1 Month Post-Op

Today marks the four weeks mark since I had my left hip scoped. Wow have things come a long way in four short weeks. I can now walk without crutches, do stairs one at a time (when I am not too tired), drive, kick my legs in the pool, shower without help, get dressed alone (excluding socks and running shoes), and basically function on my own. Sometimes I need help with carrying things because I am still struggling to carry my own body weight, and any added weight is not reasonable to place on the hip at the moment. All in all, I am done with the worst and am trying to stay as positive as possible.

On the less than optimal side, my anterior hip capsule is extremely angry, so much so that I can't extend at all. I can get to neutral after allowing five minutes or so of slow stretching. I practice lying on my stomach for several minutes to stretch it out. It works, but the darn thing hurts so much. More of an annoying, make-your-stomach-ache-get-an-ulcer pain that hurts even with breathing. My physiotherapist stretched the hip capsule out and gave me acupuncture to try and release the anterior hip. Not only is the hip capsule angry, but my entire leg is weak and I am guarding my hip so the hip flexors are constantly contracting. If we can get this resolved, then my walking will improve leaps and bounds!

Today I got on the stationary bike at the physiotherapist's office. I have an extreme amount of atrophy of my quads and, after three minutes with no resistance, my leg was burning and then had to stop since I couldn't feel the leg anymore from being so fatigued. Imagine, 3 MINUTES and that was it! Wow I have a long way to come yet. But the acupuncture and facial release really loosened things up for a couple of hours before it went back to being tight, which means that I walk with this funny-looking with an odd swing of the pelvis and bend of the knee on the affected side. I have two weeks to get this sorted before I see my OS again. I really don't want to go back with a bad gait! I wanna show him how well I have been doing. At least there is something to work for. Short term goals are good.

As of now, I wake up in the morning with very little pain and the hip is the most mobile it is all day. As the day progresses the hip gets more and more tired, more stiff, and more painful. By the end of the day I throb, take acetaminophen, ice, and veg like a slug on the couch. Hopefully I'll start feeling a lot better soon as I only have three weeks until I jump back into full blown school with a crazy schedule. This thought kind of makes me nervous because there is no way I will return to my full schedule being fully functional at the rate I am recovering. eek!