What a big difference 24 hours makes. All day yesterday I was experiencing pain in my hip, lower back along with the big "rock" feeling in the area of the hip joint. I tried short walks, took a long walk, applied ice, took Ibuprofen and laid in bed resting ... wondering what happened and what was I going to do. At one point late Tuesday afternoon I thought I might have to call for an appointment with the doctor.
The more I thought about it last night the more I felt it was just muscle related and the lower back issue was the cause of my hip feeling bad because I could feel a nerve that was a little hot. Not all the time but would flash on just enough times for me know know there was lower back swelling that was rubbing a nerve that I was feeling in my hip.
Ice came to the rescue. I sat down with ice and later I went to bed with ice packs. It felt so good to lay my lower back on that long rectangular ice pack that I felt asleep. Luckily there was a shirt between my back and the ice. I had also rubbed my right leg with that same long rectangular ice pack and that also brought relief.
Waking up at 3am to let Heidi outside, I could feel my lower back was back to normal. No pain or tightness. The only thing I felt in my hip was a "smaller rock" feeling. I walked down the hallway without the walker and felt no pain in my hip or groin area. EVERYTHING seemed it was back to normal. I wasn't going to start my day that early so I didn't get my answer until about 5am ... where I felt even better after applying some ice to the side of my hip.
Hip rehab or not ... the hounds were demanding breakfast kibble to be served at 5am ... not going to happen. Yet I did give in to their howling and barking around 6:30am, a good 30 minutes before I had planned to feed them.
As I made coffee I realized I had not felt this good since last Friday when I took the longest walk yet. It was for 20 minutes and for .67 of a mile. I did not feel bad after that walk and don't believe that was the cause of my issue on Monday and Tuesday.
By 8am I already knew that I was going to take my first drive in the car today. I'd take my cane with me to carry "just in case". I'd slide my seat all the way back, raise the seat so it would be just like the Jeep Liberty seat that took me to my appointment. I was extra careful when I moved my right leg into the 'cockpit'. Since I did not want to lift that right foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal I used my good foot, the left one, for the braking.
I went to Tractor Supply store to find out they did not have the dog treats that I wanted. I went to both bicycle shops in town, did a lot of catching up, bought a t-shirt at one shop and paid my bill at the other shop for the stem they swapped out the day before of my crash. It was good to get out and see friends as well as drive around my favorite town.
After I got back home I expected some kind of soreness in my groin or hip from the position of the car seat but everything felt normal. Hours later and a 10 minute walk, everything felt normal.
I folded the walker up and hid it in the closet, leaving the cane nearby as my support.
The way the hounds acted when I got home you would have thought I had left them again for a trip to the hospital. Stella was the happiest with that bloodhound smile on her face, wagging her tail and howling while she danced around me. I had to watch and make sure that she did not bump my right leg or lean into it.
I took to heart what Barney told me last night on my previous post ... that it might be better to take slightly longer short walks instead of bumping up time and distance so drastic. I put myself on a 10 minute maximum limit today and most of the time my walks outside were only for 5 minutes. More walks ... shorter time.
Compared to this time 24 hours earlier it is just indescribable how much better I feel.