My Hip Blog

4 Months Post Op

Jess — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:19:01 +0000

All things coming to an end. I had my four month post op check yesterday and I’ve had the handshake and see ya later from my surgeon He doesn’t think he’ll need to see me again now that I’m getting back to my normal activites and is pleased with how I’m doing. He told me I can still make an appointment further down the track if I feel I need to but I’m hoping he’s right and I won’t need to!

Been having a lot of snapping laterally when straightening up after bending over and even when just plain walking (post exercise). It is apparently my TFL and seems to be a common complaint. I was told it’s nothing to worry about, is more annoying than anything and usually only causes problems if you want to play sports, hmmm…..need to stretch lots, strengthen the glutes and do some resisted abduction at the gym. Might call my physio next week and see if she can give me some more specific exercises for it because it is SUPER annoying.
Also have been getting little clicks in the groin again, though the huge ‘pops’ have completely disappeared and the ache is still gone!

I have been told that I’m still fairly early on in recovery and to expect things to continue to improve for a further year, whoopee!

So I’m pretty much on my own now and am glad to be turning my back on the hip rubbish and looking forward to a future with pain-free hips!

I’m Free!

Jess — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:32:37 +0000

Next week I will be four months post op, my how time flies! I have been doing really well. No long term negatives from the run on Sunday, just some achy muscles that got a rude awakening! I went for a 45 minute bike ride with a friend on Tuesday that included one short but rather steep hill that was a little challenge for the glutes. Then on Wednesday I had my FINAL physio session WAHOOOOO.

The final physio session was a repeat of the physical assessment I had 3 or 4 weeks ago to compare the results. Everything has improved fairly significantly in that short time! My flexion is equal to, if not more than my non-op side although still has a ‘pinchy’ end feel at the moment. I have more internal rotation than external rotation which is totally bizarre and muscle tone and balance have improved too. I’ve been left with my gym exercises (I will scan these and upload shortly) and will just gradually increase cycling/jogging distances.

I will be support crew for my friend at the Graperide this year as I won’t be able to compete, but it will still be an awesome weekend! Just three weeks to go. I have also got a holiday weekend booked at the beginning of May to visit Mum and Mike. My best friend will be coming with me and we have a snowboarding lesson/day organised as well as Mum and I participating in a duathlon! I have heaps to look forward to at the moment so I am just buzzing

Hip Hop

Jess — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:22:34 +0000

I went for my first real run yesterday! I intended to do intervals, but I was able to run the full 3.5km stopping only at the single set of traffic lights on the way out and back. Now I admit, my run is more of a plod, it is by no means fast (30mins total), but it felt so good to get out and feel like I was exercising properly and making my lungs work! I was a little sore last night, but I iced and had no lasting issues. The weak, limpy walk when I finished my run was non-existant and even today I feel better post run than I did after my pre-surgery runs.

Now I just have to continue working on strength and increase the distance slowly and hopefully this is the beginning of a great new year of fitness with a new hip!

Yee Har!

Phew!

Jess — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:09:29 +0000

Ooops, so I’ve neglected you guys a wee bit! It has been a pretty busy week for me so here’s a rundown.

Monday: morning physio at the gym, then the relaxation class which was really quite good, I will be going again tomorrow. Worked 4 hours.

Tuesday: I worked a 9-hour split shift at work, went for a swim at lunch time and then a bike ride after dinner (the same route as Sunday). Then I remembered that I was supposed to do a gym session on my own before I met my physio next, which I thought was Thursday but upon checking discovered it was Wednesday, so didn’t have time to fit that in unless I wanted to do two sessions on Wednesday!

Wednesday: Physio was very happy with me doing a swim and bike ride on Tuesday so not worried about skipping the gym and we made some changes to my program, mainly just adding in some extra sets where things were a bit easy. Told me to try a longer bike ride on the weekend. Worked a 9-hour split shift.

Thursday: I slept in and had a day off exercise. Worked 6 hours.

Friday: I had an appointment with the psychologist who was very pleased with how things are going. It’s amazing what a difference diminished pain levels coupled with a feeling of well deserved normalcy and harmony among peers can make to ones mood! Worked 6 hours. Went to a fund-raising silent auction for my cousin’s rowing team. Managed to buy myself a pair of awsome Roxy snowboarding boots…ummm, never been snowboarding in my life but they were a BARGAIN, winning bid of $80 and they are worth $350! One guess at what I am going to do this winter…and if I don’t like it I can sell the boots lol.

