An Ice Pack Is Like Magic

I spent most of Monday with the familiar feeling of a 'rock' being inside my hip about the area I would guess the real femur is trying to grow on or around the new hip. I am not sure how much is metal or how low it goes on the femur. Advil wasn't working and I did not want any more muscle relaxers since my lower back had improved. In late afternoon it hit me ... try an ice pack on the side of my hip like I have before .... it was like magic in about thirty minutes time.

I also applied that ice pack while I lay in bed a few hours later and woke up with a hip with zero pain or soreness. I was almost shocked as the hounds and I walked down the hallway around 3:30am. Heidi has a new habit now that I really like, she stops right by the bed and does a full body shake to wake me up. So far that has worked 3 out of 3 times. We came back and slept till 6am and my hip was feeling really good. A little stiff at the start but really good.

This is Stella hearing me say, "no breakfast until 7am" ... I gave in and fed them at 6:30am.

As you can see it was a sky show early this morning. I couldn't stop taking photos of the sky. Can you tell which camera I am taking these photos with? iPhone, Nikon D3200 or the Canon G7 X ??

After breakfast Stella was still on the lookout for food. Just two nights ago she remembers the smell of two thick steaks being grilled next door. She is thinking there might be some scraps tossed over the fence for her.

With the daytime temperature being much cooler, Heidi is spending more time outside exploring the yard. That does not mean the sun is cool, just the air temp. The sun felt hot enough to me that I thought it was in the 90's.

Stella jumped up out of her nap on the patio ... an unfamiliar sound. It sounded like a tractor was passing by pretty close to the fence. I missed it as it passed but I could tell looking over the fence they were mowing as much brush as they could. Too bad they didn't get right up next to my fence.

Once I am in better shape I will take my pruning shears with me and walk to the end of the block then curl around onto the path behind me where I can cut all of these down to ground level. All the dogs that bothered us walking this way the first week we moved here are no longer living in the neighborhood.

I had a feeling the brightest color of the vacant land in back was not going to last much longer.

Once Stella figured out the noise was just a tractor just like back in Indiana she resumed her afternoon siesta. That coffee spill will be cleaned up once the doctor gives me his approval to bend more then 90° ... otherwise it will remain. I guess Stella doesn't like coffee that much.

I was right, the second lap took out the yellow daisies.

Once it gets too hot, which doesn't take that long ... Stella is ready to go back inside.

With Fry's Market delivering my grocery shopping online I had to bribe the hounds with dog treats to get them outside on the patio while they moved the groceries to their car to my kitchen counter. I ordered 53 items and they didn't make any mistakes.  Well worth the fee of $9.95 plus a tip ... especially when you can't walk.  LOL The hounds were left outside for less than five minutes.

Well the answer to the camera question ... including the photo right above of Heidi ... all but one of these photos were taken with the Canon G9 X. Some of them had the dark spec from inside the camera and others were perfect with nothing to edit. I guess based on the cost of the camera and owning it for only 10 months I might as well use it and edit the black spot off of the photo as needed.

I did a 10 minute walk today around the backyard. It was slower than I normally go but I did not feel any kind of pain in my hip or groin. I do know that sitting in a chair for longer than 30 minutes put that 'rock' feeling right back inside my hip. Even if I just stand up to watch the game or take a break from the computer, that also works.

I feel much better than yesterday in the hip ... thus my attitude has changed for the better. I'm back to feeling positive about this healing process. Seven days until my next follow-up appointment with the surgeon.

Cabin fever is overbearing right now here in the Wild West.

The Improvements Continue

Although Heidi loves her new bed that arrived last week, sometimes there isn't anything better than an old rolled up blanket. With a cool breeze coming though the southern bedroom window she found the perfect spot to nap until breakfast was served this morning. For the first time in a long time, both hounds slept through the night, never getting up one time. Stella found a new place to sleep ... the walk-in closet. It's dark, quiet and no windows, the perfect place for solid sleep.

I on the other hand was getting up every hour. Did they do something to my bladder during their hip replacement surgery? Finally I was wide awake at 5am, did my exercises for the foot, legs and hip and started the day. There were some amazing cloud formations right after the sunshine came up.

Remember that I am writing these updates for any of those readers that may have hip replacement surgery in the future and possibly have one scheduled. Maybe I can give them some idea what they will go through. I KNOW we are all different so anyone's surgery and rehab WILL BE different.

With the release of the Apple iPhone 11's the other day, commercials are being swamped with advertising about the new phone and cameras the different models have. From all the reviews I have read that is about the only difference, is the cameras. So this morning I decided it was going to be iPhone photo day just to remind myself how good the quality is for the iPhone 8+.

I am undecided as of this afternoon if I am going to upgrade my phone but I definitely will my watch. Like I said, unless you have the cellular function on your watch it is almost worthless in an emergency situation if your phone is not nearby. With not many differences between the Series 4 and 5, I may stick to the Series 4 and just trade it for one that has cellular function. Luckily my dog sitter brought my phone to the hospital that Saturday and I was THEN able to provide them with all the names and phone numbers they needed.
 

With my followup appointment scheduled for Tuesday morning I wanted to take one more close look at the incision. Since the swelling is going down daily I can see more than I did previous times. What a shock it was to see one of the finest healing jobs I have seen. There are definitely no staples to take out and unless he used sutures that dissolve, I don't see any stitches at all. Just surgical tape over the incision which is already close to being healed.
 

With the lack of pain in the hip and the clean surgical incision I can tell he was very precise in his work and had great attention to detail.

With a forecast of highest temps in the 70's and lows in the 50's, it's perfect weather here in the Southwest. It would be perfect weather for bicycling riding too.

Stella stood there a little after 7am, scoping out the yard for any snakes, scorpions or other critters that might be in her yard. We have yet to see any of those in the yard or anywhere else, after living here 3 months and 10 days.

First thing in the morning I could tell during the stretching exercises I was going further than yesterday. I kept the walker on the floor and in front of me but I was walking a normal stride down the hallway at normal speed. Again I did do a little walking along the kitchen counters without the walker and I am not quite there yet for fulltime walking without it. I expect another week or two using the walker based on information I have read.

Stella enjoys a short nap before breakfast is served. Normally this would be the time I would be drinking coffee before our daily walk. She will be happy to get back those I am sure and I have an idea that those walks well be very good for me as well.

The photos were not edited today.

I wanted to see what that green tree looked like if I used 2x zoom.

She was snoring in that photo.

These photos show what amount of exercise the hounds get on any normal afternoon, 7 days per week ... they don't deviate much from their routine.

By mid day my right leg was almost back to normal size but the ankle and foot were still swollen a little bit. With the grabber I could only pull my tight compression sock half way up my foot so I called for assistance. Otherwise with help of the grabber I can dress myself.

I am a little excited to hear what the surgeon has to say tomorrow. I feel like I am ahead of schedule in healing but I am not sure I am good enough yet to slide into my cars. Just a little too high and any twisting or tweaking of that new hip ball joint is NOT a good thing. I don't expect to have any chance to drive until September 28.

I am going to post this early today. Not much more will be going on between now and tonight. I might try to read a little for the first time and I'll watch a little football tonight but nothing more. For the third day in a row I only walked when I needed to do something here in the house without any walking up and down the hallway or from the front to the back of the house for a workout.

I will find out tomorrow what the next plan of action will be.

Another beautiful day here in the Wild West.