I attempted and I think succeeded, to rest on Saturday. I only walked when letting the hounds outside, fixing meals in the kitchen and trips to the fridge while watching college football. I tried to get up out of my chair every hour to get the blood circulating if it only meant to stand in one spot. I did NOT try to walk laps inside the house or up and down the hallway ... I wanted to see how I felt by the end of the day without the extra steps. I felt good throughout the day into the early evening.
It was another typical night of sleep Friday night but I was able to add some longer periods of solid sleep. I might be up to 3 hours straight right now. I am the one waking the hounds up now as they both sleep mostly through the night. You can see here it's early and they are not that active, probably wishing they could be fed breakfast when they get up like they use to instead of waiting for MJ to feed them around 8am.
Saturday morning I grabbed the Canon G9 X, the camera with the black spot that is on the sensor sometimes. It was back and I edited out that black spot for these next few photos. It was so nice to sit outside in 62° weather watching the day get it's start. Coffee seems to taste better when it is consumed outside early in the morning.
I felt good Saturday morning, felt strong. I could tell it was going to be a good day, with nothing planned but watching college football with good games late into Saturday and a specific plan to rest and not walk as much. Out west games start at 9am and finish much earlier then they did when I lived in Indiana. No more having to stay up until 1:30am to see the end of the game.
Excuse the dog hair in the space between the floor and step. I'll be vacuuming out there today (Sunday). There is a slight step down onto the patio. For support I line the walker up like this and then take the first step with my good side, the left ... left foot first. I step down easy just to make sure the new right hip ball joint stays where it should. I'd rather be too careful than back in the ER.
With morning temps in the 60's and 70's staying around until after lunch, Heidi has been spending a lot more time in the 'rock' yard and soaking up the sunshine. She likes laying on the edge of the patio where the sunshine can barely touch her.
As I sit sipping hot coffee, listening to the birds and watching the clouds ... I realize just how much I miss that daily early walk that Stella and I use to do before her surgery. That knocked her out for two weeks of no walking. I hurt my hip the day after the vet office took off her bandage and said to wait until the following Tuesday before she would walk again. I also miss those morning bike rides and wonder what it will feel like when I try to get on any of my bikes for the first time.
When I asked Stella "do you miss your walk?" ... she gave me this look. She does.
MJ showed up soon after my neighbor did Saturday morning. The hounds love it when MJ shows up but like she reminds me, they only do that because she is the one feeding them now. "It's all about food." Gerry was happy when I told him I was going to make an effort to walk less and watch more football instead. He has seen others go through rehab for knee and hip replacements. He tells me I have progressed faster than he has ever seen.
I didn't make it to the end of the Saturday night football games but I did set my DVR to tape the last part of the games that I was going to miss. I may or may not watch them in a few days. I was tired Saturday night and when I get that feeling I do not hesitate in getting some sleep, no matter what time of day or night it is.
Sleeping solid until 1:40am when I woke up for some reason. I may have heard the hounds shaking their flopping ears and dog tags making noise as they did. They like to do a full body shake when they wake up. By the time my feet hit the floor, both of them were standing by the kitchen door to be let outside. I knew then I'd have a hard time getting back to sleep this morning.
I'll try but when I don't get back to sleep I get up, no matter the time. So here I was this morning (Sunday) starting this post a little before 3am. I felt stronger this morning as I walked down the hallway. In fact I lifted the walker up and walked on my own for that distance to the kitchen. It was nice to hear "quiet" as I walked. I DON'T do that all the time, only when the body feels like doing it.
The first day I attempted that a few days ago, I was suddenly not as strong as I felt with the walker and I thought I was back on Day 2 ... so I went back to the walker, walking slowly and not pushing anything. This morning though I feel so much stronger without the walker.
I still follow protocol when turning corners, or sitting down. I still hold my right leg straight out as I lower myself into the high seat. I feel that I could slide into a chair like I normally would before the surgery but I won't until I talk to the surgeon on Tuesday. My PT friend did tells me it would be okay to walk a little bit without the walker INSIDE the house but always near a table, a counter or furniture in case I need support.
I've done a lot of reading about timelines for the healing process. Combine all that I have read there are some pretty consistent time frames. For example, for the Hip Capsule to be fully healed, that will take 60-90 days or in my case November 8 at the earliest. Yet I could return to "normal activity" within 10-12 weeks which would be November 16.
Looking at dates, I still have a long way to go.
Of course everybody is different and that is the unknown, why doctors or the surgeon could not give me a firm timeline with dates to shoot for.
I heard a terrible story from a friend yesterday about her sister's knee replacement this past year. I'll not go into detail but it makes my situation look simple compared to what happened to her. I stopped reading the forum I found the other day with only members that had hip replacements. IF I can heal without going through what I have seen on that forum I will consider myself very very fortunate. Of course, like all forums whether it be sports, cars, hounds, or anything else ... most have a negative tone to them.
The swelling around the incision continues to go down. I started icing it 15 minutes at a time with my new ice packs I received on Friday from Amazon Prime. For the first time I was able to see the whole incision just by turning my head instead of trying to get a mirror in the right angle to look. One question I have on Tuesday is why did he choose not to insert a drain tube in the incision?
Well I have that feeling of sleep again so I'll end this post and head back to bed at 3:45am. I can get a couple of more hours of solid sleep before we start our day.
I wonder if this injury will turn me into a hiker and less a bike rider?
Oh ... I found a mobile dog grooming business that will come and pick up Heidi and Stella Wednesday morning, take them to their facility for a bath and nail trim for each. Chewy is delivering my dog food now, and groceries are delivered by Fry's Market. So basically everything is lined up for a 'long haul' as I continue my recovery.
It's cool this morning the darkness of the Wild West.
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