Today marks the one year anniversary of the second of my two hip replacements I received. Had I not looked on the calendar and figured it out a week ago, I probably wouldn't have noticed. The anniversary of having my left hip replaced in early March went by without so much of a fanfare, probably because we were in Hawaii at that point and we didn't even know what time it was much of our visit, let alone the date. But life is about as back to normal as it can be for me one year after my second surgery.
Back to normal is a relative term because I don't know what normal really was with all the pain I was having before my hip replacements. I do notice that I have increased mobility and flexibility in the legs and hips compared to the months before the hip surgery. But I've also had to learn that I can't move certain ways in fear that the hip socket will pop out. And when I go through security at an airport, it's always an extra 10 to 15 minutes as TSA personnel have to give me a thorough once over with a hand held metal detector and pat me down. I've just learned to live with that when I travel by air.
A friend of mine told me that it would be almost a full year before I'd feel "normal" and could get around with no pain. She was just about right with that. I'm still having some problems time to time with my right upper quad and groin muscles. Those were the ones that were giving me fits of pain off and on since the surgery a year ago. Every once in a while I'll tweak the groin muscle but stubbing my toe or getting my foot caught while I'm trying to walk and it will literally immobilize me for about 3 minutes. But the pain subsides and I can go back to what I'm doing. But the muscle is still somewhat weak and I have trouble lifting my leg to get in a car, to put my pants on, etc.
I also get a somewhat sharp pain in my left hip from time to time. I don't know if it's weather related or what the deal is. My sister told me that after her hip replacement she would get some tinge of pain from time to time if the weather changed. Cindy has been on me to go back to see the doctor to get it looked at, but I just haven't made the time.
Interestingly, the left hip continues to make sort of "ratchet" sound when I walk up and down steps. When it's quiet and I walk up and down our basement steps, I can clearly hear what sounds like a little ratchet wrench working in my left hip. It used to freak Cindy out at first, but now it's just a normal - and accepted - sound coming from my body. I had asked the doctor's assistant about it during some follow-up exams last spring, but he said, "Aw, it's just normal." Funny that my right hip isn't making the same sound.
Today also marks the one year anniversary of the last taste of soda pop. I completely cut out pop as part of my diet last year and, quite honestly, I haven't missed it in the least. That's probably been the biggest change in my life style and Cindy noticed it, as well. She doesn't drink pop all that much any longer, either. In fact, I'm not certain we have any pop around the house at this point.
I ended up losing about 45 pounds last year and I was doing well to keep it off - then Christmas came. Between the cookies and other goodies that abound that time of year, I ended gaining about 10 pounds back. I've fluctuated losing five pounds, then gaining five pounds back since then. I'm not happy that the pants that I bought last year after my weight loss are getting tight again, but I know that I can lose the weight if I really try. Now that I know how to lose 40 pounds, I know I can do it again. And keeping it off wasn't all that hard. Sugar is what really kills me on my weight.
My knees are the ones that are beginning to talk to me now. I've noticed recently that I'm getting some stiffness and pain in the knees. I've been taking chondroitin and glucosamine off and on when the pain flairs up and that seems to help. My biggest worry is that eventually I'll have to get my knees replaced. And from what I've heard and what I saw during my rehab last year, I don't want to do that. It's ten times worse than a hip replacement. But I'm not getting any younger and they're really perfecting these procedures these days. Who knows? If I have to get knee replacements in ten years, maybe the recovery time will be reduced like it has been for hips. But I'm not looking forward to it.
Oh, and yes, that's an x-ray of my new hips at the start of this post...
Congratulations, Will! Sounds like you're doing great!
Posted by: Tim Lake | April 08, 2010 at 10:28 AM