Blinkys Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Gross 2015

[blinky]

Yesterday was an excellent day.


I woke up with a hinky right hip, but it warmed up and I had the best day so far.


1) Swam. It was chilly and not so sunny but I wanted to get in the water. Dressed faster than before, despite dropping a few things (!) in the process. Since I was feeling off, I told myself to give it 400m and if it didn't feel good, to stop. It felt great! My kick was symmetrical and while not powerful because my glutes are still napping, it was quick. No pain or stiffness. Right leg wasn't trying to compensate for left leg. I ended up swimming 1k free then messing around for another 200m seeing what else I could do. (i.e. not ready for fly; I can undulate and move my arms, but can't snap my legs).


2) Walked. The 0.90 cane walk but done like a regular person, in about twenty minutes, swinging arms. Very pleased. I couldn't have done it so well pre op.


3) Standing, etc. It is the holiday season, so various other commitments that involve standing around and talking to people, going to grocery store late, cooking and cleaning (but not bending). I couldn't have stood that long preop, not for the socializing and not for the cleaning up.


Scheming to get to the pool today and tomorrow. Lucky enough to have holiday events that make that complicated. Then to SC for the six week check up!

[blinky]

Another walk, another swim, another holiday party. Not a bad day.


Walked a mile, swam 1k, won't report on the number of calories consumed.

[jd]

I'm impressed! I can't swim 1k regardless of my hip :)

[blinky]

Ha! I used to swim much more at a time, like 3K wasn't too unusual. I will confess that when Dr Gross was laying out what I could and couldn't do I questioned him closely about what the swim limits were because I knew I would be able return to swimming before anything else. Freestyle okay? Backstroke? Breast? Can I dive? Etc. He gave me a lot more latitude on swimming than I expected, maybe more than I ought to have. I am not a great swimmer, but I do more than most people and probably more than he thought.


Yesterday 1k swim, feeling better all the time, and the mile walk, and don't even ask what I ate.


While swim bragging, I will confess the biggest limiter is time. Since I am a few days from driving (!) I am at the mercy of my ride to the pool and so far my ride hasn't stayed that long. I look forward to swimming more when I drive myself.


Fly to SC today for the six week check up tomorrow. I am taking the cane and will board early because I can. Excited about some restrictions being lifted. Also curious about whether I will set off the metal detector.


Then to NOLA to meet the family.

[PMac]

Haha I have been wondering about the whole metal detector thing as well, I have two trips planned next year one to Paris in April then I'm crossing the pond to Florida at the beginning of July. It was a question I'd intended to ask before the op but never got round to.


Maybe some of our fellow hippys know the answer?

[jd]

You will 100%, absolutely, always set off the metal detector. Particularly with 2 hips done!

It's actually a little annoying because I have TSA pre-check which is (normally) a lot faster and uses a metal detector by default instead of the other body scanner. Metal detector always goes off though so now I'm used to asking to use the body scanner and having to explain. I think I'm 6/6 for setting it off at the airport already :)

Please do let me know if it doesn't go off for you though!

[blinky]

Oh, it went off! I have precheck, too, so had to wait for body scanner. In Columbia they sent me straight to the body scanner.


Fun parts of trip: boarding first with a cane, but also being quick enough to get off first (!) and out walk everyone else.


Being nervous about traveling without the grabber even though I can bend over more, I rubber banded the grabber to the cane to make it easier to carry. I look like a big dork! (To put my own nerdiness in perspective, a friend who sews offered to make me a quiver in which to place my grabber and to attach it to the cane....)


The check up went fine. All is well. No surprises. I can do more within the well known six month precautions (no running, no lifting over 50 lbs, no deep squatting), but should increase my activities gradually. No firm guidelines given, but advised to add about 10% at a time.


So I will be adding details of my recovery less frequently now, just when I do something new and amazing. Hmm.....I hope that means I will still be adding something pretty often.

[jd]

Cognratulations blinky. I'm sure you knew everything was going well, but it's still got to be nice to here it officially! I'm still waiting on my remote 6-week follow-up because PT took a long time to do their form. Hopefully soon though (and I too "know" that everything is fine with mine). I'll definitely do the 1 year follow-up in person.

Welcome back to (light) stretching, strengthening, and bending!

[blinky]

I will be curious what they tell you remotely. Reaction to X-rays? An email with the new exercises?


Okay, so I have a long list of firsts/return tos and a few "yikes, that was harder than I thoughts."


The firsts: tie my shoes, wear tights and tighter jeans, drive, cross my ankles, pick things up off the floor without the grabber, cut my nails, and shave my legs. Yay! The friction makes my incision look better fwiw after all those weeks of babying it. And my incision looks pretty good! I rode a stationary bike ten minutes and elliptical-ed ten minutes. The former was easy, the latter challenging.


