Here we go again

I haven't posted must mostly because things were going really well.   I was back to running, biking, hiking, doing pilates and keeping up with my weight training.  I had finally gotten to the point where I had no limitations on activities and the hip was staying (mostly) quiet.

A few months ago, I felt a twinge in my non-surgery hip.  And then another twinge.  Which turned into a deep, awful ache, a sharp pain and a feeling of something "stuck" in my hip.  I pretty much knew what was going on, but finally got the arthrogram/MRI this past week.

I haven't seen the doctor yet, but I am pretty confident that there is a tear.

The red arrow is pointing to the tear (I am not a doctor, I just play one on TV).   The labrum should be a deep triangle on the left hand side of the joint, and the dye cuts across where the labrum should be in tact (it basically should be symmetrical with the black part on the right hand side).

As a comparison, here was my right hip pre-surgery (slightly different angle):

The pain so far is not anywhere near where I was pre-surgery on the last hip, so I am hoping that some activity modification and additional rest will be enough to hold off heading back into the operating room.   I have no real desire to deal with into the 3x/week rehab, limited activity, and all the other unpleasantness of a major surgery.

It's been said that about 20% of the population has FAI in both hips.  I guess that puts me in an exclusive minority!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The autoimmune protocol diet went off the rails a little this week.  I tried eggs over the weekend and felt horrible, so I know those are a potential issue.   I wanted to try a few other things, but instead of doing it one at a time like you are supposed to, it sort of went like this:

Um, yeah.

Needless to say, I don't feel so hot.  And the ache in my hip is way worse this week than it has been in a while - this is really interesting to me, because it was the reason why I really wanted to try this elimination diet in the first place.    I was just thinking the other day how I no longer was getting any groin pain or achy feeling... and then it reappeared, the same week my diet went off the rails.  Coincidence? Related?  Hmmm.

Because I was a dumb-dumb and failed to do the reintroduction right, I'm not really sure what might be making me feel like crap, but needless to say, it could be the fact that I ate everything.

In other news, I met with my trainer and we tweaked and adjusted a few things on my list of exercises.  Here is my current list.  I call it my Glutes of Steel plan.

Bridges - 3 variations: double leg, single leg, and single leg with rotation
Clam Shells
Cable Exercises
Side planks or leg raises (I was getting too much TFL activation with the side plank variation so we're backing down to side leg raises)
Monster walks side-to-side and back at a 45 degree angle

Single leg squats
Side lunges
Bird dip with band pull
Walking lunges with medicine ball rotation:

Hop to Balance - side to side and rotation (this is basically what it sounds like - hop side to side or with a 90 degree rotation and balance on the one-legged landing)
Single leg static hip rotation
Static lunges with weight
Squats

And....then waddle out of the gym to go sit on the couch and lament how your legs no longer function properly.

In other news, this happened.  Based on my Garmin data, I estimate I walked about 1-1.5miles, and ran the rest.  WHOO!

Week two of the AIP and Continuing Rehab

The second full week of the Autoimmune Protocol Diet is behind me!  This week, I made similar breakfasts/snacks/lunches as I did last week, but I did try a few new recipes, including:  Homemade Gummies, carob brownies and sweet potato/leek soup.  All were great!  For dinners, I made chicken piccata (minus the flour), grilled chicken, and burgers.  I also navigated going out to eat twice successfully!  Grilled salmon and steamed veggies for one and a burger and sweet potato fries for the other.

I am definitely feeling more energetic and my tummy hasn't had that "ugh, I ate something that disagreed with me" yucky feeling.  However, I really miss eggs as a quick and easy meal.  And spices!  Like cumin and pepper.  Oh, and chocolate.

My surgeon cleared me for all activities at my six month check-in.  He thinks my hip flexors are my main issue, and that time will help.  Because I am not patient and don't want to just "wait", I hired a trainer to work with me.  He specializes in injury prevention and rehabbing post-injury (perfect, right!).   We met and discussed my situation and he made some observations on my remaining weaknesses and compensations.  He gave me a two week plan to follow and then we'll meet again and assess my progress.

