Middle of the Night Musings 1.25.12 Day 36
(I also posted this on my own Bilateral Story)
A Hippy and I were talking the other day, and the following observation was made:
"Realize now this getting back to normal is going to take far longer then I envisaged."
I think this is spot on, and the topic really grabbed me. I believe that we need to understand and embrace the healing pain our bodies are going through and not expect for it to be easy at all. From what I've been reading and seeing, that kind of expectation doesn't match the reality of most people in that resurfacing is a major surgery that simply takes time to recover from. What gets me, and I believe a lot of other people, is how amazing it feels to have the OA pain GONE, but the reality of recovery is still front and center and can be very disheartening, until one day at 3 months, or perhaps as long as 6 months, you can move without hurting anymore at all. IMO, The long and the short of it is that our bodies take one year to fully recover from hip resurfacing, and there is no getting around that medical fact.
I think we will evolve through the healing pain and the muscle spasms; I quite simply think the major pain reduction will happen between the 3 and 6 month mark. Regardless, my model is that my body is my friend and it tries to tell me, through pain and soreness, when to back off or to perhaps change my routine.
My surgeon's protocol is 2 to 6 weeks of partial weight bearing, using the walker, crutches, etc. I had been lurking on this board and had been on other boards, so I was fortunate to see how important proper walking form is, and how it's a base for every other form of exercise. I'm a big believer in following your surgeon's protocol to the letter. I am not going to be one of the statistics' who dislocate their hardware or, Heaven Forbid, break their femur because they felt so well that they didn't feel the body's laws of healing applied to them.
Although I was home bound and bed ridden for over 2 years with undiagnosed end stage OA, pre op I made myself crawl sometimes, whatever it took, to go to the pool. I could NOT tolerate pool walking because my OA was so bad, and the only thing I could do was the backstroke, resting my legs from time to time, but it was my only connection to the world - so I did it. Three months prior to my bilateral resurfacing on December 20th, my OA pain was too bad to make that ten minute drive anymore, and I put my pool membership on hold.
I am getting a lot out of my out patient PT, and IMO I think it's a mistake not to do it. After being weakened and bedridden so long, my left glute is atrophied, I had no calves to speak of, and every bit of my core and all the small muscles girdling the hips were fairly useless. I now work on specific muscles through adduction, I do a lot to strengthen my core, and I also tend to all the micro muscles that are so weak because only my larger muscles did any work at all during my confinement.
My PTs also stress to me all the time that if I wasn't taking painkillers of some kind that it would be so emotionally and physically taxing that I wouldn't be able to make as many strides as I am today. I hate to push narcotics on anyone. Yet, I will emphatically say if you take promethazine or any other powerful anti nausea agent you most likely would then be able to tolerate vicodin or norcos. (same meds, different brand names). Of course, in 2 months or so when you're ready to wean off and don't need them anymore, you will have withdrawal and you will get sick for about 2 weeks - it's like a very bad flu. The other unavoidable side effect is making docusate and enemas part or your schedule. I worry about about the other hippies who are going through the fatigue and drain of toughing through your PT and recovery whilst in pain. Again, this is only my opinion and that of my team of doctors, nurses, and PT's, but I think it's a bad idea to get bummed out because it freakin' hurts too much to do your PT properly. I think it's a bad idea to never be able to get any good sleep because of pain, and it's totally unnecessary to suffer if you don't have to. I guess you could say I'm a firm advocate of "Don't get behind on your meds or your pain."
OK, *climbing off soapbox*
I see a lot of folks questioning why aren't they having this fabulous, pain free healing like the lucky hippies who only need a bit of ice, and that's why I'm adding my 2 cents in. What are your thoughts on the pain medication/no pain medication methods of recovery? How do you feel about your own level of pain while you are going through the recovery process?