The "yikes": getting on the floor and doing the side lifts on the left side. I can't squat down yet, which is the way I would have gone down before. I can go down knee, knee or (easier) lower myself with my legs and triceps. I bend okay, but I don't like putting my weight on my side, either side, when on the floor. That makes doing the side lifts tough without a mat or something under my butt. But the lifts on the left, my more damaged side, are just plain hard to do because I am weak on that side. It doesn't hurt (this for the the wuss guy) I just can't do it. My son had to start me on the first lift so my body would know what to do. (Lee had to start me on the first front lift for the same reason, but then I could do the rest.)


An aside: reading the forum, I have noticed that many people have trouble with the front lifts and sometimes they hurt themselves doing too many. I was vigorously cautioned by Lee not to do too many at first, heck to start with five and build to thirty. That is what I am doing. I can tell I have some big strength disparities because on one side it is not a big deal to do the lifts while on the other I struggle. 


NOLA was great. I had no trouble flying there alone. (Only a backpack and a change of clothes, which I put in the overhead bin to have more leg room and to not have to bend over. Husband and boys met me with suitcase.) We walked a lot, way more than I should have, but I felt good and had to remind myself to sit down and take a break. I did feel beat up by the end of the trip and ought to sit and ice a while. I used a Fitbit to walk less, but by the time I looked at it, I was generally already in the red. (Don't tell Lee! She said I was free to walk as much as I pleased, but not to do it overnight, and of course, I feel like I did just that.)

[PMac]

Great stuff Blinky, really pleased it's going so well! Have a great Christmas

[jd]

How are you handling the front straight leg lifts (hip flexor)? I still find them incredibly challenging but probably haven't been doing them as consistently as I should. I cannot comprehend being able to do 30 as prescribed with a 2lb ankle weight. My psoas is still by far the most angry muscle and I definitely get sore after standing around for an hour (although walking is fine).

Isn't it fantastic to be able to bend past 90 degrees again?

EDIT: sorry, just reread and I see that you find it harder on one side vs the other.

[blinky]

I am pretty strong with those, especially on the right side, but suck at the side lifts on the left side. I guess my left side was in terrible shape and on top of that were years of compensation for the bad hip. I experimented with some breaststroke and can really tell how weak my adductors and abductors are. Oy!


But over all feeling great at almost week eight. I do forget about my hips...and then usually do something to remind myself of them, like try to sit down in a position my hips are not yet ready for. I am back to doing all my usual chores (darn) and am testing the limits of what I can do rehab wise.


Walking 1.5 miles or a little more twice a day. Walking is a great treat and I am out rain or shine. Have to control myself not to go too far yet.


Doing the Dr Gross exercises, adding one rep daily. The first ones feel easy so I guess that is progress.


Stationary bike feels good and easy, but have to not overdo it.


Elliptical, never my favorite, is still not a favorite. I have to concentrate on this, to think about what muscles are working and how my weight shifts from side to side.


Swimming is a joy. My legs are kicking well enough in freestyle I can think about doing kick drills (but won't yet). I am up to 1500m. It doesn't hurt at all to roll. I tried a little breaststroke, as mentioned, and felt weak. It didn't hurt, but just pushing water easy felt very very hard. I will have to work up to this. Fly felt good on the other hand, but done gently. (When I started hurting, I could still fly pretty well. My abs and arms were sill strong.) If I do big undulations and don't snap my legs I can fly.


I do experience some so called start up pain.  It isn't pain, not really, more like a stiffness, a creakiness. I get it when I sit for a long time and it goes away after half a dozen steps.

[blinky]

The weekly update.


So walking is the foundation of my rehab. I am still waking twice a day, gradually increasing so now the long walk is 2 miles and the second walk is less than or equal to that. I think going forward, post holidays, the long walk should be first thing in the morning and continue to grow. Walk two will be more of a break from sitting (or whatever) later in the day. I do take the cane on both walks, but am using it less and less. I am not ready to leave it at home yet; maybe on the later shorter walk in a week or so.


The Dr Gross exercises are going fine. The left side raise is still the toughest. The stretches are fine, too. I am tight but not necessarily in the areas those stretches reach.


Figuring out what to do with bike and elliptical. I just need to have a pattern.


Swimming! Okay, so I participated in an hour swim/fundraiser today. My goal was....to swim an hour. I still have to do a series of 25s in order not to push off too hard: swim to the wall, stop, turn around, swim another 25, being careful not to twist, too. Pretty funny. I shared a lane with a friend who isn't much of a swimmer but wanted to try the hour for the first time. I told her I had no goal but to stay in motion so we would be perfect lane mates.  On the other side was a wounded warrior, a young woman who is a below the knee amputee on one leg. In the swimming itself, the WW and I were the same pace, maybe me a little faster, but at the walls she had me every time because she could push off and dolphin kick to start. Her presence did put my situation in perspective. This year we both had our devices poolside, my cane and her prosthesis. Next year my cane will be at home and I will be rocketing off the walls. (But she might still beat me!)


