Minimally Invasive Hip Replacement (April 2006)

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Tuesday 5/23/06 - Monday 5/29/06 - 50-56 Days Post Surgery

I've had an up and down week. I cycled 6 miles out to Saguaro National Park and the 6 miles back without undue fatigue or pain. I was extremely excited at this new milestone. I was slightly stiff the next day and then laid low with pain the following day. Something wasn't right. I wasn't making significant progress. And although I was quite flexible in most positions, the pain was increasing. This seems to be a recurring theme. My body tells me in the form a pain, that I've over done it. But I think that I haven't done very much at all and have not pushed my limits to that point.  My physical therapist thought I probably needed more recovery time so I sat around and read for most of the next 2 days. Needless to say I was discouraged. We set an appointment for several days away. I'll finish up the week journal with talk about that visit because I want to keep this in chronological order.

Tylenol PM was leaving me foggy in the morning to I eliminated that to determine if I could sleep without it. I continue to sleep with ibuprophen at night and stretching at intervals when I wake up and can't get back to sleep in a few minutes. That is encouraging.

I only needed to take one nap this week and other than that, my energy level has been more normal during the day. I'm also going to sleep at a more normal hour and waking up at a more normal hour. For me that's 10pm and 6am. I'm enjoying 'more normal'.

Most of the time I did not require my cane. When I did, the onset of pain was sudden and sharp and there was no way I could walk without limping..

During the appointment with Megan, my physical therapist, she assessed me as though I were a new patient. First I showed her that I could no longer stand and balance on my 'surgery leg'. There was sharp pain deep in the area that I identify as my hip or hip capsule. If I didn't know that my hip was artificial with no nerve endings, I would describe the pain as between my ball and joint. One by one as she assessed my movement and strength she said, "That's great" and "That's normal". Then she moved me passively into a position that caused excruciating pain. She tested my strength and that was limited by pain also. She then put me in position, told me to take a deep breath and let it out slowly. She quickly pushed down and felt a 'crunch'. She then tested the position that cased the pain again and it was pain free. Apparently, probably because of the trauma dislocating my hip, I have adhesions in the capsule. They are somewhat similar to  scar tissue, but they have no elasticity. What she did was to break some of it up.

I'm encouraged. She said I would be weak and have some pain later in the day from all the work, but that the adhesion should not return and I should have no pain from that. All of that is true. It is now the next morning and today was the easiest day I have had getting out of bed. I am no longer restricted in that area. Megan will come back next week because I probably have one or more other adhesions. I'm encouraged that there is a reason and a solution to my pain, and lack of progress.

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