After the First Month

One Month Plus After Surgery

My right leg (the one with the incision and new hip) is waking up! It is not happy! The internal conversation sounds a bit like this:

Right Leg (RL): Just what did you do to me?!?

Me: Um, we had a little operation to replace the hip joint…

RL: Little!! My Ass!!! (RL does include my gluteus maximus muscle, after all.)

Me: You seem a little restless lately?

RL: I am trying to figure out all the nerve paths that your “little operation” has disrupted.

Me: Is that why I am having trouble sleeping?

RL: You bet it is, honey! You disrupt me and I am gonna disrupt you!

This is my imaginary discussion with my right leg and a possible reason why I am having major twinges and little electrical shocks (like tiny, tiny ants running around inside my leg). And, yes, it is making it hard to sleep. Is it ‘painful’? No, just annoying. It actually feels like a program of healing that the leg is going through as it re-finds the muscle and nerve connections that were disturbed (cut).

Swimming – II

Three times a week now and I am up to 300 metres in lengths. In a younger incarnation, I used to swim kilometres of lengths in a saltwater pool until I was bored. Right now, my little 300 metres seems like a major victory. My style and breathing cycles are all a long way out of whack, so I am learning to swim all over again.

Hoping to push to 500 metres (20 lengths) by the end of next week.

Gardening – II

Gardening, I mean, weeding, is interesting to without bending my hip more than 90 degrees. My other leg is getting much stronger as I lunge at the weeds that I have just uprooted with my hoe or loosened with my shovel.

The ongoing rain means that I sneak out between showers (deluges) and it helps me keep the time short so that I don’t overdo it.

Physiotherapy – IV

New exercises, again. Now the emphasis is on balance. Walking heel to toe is harder than it used to be! I can climb stairs one step for each stair. This is a major breakthrough. Still using various supports (walker, crutches, cane) but depending on them less.

Walking

Around the block and out grocery shopping for the time being. I know I need to walk more but am not quite there yet. I am managing to clock in at around 5000 steps a day on a consistent basis. More to come in the future.

Pain Management – VI

Since it is my muscles and back that are speaking the loudest, I am adding a muscle relaxant to my acetaminophen regime. Still taking the opioids at night since I need some sleep to continue the healing process.