Here is the list of exercises, to be done three times/week:

PT-type exercises

Bridges (3 versions- regular, alt leg raises, leg raise with rotation)

Clam shells

Cable exercises

Side planks

Seated hip rotation with band/chair

Monster walks to the side and back at a 45 degree angle

Strength exercises

Single leg static hip rotation; 2 sets of 10-12 each leg

Hops to balance- side to side and rotation; 2 sets of 12-15 hops each way on each leg

Side lunge- 2 sets of 12-15 each way

Bird dip with band pull; 2 sets of 15 reps with max glute squeeze

Walking lunges forward; 1 set weightless of 12-15 reps on each leg

Static lunges forward with weight; 1-2 sets of 4-8 to build muscle or 12-15 to build endurance

Squats- 2 sets of at least 10 reps

I'm looking forward to seeing if a) I can get through all of these exercises three times a week and b) if it helps!

First real week of the AIP and 6 months post-op

So, OK, this first week of the Autoimmune Diet isn't exactly over, but I'm giving you a report on this week anyway. :)

Overall, I'm still not finding sticking to the diet to be very difficult.  Though trying to do this diet through the Halloween Candy Season was tough, in the end, I was able to avoid all candy and not die of deprivation (someone brought in SNICKERS to work!).   Planning enough food so you are never starving and making hungry choices is really important.

Breakfast
I had the sweet potato, apple and pancetta hash for breakfast this week.  Better than the smoothies in terms of staying full, but not by a ton.  It's really tasty though!

Lunch
Lunch was a mix of turkey deli meat rolled up with bacon, a big ass salad or fried bananas and ham.  Yep, fried bananas with ham!  It's something my dad used to make for us when we were little and is a great combination of salty and sweet.  He used to dip the bananas in egg and breadcrumbs before frying, but in my case, I just let them fry up nekkid.  Even if you don't like the ham part, fried bananas are super yum.

Yummmmmm

Dinner
I made grilled salmon with roasted veggies,  thai basil stir fry, and a roast chicken and vegetables.  A few were enough to have leftovers, too, which is always nice... but doesn't happen very often when you live with a marathoner.

Snacks
My snacks are mostly fruit and sometimes leftover vegetables.  Not terribly exciting.  I made plantain and apple fritters once and devoured the entire thing...yum.  And I splurged and bought a box of Jackson's Honest Sweet Potato chips (fried in coconut oil!).  They are way too good and probably should not have bought 6 bags all at once.

Six month Hipaversary
Next week is my 6-month check in with the surgeon.  He'll also be taking a look at the other hip as well.  I imagine he'll finally send me for an MRA on that hip and while I want answers as to what's going on there, part of me wants to just pretend that it's nothing and ignore it entirely.

I am not exactly where I thought I would be 6 months out, but I am not entirely disappointed either.  My hip is 100% better than it was before surgery and I am about 80% of where I was before I was injured at all (oh so long ago!).

Here's what I did this week:
Sunday: Run/walk (3:1) 30 minutes, spin bike 30 minutes
Monday: Squats/lunges followed up with aqua power aerobics class
Tuesday: Upper body lifting and core work
Wednesday: Run/walk (3:1) 30 minutes
Thursday: Pilates

Tomorrow will be a rest day, Saturday another run/walk and then Sunday either a spin bike workout or maybe a hike if the weather is nice!

My last few runs

Two weeks ago, I ran for a few minutes on the treadmill.  Not sure why since I was pretty sure it was going to suck... but I guess runners can be stubborn.

And it was OK.  Not great, not bad.  Tolerable.  

Over the next ten days, that was followed up with:

20 minutes run/walk (2 min/1 min)

20 minutes run/walk (2 min/30 seconds)

20 minutes run/walk (3 min/1 min)

and then

26 minutes run/walk (3 min/1 min for 20 min, 1 min/30 sec for 6).   This totaled about 2.4 miles at about an 11min/mile pace average for the run/walk.

Huh?

Now, none of the runs I would classify as "pain free".  Achy, some sharper pains, but nothing that made me think I needed to stop.  And my surgery hip feels fine, it's really all in the other hip.

After today's 2.4 miles, I went out for 6 miles on the ElliptiGO.  That felt great.  Wheeeee.