I managed to swim 2600 yds without pushing off. Not the best I have done by far, but I will take it as a New Hips Record.


So going forward I think I can swim 2k at a time a few times a week.


Still feeling better all the time, but also experiencing niggles. I am sure there will be some tomorrow. I can sleep on the left side but not the right and would prefer to just sleep in the recliner. Rolling over wakes me up and sleeping flat on my back wakes my husband up because I snore.


Speaking of my husband, I will throw out that he is eager for us to take trips, lots of trips. For example, we are going to NYC at the end of the month. I know I will be fine to go, and I have been traveling, but I am more reluctant than he is. I just want to be in one place for a while. Meanwhile, he is protective in other ways I don't need, like driving or grocery shopping. Maybe he enjoyed these chores when I couldn't do them? He wants me to do PT and I tell him not yet. I want to wait until six months out and see where I am. So we have an interesting dance going on right now, a push and pull of what I can and can't do. Not unique, I am sure every couple has this, but I will put it out there that we have different goals for me. He is very eager to show people what I can do fwiw and enjoys having a part in putting me back together again. I don't mean this in a bad way: he was delighted I did the swim and I really wanted to do it, for example.

[jd]

Hi blinky,

I'm very impressed by your swimming! Obviously you were a solid swimmer pre-op, but it does make me motivated to keep working on becoming a proficient longer-distance swimmer (I can swim breaststroke forever but I really don't have good freestyle technique so I burn out extremely quickly).

Also impressive that you can sleep on either side. If I sleep for a few hours on my operated side I wake up pretty sore. I'm OK to sleep through the night on the other side though.

The niggles will continue to fade away, although as you increase range of motion there'll be new ones :)

[blinky]

I am seeing the emergence of the new niggles! Glad to hear it is normal, but I will have to watch it.


Okay, so I was sore after the big swim. Not sore in a bad way; sore in a good way, my muscles were sore. The mistake I made, though, was in not taking a day off. I woke up Monday feeling great and set out to walk and swim as usual. I could tell my butt muscles, the little balancing butt muscles (technical term), not the big powerful ones, were tired. When I walked, I used the cane and was sunk back in my hips instead of leaning forward. Swimming, too, while my legs kicked fine, they lacked oomph. I had a right hip niggle.


The next day I met some old gym friends. I was smart enough not to work out with them, I just dropped by to say hi. But I was not smart enough to avoid the neighbors walking when I got home. I got sucked into doing the hillier (but not longer) route they chose. The right hip niggle stayed.


By Wednesday I had come to my senses. I did walk, but alone, and I didn't swim or do any other activities. I made myself sit and ice my hip. Ditto Thursday. Ditto Friday, but with a little swimming.


Yesterday I was too much of a princess to swim because the sun was too low. I did use the bike and elliptical and can report they both felt great...while I was using them. I was pleased to have made so much progress on the elliptical, but paid for it with that right hip niggle later on.


So the moral of the story is that even at 9-10 weeks, while I make progress, I have to be careful and not over do it.


A little navel gazing: 1) I have to find that balance between pushing forward and not pushing too hard. I was debating giving up the cane this time last week. The long swim set me back that way. (I carry it, but don't always use it. When I go out to just run errands, when I know I won't be walking much, I take it but leave it in the car.) 2) I have some small habits of movement that probably hurt my right hip. For years the left hip was the bad hip and the right one got used to covering. I can tell it is still doing so.

[blinky]

So the theme of recovery continues to be how much is too much.


The beginning of the week I felt great, really great, and wondered if I could ditch the cane. So I did. Walked without it, ran errands without it. By Wednesday my right hip was pretty sore and I felt like I had gone backwards in recovery. My rationale mind was saying "you over did it, dial it back" while my irrational mind was saying "you messed up! it is an infection/fracture; call Lee asap!" I went with the rational mind and took Wednesday off, trying to sit and ice as much as I could. I was better Thursday, not back to normal, but enough better I knew it was overuse and not something horrible. Thursday I used the cane, but Friday I was able to be cane free again. Yesterday I used the cane. Today no cane. Maybe that is the pattern?


I am taking a trip this coming weekend and was debating whether or not to take the cane. Would I need it? The cane is a nuisance when I need to use two hands. If I brought the cane, I could board the airplane first (!) and the cane would protect me from being bumped or hurried in a crowd. Now I know I should take it. No qualms. 


