I'm Relieved To See That These Things Don't Only Happen To Me

I have a friend who is having some hip issues, she also had surgery with BK about 1 1/2 years ago. This is a text I received from her this morning after she went for her PT eval

Toll: $8, Parking: $20, Co-pay: $40, Waking up at 4:45am and being seen by an PT intern: Priceless

The icing on the cake was this afternoon when there was a possibility that the PT that was supervising the intern was actually an OT! In the end, it turned out he was a PT, but what a day it was for her!

The Glamours of NYC

Today was my top secret PT appointment in the city! I will get into it when I have more time, but tonight I may have to kill one of my children! No one is going to bed! Anyway, as I was coming home, minding my own business, a super creepy guy came over to me and said "has anyone ever told you you have sexy legs", to which I clearly had no response, other than my jaw dropping, because really, what does one say to a super creepy guy who thinks yoir gimpy legs are sexy. J got a good laugh out of this!

Health Care Reform

A fellow hipster has brought to my attention an interesting blogger, he used to be a PR exec at one of the big health insurance companies, he is now speaking out against insurance companies. Being that many of us are either in a battle with the insurance companies to cover our past or future surgeries, or know someone who is, she has posted a comment on his blog, we all should do the same.
Here is a link to the post as well as a link to her comment. As promised, here is a link to my comment, look for the comment by Susie L. If this link does not work, please email me, suzq613@aol.com

My Aching Back

Even though I am loaded up on Flexiril and Flector patches, my back is still giving me loads of pain. When I have back pain I have no hip pain, and when I have hip pain I have no back pain. I still would much rather have hip pain! I went into my office yesterday for a co-worker to ART my back. It hurt like a bitch, but I felt a lot better after. Today my PT did some deep tissue work on me. Both said that I am having a ton of tightness all along my spine on the right side, with tons of knots and tender points. I think that my legs are too weak still, and my back is working overtime. Tomorrow I have a "secret appointment" with my OS' PT, I am not telling my other PT, but I need to get to the bottom of this before I go crazy!

In Case You Were On The Fence About Surgery...

These are "the boots"! I was supposed to sleep in them for 2 weeks.....Are you really in that much pain now?????

My New Favorite Drugs

Since my back pain had gone from bad to worse, I got a rx for Flexiril, a muscle relaxant. My PT says I am having back spasms from muscle imbalances, and the strong muscles are pulling too hard and the weak ones can't stabilize. I have been in excruciating pain at times. What's interesting is that I NEVER have back pain at the same time as hip pain, it is always one or the other. I have been applying Flector patches to my back and taking Flexiril PRN, mostly at night because it put me out yesterday afternoon! What a difference these have made. Thurs and Fri nights were the first time I have had a good nights sleep in weeks. I wish I would have gotten the drugs earlier!

I have been paying attention to how I move and have noticed that when I extend my back from a flexed position, or try to stand up from a kneeling or crouched position, I am really straining my back bc my leg muscles are so weak. I plan on hitting PT hard this week and doing exercises at home to help with this. I never thought I would say this but I'd rather have hip pain any day over back pain!

6 (7) Week Appointment

Today was my follow up appointment with Dr. Kelly. I have had some concerns but they didn't seem to concern him. One of my concerns is that I don't have full hip flexion back yet. He said that for 6 (7) weeks, I am in a good place. I am concerned about the excessive ER I have, he just said not to push it. I am also concerned about pain I get in my thigh. He thinks it is muscle weakness, and the pain I get throughout the day is from fatigue and weakness. He did give a prescription for Flector patches for pain/ inflammation. I have been having crazy back pain lately, ever since I started having less hip pain. When I got home I put a patch on my back and it was like a miracle. I was supposed to check with my GI doc first about them but the pain was so excruciating I decided to try it first. I do have an email on to him about it though. I asked him of it was normal that my ankle swells when I am on my feet too much, to which he responded "no its not normal, my ankle doesn't swell", to which I replied "well, it didn't swell before the surgery". He thinks it may be from the traction. He gave me a prescription for Ted stockings for this, lovely.

Something I haven't discussed on my blog yet is the fact that my insurance company denied the surgery as of now, a $30k and $15k charge. He was not too concerned and told me to disregard bills sent from his office! This was a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. Obviously there is still paperwork to be submitted, appeals, etc, but I feel better about it.

That's about it, anti-climactic, just how I like it. No need for MRIs, CTs, injections...just a follow up in 6 weeks!

Snow Tubing

What A Weekend It Has Been

I feel like this weekend things are finally normalizing. I had a crazy, crazy weekend, which included hosting a friends 30th b-day in my apartment on Saturday night, and then hosting an accessories boutique Sunday night. This involved a lot of cleaning, and picking up, and decorating, serving, cleaning, picking up, and setting up, over and over again. I thought I would be inhaling Vicodin but I am happy to report that I didn't touch it. I did drink quite a bit, so that definitely helped! By tonight at the show, I had to sit down a lot bc my ankle was swelling and my foot felt heavy and uncomfortable. My hip was sore and painful but much better. I also walked 10 blocks to a friends house for lunch yesterday with no more than mild to moderate discomfort.

