3 Year Update for Blinky’s Bilateral Hip Resurfacing with Dr. Gross 2015
Read Blinky’s Original Story Here
It’s my hippiversary! Three years for hip number two. Time for a review. The short version? It has been great. I run, swim, cycle, dance, jump, climb, sit cross legged, everything. More than last year with more to come this year.
The long version:
I can officially say I have exceeded all my expectations, even the secret ones I didn’t dare say out loud. Going into surgery, I was nervous but eager, wanting to lose the pain and the loss of motion. By “loss of motion” I mean not being able to move much, like not walk very far at all anymore. I was one of those people who kept on keeping on even as I got more crooked and slower and caused people who were watching me to stop and offer assistance.
I remember in the meeting with Dr Gross the day before the operation my husband, who hadn’t done much reading on resurfacing, asked “will she be able to run again?” I knew the answer from reading all the stories on here. I knew many people returned to full force, skiing, playing tennis, basketball, hockey, windsurfing, and yes, even running. I also knew that some people could not return to running, feeling much better, moving better, but unable to run. Dr Gross turned to me, looked me in the eye and said “not everyone can return to running.” I nodded solemnly, but I knew I would run again. The only question was how far.
I am happy to report I have run two half marathons and have two more on the schedule for the next two months. That was my secret, not to be revealed to anyone goal, to run a half marathon.
If you dig up my story, you’ll see I started running six months post op following a couch to 5k plan Arroyo posted. I got to 20 minutes of non stop running, then two miles, then three, then a 5k, then five miles, then, shortly after my one year anniversary, a 10k. A month after my two year anniversary I ran a half marathon for the first time at a just to finish time. Two months later I ran one at a slow person’s time of 2:30. This year I hope to run an average person’s speed of 2:15.
Clearly, I need some new goals!
Seriously, I am working on speed and enjoying taking on all kinds of new challenges and activities, some physical, some mental. I am in grad school studying history and love to park far from class and hoof it in, walking up all the steps on campus and feeling fine. We still travel extensively, so I am managing luggage and running to gates and sitting in those small seats with no problems.
Yes, I still have some niggles, but I also notch gains. Those steps on campus? In the spring they could feel hard the day after a run. This fall they never bother me, even after a long run.
Wishing everyone the best and telling the pre op newbies to go for it. Thank you, Pat, for creating and maintaining this site.