4 weeks post op

Yesterday marked 4 weeks from my surgery, and I'm doing pretty well. I would say great, but over the weekend I tweaked my hip a bit. My 2 year old was puking at all hours of the day, and I had to be a ninja and move in ways I didn't know I could in order for her to not puke on my bed or carpet. So, it was a little sore but I'm doing better each day.

Otherwise, my left (non op) is doing awful, as usual. But even more so than my right hip was pre surgery, bc the left is CONSTANT, whereas the right was bad only after certain things. Sigh ...

But I'm up to 20 minute on the bike, but still as level 1 resistance. I will ask my PT when we can move up. 

As far as exercises go, the things that I've been doing that I think help, are: (I don't know technical names)

Glute/quad squeezes (same time). 5 seconds at a time, 30 times.

Inner thigh squeeze with ball in between legs. Hold for 5 seconds, 30 times.

Band wrapped around your knees, bring knees out. Hold for 5 seconds, 30 times.

Bridges, squeezing glutes, with ball in between your knees. 5 seconds at a time, 30 times.

I've also done heel slides, laying on side and lifting leg up x30, and standing while moving leg/hip in circular motion. But those things I think I've moved beyond at this point. My PT did say we will start new exercises this week, though.  I've also only been doing them once a day too, instead of twice.

I've only been going once per week since I'm doing so well, but I imagine it'll be like twice a week once we start doing more intense stuff. 

2 week check up (and 21 days post op!)

I had my 2 week check up on Friday, and so thankful to get those pesky stitches removed. I was just getting sick of having to keep them covered in the shower, and the band aids were starting to irritate my skin too. 

I saw the NP that I really like, and she really reiterated to take it easy, even if I'm feeling good. 

The horrible thing is, my left (non op) hip is feeling worse than my op hip. Ugh. But, I'd rather get surgery #2 over with this year as well, so that I can hopefully be done with them and really get to recovery. My doctor said +/- 6 months they could do the other hip. So at my 6 week post op I'm going to hopefully get the ball rolling, in hopes of a surgery mid October before my husband starts coaching basketball and can't help out as much. 

Even though it's already annoying now, driving 2 hours to and from appointments will really be annoying as can be then. 

Still lifting upper body in the gym, still doing PT twice a day (at home, just 1-2 times per week do I actually go to PT). I will go over my exercises in another post later!

17 days post op!

I have been doing great, all weekend too. Some days I forget I had surgery at all! But today for some reason, the side of my hip hurts pretty bad. But I did forget to do my stretches last night so maybe that's it.

I'm up to 15 minutes on the bike, and I do it in the morning for "fasted cardio", hehe. Gotta get it in somehow!

I am really missing running, especially this time of year. So desperately. The hubs and I signed up for a 2 mile race when I will be 10 weeks post op. I fully intend on walking and pushing the kids in the double stroller, but I couldn't not do it. It's my favorite race ever! I did the 5 mile run last year, and the 2 mile the year before. I just love everything about it. 

But hopefully by the fall I can at least start up running, if not be running 5ks by then! I want to do some races this year!

I'm going to leave a picture of my stitches. I actually go for my 2 week post op appt on Friday, and I'll get them removed, thank goodness.

10 days post-op

I feel like everything has been pretty steady the past few days. Nothing changing much- which is sort of a bummer but I'm also still ahead of recovery so I shouldn't be too down on myself. I was telling a friend the other day that I'm doing really well, and sometimes it's not always a good thing bc I feel so good but still can't do things like I used to! Or I overdo it bc I'm feeling good at the time, and pay for it later. 

That's kind of how the past few days have played out. Feel great in the morning, but by the afternoon I'm laying down icing for the rest of the night.

The good news is- my PT cleared me for lifting upper body. So I have been in the gym the past two mornings. My plan is to go 4x per week, and add a 5th when I can. It's all upper body, so it's not as much as I want- but I'm so happy to be doing something!

Not to mention my twice per day PT exercises! I'm also up to 10 minutes on the bike, twice per day. 

I think my biggest complaint is my back- which may or may not be related to FAI anyways. But my PT said when I can get my abs stronger too (not until 4-6 weeks after surgery, though) that it should help a lot.

So anyways, just trucking along. I haven't been eating great but I hope to fix that next week- officially 2 weeks post op!

