Yesterday I read through a number of blogs and web postings from others who have been through hip resurfacing and was struck by a few common themes. People, their recovery and their attitude go hand in hand. And that reminds me of any kind of survey outcome. For instance, the finding that people who go to church are happier doesn't tell us if happy people go to church or if people who go to church are happy. My finding that people who have obvious upbeat attitudes were also having upbeat recoveries doesn't tell which is the cart and which is the horse, but I think it is safe to let intuition make the call.
Another theme was that people who recovered the quickest were up and at 'em the quickest. So I decided I would be, if not the fastest, amongst the quickest to walk around the block. I didn't see anybody claiming to quite do that in the first week. It seemed easiest enough to me so I got K to join me for a short trial hike up the street. As I reported yesterday, we only went about 4 or 5 houses before she said it looked like I was starting to tire. I felt okay, but figured we could go out again that evening. But even that small hike, while never hitting me all at once, made for a more restless night and for the pain meds not being able to quite keep up for the next 16 hours or so. The PT was here today listening to my story. She asked, "What is the last thing I told you when I left on Friday?" Hmm, I couldn't quite recall. She smiled and said, "You will keep recovering fast as long as you don't try to go fast." She said that again today when she left. The little cutie. Tonight, after the sun sets and it starts to cool off I think K and I will stroll about one house less.
Maybe then I can still make the block by 10 days!
Next time I'll pontificate on the tradeoff between weaning off the drugs quickly and ramping up the activity quickly. Also so more thoughts on addiction, pain meds and the medical industry. The nurse that came by today has some interesting Al Anon experience to share.
6 comments:
You inspire me! I LOVE this blog.
In auto racing the best way to take a corner is, "slow in, fast out". Sounds like hip recovery too. My doc says he'd like me walking a mile in two weeks. Realistic?
Joe- I like the racing analogy. Actually, I pretty much love all analogies. A mile in two weeks seems pretty easy to me. For now, for the rest of this week anyway, I'm going to stick with my PT's advice to walk more often each day instead of going further once. I like the goal. I'll keep you posted!
How much vitamin I were you taking each day before you decided to schedule the procedure?
Were you taking anything else?
Joe, Before the surgery I was training for Ride the Rockies with Adams. I was frustrated to not be losing weight or to be getting any faster on the bike although I was able to ride further. I never got faster, curiously, even on my shorter routes. I saw an article in the WSJ about the possible anit oxidant masking effects of vitamins. Without the free radicle oxidants the muscles weren't getting the right message to break down and grow. Same with fat went the theory. So I rather impusively gave up the vitamins. My blood pressure came down and I quit taking linsinopril, a hypertension drug. A few weeks before surgery the drs. office asked me to quite taking Ibuprofen because of its blood thinner effect that they wanted to control in other ways. K feeds me a balanced diet, so as I went into surgery I wasn't taking anything, including the glucosamine. You remind me that the other day I thot it might be a good idea to go back on the vitamins. I'll call the dr. office to see what they think about glucosamine.
Thank Christian! Is there hip work in your future?
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