I wonder if the weather is contributing to this turnaround, it is not as cold as its been here, and feeling a lot more mild. Tomorrow we are going snow tubing, I don't plan on actually participating though. You can find me with Z in the lodge near the hot chocolate!

A Glimpse Into My Day

I was at PT today, working hard on the leg press, set to 75lbs. My PT asked how much weight I was doing, I told her, she responded "good, keep it light and easy"...I responded "this is easy? -I'm busting my ass"! I am pathetic!

What I Struggle With

At 6 weeks post-op, I am doing really well. Looking at me, you would never know that I had a hipscope 6 weeks ago, much less my 4th hipscope. I take the kids to school, to after school classes, run my errands and go to PT. What you can't tell is that when I accidentally drop something on the floor, I pray that someone will be nice enough to pick it up for me. My 4 year old knows not to ask me to carry him, although my baby is growing frustrated with that, and at 30 lbs, it is quite a challenge.

I do what I can, or, as a mother of 3, what I have to. On Friday I decided to go back to some simple cooking. Friday night I was in agony but didn't want to take anything for pain and hoped it would calm down by the morning. Saturday morning, after getting the kids fed and dressed, I turned to my good ol' friend Mr. Vicodin! Sunday afternoon was no better and after lying helplessly on the couch for about an hour and a half, with no relief, I had J bring me another Vicodin. Amazingly, once it kicks in, it kicks in! I was then able to make the kids dinner and got through bed time.

Today was another supermarket day. Again, this proved to be tough for me and painful but I made it through the day with any drugs. I have learn to realize that there will b ups and downs, and I need A LOT more patience if I am going to get through this recovery without the use of heavy duty psych meds!!

You Can't Compare...but

I was just thinking...at this point last time, I was back at work. I had also already ice skated once and climbed a rock wall. I was also off the pill and anticipating getting pregnant.

This time I am not at work and just extended the amount of time I will off, I have pain every morning when I get out of bed, I have trouble sometimes crossing my leg or lifting it up, getting it into the car. Standing for too long is difficult, as is shopping. My limp comes and goes, as does weakness and instability.

But...I am making steady progress and I am pretty sure that my pre-op pain is gone. It is hard to distinguish at this point bc there is so much going on, but the deep, achey groin pain is gone. I could not be happier about that, but wish things could move a little quicker!

Working Girl....Or Not

I have been wrestling with the idea of when I should go back to work, and losing quite a bit of sleep over it. I had told my office that I would be back on 1/25, 7 weeks post op, 2 weeks from Monday. I am still REALLY weak and unstable at times, and I don't feel ready to go back yet. In the past I have gone back around 4 weeks post-op, this time that was sooooo not happening. I have weakness in my ankle that causes me to trip all over the place. I have been working on strengthening it to prevent this, also adding some stabilizing exercises to keep me upright and not falling flat on my face. My PT thinks I should take 3 months off, she doesn't see why I need to rush back to work, I think I am beginning to agree with her. I told my boss that I will be back at the end of Feb. I think this gives me plenty of time to heal and recover.

PT has been going well, today she did some soft tissue work on my gluts/abductors...I definitely saw stars. I am limping on and off, she is not too concerned about it and thinks it will go away with time. Her only concern is the lump under one of my incisions, the fluid from when it opened up, there is still fluid pooled under there and causing me pain.

At 5 1/2 weeks post-op, I am doing the following at PT: Bike, leg press @ 75 lbs (today added ball in between knees), single leg leg press @ 25 lbs, standing hip flexion (knee straight) and abduction, wall squats with ball in between knees, seated resisted knee flexion, ankle 4 way with theraband, quadruped hip extension, prone hip extension with knee bent with 2 lbs weight, sidelying hip abduction, sidelying endrange hip abduction with leg on stool, bridges, prone hip IR/ER with 2lbs weight, clam shells with theraband

I had to cut it short today bc I was sore and anything in rotation bothered me. I am feeling better now, but still pretty fatigued.

How I Long To Be Normal Again

I got back from vacation yesterday and after 10 days of doing pretty much nothing, I was feeling pretty good. I look normal to someone who doesn't know me, my gait looks pretty good and I am not using any type of assistive device. So I got home yesterday (without luggage....long story, but they lost our 3 suitcases) and headed out to the supermarket. I think it was my first solo trip since surgery, but have to re-read my blog just to be sure!

It didn't occur to me that I may have trouble at the supermarket, since I had been doing well on vacation. It only took about 5 steps in the frigid NY air, pushing an empty shopping cart, that I realized maybe I wasn't quite ready. Oh well, too late, we needed milk and vegetables and dinner etc...so I did it. I looked almost tipsy, and in pain, and when you don't have a crutch, no one really cares if you drop things on the floor, no one holds doors for you.....but I survived.