4 months post op

…and had an outing in heels…WHOOP WHOOP!! :0)

Too much too soon

Ahh it was all going well.. getting rid of the crutches for short distances, even some longer hobbles, (or wobbles as I currently walk with a certain weebleness about me!).  Anywho I went and overdid it again – My man and I had spent a lovely week on holiday in Wales on the Pembrokeshire coast; the sea was just too tempting, so armed with a surfboards off we went (or toddled in my case), fairly soon I realised this was a mistake and the next day swapped the surfboard for a body board. It was so good to be able to play in the waves again (I am neither graceful or skilled at body/surf boarding but love being in the water). I enjoyed myself way too much though and have been paying for it ever since. Fortunately not in bone pain, but in muscle pain. I say fortunately in that my bones seem to have stood up to the waves bashing them, but my hip flexor in particular did not take kindly to the strain.  I never knew muscle pains could be so bad!  Spasms and cramps almost reducing me to tears on the odd occasion and the sudden twanging of muscles as I tried to stretch them out were all a surprise.  My PT has been hit and  miss, having one fella leave, another start for one session, then leave and now I have another newbie to see on Thurs.   Ho hum… anyone have any ideas of how to fix over exerted and grumpy muscles?  I’ve tried massaging, stretching, heat, ice and painkillers, oh and some rest which seems to be the best medicine, but doesn’t work as quickly as I want it to!

I also had another check up at the hospital a coupla weeks ago – X-rays are looking good and everyone is pleased with my bones healing. My leg length discrepancy is a different story though – so far it’s been measured at anything from a minor 1cm to a rather alarming 1.8cms.  Panic set in after a conversation with a lovely ‘patient appliances’ Dr who told me that I’d need to go and get some granny style shoes that could be built up as I needed at least an extra 18mm on my left shoe. He wasn’t quite so blunt and was very professional, but once I’d left his office it did reduce me to tears of frustration. I’d also been told in response to the age old question “What/where should my recovery be by now? Should I have crutches any more?” that if people could tell from my walk that I’d had an op that I’d still need crutches, and that was that.   Hmm not so helpful.    I did hobble back to see the lovely Orthapedic nurse Michelle who is brilliant and made me feel human again by taking time out to chat and took another look at my X-rays. What I really need is some gait work, but due to massive muscle pains, and lack of PT I haven’t really started this yet. Fingers crossed the new physio will hang around for a bit so I can get a better idea of what I should/shouldn’t be doing – I’ve a sneaky suspicion playing in the sea isn’t high up the list of things to do!

I’ve just re-read this posting and it sounds awfully negative, but that’s not how I’m feeling about the whole thing really. I’m just impatient and expect too much from my poor healing hip, Since the op I’ve only had 4 days where the pain has been horrid, I get about without crutches most of the time and the soreness I had in the joint pre op isn’t there any more so things are on the up.  Ohh speaking of which a fantastic friend of mine bought me a great book called; Healing Hip, Joint and Knee Pain: A Mind-body Guide to Recovering from Surgery and and Injuries by Kate O’Shea. It’s worth a read pre or post surgery, it’s  about getting in tune with your body as it goes through changes, it’s got a hippy vibe about it and is easy to read, so get out some candles and have some alone time with those poorly joints.

Over exhuberance does not pay off!

The title of this post is something I should know, but bloody mindedness and impatience are the enemies of rational thought.

After having felt pretty good for a week or so I decided to walk to the local shops using only one crutch. The going was good on the way, but pretty ropey on the way back.   I’ve been paying for this little excursion ever since, scarily in the form of well known discomfort.  My hip has felt like it used to on a really bad day pre op; all sore and stiff with a few stabby pains thrown in for good luck. New pains I can deal with, they’re spose to be there, but old ones can take a hike; they haven’t though, not for the last 3 days.  To be honest I have been for little walks, done the hoovering, got the washing in and been for a swim, so I guess not resting up properly might have something to do with it!!

This did knock me a little and I even had a 5 minute strop involving tears and the immortal words “was it even ****** worth it” followed by ”I’m getting the same ****** pains and I’ve one ****** leg longer than the other which is making my ****** back hurt”.   As you can see I was feeling somewhat sorry for myself and a little angry!! Incidentally insert whatever naughty word you fancy into the ****** bits, I think I may have used a variety!    My lovely man just listened to my mini outburst, let me shed my ‘woe is me’ tears and waited until I was calm enough to be rational again.