After the running fail three weeks ago, I upped the hip flexor stretching.  I figured that it couldn't hurt and maybe it would help some.  I stretch 2-3 times a day most days.  I had noticed that my hip had started to snap, loudly.  And often.  Now that's almost totally gone.

This one I do at work:

These two are also in the rotation:

You can also have someone push down on your hanging leg for an extra stretch.

I still get enough of an achy pain in my other hip that I'm sure the hip flexor tightness is not the only issue.  There's something functionally wrong, but maybe I am keeping things at bay with some added flexibility.  Or maybe pilates has been the key to keeping things OK.  Or this is some sort of fluke and my next run will suck again.   Who knows!  The running gods are fickle and cruel.

A life without running

Yeah, yeah, I can't run without pain in my not-yet-fixed hip.  And hiking this weekend was tough with the hip pain.  But I can do a lot of other things, and I am trying to not lose focus on the positive.

Here has been my schedule over the last week:
Thursday - Squats, lunges and my hip PT work
Friday - 5 miles on the ElliptiGo
Saturday - 1 hour power reformer pilates
Sunday - 4 mile hike (cut short from the 6 miles I originally wanted to do), 30 minutes on the spin bike
Monday - Elliptical, squats and pull ups/dips
Tuesday - rest and massage
Wednesday - Elliptical, squats, core and hip PT exercises

Overall, this is a pretty good week.  Nothing causes me more pain or aggravates symptoms.  My operated hip feels fantastic - little aching, decent ROM.   The other hip stays about the same.  So I call that a win.

Surgery was six months ago and while this wasn't where I thought I would be at this point, it's also not all bad.

My appointment with the surgeon to have my other hip examined is November 12th. I'm trying to not focus on it too much because I can't change anything between then and now.

Deja Vu

My run/walk yesterday was a complete fail.  The goal was to move from 30 seconds run/30 seconds walk to 60 seconds run for 15 intervals.   I made it to about the fifth interval before my non-operated hip started in with intense groin pain.  I felt like I was right back to July 2013 with the first hip.

Frustrating.

I am trying to not think too much about it without the definitive diagnosis, but in the back of my mind, I know my odds are not good.  Hip, hip, hooray.

About 20% of people who need surgery on one hip go on to need it in the other hip.   So a large enough percentage to make it something that's a real possibility, while being small enough that it feels like horribly bad luck.

Today I was released from physical therapy until we can determine what the course of action is for the other hip.  Because I am only allotted a certain number of sessions a year, we wanted to conserve the remaining covered by insurance for now.

In other news, I completed a three-session intro to pilates.  I really like it!  It's more strength work than stretching like yoga, and is a serious core workout.

We did some crazy ab stuff in today's session like side crunches from this position:

And whatever the heck this was called:

Have you ever tried pilates?  Did you like it?

Dartfish Running Gait Analysis

I decided to have a running gait analysis done before I got too far into the run/walk program because I knew I know I still had a lot of strength deficiencies and compensations.  But, I wanted an idea of what and where I needed to focus my efforts and how bad (or good!) my running form looked to a professional.

It was pretty simple - I warmed up on the treadmill and then ran for about 3-4 minutes while they video taped me from the front, sides and back.   From there, the trainer was able to analyze my various angles and strides and determine where things might be going wrong.

All in all, my running form is pretty solid.  I am a  forefoot striker, good knee tracking, soft landing and no pronation issues. 

Where it falls apart is with my hips. (OK, is anyone surprised? Not really, right?)  Both hips show strength issues, and on top of that, my operated hip shows a lack of flexibility/ROM.

This shows what's going on with my hips as I land.  In the top left, you can see that my right leg (operated hip) tracks almost to the center of my body, as opposed to underneath my hip (red star).   My left leg does as well a little, but not nearly as much as the right.  The screen capture is too small to see the actual measurements, so just take my word on it.   This is all hip strength related, specifically strength in the lateral (side-to-side) direction.

In the bottom right, you can also see that when I strike with my left leg, my right hip drops.  This is hip and core strength and stability.    Planks, side planks, bridges.

