This was a much more encouraging week than the past couple of weeks have been. Things are still challenging, but more hopeful again.
I took last weekend to recover from the rough week last week. Early this week, I traveled back to see the surgeon for the first time since surgery. He was pleased with my progress thus far and said I am ahead of schedule! That was so encouraging to hear--especially after the rough couple of weeks and with it feeling as if progress had slowed down! I was so relieved to hear that things are going well as I really had no idea what to expect other than that this is a long process and that my body tends to be unpredictable. He did remind me that I am only a couple of months into a year long recovery process and for me to stay on track with PT and exercises. I need to remain patient and persistent and endure through the tedious times.
I survived the travel rather better than I had hoped! I am so grateful for an aunt who drove me there and back so I did not have to drive. Lots of stops and lots of ice, but this trip was much better than the trip home the day after surgery! Yet another indicator of progress!
The physical therapist OK'd me to do the final home tasks that I have not been able to do well since surgery. Yay! More independence! I do still have a lifting/carrying restriction of approximately 10 pounds, so I still have to be careful and think ahead. I am also still really slow with some things. The stairs have been one of the bigger barriers since there are two flights of them between my apartment and everything else. I successfully went grocery shopping and carried groceries by myself (got more than I could carry in one load on the stairs, but carried up all perishable items and left the rest in the car and went back and got them later after resting--this is what I have always done anyway even before surgery when not doing well). I also successfully did a couple of loads of laundry and carried that as well. So far, so good. The repaired left hip seems to be doing fine--got a tad sore with carrying but not bad. The supposedly "good" right hip did not do so well. Sigh. I was cleared for an injection for the "good" hip to help calm it down and let me progress better with rehab for the repaired hip, but waiting to be able to get something scheduled.
I am back to doing most of the home PT exercises I was doing before surgery! There are still a few I need to wait on. I am hoping that with more return to normal pre-op routines and strategies that I can eventually regain better management of the rest of the pain again. Swimming is getting better, elliptical is going well, walking is also still getting better but is still primarily a means of getting around and not a means of exercise. Stationary bike is getting ever more boring and is also getting ever more irritating for the supposedly "good" hip. I sort of saw this coming as the bike bothered both hips before surgery and I had actually stopped and taken a break a month or so before surgery knowing it would be one of the few things I could do initially after surgery and knowing that I have always gotten bored with it in the past if it was not riding an actual real bike outside. I much prefer going for walks outside and going for bike rides outside. I am not a fan of treadmills or stationary bikes except for necessity. I am grateful for them but prefer the real thing. This is one of the hard parts of recovery--not being able to go for a real walk. The weather has been gorgeous and I have longed to go for a nice long walk along the creek. I am trying to be patient as I know there will be opportunities in the future once I am stronger and my body is ready.
My endurance for sitting and standing is also slowly increasing. I still use a timer to remind me to get up and move often. But, I am managing full days on campus as long as I keep things broken up and intersperse activity with work/classes. I can sit longer now than before surgery but sitting through entire classes is still challenging and not going very well. This recovery is not and has not been easy but it has been so much easier than I anticipated that I keep thinking that at some point things will get much worse. Yes, the past few weeks have been really difficult, but it has been mostly the other chronic issues and not the hip that had surgery. It is hard to know how to answer when I am asked how I am doing. In terms of the repaired hip, I am doing much better. In terms of most of the other issues, I am not doing so well, but probably still doing better than before surgery.
Overall, this has been a better week. I am grateful that things are still going as well as they are. I am grateful for the support of so many through this whole process!
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