Day 7 post op

I'm in my CPM machine right now, and it's set at a 90! That's what I was supposed to be at by 2 weeks post op! 

2 days ago I wrote that I ig he have overdone it by a trip to the grocery store ... It was the truth. So all day Saturday I did nothing but lay around all day, besides doing my exercises twice that day. It must have done the trick bc I feel great so far! Even though I've only been up for about 45 minutes. :) 

My lower back on the right side has been hurting a bit, like it did pre surgery. My doctor warned me it might not be related to FAI at all, but I was hoping it would so that annoying pain could go away. My friend who had the same surgery came over on Friday, and told me that it does. So I'm still holding out hope!

Day 5 post-op

I'm just sitting here in my CPM machine, bc my thigh was starting to tighten up a bit. Probably bc I might have overdone it a bit today. My husband and I went to the grocery store (after dropping the kiddos off at my sister's for the day) bc we are going to a "Freezer meal" party tomorrow. I think it was just too much walking. Not to mention, prepping food for said party and being on your feet. The CPM is actually helping out the tightness though. 

Speaking of, I probably only have been using it 3-4 hours per day. It's just hard to get it all in when I was going to PT, and doing stretches and icing, etc. Plus I like some time to not have my leg hooked up to something! 

I have been doing pretty good. I don't need the crutches at all unless I'm going longer distances. I attribute that to being really active and lifting up until surgery. I know I can't push it though otherwise. 

Last night I slept GREAT, bc I was able to sleep on my stomach! Before that my back was starting to hurt from laying in 1-2 positions all the time! 

I'm also starting to get my appetite back. I told myself I'd take it easy for a week or two and then really buckle down on diet. Although, I haven't been stuffing my face or anything, bc I really couldn't anyways! No room for some reason (maybe bc I haven't pooped in 5 days- sorry TMI). 

Still doing PT exercises twice a day and riding my bike twice a day for 5 minutes no resistance. 

Still taking pain meds but feel like I could space then out much further. I am just really sore and I bet a lot of that is from PT itself! 

Not going stir crazy yet, but going "this house needs cleaned!" crazy. :)

Surgery details

Man, this laying around thing is actually pretty exhausting! I'm pretty sure I had in my head that I'd have time to watch all the shows, read all the books and blogs, and be able to complete anything I wanted. But I was clearly mistaken! I'm just so tired and have such low energy, and I use a lot of it at PT, or just walking to the bathroom every hour. I literally feel like I'm taking turns in the Game Ready and CPM  too. 

I'm not in a lot of pain other than this burning/tingling feeling in my leg where the incisions are. Obviously I'm sore, but I'm not in any hip pain like I've had. So that's good. 

But you probably want to hear how the surgery went .... And luckily, it went awesome- as far as my doctor was concerned! I think I was in surgery for 3.5 hours, and most of that was shaving the bone down. Apparently, my impingement was pretty bad, that it was putting pressure on my cartilage and making it soft (it's not supposed to be soft). I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I think that if it were to continue going on (like if I didn't get the surgery), I would've gotten arthritis pretty early and probably a total hip replacement. So my doctor actually said he was glad we caught it early, which makes me feel SO much better about getting the surgery done, too.

The other good news is .... I didn't have to get my labrum repaired! No anchors into my bone! Yay! So that'll mean easier recovery. Apparently some of the labrum was fraying at the edges, so he just cut it off, but it wasn't torn. 

He gave me several pictures, and one of them showed all of the irritation where the impingement was, so again, that confirms I made the right decision. I know i was really hard on myself and kept questioning if I should go through surgery, but after all is said and done, and from what my doctor said I think we are all in agreement it was the right thing to do. 

In fact, it makes me want to do the other one later this year for sure. Of course, I'm still hoping all of the symptoms on my non operative hip will disappear, bc no surgery is better than no surgery though, ha ha!

I had PT today and I go again tomorrow, but it wasn't bad at all. I also rode the bike at no resistance for 5 minutes, and was told I could do that twice per day. My therapist gave me a talking to about not pushing it, bc she knows I love to be active but I can not overdo it now. I feel like I have no worries in the state I am now, bc I'm just so tired! In fact, I know I wanted to try lifting upper body soon, but I literally couldn't if I wanted to! No energy! Maybe once I am completely off pain medicine I'll feel better ...