The other interesting thing the trainer noticed was that my stride on my operated side is more shallow - I don't get as much hip flexion nor hamstring activity (less of a knee bend) as I do on my "good" side.   He believes this is a ROM, hip flexor issue.

The non-operated hip from the side:

The operated hip:

All in all, I really got a lot out of the gait analysis.  I want to repeat the analysis in 4-5 months and see if I have made improvements.  I received a set of exercises to work on and a few tweaks to the PT exercises I have already been doing to work on the specific deficiencies.

The Dartfish program is easy to use.  I have a copy of all my images and videos on a CD that I can review at any time.

Don't call it a comeback

When you first make the plans to have surgery, your goal is to get back to where you were before you were injured.  But this is sort of a false premise to go by because you really never can "go back".  It doesn't even have to be surgery we're talking about here, lots of people have nostalgia about a prior point in life and really... you just have to let it go.   Time marches on.

So you've gone through surgery for what then?  It's to have a better future.  Or, rather,  it's to get on the path that you think will lead you to a better future.   It's a risk.  It's a gamble.  But you believe it's your best shot, so go for it.

I am at five months post-op today.  Things are good.  But different.

My repaired hip doesn't make a peep 95% of the time.   I really only notice it when I need to do something that requires a full range of motion or am in PT being reminded of the weakness of that leg.   I can hike, elliptical, lift and do pilates without issue.   I have started a run/walk program, and it feels fine during and after.

But.  Every time I've run, my other hip (you know, the good one?) has been achy.  Then it locked up in PT for a second or two.  And for the last day or so, it's been achy almost constantly.    

If I needed proof that things aren't the same after surgery, there it is.  And that's not to say that surgery somehow caused my other hip to start to have issues, at all.  But two years ago is just that - two years ago. 

And who knows, maybe the other hip will calm down and be a non-issue.  That doesn't change the fact that  I need to embrace the now and accept that is where I am.  And that everything is okay even if it's not.

The return to running

Yeah, ok so it was just three 30 seconds intervals and it might have been a 13 min/mile pace... but I officially RAN!

The last time I ran was February 9th.  6 months ago.

It felt really, really good.  My hip was smooth, not clunky or achy like it was towards the beginning of February.  My operated hip actually felt better than my other hip, even.  (which sort of is making me think another surgery for that hip might be in my future, but let's not think about that right now)

My surgeon's return to running program is fairly conservative.   I probably won't officially start the back-to-run program until later in the fall.  Firstly - I am still dealing with the hip flexor stuff and I don't need to tempt fate there.  Secondly - who wants to start running in AUGUST?  Talk about torture and sweat.  And lastly - I have a trip to Italy in September and I don't want to mess anything up and end up having to bail on that.  So patience for now.

Here's the plan my surgeon recommends:

So basically, the first few times out, I run a lap on the track.  That's it.   Then a lap and a half.  Then I get to graduate to TWO laps on the track.  And so on and so on.

In other news, I've started wearing a Body Media monitor.  It's like the FitBit or Nike Fuel Band but actually has skin sensors to monitor temperature and sweat so it's a little more accurate. I've found that because I am restricted in my activity, I've been having a hard time adjusting how much I eat.  (read: I'm stuffing my face when I really shouldn't be.)

Here's my last week's worth of data averaged:

You can expand each of the categories and see the breakdown daily - when you are more likely to be sedentary, when you are active, days you were particularly active, etc.   If you are a data junkie, you'll love it!

Over my mini meltdown

I suppose when you are approaching three months of post-op rehab, it's easy to have a meltdown when things seem to be going backwards.

However, it's really important to keep perspective.  Three months really isn't that long in the grand scheme of having a major surgery.

After my horrible week last week, this week has been better.  I have been having some muscle spasms in my hip flexors (TFL, psoas, adductors) so I am pretty positive most of my pain is from that.  I had a massage this week and have really worked on doing things that don't require a lot of lifting of my leg.   Still not 100% pain free, but better.

