Hip-Hip-Hooray!

Been a while since updating this thing. Physical therapy has been going well the past couple months. Yesterday marked 16 weeks post-op.

I finally got to run in PT yesterday. First time since before January. It felt GREAT! I only ran for a total of 5 minutes: one minute intervals of walking (4 mph pace) and jogging (6 mph pace). Luckily, my cardio fitness is not as bad as I was expecting, and I'm feeling pretty good today.

We'll see how the next few days go. For right now, it's ice pack time!

From Hipster to Leapster

HAPPY LEAP DAY!

Before we start on the excitement that was today, yesterday was my final post-op visit with my surgeon. He was in the room for about 3 minutes. He asked how I was doing. I told him I felt pretty well and seemed like I wasn't having any complications. He rotated my hip and said everything looked okay on his end. He asked if I had any questions for him. Since I didn't, he cleared me from his care. So, at this point, I'm done with the surgeon unless I have any problems. Luckily my PT and surgeon are in the same building, so if I do have any problems during PT, he'll be right there.

"Leaping lizards!"

 

 

 

Today was my first day back at work! The half-mile trek from the parking garage to the heavy grey door behind which I work was not something I missed.

My first stop was Occupational Health to get cleared to return to work. I gave them a letter from my surgeon, and the nurse took my blood pressure and temperature. Painless, but annoying. At least it took up about an hour of my time, most of which consisted of me waiting out front to be called back.

I went downstairs to check in with the Boss Man and get the run down on what went on while I was out. Same stuff, different day.

Luckily, I make the work schedule, so I made sure that I would be working the "sit-down" job today and the next two days so I can ease back into work. Surprisingly, though, work day wasn't as annoying as I thought it was going to be. I guess the 8 weeks I had off really did help me mentally, as well as physically.

Even though I had the "sit-down" job, working in a pharmacy still requires a lot of moving and walking around. By the end of the day, the front part of my hip, where the hip flexor muscle stretches across the joint, was pretty sore and achy. I had physical therapy scheduled right after work, but before I could get there, I had to get back to my car. My PT center is only about a mile and a half from where I work. So, I walked the half mile to my car, then drove a mile to PT... I should have just walked the whole thing and counted that as my warm-up!

No changes in PT; still trying to get my hip acclimated to being used again. I'm taking advantage of the handicapped parking decal I have; although I feel guilty for using it since I'm capable of walking. I just make sure I limp around a little bit when I am close to my car.

The gym is still pretty low-key. I'm sticking with the stationary bike for cardio to reduce the amount of time I spend on my feet and to keep the stress and impact down to a minimum. Hopefully next week I'll be able to go for an actual bike ride if the weather is nice. My poor bike is so lonesome propped against the wall.

Since I live in a second floor apartment with no elevator, I try to avoid the stairs as much as possible, at least on the way up. I took the elevator up one flight of stairs at work today. I refused to take it back down. One small leap at a time...

Next up: A leap of faith, maybe?

7 Hipnotic Weeks

Tomorrow marks 7 weeks post-op, and I am finally free of my crutches!

We walked down to the
Stop sign and back.

Last Wednesday, at 6 weeks, I was able to walk around the house without the crutches, but I was still supposed to use them outside the house. Needless to say, I barely left the house for the rest of the week and all weekend because I didn't want to have to use them!

Today, I am sore from Monday's PT session. How I have missed this kind of pain! My quads and glutes are killing me! I did some single leg squats and leg presses. At the end of my session, I was given permission to leave the crutches at home! FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST!

Apparently, the dog is aware of the fact that I don't need the crutches anymore. He went crazy this morning begging me to walk him. So, this morning I took him out for a slow short walk. And by short, I mean, like 1/4 mile in about 10-15 minutes. Usually, he gets to walk at least a mile at a brisk pace. He wanted to keep going, but he humored me and let me take him in early.

Note the flippy-floppy on the left.

Today was my first day back in the gym after surgery. I forgot how much I missed the smell of sweat and workout equipment. I also forgot how much fun it was to people watch at the gym... (There was an older woman on the elliptical wearing sparkly flip-flops! As if older people don't have a hard enough time keeping their balance on those machines, or walking, or standing... let's add flippy floppies to the mix...)

I digress. My workout at the gym was nothing impressive. I did increase my cycling time to 30 minutes with low resistance. Then I stretched and did all my PT exercises. I also did some upper body work, but since I haven't been working out AT ALL over the last 2 months, I just did a quick easy workout to get the blood flowing again. I'm sure I'll be all kind of sore tomorrow and Thursday. CAN'T WAIT!





Ariel said it best...
Flippin' your fins, you don't get too far
Legs are required for jumping, dancing
Strolling along down a - what's that word again?
Street

Hippofatamus

...That's what I feel like these days.

Wednesday (2/8) was the 5-week mark for my surgery. Time is definitely starting to move faster now. It's hard to believe I go back to work in less than 3 weeks now!

At PT, I've been "treading water" so to speak. They have a treadmill in the pool that I've been walking on for the last 3 visits. I started off slow. I was chest deep in the water, so I was only putting about 30% of my body weight on my feet. I did the "museum walk" as I like to call it, one mph for 20 minutes. I walked a whole third of a mile! The second time I did 1.5 mph for 20 minutes; I got to a whole half mile! This last time, I was only waist deep in the water, so I was using about 50% of my weight, and I picked it up to 2 mph for 20 minutes, walking about 3/4 of a mile.

My Handi-Capable
Parking Permit

I was also finally cleared to start driving! It's been nice being a little more independent again. I can drive myself to PT and to meet up with a friend. Sitting in the car too long gets uncomfortable though, so I've been keeping the driving to a minimum.

