I had my 6 week post-op visit today with Dr. Gross and Lee Webb. Everything looks great, and I think they were surprised at how strong my operated leg is already! Almost all of the restrictions were removed (other than crossing your legs at the knee, extreme stretching, and high impact activities). Still cannot lift more than 50 pounds with the lower body either, but that's still so much better than the last 6 weeks! As soon as I got home, I went to the gym and hopped on the elliptical (not exactly hopped, but I did climb onto it) and had my first mini-cardio workout since surgery. Also did some lower body work with light weights. It felt wonderful!!!!
I had an interesting conversation with Dr. Gross about the metal ions issue. He said he has never seen a problem with anyone with a cup angle of less than 50 degrees. I think only about 4 of his 2000+ patients have developed this problem. Mine is about 34 degrees for the implant, but he showed me on my X-rays that the angle for the unoperated hip is about 55 degrees. Evidently, when surgeons first started doing resurfacings, they (quite naturally, I think) tried to duplicate the natural socket angle as closely as possible, which is almost always steeper than 50 degrees. Then some people started developing the problems from metal wear, and the doctors realized that they needed to modify the cup angle to avoid this.
Also, for you ladies, we discussed the wearing of high heels (I really dislike the clodhoppers I've had to wear for the last 6 weeks!). Dr. Gross told me that he would prefer I don't wear really high ones until 3 months or so after the surgery. Not because wearing heels will hurt the hip, but he is concerned that I will get wobbly, fall down, and break the neck of the femur!
I told him I've been wearing them for lots and lots of years, and I have never wobbled and fallen. I'm not sure he believed me, but then he is not an experienced high heel wearer. I will use my own judgment.
I feel very happy to be almost back to even a better normal than before! I am so grateful for wonderful surgeons like Dr. Gross!