Tomorrow my therapist wants me to try to run on the treadmill.  I'm not quite sure that's a smart idea knowing that my muscles are already unhappy.  It won't be for anything more than 30 seconds or so, though, so I suppose there's really not much harm there.  I won't be starting a real return-to-running program for another month and a half (mostly because of my schedule over the next 6 weeks but also because I want to be conservative about things).  

The thought of running for 30 seconds has me breaking into a cold sweat.  What if it hurts just like it did before surgery?  What if I'm no better off after all this?  What if, what if, what if.   I think I just need to do it, get over it, and stop having doubts about whether or not I have a running future.  Right?  Right.

And what now?

I am at 11 weeks post-op, and I'm experiencing more pain this week than I have in nearly a month, maybe more.  What sort of mind f*** is that?

I have no idea what's causing it.  I haven't changed anything or increased intensity on exercises, etc.  My hip is achy and I am having a lot of groin pain for no apparent reason.  I've been icing every day after about three weeks of no ice needed and tonight I am going to have to break down and take some pain meds.

Hip flexor tendonitis?  Inflammation?

I am down to one PT session a week now so the first time I will get to see them since this all started is tomorrow.  And they better have some answers, dammit.

I did three miles walking on Monday and three miles tonight and that was about all I could handle.  Too achy and sore.

Fueled by cupcakes

It's sort of amazing that I've only gained 5 lbs in the last two months since surgery.  Because, basically, cupcakes.  I could get away with that stuff when I was breaking a sweat every day, but there's really no calorie burn happening now even close to negating the constant snacking.  But, alas, they taste yummy.  And since my husband is marathon training, he gets cupcakes.  So then I HAVE to get cupcakes.

Saturday's cupcakes - lemon creme and chocolate raspberry

I have taken a few 4+ mile walks on the rail trail.   It's been a little easier to do it on the trail versus doing the longer walks around the track ('round and 'round and 'round) or around the neighborhood where in any direction there is a huge hill.   It can be a pain living out in the boonies sometimes, but we have a whole slew of different trails available within an easy driving distance.  And having access to a large rail trail system particularly like this is fantastic - it's quiet, pretty and close!

Summertime fun

We had a pretty cool spring and now the summer seems to be following in a similar path.  Typical weather for end of June/fourth of July is hot, humid, sticky weather.  It's been in the 80s with tolerable humidity and the nights are staying cool.  Amazing!  I know this won't stick around but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

Today I went for my first bike ride post-surgery.  I'd been holding off because biking definitely had been irritating my hip flexors.  I managed 12 miles in about an hour, just a real easy pace on a flat rail trail.   No pains or aches while I was biking but yeah... the hip flexors, particularly my TFL, are cranky.  I iced afterwards and foam rolled a bit, we'll see how it feels in the morning.

After the bike ride, I still wanted to get my daily walk in, so I went for a few miles in the woods near our house.   The trail follows the river and it's so pretty.

The river runs along the right.

Some busy beavers!

Over the last 30 days, I've walked just about 32 miles.  I try to get out at least for a mile every day.  As I mentioned, the weather has really cooperated and it's been great outdoor weather.  My walking schedule from the last week:

Saturday - 3.4 mi

Thursday - 3.3 mi

Wednesday - 3.3 mi

Tuesday - 2.6 mi

Monday - 1.5 mi

Sunday - 2.5 mi

I had my two month check-in with the surgeon this week.   It wasn't much of anything, really.  I first met with the PA and he tested my range of motion, then I waited for an hour to see the surgeon and he basically tested the same things and also checked to make sure my psoas was firing ok.  Everything checked out fine and so my next appointment will be in mid-August.  

I would walk five hundred miles

I hope the Proclaimers song is now in your head. :)

Today is the 7 week mark.

Over the last 5 days, I've walked 7 miles.  That doesn't really sound like much, does it?  But it's something.  My longest walk has been 2.2 miles and I could have done more but I've been playing it conservative, trying to get a little walking in each day before I go for longer mileage.  

Physical therapy continues to be tough but I got less muscle soreness/DOMS this week than last week (don't get me wrong, I'm still SORE but relatively speaking, it's less.)  Today I walked for 1.6 miles, then I lifted upper body stuff and then I did 30 minutes in the pool doing squats and lunges and what not.  The pool has better than trying to do my land strength work on the day after PT when things are still pretty angry.

