6 weeks, now walk

At last, 6 weeks is up!! WOO HOO

Let's dance! Let's not.

Right, now what? 6 weeks feels so long when you're on two elbow crutches. But I can now drop to one according to the letter I received from Mr. O a week out of hospital. I've been wandering around the house on one crutch and instantly I feel so liberated! With one arm free to carry something, anything, is heaven. I've not had two arms free since before my resurfacing and that's the goal... to ditch the walking stick too and walk unaided.

So I can't start physiotherapy again until after I see Mr. O next week to see what's next really. I had a wee cheeky abduction of my leg earlier 'just to see' what would happen! Er.....my leg moved outwards lol, but more importantly, I felt it in my butt where you should be feeling it. That was new!

I desperately want this to be it, the repair that gets me back on my feet properly. But without re-injury and I don't care how long it takes in physio, I'll do it. I'm still getting the odd painful twinges over the incision site and the side of my butt where I imagine most of the suturing etc has been done to reattach the muscle to the bone. The twinges are fleeting, not requiring pain relief and they usually come at the end of the day (using leg all day?).

I feel happy now 6 weeks has past, like some sort of danger point. My thigh muscles have wasted considerably in that time so I know I have a lot of work to do in the next few months. Once again, and I've lost track of the times I've said this.... BRING IT ON! Let's get walking :o)

Officially bored

It's official..... I'm now bored and restless and I don't want to sit on my ass anymore!

So that's been 3 weeks off work, at home, on my ass to get to this state of mind. 3 weeks.

I have actually been doing some work from home so I don't feel unproductive. I can't focus on work today. It's just the lack of change of scenery! Actually it might be more than that, as I'm currently at my BF's house for the first time in more than a month so if that's not a scenery change I don't know what is? Or maybe it's too little too late? We're even going out tomorrow night for birthday celebrations and I can't shake this horrid cabin fever feeling! I know tomorrow night will be fun, but today is dragging.

What shall I take from this: a lesson in patience.

How do I feel: like I want to put my pants on my head and run around the room.

Like curled ribbon

Mr. O told me to stay off my right leg for 6 weeks. His senior registrar told me to stay off my leg for 6 weeks. The physio's told me to stay off my right leg for 6 weeks. 6 weeks!!! Minimum....

Just let it go stiff, then we'll work on stretching and then strengthening.

Until yesterday, perhaps due to swelling, I had not noticed that the muscles have gone as stiff as a board! Just standing there (on crutches) I had the insane sensation that my left leg was longer, loose and floppy compared to my right. Then it twigged! The reattached muscles have stiffened up and when compared with my left leg, it feels like I'm curling up like christmas ribbon. I'm distinctly being pulled over to my right....in my mind, at least.

Here's hoping that this will be the ticket to shifting my hippy limp. It's a very odd sensation....

Injection fun

Forgot to mention that I also have to take Clexane again everyday for a month! That's a sub-cutaneous injection of a blood thinner to stop blood clots. Means I don't have to wear the lovely stockings or knacker my stomach with aspirin - and best of all I can now be seen in technicolour!!! ....

Have crutches, will travel

....or not, as the case may be.

I had the surgery to reattached my abductors muscles about 12 days ago (29th June). Both gluteus minimus and medius had completely detached themselves from the bone. When they went in to repair the muscles they were met with a completely naked femur bone over the greater trochanter (upper thigh) area as the ligaments tend to retract back when not holding onto muscles. How this didn't cause me any pain I do not know! I'm beginning to think I have abnormal pain recognition in my right leg??

The surgery went very well, apparently. However, it was more complex than originally thought, took about 2hrs and has landed me with more mobility restrictions than either of my last two surgeries combined! I found out after the surgery that they roughened up the femur bone at the reattachment site to help the muscles stay put. They also took out the screws holding the cup in place in my hip socket and mechanically tested the cup to check that it was secure (i.e. checking that a loose cup was not responsible for causing my muscles to detach ??). The screws did not go back in. I assume they were removed with an aim to stop the muscles rubbing over them (sawing through them) and that I don't need those screws anymore as the cup has knitted itself in with the bone of my pelvis. I sincerely hope so, as I'll be honest and say that I wasn't very happy when I was told they took the screws out. It wasn't consented for. But I do acknowledge that they had to investigate why the muscles detached in the first place. They also wouldn't remove them if they thought it would ultimately cause a cup failure - would they? I'm choosing not to dwell on this and just trust them. My leg's not fallen off yet lol

So originally I was told that I'd be in hospital for one night, two crutches at first and then down to one in a few days for 6wks, driving after a few days, back to work after a week off. Reality: two crutches at all times for 6wks then down to one, NO driving for the first 2wks and only when I feel confident I can move my lower right leg appropriately, no bending down to pick things up off the floor, no side-stepping to the right, and signed off work for a MONTH.

Bit of a shock to the system those restrictions. I'm basically not allowed to abduct to allow the muscles to fully heal. They said just let the muscle go stiff over the 6wks and then we will begin a stretching programme followed by strengthening. I'm not attending physio until after my 6wk appointment at the hospital - so no physio until after the 17th August. That seems ages away! It's not just the physical restrictions of remembering not to actively move my right leg sideways, it's all the little things that come with being on two crutches - carrying stuff around easily, no real cooking, showering....

