May 25, 2013

I have been looking back at older posts and actually not getting overly upset over it like I had in the past...although I haven't been reading straight through, I've been looking for specific dates and what not. Not bot bad nonetheless.

disclaimer: my "d" key is not working at the moment all that great so if it's missing and I haven't fixed it, that's the reason...it's not because I'm an idiot. Or maybe it is...

Anyway, I digress. Things have been going along at status quo. I hit the gym 4 times this week, Monday through Thursday...I was impressed with myself.  I started out running but by day two my right hip was being a little finicky so I finished the week on the elliptical which made me just as sweaty and the machine said I burned way more calories than running. Either way, I got my workout in and it puts in such a different mindset. Then I think about how I'm going to be a vegetable very soon and lose all the muscle and strength I have been working SO hard to regain. That in itself is depressing.

I have been doing some squats and lunges as well as step ups which is basically holding a fairly light weight (5lb) in each hand and stepping up onto the bench - right leg up, left leg up, left leg down, right leg down an that is one rep. I did 10 reps on each side, did that 3x. Even being 2 years post, my left leg is exponentially weaker which makes me believe that I may not get tons of strength back. I'm at the same level I was a year ago I feel...who knows. I'm not in pain so I'll shut up. So yeah, my right leg has been, basically, in a constant (very low amount) pain...which makes sense. I'd give me a 1-2 on most days...sometimes nothing at all, but it's there more than it's not lately. Which is making me look forward to surgery, as terrible as it's going to be. I just hope it's a quick recovery...but I don't know if that's gonna be on me side.

Had a nice little discussion with my boss regarding my mental state during my last surgery and how I felt I was being treated very unfairly during recovery and I was afraid I wasn't coming back to a job, but this time around I don't have that HUGE weight to carry around so I won't have anxiety and feel like I'm doing something wrong when really...well, whatever... I'm going to be fine this time. I couldn't be more happy about that!

Besides all the right leg issue my left one is holding up fab. I know I may be favoring the left ONCE in a while - I mean the pain isn't anywhere near where I have been in the past - but the left is feeling absolutely amazing. It makes me feel like it could last forever...but forever is a long ways away so maybe we'll just take it one month...year at a time.

About all I have to report, Monday is my preop appointment where I get to be poked and prodded and questioned and sit around all day. yay. And hopefully donate a pint for myself then treat myself to a pint.

Anywho, someone just posted this on a PAO Facebook page and it is SO right on I'm in tears laughing so hard - esp #16..."the other side.." or in my case "the first one again..." le sigh
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You might be dysplastic if ...

1. You are under 30 and own a walker, a raised toilet seat and a hip kit.

2. You have said, "it's not a hip replacement, they are breaking my pelvis" more than once in the same day.

3. You are adept at doing the "fist in hand" demonstration of a what a normal hip looks like, followed by what YOURS looks like, followed by how the surgeon will correct it.

4. While carving a turkey, you take the opportunity to demonstrate for your guests how periacetabular osteotomy works using the carving knife, said turkey, and a few screws from the junk drawer in the kitchen. You end up ordering pizza.

5. You are the youngest person in your aquatherapy class.

6. You are the oldest patient at the children's hospital.

7. Before going on any outing you ask, "how far will I have to walk?"

8. You can spell "iliopsoas" and "trochanter."

9. Eskimos have hundreds of words for snow. You have hundreds of words for hip pain: snapping, grinding, tin foil, popping, giving way, ripping, tearing, shredding, burning ...

10. Even though you got a "C" in high school biology, you can name and describe the function of every muscle, tendon and bone between your belly button and your knee cap.

11. You practice sleeping on your back so that you'll be ready for the weeks post surgery.

12. You are a woman but you say the word "groin" a lot.

13. You have posted a picture of yourself in a hospital gown on the internet.

14. You have posted pictures of your incision, your x-rays, your hardware, or your surgeon on the internet.

15. You've refinanced your house and/or cashed out your retirement accounts just in case you have to pay for a surgery which your insurance company may, at the last minute, deem "not medically necessary."

16. You have a blog which you update hourly (first week post diagnosis), obsessively (in the months leading up to surgery), daily (the week before surgery), daily with help from a family member or nurse (from the time the epidural comes out until you leave the hospital), bi-weekly (from the time you leave the hospital until you get to throw the damn crutches away), then twice monthly until such time as you just want to get on with your life again. You then update the blog one year after surgery with a picture of your healed incision. Unless ... you need surgery on the other side; if so, repeat.