This last week or so the psoas/iliacus had been really acting up.  Like deep, sharp pains in my abdomen, near the "wing" of the hip (the iliac crest, specifically).  The physical therpaist noticed that I am way too tight through the front of my hip.  A few assessments later... and we're at the "you're using your hip flexors too much and your glutes are not firing" diagnosis.  My poor hip flexors were just getting too much of a workout!
I also notice that when my hip flexors are tight my groin/joint hurts more - like the tight muscles are squashing my poor hip joint or something, so along with the psoas pain came some increased groin pain.   This week was probably the most uncomfortable I've been in a while, but in the grand scheme of things I have to remember I am still in the early stages and the pain wasn't that bad.  Though being in any sort of pain during rehab just screws with your head.

So anyway, the therapist wants me to get up and first thing in the morning run through my set of "glute" exercises to "wake up" the muscles.   Right.  Because I am SUPER organized in the morning and totally NOT rushing out the door grabbing things as I go.  Uh huh, we'll see how this goes!

As far as the exercises at PT, here is the sheet I am currently working off of for my homework:

From the top left going clockwise:
Split squats
Side lunges
Step downs - stand on a step, drop the leg not on the step behind you, stand back up (this one really gets the glutes good)
Bird dips or Statue of Liberty
Squats (I'm doing them on the Bosu)
Hip drops - stand on a step, drop the leg not on the step (keeping the hips level, so the other leg bends a bit), stand

Things not on the sheet but still on my list for homework:
Core work - planks, side planks
Monster band lateral walks
Walking, biking, elliptical - I have been doing mostly walking because the weather has been so nice!  But I am cleared to use the indoor bike and elliptical as I can tolerate.

The next milestone will be... two months.  That seems huge!  Closer to the end than the beginning.  Hooray!

42 days

Six weeks!

I feel like the six week mark has been a milestone of sorts.  Six weeks was the longest I might have been on crutches.  Six weeks marks a significant portion of healing and with that, more freedom to do various things as well.

At six weeks:
- I can go up and down a flight of stairs without too much issue.  The psoas is still unhappy about lifting the leg going up, but nothing terrible.
- I can walk for exercise and I can add resistance on the bike (but not yet cleared to ride outside).  We also did the elliptical at therapy today.
- I sometimes find myself forgetting I had surgery.   I sat quickly the other day, not thinking about my hip, and had a nice, sharp reminder that I'm not healed enough to do things like that.  Oops.
- Standing and sitting for periods of time isn't dreadful.  Some chairs are still uncomfortable, but overall, I can get comfortable.
- I am still having some nerve issues while sleeping on my side, so I haven't yet been able to move off of sleeping on my back (which I don't like).
- My range of motion is just about perfect, except for internal and external rotation - but even those are improving daily.

Physical therapy has jumped from regaining motion and flexibility to pretty much all about strength and balance.  We've now added:

One-legged squats on a stair

Bird dips with weight

Bosu planks

Monster walks/lateral band walks

Today I felt like all my pre-op work was finally starting to pay off.  I can get though almost a full hour of leg work, and while they are still total mush by the end, the fact that I can get through it all without needing to modify anything was promising.   She's also increased the weight/resistance every session and it hasn't caused me any trouble.

And the best is - NO hip pain doing any of the exercises.

We must learn to walk before we can run

Week 5 - I am cleared to ditch the crutches and walk for exericse!   Tonight's walk was just up to the corner and back, maybe 10 minutes.   Felt great!  I'll try to extend the walk each night.

Today was my first real "land" physical therapy session (Thursday is my last pool session! :sad face:).  Hoooollllleeeeee shaky legs, Batman!

Here's what we did:
Assisted leg press/hack squat with no weight

Wall ball squats

One legged bridges

Walking forward/backward/lateral with resistance

Quad "presses" 

One leg balancing on a trampoline

Planks

I am pretty sure I am going to be really sore tomorrow!

One month and will I run again?

Today is my one month surgeriversary.

