A Few Surprises Today

After getting that good news this morning from my friend that is a PT, I was excited to see what today would bring. It confirmed to me I was doing what I was suppose to do. Basically how my leg/hip reacts will determine what I do the next day. Consequently there were a few noteworthy surprises today.

My hip continues to feel stronger by the day. I can feel more stability each day when I stand up from a chair or get out bed. I do not try to twist at all when I move in the kitchen fixing meals or feeding the hounds. I remember the rules the PT gave me the day I left the hospital on September 8th on how to turn ... but, the doctors office gave me approval to drive again, did that happen today?

After starting the day in the middle of the night, it was slow to develop into the typical day full of sunshine. We had a chance for some rain in the early afternoon but by the time that rolled around there wasn't any chance of rain.

Stella walked into the kitchen half asleep this morning just past 6am to see if just maybe I had changed my mind about serving their breakfast earlier than planned. The answer was still 7am for them to gobble their kibble down.

I had nothing planned today. I was going to hang out, take some time off from walking, read a book and watch some of the MLB Playoff games. Sounded like a good day to me.

It's not rain but there is always some strange wet spots where the rocks are wet from the nighttime. Stella likes to check them out but not before I take a quick glance around the yard for any snakes or spiders.

I could tell as I walked around the house, took some trash outside to the bin and sat down a few times, that my hip was feeling really good today. I decided to take a longer walk today around the block. It's not the perfect square block but there is a big loop inside the neighborhood that would be pretty close to the same size as a city block. I wasn't sure how long it would take me but I've been wanting to do this for a few days now.

As it turned out it was shorter than I thought and as I stepped inside the house, my "outdoor walk" app on the watch just turned 20 minutes in time. A little over .64 of a mile. Stella and Heidi were laying on the patio facing the closed door and once again there were no signs that Stella had tried to dig herself out of the yard while I was gone.

With that finished by 9:18am ... the day was starting to turn out really well. The changing skies were beautiful today.

This is a photo just after sunrise.

My view as I stand just inside the patio, in the shaded part. I don't mind the neighbor's shed nor the tree in his yard ... I still like the view.

Once I let Stella back inside she decided the best place to sleep was right there in the way. That way I could be trapped inside the house and if I wanted to walk again it would have to be in the backyard ... no more trips around the neighborhood without taking her.

Heidi was pretty restless today. She couldn't make up her mind whether to sleep outside in the sunshine while the temps were in the mid-70s or back inside where the house was cool from the breeze moving through the house.

I stood at the fence a long time this afternoon taking in the beauty of this area ... from the Mule mountains on the left, to the mountain on the right that sits inside the Mexican border and over to the Huachuca's. The monsoons have really made everything green. I saw this morning on a Facebook feed that we had a little over 8" this monsoon which is about 3" below average. I got more than that in two straight days back in Indiana in April.

A good view of my backyard walking path. By mid-afternoon I could walk in the shade ... or at least my feet could. Otherwise from the chest up, the sun was pretty hot.

As I was about to finish my first lap around the yard I could tell that Stella was in the "thinking mode" ... I knew what she was getting ready to do ...

In a matter of 30 seconds she went from thinking about it, to flopping over on her side for an afternoon siesta.

By lap number 2, she was in a deep sleep and was that way for almost an hour.

Later on after my siesta I decided to walk again for a few laps ... when I asked she if she wanted to walk with me ... she thought by the way she looked, that I was asking if she wanted to go on her walk ... something we have not done since August 25th, when she had the growth removed from her paw.

I almost forgot ... what were the other surprises???

To change my security code for the garage door, the "home" button was on the main garage door controller hanging on the low garage ceiling. Then I would have 30 seconds to get down and walk to the keypad to enter my new code. I did not want take a chance standing on a ladder but the more I looked at it, I was pretty sure I could stand on my kitchen chair and reach the 'home' button that would start the process.

I used my 'good' leg, the left leg, and stood on the chair with no problem. I never felt like I was going to lose my balance. Taking my time I stepped off the chair with no issues with the surgical side leg/hip. So for the first time in years, even before I bought the house, the neighbor no longer has the security code to get into the house.

