All in all, things are improving. I have the process for getting on and off the couch down so that I don't need any assistance. Crutch walking with partial weight on the op leg is getting easier and is pretty much painfree. I slept solidly last night and pain only woke me up once or twice.
However, it's not all positive. I still struggle pretty consistently with psoas pain. If I activate my hip flexors even a little, the pain is very sharp and intense. Like, seeing stars sort of pain. And then I am pretty sore for an hour or so after until things calm down. I am still on pain killers and anti-inflammatories but the psoas pain easily breaks through all of that. It's about 100x's worse than any pain I had pre-surgery, and that sort of messes with me mentally since you want to feel better after surgery, not worse. I know I just need to give it time. But, argh.
The most difficult part of this surgery is all the soft tissue issues - not the joint itself, but all the muscles and tendons that are attempting to compensate for the joint. I totally understand this now. I can feel all the muscles around my hip starting to ache and spasm. It's why staying off your feet as much as possible is important. Doing too much too soon just results in fatiguing the soft tissue, causing tendinopathies and trigger points. I cannot wait until I am cleared to get a massage!
Today was my first day home alone for most of the day. Basically, it sucked. My husband accidentally took my lunch to work with him, so I had no food to reheat. I attempted to put some sort of meal together for lunch. Talk about mission impossible. The dogs were happy because I probably dropped 40% of what I was trying to prep.
I have to do my physical therapy twice a day and all but two exercises require me to be on the floor. Uhhhhhh? Mission impossible #2. Eventually, I figured out that I can sit on the stairs and then using my arms (tricep dips anyone?), I can slide myself down the stairs onto the floor. Then it's just the reverse to get back up.
Tomorrow is another physical therapy session in the morning. I am no where near being able to drive yet, so thankfully I have a lift and will have company for the rest of the day!
Eeeek, glad it is over with! It gets better, trust me, and you won't even remember all the post-surgery pain yuck! Plus all the crutching around will give you some mighty fine looking arms :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah, I hope I can get some nice arms out of this :P
DeleteHang in there. It does get easier! I am glad you are finding creative ways to get around and manage:)
ReplyDeleteSorry you're still having so much pain! :( Hopefully that passes soon and you can start getting around a bit! I hope therapy goes well & isn't too painful!
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