Grrrrr! Just a helpless recovery rant...

[Dessay]

Hi all!


I'm at 3 months and feeling good. I'm on the slow protocol, low bone density, and had a stomach infection post-op that delayed my Fosamax until May, so I'm on one crutch right now and using a cane around the house. I love the freedom of having a hand free and I REALLY want to do more, but I know I shouldn't. This is prime fracture time, and I know I have to take it slow. Phase 2 exercises are good- I'm back to full strength supine and almost there with the side lifts.


Hubbie went to visit family until Wednesday, but my folks are a mile away, so I have help. But I just want to do stuff! Watering the flowers makes me exhausted. I can't cook for myself yet because I think it would just be too much movement around the kitchen. If I do a ton during the day, my psoas "lets me know that it's there." No pain, but that weakness feeling that reminds you to slow down.


I guess I can see why fractures happen around 3 months. I just really want to get off everything and walk. Sigh. And I can't watch the Game of Thrones finale yet because hubbie is gone! I may break down and watch tonight- I can't stand it!!


Anyway, just checking in and hope everyone's doing well. Things are good here on the hip front- just getting really impatient!!


Best,
Cara 

[catfriend]

While I wasn't on the slow protocol that you are I understand your frustration. I was going absolutely batty waiting for my 6 week 90 degree restriction to be lifted. I couldn't vacuum, I couldn't load/unload the dishwasher, I couldn't change my bed, couldn't do laundry, take care of the cat litter, I couldn't do so many basic chores. Unlike you, I live alone, and I don't have any family within nearly a thousand miles, so I didn't have a lot of options. (Around the five week mark a neighbor did take pity on me and vacuumed my house and changed my bedding.) So, yeah, that point near the end where you feel like doing things, but you're still not allowed to, is super frustrating.

Femoral hip fractures can happen anytime, not just in the first six months, but that median time is right there in the mid teens. Based on my own experience (although thankfully not having had a femoral neck fracture and hope never to have one) is that around this time most people are feeling so good they overdo it, and in the process wind up with one. I dunno.

[blinky]

I hear ya! At three months I was dying to ditch the cane, but not quite ready yet. I'd try it for a day, then be sore and have to go back. Aaargh! There would be times of feeling so good and so normal. Heck, I still am struggling to find where the limits are, doing really well, thinking caution is done, then getting a new niggle and having to back pedal.


The GoT finale was great. Can you watch something else until he gets back to distract you? OITNB? The Olympic Trials?  I am waiting for Mr Robot to come back on!

[Dessay]

Thanks for the replies- this forum helps me to remember to be patient!


Catfriend- yes, fractures can definitely happen anytime, but Dr Gross told me that even for those of us with weaker bones, fracture risk reverts back to the same as the general population at 6 months. The fosamax, as much as I hate having to take it, is helping, I'm sure. That 90 degree restriction was pretty hellish- that combined with the slow protocol- I was pretty useless for the first month. Getting around much better now. I had a horrible time the first week post op, for reasons unrelated to my hip- I caught C Diff from the hospital in SC. My Mom noticed a contact precaution patient 2 doors down from me. In orthopedics, that usually means C Diff. I've never been so sick. If I have to have my left one done, I'll get on massive probiotics beforehand. Ugh.


Blinky- I finally watched GoT!! Oh my- so good!!! That first 15 minutes- SHEESH!! And your list contained all the shows we love- how funny!


As far as the "niggles"- yep. I'm trying hard to listen to my body. I'm back and forth between one crutch and a cane now. I don't have any pain, I'm mostly just weak and wobbly. But I'm really paranoid- if I start feeling even a little something that could turn painful in the groin area, even a LITTLE, I go back to the crutch for the day. Never too careful. 


How are you all doing?


Best,
Cara

[blinky]

Good. I was feeling bullet proof this time last week, but pride goes before a fall....now i have an outer knee niggle that has made me back off running for a few days. Swimming, spinning, and walking are going great, however.


I am still slow to squat and get on the floor. I can do it, but I move slowly. I mention this because I found another kitten and was struggling to get down low enough to capture it (him). The kitten had been hit by a car and was dragging its back legs. This was on a hot hot South Texas parking lot. I couldn't leave the creature to suffer and die. I had to enlist a young guy walking by to help me. Young guy caught the kitten and after a visit to the vet, the prognosis is good but guarded.

[Dessay]

Blinky, I think we're kindred spirits. We lost our last tabby on May 7th- one month into my recovery. I miss her head butts. Sammie was 18 (we rescued her when she was 10), but it happened fast and I wasn't ready.


I'm so ready for a new kitty, but not until I can get on the floor and play with her. So hubbie and I have decided to wait a few months. How is your little parking lot rescue doing?


PS- Guess who vacuumed for the first time in 3 months today? Just a little. I'm back and forth from the crutch to the cane, depending on how much I walked around the previous day.

[blinky]

Vacuuming  already! Oy, how quickly those chores come back. I should have enjoyed sitting and letting others wait on me longer.


Kitty is doing great. He eats like a champ, poops and pees, walks a crooked little walk. There is some spinal cord damage, but he seems better everyday and he can get around okay. His right leg doesn't work quite the way it is supposed to, and while he has a tail reflex, he can't hold his tail up high, just at half mast.