Since I was on a roll there was something else I wanted to try.

I have permission to drive but the seat was lower than I could handle in the Mini Cooper. So the other day I raised that seat up as far as it would go. Took my Stanley tape measure to see how it compared to the kitchen chair I've been sitting in for almost 4 weeks. Close enough.

I set the cane up on the driver's door hinge, backed up to the doorway just like I would be getting into any car, then lowered my butt onto the seat. Ahhhhh not bad. Before I swung my legs into the floorboard area, I raised my right leg with my hand just enough where my foot would clear the bottom door rail. I was surprised I didn't have to go too low to get in the raised seat.

Swinging those legs into position under the dash was just like I do when I get in position to lay in bed. I sat there a few minutes to see what kind of muscle reaction I would get. I wasn't driving anywhere today but I had passed the first test, that being able to get in and out of the car without breaking the 90° rule and keeping my knees below or level to my butt when sitting down.

I think my first trip is going to be to The Diner for a cheeseburger and a cup of their hottest chili, which will make me sweat under my eyes ... it's that hot and tastes even better.

It's been a good day. The hounds slept a lot, even I had a siesta for about an hour and I have almost finished a book I bought the other day. Now that I think about it, I might not be able to drive anywhere until Monday. They are having a large bicycle ride this weekend and the main check in point, motels and dinner is being held just around the corner from where I live ... down the street and around the corner down by the main highway ... the place will be packed cars and bicycle riders.

I have enough food to hibernate at home this weekend and miss the mass of new people in town this weekend.

Getting stronger in the Wild West ... I'll be back on the road soon.

Wide Awake At 3am

I wake up in the middle of a dark bedroom with two sleeping hounds. It's so quiet that I hear nothing. I don't hear them snoring, breathing or running in their sleep. I hear nothing outside in the distance like I do sometimes. I'm not too hot nor cold like I was just a morning or two ago. The window is wide open and it's 66°.

It's 2:14am and something has woke me up.

I feel literally nothing in my hip, on the side of my hip ... it feels normal, zero feelings of any kind. Yet when I woke up I was just on the verge of rolling over on my ride side to sleep, the surgical side. Rarely do I sleep on that side and I can confirm I haven't for at least the past 26 nights. Was I dreaming or was I really about to roll to my right side?

I lie there for a second waiting for some sort of feeling or twinge of pain from that unadvised move ... there isn't any. I wonder how long my surgical side has been moving? From the hip all the way down to my foot ... what has been moving while I slept and in what angles? Did the hip, knee, foot or leg move outside the safety zone? Is there even a safety zone?

***********************
By 6:30am I had my answer from a friend that is a PT and works with a lot of patients from the same surgeon that I had. ---

"Dr. ********** is right. You need to listen to your body! Sometimes that comes through trial and error because everyone is different. If you’re walking a lot then the next day you can’t move because you hurt so bad, it’s too much. Cut back. If you’re walking a lot and don’t feel bad at all, then you’re fine! It really just depends how YOU feel! You won’t hurt the hip... only if you fell on it or really twisted it or something."
 
***********************
I don't know that there is ... the doctor never verbally issued one. So in a way the 'confusion' I spoke of a few days or weeks ago is there lingering in the background. It's also one of the things that come with writing about my health issue or rehab. I expect it and knew from the start when I decided to write about what I was going through ... there would be a lot of comments and different ideas from readers and Facebook followers.

It's hard to sort out at times because most people have a different idea or an opinion. That comes with blogging on any subject and it's also prevalent in my Facebook updates to friends, a few family that use Facebook but don't follow the blog.

I have no problem with the different opinions. I like reading them. I listen to what people say because some of them are more experienced with this "medical train" than I am. Others have had the same surgery or know of someone that has. Some readers have even taken care of someone that has had the same surgery. So there is a lot of information out there just from the feedback I get in blog comments, emails, Facebook comments, texts and information I find online from my own research.