Saturday: I biked to Nanna and Grandy’s for scones and coffee then back home, a 22km round trip. It was good having the break in between. Came home and did some gardening/loading garden waste onto a trailer to take to the dump and felt pretty good afterwards.

Sunday (today): Sleep in, took half an hour to find clothes that fit, argh! Glad to be able to exercise again and ready to put in the hard yards! Sushi for lunch at the mall, grocery shopping then off to the gym with hubby for an hour and a bit. Managed to jog for my warm-up today (first time since surgery) with the treadmill set to intervals for 10 minutes. NO pain on impact, a nice and very welcome surprise! Did all my exercises then 5 minutes on the bike to finish off.
Yummy home-made Balinese curry for dinner at my inlaw’s and now a nice hot cuppa as I recline on the couch and blog

I am really pleased with the way things are going at the moment. I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere. The hardest part of my physical activity is the flexion exercise on the hip machine at the gym which still causes a reasonable amount of discomfort but I’m sure it will just take a little time to sort this out.
I am nearly off all medications. Pain killers are stored in the cupboard (except for the emergency ones in my bag) and haven’t been touched at all during the week.

Life is good

1st Glorious Bike Ride!

Jess — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:00:11 +0000

I have done it! Nearly 14 weeks post op I have just come back from my first REAL road ride and it was great, I want to go again! My friend biked over to join me despite having a tummy bug which was really nice of her. We did a 13km loop ride and it took us 35 minutes. I had NO pain. The little swelling becomes apparent on the bike because I can feel it in the groin area when peddling where the other side feels normal but I’m not worried, it doesn’t cause any problems, just feels odd.
The best thing about this ride is the amount of time on the saddle. My longest (indoor) bike ride until today had been 10 minutes so I am just absolutely stoked at lasting 35. I maintain that real cycling is easier than cycling on the trainer!

On top of that I have endured and survived a 42-hour, 7-day week at work. A huge jump from 6 x 15 hour weeks then 22 hours last week. 30 is my normal and will be back to that this coming week. I have not taken pain lollies all week as the hip has been great! A little IT band snapping but NO aching whatsoever. The only problem I have now is aching feet so I need to buy some formthotics or something for my shoes this week.

So that’s my week, I feel like I’ve won the lottery

I am meeting my physio at the gym tomorrow to sort out my strengthening programme then have a relaxation class to go to at the hospital which should be interesting.

I Got A Kick Outta This ;-)

Jess — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:47:35 +0000

Also check out the other vids in the Old Spice channel

Hip Scope Recovery Week 13

Jess — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:37:25 +0000

Pain levels this week have been pretty minimal. Have been having some issues with my IT band when walking but hoping that will settle as I get stronger. I think it’s just because I’m spending longer on my feet now. Cycling is up to 10 minutes…I tend to get bored and puffed before sore though so I might go for a short ride on the road in the weekend. Swimming is up to 500m 3 times a week.

This morning I had an assessment with my physio to start my gym program. I had my weight, pulse, BP and all ROM +strength measurements taken for a baseline. I also did a 10 minute test on the exercycle to determine my fitness level and to compare to later results. Of course with ACC covering the gym programme, there was another mountain of paperwork to do so a good 10-15 minutes was spent ticking boxes to give me certain numbers for pain and ability to do every-day tasks. I always find these questionnaires always have questions that just don’t apply to your situation or the answer you want to give isn’t an option, so it makes me wonder if these numbers they give you are actually a good representation of your current situation. Ah well, it keeps them happy.

So after all the testing, making short and long-term goals and discovering I’m quite weak in the glutes (something to work on) we went for a drive to the gym and I got signed up. I am meeting my physio at the gym on Monday to sort out a programme and have a few more appointments over the next couple of weeks both at the gym and the pool.

In the next six weeks I hope to be back up to full cycle and swim training and some jogging (interval type with walking thrown in). So it will be a busy few weeks but I am SOOO ready to get fit again and to get out in the summer sunshine before it runs away!

Hip Scope Recovery ~ 12 Weeks!

Jess — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:16:18 +0000

Well….I am FINALLY feeling like I am getting somewhere! Everything seems to be easier this week. I’ve been busy on my feet, swimming like a little fishy, even managed 500m in the pool today plus my exercises, that’s half of what my usual regular training session was before hand! I have barely touched my ‘lollies’ in the last week and when I did it was precautionary. Work is going great and I will back to my normal hours + a few extra next week.

