Ok first happy dance...last night I had my final injection. That is a REAL BIG DEAL!!! I am genuinely stupidly proud of myself for having been able to do this, as I really thought I wouldn't be able to. Last night as I depressed that little plunger for the last of the 28 doses I've had, even Kev said he hadn't thought I'd be able to do it. Admittedly I do have a belly covered in bruises but my time as a human dartboard is over.
Sleep...sadly little change there. No longer painful but still intermittent. Am kind of resigned to it now. Some days I catch up with daytime naps, some days I'm dog tired (autocorrected to digitised before I decorrected it!) but just can't sleep. What's really frustrating is waking up at stupid hours when I've had little sleep the night/day before. Like now. It's 2.30 am and I couldn't sleep so for once got out of bed. Maybe I should issue a warning at the top of this post that part of it at least has been written when in tired, grumpy, sleepless state and at a frankly bloody unsociable time. Note that text is inserted out of real time context so some may have been written while half asleep, some 12 hours later. These blog posts get started and picked up and edited in all kinds of weird ways to fit time! Anyway...sleep, I saw the physio today and was told to stay on my back for 2 more weeks but that from 6 I can sleep on my operated side. They really don't want their patients sleeping on good side, even with pillows between legs. So for now I can lie on my back and see Kev if I look to my left, but not allowed to roll over for a cuddle. My 'progress' will see me able to roll to turn my back on him completely!
Walking...now this is where it gets good :) My outdoor walking with 2 crutches has got loads better, even though the pavements are still horrible. I'm now generally doing a couple of walks a day, around 20-25 mins each. Not that quick, I'm only covering about 0.8 miles in each. I know that as I've now got a minor addiction to MapMyWalk. Between that and fitbit I'm turning into my own Big Brother. Yesterday I persuaded Kev to drive to Shakerley Mere, a local spot where there's a circular walk round the lake that's just under a mile long. It was a lovely sunny day, the trees aren't in leaf yet but we saw plenty of water birds and it was great to get out properly.
My son was concerned about me coping on uneven surfaces but honestly it was no more taxing than the sloping pavements. And we did the walk very slowly. Partly to stop to watch the various birdlife including a grebe with amazing breath holding, underwater swimming ability. Partly because Kev is actually a slower walker than me! We spent just over 45 mins and by the end my back was hurting; I actually think going slower made it harder. There are benches thoughtfully dotted all round the place but far too low for me to sit on! I now can't wait to get out again to walk. It is just soul destroying going round the houses.
And indoors I seem to have suddenly really improved my walking to the extent that I can now move comfortably on one crutch and not feel lopsided. I've been still using 2 to work on my gait but am now getting round on one indoors. Which is actually really handy as my house just isn't that big. Upstairs with 2 gets cumbersome and generally I'm doing more for myself that means I need a hand free. If I have no crutches I feel safe enough but do waddle. I'm paranoid about my waddling, possibly because my late mum had a really bad waddle and I don't want to end up like that. But even that is improving, and my legs don't feel so different in length. My right one still feels a bit higher and tight in the hip but to a lesser extent than just a week ago.
Anyway, at my physio appointment today she assessed my walking and has said I can drop to one crutch for all walking, though said I might want to carry a second for security. That might mean if I was somewhere very uneven, or even just to give myself space. There's a lot to be said for that - yesterday the dog walkers and people with young kids were more considerate seeing me on 2 crutches. But I feel it's vindicated my acceptance to stick with 2 as she said that my walk was really good, and even on one there was no imbalance that she often sees and has to correct from people moving to one too early.
Groin pain is the bane of hip replacement patients' lives. We all seem to have it to some extent. Some on and off, some continuously. I notice mine most when I wake; if I stretch then it pulls. Physio advice is to use heat and gently massage the area. And restless legs. This does my head in! It starts anytime from evening when I'm usually sitting watching telly and can carry on until I'm in bed where it can make sleep impossible. Sometimes it seems I've escaped it only for me to wake at stupid o'clock. When I then might end up getting up and blogging (see above for warning)
But generally pain isn't much of an issue now. I won't say there's not some discomfort but compared to how things were earlier it's a breeze. In daylight hours anyway. Let's face it, whether you've had surgery or not, everything feels shit if it has you awake at 3am! And 4 weeks after major surgery is still quite a short time, the body is still healing yadda yadda yadda ... Hopefully the hydrotherapy that starts tomorrow will also help ease a lot of the aches and tightness in groin, back etc.
One thing a lot of people think might be important actually hasn't been to me, and that's my scar. Let's face it, I'm not out to pull, I'm not in a position of needing to worry about the attractiveness of my thigh. I don't need a scar to render my large, pale, flabby lower limbs less appealing. I was already thinking more on the lines that it's my badge of honour from having gone through this. That said, I also wanted it to be neat and not too lumpy. God knows I have enough lumpy bits without needing to add to it. So far it's looking good, most of the gluey lumps have gone and though it's still dark it's not fiery red or scabby! I've now started massaging with bio oil in the hope it will ease out the lumps and help it fade a bit, and the physio has also given me tips on how to do that. But I'm still in a weird way slightly proud of my 7 inch souvenir of what I've gone through!
I'm still not really doing a load more than I have been, mostly down to the tiredness which has been quite overwhelming at times. And also discomfort in sitting, which stems from occasionally feeling like I have marbles inside my bum cheeks, or simply the fact that I have the restrictions on height and leaning. It means sitting at a table is OK to a point but I can't lean forward. If we were to go out for a meal, I'd have to avoid soup! This is in place for 6 weeks or 12 depending how you interpret the guidance I got sent home with, and the dire warnings of the occupational therapist I saw. Hopefully at my 6 week check I will get better steer on just what I can do up to week 12.
It did make me worry a little about work. I had originally been told 6 weeks off but then thought maybe at around 4 I'd be ready to do some work from home. But I'm no way there. Last week I had to go see our company doctor and he almost seemed to be suggesting 12 weeks off. On one had it sounds appealing but I don't think I could do that then hurl back into full time work. So it seems that I'll take the 6 weeks off, then come back phased return, partly working from home, building up my working hours and time in the office until I'm at 3 months mark. Hopefully by then my sleep may have improved if I don't have to lie on my back, and if my sitting restrictions are eased a bit that'll help. And it gives me the chance to ease myself back into work thinking. Lots of people have said they were far more tired than they expected when they went back to work, even if like me it's a desk based job. I have once fallen asleep at my desk (I did have the excuse of being pregnant) and felt mortified when one of the men in my office walked in and woke me. Can do with not going through that again. The sleep at desk thing, not pregnancy I mean, though obviously the latter is well out of the question too.
So all in all, feeling pretty good at not only seeing progress but having physio confirmation of it. And more to look forward to tomorrow with hydrotherapy. Onwards and upwards :)
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ReplyDeleteThank you, am now at almost 6 months and still going well
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