My ITB has been a problem since about 3 months after surgery, it has peaks and troughs of being annoying, right now it’s in a trough.  I have exercises to strengthen my glut med and the abductor muscles but they’re not getting the job done it would seem or at least not as quick as I would like! After a session playing tennis with the children in my class my limp returned, after a session of acupuncture (good but painful) my ITB calmed a little, but now after a gentle walk with a friend on a flat surface in flat shoes it’s got me walking like a weeble’s wobble again. BOOOO HISS!

The surgery itself was over quickly – I was under for around an hour, then recovering for a couple of hours before being allowed to hobble off home. I took crutches with me as I had been advised that I should use them for a few days after surgery, then when I met the surgeon he seemed to think I’d be fine without them.  So I used them for a short while after leaving the hospital, and probably won’t use them again.

Pain wise things feel fine, the area around the incision is a little tender, I have some nice bruising but that at the minute is about all. Oh and I’ m obviously swollen, which gives me a slightly one sided muffin top! but it’s a look I can work with.

I can’t remember what’s happened in the few months since I last posted, so I’ll just go with how things are now.

I’ve been discharged from physio as everything is in fairly good order and my muscles just need more strength, the screws are still in my hip – I’m on the waiting list to have them removed, oh and my leg length discrepancy seems to have sorted itself out.  As the muscles in my right leg have recovered their strength it would seem they’ve pulled the leg up a little so there’s only a small difference in leg lengths now – this means I get to wear pretty shoes again YIPPEE!

On the flip side the more ‘back to normal’ I get the more soreness I seem to be getting in the joint,  just like pre PAO.  The muscle soreness has abated, but the bone pain seems to be returning.  It’s usually after I’ve had to bend down and even if it’s only for a short time the joint stiffens up.  Makes me think getting lefty done sooner rather than later seems like a good plan; it doesn’t cause me any pain now, so surely if they sort out the socket before the bones and cartilage deteriorate too much I’ll have the joy of a fully functioning hip with no pain – HURRAH!   Well I’ll have to leave that decision to the Dr’s who really know the score.  Until then it’ll be back to hobbling occasionally!

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.

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!

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!!

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.

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!

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!