25 minutes on elliptical, 30-45 minutes of pool walking, 30 minutes stationary bike with resistance and it was going well. Rehab exercises included mini squats, single leg bridges, various other more advanced exercises. Went to no elliptical, no bike, no pool walking, very little rehab--pretty much just the day-after-surgery exercises. Still swimming some, but no kicking, and even backed off of the swimming.
Another cold front and series of storms went through this weekend, so another flare, on top of the already unresolved flare. So, still doing some days of total rest. However, also starting to figure out what the hips will handle--not much, but more than nothing. Left hip is really just irritated from compensating for the right hip--I think. Anyway, discovered over the weekend that both hips will handle a few minutes of stationary bike without any resistance; yesterday, that as long as super careful, I can do a few minutes of elliptical. Today, both hips handled a few minutes of careful pool walking. So, I can get them moving some. All of this was OK'd by PT. He did a ton of soft tissue work on both hips last Friday and we talked through how to try to approach this as not wanting to lose what strength we had gained, but not wanting to further irritate things either. He had suggested the pool walking earlier last week and it did not go well. I mentioned when pool walking did not go well with left hip last spring, elliptical was still OK for some reason, but I had been afraid to try again this time since this is earlier post op and we had been still advancing elliptical, as it was a newer activity. He said to go ahead and try, but start out slowly and keep it short. Then, basically proceed as tolerated. PT today went well. He thinks we are making progress in that at least the hip is not still getting worse and we are figuring out some things it will handle. It has become very selective about range of motion, and type of exercises it will tolerate. As a result, there are some things I am becoming afraid of even trying anymore. My limit pushing side is definitely being overridden by my cautious side at present with respect to hips. The limit pusher is dominant with shoulders. Since shoulders have been calming down since the injection, and even in spite of current flare, we are working on strengthening more again. So, today I tried swimming laps again even though I swam laps yesterday. This is the first attempt at swimming consecutive days since before surgery. It went well! Grateful for progress somewhere!
Choosing to remember my theme for recovery. This is not a race to see how fast I can recover but a journey to see how well I can recover. It is worth taking the time my body needs to heal well.
Ten weeks post op left hip last year. Apparently flares about now are normal. However, this time, not the same triggers. Last year was a full-blown crash as tapering prednisone, working through a stressful project, etc. This is only a flare, though if it does not get calmed, may turn into a crash depending on what direction things go. I am employing what tactics I know and that I can implement. In the meantime, I am grateful it is not worse than it is.
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