At 2:15am, all of this is going through my mind as I lie in a dark room with an open window on the south wall in front of me that looks like a large movie screen as it captures the light from the sky. It looks bigger in the dark than it does in the daytime.

Since I woke Heidi up at 8pm on Thursday night to go outside for her last pee of the night, she is sound to sleep at 2:14am. I feel that's a good trade and keeps me from chasing her down a hallway at 1:30am hoping to get to the backdoor before her, to let her outside so she can pee. Getting old is a pain in the ass, even if you are a basset hound.

I hear Stella now running in her sleep. Her paws are moving against the wall she sleeps next to. Is she with Sadie chasing deer again in the field back in Indiana? That has to be it because she has not ran like that for years and out here in the Wild West she has only trotted during her walks but has never ran full speed anywhere.

By the sound of her paws rubbing the wall .... she is in a full sprint gallop after something.

I decide to take my own trip to the bathroom and the first thing I feel when I stand up has nothing to do with my new hip or a leg and foot that is back to normal size. It's my left shoulder. I must have slept on it wrong or it is still reminding me I threw too many baseballs when I was a kid decades ago. At one time I was playing on three different baseball teams and a few times pitched too many innings in a week. Yes, I still feel the damage done to a left handed pitching arm 50 years later.

Where's that Ibuprofen?

I feel good coming back down the hallway with the walker that now glides over the tile floor since I added those two Wilson tennis balls to the rear legs of the walker. That adjustment also makes the walker glide over the carpet when I am in the bedroom or computer room. Remember, I use the walker from the time I go to bed until I carry the first of two cups of coffee to my computer room.

This morning that happened at 3:54am !!!!

Yes, I had been laying in bed awake all of that time trying to get back to sleep. My watch told my my pulse rate was 52bpm so there was nothing there that kept me awake. It was 66° outside, no wind and cloudy skies ... but my mind was working, sorting through all the latest comments I had read the previous 24 hours. I don't dwell on them but it's amazing the number of things I should or should do during this rehab.

It confuses me at times, just like it is at 2:45am.

I also think of my friend that just returned home after 77 days in 3 different hospitals after having major back surgery. He can stand up straight he said, for the first time in years. He is learning to walk again with is wife holding him up one step at a time. Last month he had to learn how to breath again on his own. His situation and recovery makes mine look like a day at the beach in sunny southern California.

I suggested to him last night to add the tennis balls to his walker for a smoother 'ride'. He replied my walker was the exact one he had been using in rehab. He is another old friend at 68 years old with major surgery to rehab. My list of friends doing that grows by one.

I start thinking about my situation again as I lay there. I can barely see the silhouette of the chest of drawers. I see the tiny green light of the wired in smoke/carbon detector. I feel how good my hip feels, it feels normal, like nothing ever happened. Do I dare move my right leg sideways to the point of a twinge so see how far it goes?

No, don't think so.

Honestly I don't know what is too much or not enough. The doctor didn't set firm guidelines with numbers of reps, or minutes for walks, or dates of the month ... all numbers that I like because I am and have always been a 'numbers guy' ... remember I have the addiction to spreadsheets even in my time of retirement.

I think back to that room 14 days after surgery where I had my followup appointment. My surgeon told me things look great and even said fantastic as he watched me walk across the room. Had he seen the x-rays they had taken before I was called into his exam room? Greg was right with his comment yesterday ... face time with him was about 10 minutes, it seemed rushed and he ended our consultation within a minute after reading a text on his phone.

But at 2:45am while thinking back to that appointment and double checking to see if I missed something he said, I only remember him telling me to walk as much as possible AS LONG AS I did NOT walk to the point of fatigue.

Although my neighbor told me I didn't know the meaning of that word 'fatigue' and I didn't know what my body was saying no matter if I rode a bike or not for many years ... I do know that if my leg muscle or hip would 'fatigue' I would collapse immediately, just as I did that Saturday when 3 people held me as I tried to stand up on the side of the road. I collapsed immediately then and I would now if I walked to the point of fatigue.

So ... I do remember "that limit" he set for me.