Because of the extra weight I've been putting on my foot over the last week or so, plus driving, plus being up and about more, I've had some pain in the front part of my hip where my hip flexor stretches across my joint. I've also been having a little bit of pain around my adductor muscles (groin area of my hip). Apparently this is normal and will come and go with added movement and weight. Applying ice to areas after I do PT (in clinic or at home) seems to help and I also take some naproxen as needed.

As of my last PT appointment, I am now "weight bearing as tolerated". That means I still have to walk with my crutches but I can put as little or as much weight on my right leg as is comfortable. Hip, hip, hooray!

It finally feels like I'm starting to make progress!

I'm puttin' my foot down!

I am finally allowed to put some weight on my right leg!

Today at PT I did the same exercises as before but we added in calf-raises and mini-squats. After my normal routine of the 10-minute warm up on the bike and my usual stretches and bridges, I stood with both feet flat on the floor. My right foot felt all tingly from not using it for so long.

First thing I did was the calf-raises. I slowly raised my weight to my toes. It felt so good to finally have some movement in right leg and get the blood flowing again.

After that, I did the mini-squats. Both feet flat on the floor, I squatted down about 30 degrees. I felt so pathetic! My quads were shaking like I... well, like I hadn't done a squat in about a month! The first 30 degrees of a squat uses more of the quads; squatting past that activates the hip flexor, which we're still trying to minimize.

I was cleared to walk on both feet but still using both crutches. It's taking a little getting used to, relearning balance and whatnot. My right foot feels like it's asleep every time I touch to the floor. I'm allowed to put about "25%" of my weight on the right leg. Let me get out my abacus to figure this out... I'm pretty sure I'm not putting near that much weight on my leg, but the amount I do put on it varies with each step.

Riding the stationary
bike at home

I've been using a stationary bike at home as well. I was only doing 10 minutes, but I'll start tomorrow with 15 minutes. The next time I go to PT, I'll get to walk on the treadmill in the pool. That should be interesting... I haven't put on a swimsuit since I don't even remember when...

This is when it gets exciting guys! Stay tuned!



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Just call me Crutchelstiltskin...

Today was great day.

I had PT early this morning at 9am. Now, 9am probably doesn't sound early to most of you who have regular jobs. And for me, if I was actively working, 9am would be awesome. But, seeing as how I've been getting up around noon everyday, being at physical therapy, which is 45 minutes away, at 9am... phew...

Anyway, PT was pretty much the same as last time: stationary bike for 10 minutes, stretching, bridges, weight machines. I did get some good news: I can potentially start driving next week! Best news ever! Relying on rides, even just for PT and doctor's appointments, has been annoying. I hate putting people out, especially when I feel perfectly capable of doing certain things for myself.

I'm going to schedule another appointment with my surgical team docs to see about getting a handicap decal to use until I'm at least off the crutches completely. Right now, it's not too back because whoever is driving me can drop off and pick me up. But, I can't really drop myself off at the front... I'm not THAT good. Maybe they'll extend it until I go back to work since the parking garage is about 1/2 a mile from work.... That would be fantastic.

After PT, one of my amazing friends (who also provided me with this lovely nickname, Crutchelstiltskin) picked me up and we milled around for a couple hours. It was really nice to be out of the house. Mostly it's just been to and from PT. We went to Best Buy and snagged one of their awesome bright yellow wheelchairs. Riding in a wheelchair seems like it'd be fun, but I kept getting the feeling that people were judging me for using one. I don't have any kind of brace or anything on, so I don't actually look like I need a wheelchair. Oh well... At Best Buy, we sat in the acoustic room playing around on the guitars. I don't play guitar, so I had a ukulele. I don't play the ukulele either, but that's easier to fake. After Best Buy, we went to lunch at Chili's.  It was really nice having something to occupy my day besides TV.

Right now, I'm sitting in bed with ice on my knee... No typo... my knee. I don't know how or why, but my right knee is now hurting. I noticed it was hurting yesterday, but I forgot to mention to my PT today. I'll keep icing it over the weekend and let him know about it on Tuesday when I go back.

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend! I'm going to do the same, hopefully get out of the house for a while on Saturday or Sunday, or both!




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HIPmotizin'

Exciting news... I rode a bicycle today! Woot! Woot!

As part of physical therapy, I rode a stationary bike for 10 whole minutes! There was no resistance and the seat was high enough to avoid a lot of hip flexor motion.

The trickiest part was getting onto the bike without putting any weight on my right foot. Luckily, my arms are strong enough to hold me up so I could swing onto the bike. Although, I'm sure I didn't look as graceful as I was attempting to be. Oh, well!

After the bike, I went over to the weight machines to work out my quads and hamstrings. Basically, I can do these at whatever weight I would normally use at the gym so that I can keep my leg strong for when I do finally get to put weight on it.

On the way out, I had to stop at the restroom. This is the first time I've tried to use a public restroom on my crutches. Being that this is a rehab and orthopedic center, you'd think this would be fairly easy to accomplish. The sign at the bathroom door had the handicap symbol on it, but there was no switch to open the door! "Um... ok..."

So I somehow manage to swing the door open wide enough, throw the crutch in front of the closing door, trying desperately not to fall or look incompetent. Someone else was walking by and didn't even help me with the door. Thanks a lot.

Even though there was no switch on the way in, I thought, maybe on the way out, the door has a motion sensor or something. Nope! Same thing as on the way in: I shoved the door open, then threw the crutch in the way of it so it wouldn't close on me. I was able to finagle my way out the door without too much trouble.

The moral of the story is, if you see someone with crutches or a wheelchair, open the door for them. Even if they say "I got it." Really, they don't and they'll be so thankful that someone was nice enough not let the door hit them on the way out!



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