Thankfully, between my mum and my partner the whole house is organised so when I'm in alone I can get to pre-made meals, clothes (top drawers etc), phone.... the list is long! My back pack is now my best friend and I've dug out my sock putter-onner that I needed last year (glad I never gave that away!). I can't sit on the sofa with a hot drink, but I can get to the kitchen table to sit down. Mmmm....thermos comes to mind :o)

I had the staples taken out last friday and everything already feels a million times better. They didn't go in through the full length of the resurfacing scar - about 2/3rds of it. So I think there were about 20ish staples, but I lost count again when the nurse took them out as I was too busy chatting trying to ignore the tugging sensations. Only the top half the staples felt sore coming out and I definitely believe I have lost sensation in patches over that thigh from previous surgeries. Double-edged sword there: probably prevented me feeling pain when the muscles detached, but pain is the body's warning system telling me something was wrong and I probably didn't get the message until much later (i.e. all that gym going to strengthen the abductors and no improvement, lets check out those muscles on US scan).

Despite the fact I know the frustration level will be high, I'm playing by the rules and parking my backside, doing nothing, letting everything heal. I do not want to have to go back in and have those pesky muscles put back on again!

Surgery scheduled

Just an update to say that I'm scheduled to have my abductor muscles sown back on at the end of June. Still waiting for the confirmation letter, but the 29th was mentioned. Not really thought about it much since being told I needed to have them surgically reattached. I suppose compared to the two previous hip surgeries this seems almost like a walk in the park! So that'll come back to bite me on the butt come the evening of the 29th June!!

I've been told that I should only need to take a week off work, can get back to driving after a few days (!! right leg), and I'll have to use one elbow crutch for 6 weeks minimum. We'll see regarding the driving! I do believe him on the rest after the resurfacing. I was told then that I could go back to work within two weeks - and I could have, but chose not to. Plus work told me not to, a month at least!

Anyhoo, got better things to do first, like a nice sunny holiday abroad with my other half!! :o)))

Ultrasound scan results

Last week I had an ultrasound scan on my right hip/thigh to check out my muscles for anything that could account for the excessive weakness I still have one year on from my resurfacing surgery.

During the scan it was obvious that my abductor muscle was not attached to the bone anymore. Sigh. Knowing full well what this would mean I decided not to speculate and wait on Mr. O's letter hopefully laying out 'what's next'. I got that letter today and it seems that we're just bypassing another consultation and going straight to surgery! As soon as I make the appointment. Big sigh.

In the letter: "The scans show that there is a small but significant detachment of parts of the gluteus medius and minimus [abductors] over the front and outer part of your right hip joint. The best treatment here would be for us to re-open the wound and re-attach these muscles using synthethic ligament material in order to get a really good attachment."

So, here we go again.... Round 4! Hopefully, as this surgery will not be as invasive as the resurfacing, it won't be so bad. Fingers crossed the detached muscles are still in good shape and haven't part-turned to fat (cos that won't help re-attachment!).

Nothing I can do, so, let's do it! Bring it on, I will shift this limp!!

One year

Today, exactly one year ago I had my hip resurfaced!

Today I was back at the Royal Ortho for my first yearly check-up.

Thankfully I can say that it is unremarkable news, the implant is EXACTLY where it was put one year ago. I have no pain or issues in my everyday life....in fact, life is very very good! Which is one of the reasons I haven't blogged in a couple of months.

I do still have unresolved muscle weakness in my abductors. I have been working hard in the gym and in physio to try and get my abductors to kick-in and start working properly. Without them, I'm stuck with this hippy-limp.

Last week at physio was a bit of a turning point in my treatment. My physio, who is a MSK (musculo-skeletal) physio, took me to meet some neuro physios (i.e. those that deal with people who've suffered neurological injuries or diseases that affect their muscles). The idea was to check I haven't suffered some nerve injury during the surgery that might be causing this muscle weakness and to see if they had any other exercise ideas that might trick my muscles into working correctly.

Four physios manipulating your body at once is both confusing and tiring I can tell you! For an hour and a half!!!! The short story is that everything is 'firing' correctly and as it should. But that my body has effectively forgotten how to co-ordinate it all properly. Chances are, I'm probably a long way off getting them to behave, but it should happen in time, with hard work and patience *sigh*. Somehow we're going to try and incorporate the exercises the neuro-physios did with me, which is no small feat considering it involved two other people! My physio said he's going to sort something out but to keep up my other exercises the now for the next couple of weeks. I'm curious as to how I'm going to do this.....

This was discussed today in the orthopod's office. The surgical team would like for me to have an ultrasound scan done on my leg to check that the muscle hasn't actually detached itself from the bone. Recall the nasty staples holding the abductors to the bone in the x-ray?! Yeah, ouch. Wouldn't that hurt though???? I can't say I'm in hideous discomfort any more than the average person after a session in the gym. I would have thought you'd feel something if a muscle had detached itself - that being said, I didn't feel the full whack pain of osteoarthritis at the moment of diagnosis. Mmmmm. Let's just say, I'm hoping it's not detached itself, because that would mean reattaching said muscle.....and as much as I like anaesthesia.....

Anyhoo, it's all good! Life is good! NO pain = good :o))))))

I love my hip. Can't believe that one year has gone by already!