Five Weeks

Here's a quick update on my hip status at five weeks post right PAO:

~The scar itself looks amazing; it's just a pink line. There are itchy red dots around it though - probably some kind of rash, definitely not an infection. I'm putting on neosporin/cortisone and will call the doctor if it doesn't go away soon.
~I have very little pain and have not even taken Tylenol in weeks. I still don't have anything that feels like bone or internal joint pain. It just feels like soft tissues adapting, and I have tightness in the muscles and near the scar, especially first thing in the morning or if I move suddenly or if I'm on my feet (well, foot) for too long. I hear an occasional click when I externally rotate. No other hip noises though.
~I wore fitted jeans and low-heeled boots to go out with friends on Saturday night. My scar did not hurt from the waistband and I did not have an issue walking in "real" shoes. I am not going to wear high heels any time soon though.
~I made zucchini bread this evening all by myself, thanks to the bar stool in the kitchen and my handy backpack for carrying stuff.
~I went in to the office Monday for 4 hours. My butt hurt from sitting in a real chair for that length of time, and when I got home I was tired and took a nap. I am going back in tomorrow and Thursday and will try to work longer hours as tolerated.
~I am sleeping a bit better but still not back to normal. I can sleep on my back and on my left side. I rolled over onto my right side just to see what would happen and it didn't hurt. I am not really supposed to do this so I have not made a habit of it.

Range of Motion Illustrated:
Range of motion is much better than I thought it would be at five weeks, although I have no real basis of comparison. I can bring my right knee toward my chest (I can get it closer than shown in this photo, but not while taking a picture of myself!):



My external rotation has improved since my four week report; however, it's still not very good, as expected:



While lying on my stomach, I can grab my right foot with my hand and touch my butt with it. I can cross my right leg over my left. I haven't figured out a good way to stretch my hamstrings, which have been historically tight; I have a feeling they will be very tight when I'm able to really try.

I am very pleased with my progress, excited to get in the pool in a week, and anxious to start bearing weight and doing real exercises. I am curious how much my pain level will increase with additional activity and weight bearing since it feels like I'm doing a lot of nothing right now.

Three Weeks

Has it been three weeks? Has it ONLY been three weeks?

Time seems to be moving slowly; I'm focused on my 8-week "bye bye crutches" appointment and I’m not even halfway there.

As I write this, it is 105 degrees in Portland; we’ve had record high temperatures the past few days. I still have trouble regulating my body temperature, and coupled with the heat this has been difficult. We don’t have air conditioning because our house is up on a hill and surrounded by trees; it never gets hot enough for us to need air conditioning (until now). We do have a basement which is cool, but I'm at the point in my recovery where I want to get out of the house and be more active. I can’t really do much outside without dissolving into a sweaty tired mess.

Today my parents took me out to lunch at a nice air conditioned restaurant. Then we went to the grocery store (also cool) and pharmacy (not bad). I did a lot of walking in the stores and felt pretty strong on the crutches. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I got home and took a two-hour nap!

So here is my three week update:

~Scar looks good and I’ve started massaging Vitamin E oil into it. I’ve heard that Bio Oil works well but also heard that any oil is fine, and since the scar already looks so good I see no reason to buy the Bio Oil because I have some Vitamin E.
~I try to sleep in my regular bed but still bail out in the middle of the night to the hospital bed. The mattress on the hospital bed is horrible, but I can change the settings and get more comfortable. Plus I hate waking Perry up with all my tossing and turning. I did spend one night early on sleeping in the recliner but did not repeat it because the hospital bed is better. I can usually sleep on my non-op side with a pillow between my legs but sometimes that just hurts. It’s hard to move the pillow and my leg around to find the sweet spot but when I do, it's great.
~My pain level is usually a 1 and I’m not taking any pain killers. The pain I do get feels muscular and not like it’s inside the joint or in my bones. It’s hard to tell for sure, but I don’t think I feel anything where the bones were cut. I feel sharp pain if I move my leg too abruptly. I am trying not to actively lift the leg as I was told not to, but occasionally I do by accident. I’m able to do it, but I feel sore in my hip flexors and my inner thigh when this happens. I’m trying to be more aware so as not to do it accidentally.
~I’m trying to do things around the house like laundry, cleaning, etc. I carry things around the house in a tote bag around my neck, in my teeth, in a backpack, tucked into my waistband … whatever is handy. It takes a while to bring all the clean laundry in to the bedroom and put it away – several trips with the tote bag – but I feel productive. My house is a mess – we have a long-haired cat shedding everywhere and the vacuum cleaner is just not going to happen with crutches – but I have learned to live with it. Laundry, of course, is not optional.
~Thanks to the CPM machine, my range of motion seems excellent. I can bend over to pick things up from the floor, reach forward and touch my toes, tie my shoes, paint my toenails, bring my leg in to my chest (not all the way by any means, but darn close), sit on the floor, and pull my operated leg up over my head with my hands a la Biellmann. OK, OK, I can’t do the last thing, I was just seeing if anyone was still reading.
~I have gently tried external rotation (e.g., sitting cross legged). My external rotation (turnout) has always been limited and it’s exttremely limited now because of post-surgical stiffness. This surgery did not correct my anteversion (my femurs are rotated inward) since that would be an additional surgery (femoral osteotomy) and my surgeon did not want to do it. (I didn't really either, although the thought of better turnout almost made it worth it.) I don’t know how much my external rotation will improve once I am able to stretch and work on it. I hope to have external rotation that is no worse (and if the stars align, better) than before. Otherwise returning to ice dancing, with its requirement for turnout in order to do even the easiest turns, may be challenging or impossible. This was my biggest outcome fear going in, and it’s too early yet to know how this will turn out (pun intended) in the long run, because I’m not allowed to do any real stretching or rotating yet.
~I’ve lost 12 pounds. I’ve been eating very healthily and I’m definitely not starving myself or dieting. Everyone says my formerly muscular legs are looking wimpy. So we can safely assume that’s 12 pounds of muscle gone to hell.
~Sneezing and coughing aren’t as excruciating as they were earlier in my recovery, but I still feel them in the joint/incision.
~My hands still hurt when crutching but I’m getting used to it and it rarely bothers me.
~I can still see the bruise from my first Fragmin injection, given to me in the hospital by Nurse Ratched. I can still see the bump where the IV needle was inserted. I can just barely still see the bruise from my autologous blood donation! Needles and I just don't get along.
~I am going to have a glass of wine before bedtime. I haven’t had an adult beverage since before my surgery. I have a feeling I will sleep quite well tonight.