I’m back to my normal self and realise that as a wise hippy (Annick – wibbly wobbly blog)  said ‘Just because I can, doesn’t mean I should!’  I need to chill, no matter how good I feel in myself I have to listen to my hip and be nice to it rather than beast it. After all it has been sawn, chiselled, and screwed back together….. that was just over 10 weeks ago though, surely I should be able to run a marathon by now!

Post op check up 7 weeks (ish)

My mum, dad and I hobbled (well just me hobbling mum and dad have fully working legs!) down to London on Friday for a post op check up with Marcus Bankes.  As expected I had X-Rays (see below) then I met the man himself….and the verdict is;  My bones are healing really well, I’m ready to begin bearing weight and I am to aim to lose the crutches within the next four weeks. I’m only allowed to drive once I’m off the crutches, oh and I’ll need a cane for a while after I’m fully weight-bearing.  I can now go swimming – YAY! but not biking yet – even in the gym, darn it! I can once I’m fully weight bearing though so that’s something to look forward to.   As for the difference in leg length that is a little bigger than expected, so it looks like I may need an insole in my left shoe to even me out, now can you get insoles for peep toe heels?!

As for when leftie will be done, that’s a whole different story to what I expected. I’ve now been told that until I get pains in it (I guess to a similar extent to my right hip was pre-op) I won’t be considered for a second surgery. Now I was always under the impression that both were definitely going to be done, and probably within a year of each other (I was hoping sooner but that was pure impatience).  Obviously it’s a good thing that surgery won’t be done unless needed, only in my head I was having the next one done pronto then cracking on with normal life.  It’s just a matter of changing my mindset, crack on with normal life then leftie will happen somewhere along the way, more than likely at the most inconvenient time!

Pre op wonkiness

 

Nice screws!

 

Check out how my bones have healed - YAY for bones!

 

Physio is lined up for later this week, and my next hospital appointment is set for 6 weeks, by which time I’ll be walking!!

It’s just not hip!

Non hip related rant to follow.

I have a slighty older (12 to be precise) car, and some son of a goat did this;

My poorly car

The car was parked in a small village for a day and a bit, and there was no note left. Why do people think it’s ok to do this? My car may be old and a bit poorly, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok to bash it and drive off. GGGGRRRRRRRRRRR! 

Rant over.

Physio

My first physio appointment was last week, and it was all pretty good.  As suspected the guy had never had a patient who’d had a PAO before, but was clearly in the know about most elements of it – phew!

I’m now allowed a tiny bit more weight bearing, but the physio (Matt)was reluctant to do too much until I’ve had my check up at Guys. In the meantime I have 3 new exercises, all of which stretch my lower back out as well as hip flexor and quads.  He assessed my leg length difference and concluded that it’s not as bad as it looks; the muscles on the left leg have tightened up enough to make that leg appear a lot shorter than it actually is, hence the exercises to stop my back muscles pulling so hard.  Without seeing my X-rays Matt could only assume that my pelvis is a bit out of line, but with a slight change in bone structure (to say the least!) needs X-rays to be sure. Bearing all this in mind he seemed to think the difference in my leg lengths will only be about a cm, which is not so bad. Shame I won’t be a full inch taller though!

Friday sees my first hospital check up, and I’m looking forward to seeing the changes in my X-rays (hopefully I will get copies of all of them too).  I do need to be realistic though; I have visions of being able to get back in the gym and pool next week, as well as finally being allowed to drive, but this might take a couple of weeks. After all I’m still using 2 crutches to get around at the moment and the thought of coming off them is both exciting and daunting!  It’s been just over 7 weeks and putting my full weight on my operated leg still feels  a way off – only mentally though, I think the leg will be ok so long as I don’t do too much!

6 weeks post op

I can’t believe it’s already over the 6 week mark, mind you thinking back to the op it feels like a life time ago now.

So where am I up to?  Still not getting a full nights sleep, thankfully not due to pain, just discomfort either in my hip or in my back.  I can now lie on my front and non operated side, but having tried the operated side for a mere 5 seconds decided that I’m not quite ready for that giant leap just yet.  My back isn’t causing me pain, it just feels like the small of my back is compressed and no amount of wriggling around seems to ease it.  Pre-op I was able to click my hips to help with back issues, clearly leftie still cluncks nicely, but I’m reluctant to try rightie just yet!

My scar is looking ok, (pic to follow), though on occasions does look a little bruised, that is probably due to me having been a little brutal with the bio oil! 

Scar at 6 weeks

 

I get a sense that I can feel the screws on occasions, but only because across the front of my hip feels a bit numb and different, as though it’s not quite all me, but other than that I’ve not felt them yet.

