Three Years Dr Gross Bilateral

[blinky]

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.

[Pat Walter]

Congratulations on you 3 year anniversary.  Great to hear your update.  I hope you have many, many more anniversaries.


For new folks, you original story is posted here:   https://surfacehippy.info/blinky-s-bilateral-hip-resurfacing-with-dr-gross/


I wish you the best and look forward to reading about your future updates.


Pat

[Joe_CA]

That's awesome Blinky! You've met all of your goals and more. It also shows how a positive mental attitude can affect your outcome.

On my initial phone conversation with Dr. Gross, it was interesting when he asked me what sports I desired to return to after surgery. I muttered several of my favorites (volleyball, basketball...) and he would quickly come back with "Yes, those are fine. What else?" I was never a runner in the past, but I must have written down "jogging" on my intake form. He specifically asked me if I wanted to run. I said yes, and he immediately informed me that not all patients can return to running. I found this a little odd, as I didn't understand (and still don't) why this sport has some outcome limitations. Perhaps it's the repetitiveness/duration?

Anyway, I'm pleased to see that you are performing so well. Since you are also a bilateral patient, I had a quick question (probably could have asked it over in the running section). Did you find that you had to "break through" various distances as you recovered? I merely run to try and stay in shape. Last Summer, when I was 6 months post-surgery, I ran 1 to 1.5 miles at a time. I found that near the end my hips were very sore, and I could have done more, but it would have been uncomfortable. In the last couple of months (it's been almost 2 years since my surgeries), I've been trying to increase the distances. I want to get to perhaps 3, 4 mile runs. I'm finding that my hips get sore right around the 2 mile mark.

Did you have to keep slowly increasing the distances during your training?

I'm glad you're doing so well.

-Joe

[blinky]

Yes, I did have to slowly inch up my distances and often to pause at a new distance and get used to it. I still do best running every other day, but have recently (last three months?) started running two days in a row to get four days a week of running. 

During the first year, the C25K plan had a portion where there was a big jump, like even though my goal was a 5k, the plan had me running almost five miles due to running according to time and not distance. I did it, but felt so beat up I didn't try to run that far again for quite awhile. The next time, I crept up more slowly.

After running a 10k thirteen months out, I took a break from goal oriented running and just worked on consolidating my gains. I ran another 10k in the spring and it was faster and easier. With last year's half, same thing. It was tough to get up to ten miles and I had to back off my original plan of running several ten milers. (I did maybe two?) When I ran a second one in the spring, it was much easier.

So that was my long winded way of saying, yes, increase mileage slowly. Don't be afraid to pause at a certain level for a while and then start increasing again. And do check periodically and see if you can surge forward. I am no doctor, but guess that we do all kinds of subtle healing and realigning and strengthening  as time goes on. Good luck!