4.5 Months Post Op

I almost can't believe its been 4 and a half months since I had surgery on my left hip. I thought I'd be all good by now, alas, I still have 2 surgeries to go. But, putting that aside...

This weekend was almost like a normal weekend for me - woke up both mornings and went and rode my bike for 3+ hours. Yes, I was slow, but it left me with that good exhaustion. It was awesome. Then we ate, went to the farmers market, ate some more, saw a movie (scott pilgrim takes on the world is great), lounged on the couch, played with the kitties, cleaned bikes, caught up with friends, etc. pretty basic weekend, and it was lovely :)

If it wasn't for the looseness in my left hip, I would feel very happy with the results of the surgery. That is good to keep in mind going into the next couple of surgeries. I think if it weren't for my collarbone, i could have started riding outside at about 6 weeks post op. As it turned out, I was off the bike for a bout 4 months - but that was due more to the collarbone than the hip. I think riding has been helpful for the hip - and it feels better than it did 2 weeks ago. It feels stronger, fewer tweaks, etc. Before I was able to ride, I was doing a lot of hiking - which was harder on my hips for sure. Last night i had a burning feeling in my joint/hip area - but I would guess that is just muscles/tendons - and just due to the nearly 100 miles i put in on the road this weekend. It is heavenly to ride without pain in the left hip. I hate that my right hip hurts and aches and grinds, but at least it is a remider of where Iused to be on my left hip - so I have something to compare.

I'm ready to start moving forward - to start building endurance, strength and speed, and to start losing the extra 10 lbs I've put on through all this. But, not quite yet. For now, I need to just be happy that i get to ride my bike. Enjoy the sunshine where I can find it, and just maintain a level of sanity until the next surgery arrives... and then the next one. MUCH better than doing that waiting from the couch!! :)

Kitties, etc.

We got some kitties! Their names are grimace and igor, they are sisters, from the spca. They are awesome. Little purring and snuggling machines, but also quite frisky. They are good at knowing when to use the claws and when not too - which I appreciate. We have had them a week as of today. Levi has not quite adjusted...
We're working on it... Any suggestions are welcome.

More big news... I have finally returned to the gym and to the bike. YAY YAY YAY! I'm not doing anything near what I used to do in the gym, but i'm at least getting some strength in. It is shocking how weak I am. Like doing a single leg bridge is REALLY hard. I'm doing mostly core work, a bit of lower body, and as much with the left arm as I can do. PT stuff for the hips and the right arm as well. I had some major sharp pains in my hips as a result of the gym work (usually a few hours or the morning after), but it goes away.

My first ride was on Saturday and I've ridden twice since then. I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised at how well both my hip and my clavicle held up. It is funny though - my strongest limb is my left arm. I feel a bit gimpy. The most pain during the rides comes from my right hip - the one I haven't had any surgery on yet. Its the loudest for sure. I'm trying to not put weight on the handle bars much - so going up hills and descending is tricky (and slow), but generally fine! I'm getting the rhythm back. My left hip has felt generally excellent on the rides in terms of pain level. Some strange little squeaks here and there, and some mild achiness at times, but generally quiet and strong feeling. I definitely feel the left glute engaged and like the right glute is impossible to access - its like the pain and mis-aligned structure just prevents me from using it. The only remaining real complaint I have on my left hip is the looseness (I think the pains and squeaks are normal for 4 months into recovery - so don't concern me really). If it werent for the looseness I'd be feeling very happy about the surgery. so....

about that looseness. I finally spoke to Dr. Safran about Dr. Philippon's idea that labral reconstruction is needed to fix the looseness issue - as opposed to just closing/tightening the joint capsule. I asked a ton of questions, we had a good discussion. And, he called me back multiple times with additional thoughts. It was reassuring to have his attention and brain power on this. His suggestion, which I think is a good one, is that I get one or two more opinions, since he and Dr. P. are telling me such different things. Dr. Safran is quite confident that the joint capsule is the issue and he can fix it. He doesn't suggest reconstruction. For many reasons, which I won't go into. My primary take-away from what I've learned is that reconstruction is new, its results not proven, and that the cause of my issue is not really pin-down-able. I hope I can get at least some sort of consensus from the group of docs. The two people he recommended I contact for second opinions are Dr. Byrd and Dr. Sampson. So, I'm going to get on that.

Another piece of good news. I went in and had another xray done on the clavicle today and it shows that there has been some bone growth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!! YAY!!!!! its only on the lower part of the bone (the top part is still a nice gap), but it is something - and it means I'm healing, which is so fantastic. He thinks in a month I should be able to use crutches - so, if I decide to have surgery with him, we'll do that in mid-september. Second hip could be done in Nov (assuming all goes well) and I could have this largely behind me by 2011, which is a very appealing idea. But, I still have research to do, so i'm not going to get ahead of myself.

In the meantime, I'm gonna ride my bike :)

Ciao,
v