The muscles on the operated side have been visibly disappearing since around week three,  I pretty much have no right bum cheek and my already skinny leg is about a couple of inches smaller in circumference – not such a good look in shorts! My left leg and butt cheek, however, is buff!  The length of my leg is still an inch or so longer, I’m yet to find out if this will change at all. Maybe the bashing about of my pelvis during the op put me off kilter, and it’ll all level out nicely.

I can get around a lot more easily and can even pick things up off the floor without too much anguish by sticking my operated leg out behind me. Attempting to bend and going too far over my right angle allowance causes a bit of discomfort so I guess my bones just aren’t ready.  I have been a bit sneaky and put a little extra weight through my leg, and it all seems to be ok, though I don’t feel ready to lose the crutches yet.

My physio appointment has been changed so my first one is this coming Friday, I will be going armed with op info and diagrams in case of ignorance! Now all I need to do is sort out the list of questions for my hospital check up next week, oh and remember a memory stick to get copies of my x-rays – Yippee!

2 weeks 5 days – 3 weeks 3 days

2 weeks 5 days is how long it took me to feel real pain. At a friends wedding my leg decided it had really had enough, which resulted in the feeling that there was a knife being jabbed in my groin and that my leg was trying to detach itself from my body. This meant leaving the wedding earlier than expected (boo hiss), tears of pain (youch!), some lovely friends looking after me and helping me get up to bed when I got home (hurray!), and about 4 morphine tablets in the space of 5 hours!  Now considering I’d only been taking one painkiller before bed for almost 2 weeks it was a bit of a shocker. Anywho, thankfully the pain has never returned to that extent, although my hip has been grumbling along similar lines.  This concerns me as I’ve been pretty much pain free from the off with or without pain killers, and now when I initially sit  down (on a soft seat the right height and everything) I get a pain going from my bum bone as a dull ache and escalating to a stabby pain in my groin. Once I’m sat down it’s ok unless I have to shuffle around, or when I get up.  Has anyone else had a similar experience? I’m now 3 and a bit weeks out of surgery and it feels a little bit like I’m going backwards, which is just not cricket!

At this point in time it would seem as though the millimetres of difference in my leg lengths is all a myth. Currently it looks like about an inch difference. Now I’m all keen for growing a little, but an inch seems a bit extreme – here’s to hoping there’s still some swelling in the joint that’s causing the problem, if not I need to get my other leg done quickly so I match!

2 weeks and 2 days…

…is how long it took me to be able to lie on my non-operated side – such a relief!!!  oh and 2 weeks and 3 days is how long it took for me to have a little frustrated tear or two. Not a major sob but all things considered it was probably about time, my man took it in his stride then we went for a hobble down the village to get my outta these four walls. All better now.

Oh I nearly forgot, have a Physio appointment at the local hospital on the 21st August, very excited!! It’ll bring me a step closer to getting back on my feet.  Though I won’t actually be weight bearing until at least the 4th September which is when I have my post op check at Guys.

One step at a time…

Saturday was my first big day out post-op and all went well.   A lovely sunny day at a friends wedding and muchos hobbling and merriment was had. The operated leg didn’t exactly behave itself in spite of the fact that lots of people were looking out for me and it; because I wasn’t wearing the super sexy TED stockings (a pre checked day off from orthapedic nurse!) my entire leg swelled up not the usual down to my knee, which was nice.   It had been propped up, rested and hobbled around all day, but nothing made it happy. Thankfully it was only a little uncomfortable and not particularly painful. In-spite of my slight difficulty in moving around all went swimmingly with the leg.  As for the wedding itself it was beautiful and lovely and fun and the happy couple were, well, very happy, ahhhh bless them.

Since it’s long day out my leg has felt bruised, I can only assume it’s my muscles feeling a little battered from the ordeal because no bruises have appeared so far.  On the subject of bruises my stomach has a nice collection going on, to the point that I have developed a little lump in one part of my tummy. It turns out that the anti-coagulants I’m injecting may also be helping me to bruise more easily, nice! 

My man and I ventured out for a little hobble today, found a little footpath that was part concrete/gravel so the wheelchair could be used if needed, and it was.  It’s amazing how tiring it gets hobbling along. Now I wouldn’t say I was at the peak of fitness pre-op but I was certainly no couch potato, so to get tired out so quickly is somewhat frustrating, I reckon I hobbled about 400m and that’s a generous estimate. The other 200m I used the wheelchair in self-propelling mode. I think my steering got a little better on the flat, but as soon as there was a little downhill it all got a bit too much especially as the path was curving to the right at the time, I very nearly ended up in the stinging nettles!  Still that was only my second outing, there’s plenty more time to practice, specially if it enables me to get outside for longer :0)