He also told me to rest so I could heal. He reminded me that he had sewn a lot of muscle with the new implant as well as muscle torn in my bike wreck and that I needed to rest. But ... he didn't tell me how long to rest. Sitting in a chair count the same if I am laying in bed? Probably not, but at least I am not moving ... so that has to mean some sort of rest.

He didn't give me the numbers my brain needed to know what is good or bad, what is good rest or not enough. He didn't give me a number of steps I need so I still don't know what is too much walking or not enough. "Don't push yourself, I know how you bicyclists think" ... "Listen to  your body and it will tell you how much is too much or not enough"

I understood his instructions ... but I'd like some numbers. 6,000 steps in a day too much? An hour nap not enough? The 'urge' to walk and keep walking ... is that listening to my body?

I don't know the answers to any of those questions really.  Ha Ha

So that is why some blog readers or Facebook followers say be careful after they have read what I have done that day or that week. That is why some friends on Facebook say 'back off' and do only what the doctor tells you.  LOL

I thought I was and think I am following those doctor's orders.

So .... around 3:30am as I am reading Ed Fry's blog that is linked on my sidebar ... I realize that I am not going to get back to sleep. I might as well get up, make some coffee and blog. Really, I have a big urge to write.

Yes ... at 3:45am as the coffee is dripping into the pot, the hound have gone outside then headed back down the dark hallway to go back to sleep in the dark bedroom ... I FELT LIKE BLOGGING !!!!

Just like the times last December when I had moved this blog to a Wordpress blog I had, I felt like writing at all times of the night so there were a few days I was blogging at 4am and was wide awake.

I am not sure what was worse though ... freezing weather outside in December or a cane handle sitting on my desk reminding me my new hip is only 26 days old as of right now and it needs to heal.

or ....

Sitting in a chair reading a book or laying in the prone position in bed with my eyes wide open wondering what in the hell happened that beautiful Saturday morning on September 7th?

Don't take what I said about blog and Facebook comments wrong. I want those comments from all different ideas and beliefs. I have gained a lot of information from comments on the blog and Facebook as well as private emails and texts. The good stuff out numbers the questionable stuff. It more of the "TONE" of how it's said that upset me the other day NOT what she said. She wasn't the first nor the last person to say the same thing about seeing a cardiologist.

It was the 'tone'.

So I guess I will classify this post as rambling, no photos.

I will add that once Stella saw I was blogging she walked from the bedroom to her corner on the right side of my desk and has been sleeping every since with the room light on ... at least she didn't let out a bloodhound howl wanting her breakfast served at 3:56am ... that will probably come later this morning. She LOVES food, I've never seen anything like it with my other hounds.

After all of this ... I only know one thing ... what the doctor told me "listen to your body" and that will tell me what I'm doing today.

It's still dark outside but with the windows open and no cold air blowing anywhere, it's a great morning here in the Wild West ... I need a 2nd cup of coffee.

I'll blog later tonight with some photos of the day.

The Body Said To Walk

I thought it was going to be a day to "take off" after my big day yesterday. I had multiple short walks of around a 1/4 mile each, went over 6,000 steps for the day and had a restful night of sleep. There wasn't what I would call soreness but something on the side of my hip this morning while I laid in bed. Not painful, not numb nor discomfort ... just a feeling of some sort. As I walked around using the walker in the kitchen making coffee, letting the hounds outside and a few trips down the hallway, the leg and hip started to feel better ... I decided to watch and listen to see what the day would bring.

The hip felt strong again as I turned from the kitchen counter to the fridge, multiple times. I felt strong if I just stood without any support of a walker or cane. I was still willing to give things time today to see if I would continue to walk or take a day off. That would mean no walks to the mailbox, down the street or laps around the backyard ... just steps inside the house with normal activity.

It didn't take Stella long to get back to wanting breakfast at 5am. She unexpectedly let out a loud bloodhound howl as I was about to turn the corner toward the kitchen. It was so loud I was sure she was waking up the neighbors. Once Heidi heard that she woke from a deep sleep then sprinted and slid down the tiled hallway.