The troublesome right hip: it still swells. Not a lot, I think I am the only one who notices, but it does. The right side is still the dominant, harder working side. I carry the cane in the right hand. The right side kills the Dr Gross exercises, while the left side just does okay. My right knee collapses inwards sometimes. I think this is because 1) maybe an adductor/abductor issue but more likely 2) right side wants to splint left side, to help it out. This means right side works harder, and also that the right side ligaments get stretched more.


Coming up on eleven weeks post op. Walking 3 miles a day, 2 in the am, one in the pm, swimming 2k three/four times a week. Lazy about the biking and ellip.

[Quig]

Keep up the good work and thanks for the update. Future bilats appreciate the info so we can try to sorta prepare for what we're getting ourselves into! ;)

[Snowbound]

I'm a week shy of a year since my surgery. My left hip has been great, but I pain issues with the muscles on the right side that's slowly improving. This summer I was starting to feel pretty good, but as I got more active I started getting more pain, mostly in the upper hamstring area. If I stretched the hamstring, like bending over then straightening up it would hurt.


I go to the gym most days when I'm not playing hockey or squash. I started to think there was some muscle/tendon damage but eventually figured out it was muscle imbalance. My quads and abductors are much stronger from being tense all the time pre surgery. I was making it worse at the gym by doing leg presses so I've backed off that and I focus on hamstring and abductor exercises. I'm also standing up straighter than pre surgery so that probably contributes to it with the change in posture.


It has improved significantly in the last month. I've also noticed that I'm somewhat knock kneed so I'm hoping the abductor training can help with that.


Massage therapy has also helped a lot, relieving the tightness I feel in the leg muscles. I've also been doing yoga which helps a lot with stretching.


Good luck.

[blinky]

So I thought this would be a repeat of last week, with me trying to figure out how much was too much, feeling good, getting restless, overdoing. It would end with another trip and another adventure in setting off metal detectors. All that happened, but I also took my new hips to


Snowzilla!


We planned a weekend in NYC that would NOT be a walking trip. We would sit and eat and go to shows and sit and visit with my H's friends from abroad, passing through town, who caused us to come here.


The near record snowfall cancelled and shut down all our calm, sitting down activities and forced us to go play in the empty streets. Okay, not really play, more like wander in awe.


The hips did well. It wasn't slippery and I had my cane. Stepping over piles of snow was challenging but do able. I was sore and stiff when I woke up from all my little balance muscles working. Better now after ice and a little activity.


Promise myself to be more still today.

[blinky]

Hey Snowbound! I appreciate your story. I have to keep reminding myself that healing will take a long time, even a year or more. There are a lot of bad habits for me to overcome, too.


Almost three months out. Half way to being released to full normalcy. Wow.


The theme continues to be how much is too much. I have those great days, including today, when I feel normal, and the less than great days, including yesterday, when I am crooked and achey. It took two days to recover from the four days of being away. I did test the new hips: very quick walking in the airport to make connections after delayed flights (successful!), ill advised but irresistible walk from Penn Station to the hotel pre snow (I won't confess how many blocks, but straight down Broadway and glad I did it given the snow), two days spent wandering in the snow with one day slippery and one not. When I was doing those things, no pain and well functioning hips. But once I got home, I had to dial it back. Time to ice and sit still. I had some aches and weaknesses due to fatigue and carried that dang cane. Today I set out to walk and didn't need the cane. Yay!


So for the next month no trips or challenges planned. I plan on building the long walk to three miles and the swim to 3K. Reviewing Dr Gross' restrictions, it looks like at three months I am free to walk as much as I want (oops----jumped the gun on that somewhat; but I can truthfully say I didn't walk as much as I wanted, not yet).


The prescribed strength and stretching exercises are going well. Even the slow left hip is making some gains, though it remains behind the right hip. I am searching for a few exercises to add, simple ones like clamshells or targeted glute exercises. Thinking about squats, but I think I will be happier indoor cycling.


Speaking of squats. One movement we Dr Gross patients are not allowed to do is deep squatting. Well, I did that movement accidentally. Twice. We have a new kitchen, last year we gutted it and remodeled. We have cats. One cat has been staring and pawing at a corner of the baseboards. IDK why. A mouse? A lizard? A large cockroach? Anyway, right before I was to leave town, that little stinker managed to dislodge a section of baseboard and began to dart under the cabinets after whatever it is she has been stalking. Eeek! Without thinking I squatted down to stop her. It was a deep squat. I froze. OMG! What had I done? It didn't hurt and I felt okay, so I put myself in a more appropriate position, pulled the cat out, and then duct taped the baseboard back in place. Whew. No long term damage to me, the cat, or the kitchen.


The second time was when I did the same thing again.