My physiotherapist is super impressed with how far I’ve come in the past couple of weeks. My ROM is almost the same as my non-op side, not much in it at all…just got to work on it a little bit to get it feeling a bit more comfy. I have next to no pain with driving now and lifting my leg to get into the passenger seat is also a lot easier. My next appointment with her will hopefully be next week at the gym to sort out a new gym programme, yay! I am hoping to really start to work on the bike now as I’m itching to get outside and do some real cycling before the summer is over!

Starting to feel ‘normal’ again and it’s had a great impact on my mood too

Also wishing Kat all the best for her THR tomorrow! You’ll be racing me in the pool in no time! xxx

One Big Day

Jess — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:02:01 +0000

Well, today was a HUGE day at work. When I arrived I checked the appointment list to find we only had two appointments booked and both in the first slot, oh NO I thought, today is going to drag on. I even txt the boss to tell her we only had two appointments as she was coming in to help me.

We are open from 10am til 1pm on a Saturday. I arrived at 8am as we had a dog in the hospital with a badly broken hind leg and I wasn’t sure what sort of a state his kennel would be in, plus there were 11 cats up in the cattery for me to sort out before we opened. At 8:30 a man shows up to buy a bag of cat food so I ran downstairs and opened the door for him. Had not long been back upstairs and somebody else comes with their cat for a 9:00 vaccination appointment that didn’t exist because the appointment was actually for Monday morning. Went back upstairs, finished off the cats and came down at about 9:45 to a woman and her child (still in pj’s!) bringing in their poor beautiful black cat with a terribly swollen and degloved back paw, he had been hit by a car (HBC). I had time to settle the cat into a cage, take some TPR’s and reassure a very worried owner that her cat was in remarkably good shape and stable despite his ghastly injury, then the vet arrived.
As the vet had a look at kitty and talked to his owner, the flood of people came in and in true Saturday fashion, all without appointments. Luckily we didn’t have a full morning so we were able to fit them all in with minimal waiting time.
So, after the anal glands, nail clips, vaccinations and other various consults were dealt to we started our first surgery, a large cat bite abscess that needed lancing and a penrose drain inserted. Kitty number one waking up and we start on the xrays for our HBC cat. Luckily there were no internal injuries visible and his blood results were also clear. Unfortunately for him, he had no feeling in his paw as it had started to turn gangrenous, leaving amputation as our only option.
The surgery took about an hour including the prep and went very well. He was awake, sitting up and ate a few biscuits before I left at 2pm.

So I was buzzing around like a blue arsed fly today, not a chance to stop and think of sitting down. The boss was just as busy dealing with people out the front, it was amazing.

I picked up Subway for lunch on the way to Nanna and Grandy’s place. Spent a couple of hours there and after a few cups of tea returned to work at 5pm to feed the cats and tend to the new amputee (who gladly scoffed a decent amount of meat off my hand ) and his neighbour the fracture dog who keeps drinking but won’t pee!

I came home, took some precautionary pain lollies even though I wasn’t particularly sore and painted some window frames (yes, we’re still painting…had a break while I recovered from surgery and xmas etc.). So far so good. Total time at work 7 hours on my feet plus 2 sitting/kneeling painting. No real pain, just a little snapping laterally. Hoping for a great night’s sleep tonight!

11 Weeks Post Op Check – No Pain, No Gain

Jess — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:54:59 +0000

10 minutes and it was all over. Quickest consult ever and I got all my questions answered lol

Overall Mr. R. is pleased with my progress which made my day. I had been worried that it was going a bit slow but he assured me that it is still early days.

The swelling could hang around for another couple of months but he didn’t seem concerned about it. In the past week I’ve had a little snapping on the outside of my hip when i straighten up from bending over which I never had before. This apparently is due to the IT band. I guess while the swelling is still present this is a little irritated but he told me that as my gluts etc. get stronger this should improve. Come on buns of steel!

The residual pain and limited flexion is due to scar tissue from the capsulotomy. He wants me to push through this pain now, taking pain killers as needed (and assured me I won’t do any damage) to break down the scar tissue and prevent more forming. If this doesn’t get better he said he can do a steroid injection to help things along. I have a follow up appointment in six weeks time so it could be a long six weeks! Not at all keen on the injection though, remembering the flare it caused in my wrist.

I have the OK to get a pool/gym program so his secretary is going to send a letter of approval to ACC and they will fund it!
I have no limitations, just have to use common sense with lifting etc. and avoid twisting while lifting.

So I’m a happy chicky right now. Pleased I can push things a little without worrying it will be doing any damage. Mr R says that he can’t guarantee it will ever be 100% again, but it is already better than pre op and I am certainly heading that way