They've started weening me off crutches in PT.  So I've had days of some increased pain, which they say is normal as I start using the crutches less.   Tuesday was particularly painful, to the point where I had convinced myself that I had injured myself somehow.   Things are better today but I'm still constantly worried about something being wrong whenever something feels "off".

I will be having my last pool therapy session next week and then we will move to all land-based therapy.  My pool work right now is 5 minute sessions each of:

• Walking, forward and backwards
• Lateral walking
• Marching
• Lunges
• Squats
• Calf raises
• Step ups
• Leg raises

By the end, my legs are pretty tired... and that's with the assistance of buoyancy!  I've noticed that my surgery leg is a good 1/2" smaller in diameter than my other leg.   It looks... scrawny.   We'll be adding in more strength work in the next few weeks and things should improve.

I've done a lot of thinking about my running future over the last week.   I have been having pains in my "good" hip.  I know I have poor body mechanics and chronic issues.  I have yet to have one year of running in four years without some sort of injury and time on the DL.   I had cartilage peeling off the bone in my hip, which is a step away from arthritis... which isn't that far from needing a hip replacement.

I have to wonder if my body just cannot handle running.

Is it worth the risk?

Did fixing the impingement solve some of my body mechanics issues and maybe I'll have a better track record going forward?

Will I know the difference between normal post-op-resuming-to-running aches and pains from something-is-wrong-I-should-stop aches and pains?

Will I be happy if I don't ever run again?  Will I regret the decision to not give it a try?

Sigh.

This is what happens after four weeks of nothing much to do but overthink things!

Part of the reason why this is such a struggle is that most of my social circles and "fun" activities center around running.  It's hard to let that go.  Because then... what would I do?  I think I would be happy riding my bike more, but I won't do bike races so I would still miss out on the competitive part that's a lot of the fun.  Can I deal with that?

Sigh.

The unexpected cost of surgery

I'm sure everyone realizes that surgery is an expensive procedure.   What I didn't appreciate beforehand though were all the things that surround the surgery itself that seem to put a drain on my wallet.

Physical therapy.  First, the copays... I will have approximately 25-30 physical therapy appointments post-surgery.  At $45 a piece, this is a serious drain on cash.   If we include all the sessions I had for this injury before surgery, it would get close to another 25.   Don't do the math.  It's scary.

Physical therapy is also a 55 mile round trip for me.  That would be my typical commute mileage for an entire week and now I do it 2-3 times a week.   And have you noticed that gas is not cheap?  Yeah.  Thankfully, my car gets 40MPG but ugh.

Internet shopping.  I may or may not have been on Amazon Prime post-surgery.  A lot.

Food.  We are going out to eat or picking up food more often, either on the way to/from physical therapy.

Work time off.   By the end of rehab, I will have blown through all of my sick leave and vacation time.  While this is not a cash issue, it still sucks.   "Vacation time" has a certain image of beaches and mai tais.  Not crutches and a pill sorter.

Race entrance fees.  I had signed up for several races before I was diagnosed, not realizing that I would be heading into surgery.  So now that I can't race, I effectively purchased a very expensive t-shirt for a race I didn't run.

Various purchases of "surgery aids".  I ran through what I purchased before surgery in this post.   Not for nothing, but most of that stuff will be useless shortly.  Glad I had them, but it still added up.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something.  It's probably best if I just stop doing the mental math now!

A very big thing happened today

Three weeks post-surgery.... and I drove myself to the gym.   That would be the first time I was behind the wheel of a car in 21 days.  When was the last time you went a full three weeks without driving?   Have you ever? 

At the gym I did:

My physical therapy work

Planks 2x1 minute (alternating 10 seconds on my feet 10 seconds on my knees because I am so damn weak at the moment)

Arm bike for 18 minutes - according to the machine that was a whole 3 miles!  

Then I did the back/chest/shoulder machines, since I am not cleared for free weights

This week I also went to work for 4 hours, which was the longest I'd been out of the house since surgery and I also was allowed to drop down to one crutch while in the house.  

This week I had more ache/groin pain but less of the "sharp" pains.  I can now twist on my hip (not that I actively try to do this) without a zing in the hip.    I can also now activate my hip flexors without pain, though they are incredibly weak.  

A big week all around!