I put my pants on today, and other exciting news

It has breen almost a week since I (or Perry) posted. So much has happened that I don't really know where to begin. I've been meaning to post but kept putting it off because I was in the middle of a very good book ("Memoirs of a Geisha") and just couldn't put it down. When I did put it down it was usually because I fell asleep, or someone was taking my vitals, or a physicial therapist was torturing me. So I apologize for no news, but in this case it's good news.

I'll go back and discuss my experience day by day in a second, longer post after this one. For those of you without hip problems (my friends and family), reading this longer post may not be necessary since it's really just a lot of boring and gory details. For those of you awaiting PAO, I hope the details of my experience will help you prepare for your own surgery and recovery.

So here's all the good news in a nutshell for those of you who won't be reading post #2:

1. My surgeon said everything went really well. He is not a demonstrative person but he had a big smile on his face and I am certain that I will have the best possible result based on his positive attitude about the outcome. Of course, much of my success is now up to me ... and how hard I work at rehabiliation. But I know that Dr. Mayo did all he could for me surgically. He not only did the PAO, he shaved the top of my femur (the ball of the hip) which had a knob that was catching when my hip flexed. Now it's round and should work better. (Yes, that's probably why my hip hurt every time I tried to do a mohawk or a choctaw!)
2. I am in a lot less pain than I expected.
3. I had great pain management in the hospital, and most of the procedures I'd been dreading were not nearly as bad as I'd imagined.
4. The nursing staff at Tacoma General was mostly kind, caring and competent, with a few exceptions who were not. Overall the standard of care from the nursing staff was better than most hospitals, for which I am grateful.
5. I got to come home on the 5th day after surgery (yesterday), which is probably the earliest they would have let me come home in any case. I was very ready to leave!
6. The drive home was 2.5 hours and pretty uneventful.
7. It is great to be home. I have my hospital bed set up in my office and from the windows I can see beautiful green tree tops outside. It's very quiet here (not so much in the hospital of course) and I'm getting lots of rest.
8. Although my mom and sister checked in on me today, I'm home alone and able to get from bed to couch to bathroom using my walker just fine. I'm able to get my operated leg in and out of the continuous motion machine and on and off the bed myself (something I had trouble with in the hospital). My bed at home is much lower than the hospital bed and thus easier to get into and out of.
9. I am SO EXCITED that I was able to put my pajama pants on BY MYSELF this morning without any assistive devices. As expected, I was al fresco all week in the hospital and the first day home; this morning I wanted pants. My non-op leg is very mobile and strong so I was able to maneuver the pants onto the bad leg using the good one. You have no idea how exciting this is until you've had hip surgery.
10. I still haven't pooped. My family has started a betting pool called, "when will Terri poop." Estimates range from tomorrow at 7 AM to Friday at 8PM. I'm eating prunes and hoping it's sooner rather than later!
11. Spinal Tap fans --- the control on the CPM machine goes to ELEVEN. Of course, that means it's LOUDER.
12. My scar looks great. I could post a picture but will save that for later since I'm not sure where the camera is.

Thanks to all of my friends who've been such great support for so long. I am very grateful to have you all in my life. Terri