“It hurts up to a point and then it doesn’t get any worse.” ~ Ann Trason
Week 3 of FAI hip surgery recovery started on a good note with my first trip to physical therapy. Thank goodness, let’s get this hip moving! I rated my pain as zero since well… it was not hurting at all. Funny thing is I am so used to the other hip being the problem side that I accidentally got out of bed the day after Thanksgiving and took a few steps crutching with the wrong foot down. Whoops, it didn’t hurt, just felt weak so hopefully I didn’t do any lasting damage. I also started driving at the two week point, a little precarious at first, but all good with a few day’s practice.
Other highlight was attending my first NBA game with tickets first row right on the floor. I am not a huge basketball fan, but being so close to the players that I was getting sweat on and seeing how hard they worked, well it was just awesome! During timeouts, the crazy Utah Jazz bear kept yanking off the shoes of everyone in the front row and throwing them into the court that I spent a good deal of the game worried that some bear was going to pull on my leg and kill me so I kept my crutch handy to whack at any moment.
I returned to work the Monday after Thanksgiving, after a glorious 17 days off of work. After FAI surgery #1 and resultant capsular repair, I had only taken a week off of work and I think that extra week made a world of difference. I had less pain and swelling and was much more chipper than last time and everyone at work said I looked so much better than after my previous surgeries. So TIP: take as much time off as possible.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the time off of work reading, writing, and getting my blog about women’s outdoor gear fired up, it was difficult to go back to work because I was so wiped at the end of the day I had little time for my other happy pursuits.
All in all I am feeling positive and happy with the little bit of progress I am making. My physical therapist has seen me through two of these surgeries and is happy with how well my hip is moving already. My entire week mostly looked like this TIMES SEVEN:
AM: Heel slides, circles, leg raises with spider band. 10 minutes on the recumbent bike – yay!!!
PM: Worked a whole 6 hours. Felt good. Then another 10 minutes on the bike at level negative zero (meaning I can’t pedal hard enough to turn the darned thing on) at what I am guessing to be 35 rpms. Ha!
PM2: Heel slides, circles, leg raises with spider band.
A rather boring report, I know. But I will take it since I am sure there will be some serious meltdowns down the road 🙂