I stuck to my guns and told them breakfast would be served at 7am, no sooner ... go back to sleep. Believe it or not they did. Heidi turned back to her bed and Stella snuck into the computer room in the right corner. Both were sound to sleep as sat down with a cup of coffee.

I took it as a good sign that I had walked out on the patio to take some photos and completely forgot to bring my cane with me. I went back inside and moved around the kitchen on my own two feet, putting some things away and fixing some breakfast. Fry's Market would be delivering my online grocery order at 9am so I needed clear counter space.

A friend had told me that Al Roker on NBC Today, had a hip replacement about a week or a few days after me and I should tune in to see how he was doing. He was also walking with a cane but when he was giving the weather forecast he was moving fast, going back and forth, a few steps forward then back. I was beginning to wonder after seeing that if I had been too cautious, too timid at times to stretch my stride out to a normal stride.

I remembered that everyone is different, each recovery is different and to just listen to my body and just walk. By mid-morning Stella has passed out in one of her favorite spots. It didn't take long for them to get use to the new rule of not getting on the furniture. They don't even look and beg to do it anymore.

Heidi loves her new bed from a few weeks ago and spends the majority of her time right there. It doesn't matter what time of day or night it is ... if she feels like sleeping, off she goes to the back of the house.

I could tell as time went on I was feeling pretty good and even better than I expected. I thought I'd feel some soreness after yesterday but didn't. When I took a small trash bag out to the bin, I felt strong walking across the driveway and once again I had forgot to take my cane. In fact I couldn't remember where I had left my cane ... couldn't find it anywhere !!!!

Then the light inside my head clicked on and I remembered leaving it on the arm of the patio chair.

Since Heidi and Stella no longer get their lunch at noon, they like to hang out near the kitchen or in the kitchen close to the door where the dog treats are hidden. I think MJ spoiled them with dog treats where she would pass them out each time she left, which was twice per day. Today Stella wasn't moving until I gave her at least one treat to hold her over until their mid-afternoon meal.

Heidi does not like getting her picture taken. She moved every time that I had her almost lined up for a great shot.

My USPS email notice let me know I had a lot of mail today. A LOT of junk mail but only one envelope of any importance. My body was wanting to walk so off I went with my mailbox key in hand and Stella in the backyard with the door closed. So far this past week she has shown no signs of trying to dig her way out under the gate while she stays in the backyard. I don't think she leaves the patio as she stares inside through the door window until I return.

Not intending to change anything on my walk, I could feel my pace was a little faster and my stride might be a tad bit longer. Going earlier in the afternoon meant less traffic, not that I have a lot, and I could make it back home before two school buses dropped off the kids from school.

By the time I got home I had the usual .26 of a mile and felt like walking even more ... so I did lap after lap around the fence line inside the yard. It didn't take long before I was over .65 of a mile and just clicked 20 minutes total time. Definitely not a speed record but that's not the point. I walked the whole way without any kind of support, holding my hand in my hand just in case I might need it. I could have walked longer if I wanted. The goal is to eventually walk 1 mile without support.

It was my longest walk yet ... 20 minutes, no support.

I'll plan to watch both MLB Playoff games tonight but I will not make it through even the first one based on recent times. I am usually tired before 8pm and definitely before 9pm and I don't hesitate turning the lights off and officially calling it a day. The body is dictating when to walk and when to rest.

I read somewhere today that at 6 weeks I should feel 80% normal and will resume normal activities. That is the exact time for my next follow up appointment with my surgeon. After a year I will most likely forget that my hip was ever replaced. It will take about 3 months for the bone to grow into the implants.

I felt so close of taking the car for a short drive and not too far from the house but once again, I have nowhere I need to be and it cannot hurt to add more days of healing before I try to get behind the wheel.

That's about all for today. Sorry I don't have more photos but the hounds didn't do much and I did a lot of reading.

My progress continues in the Wild West.

Hip Feels Strong For First Time

It was in the middle of the night when I realized my hip is so much stronger. I had moved my right leg in a way that I couldn't just a few days ago, in the middle of sleeping. There was no discomfort in my hip as I raised the leg a little to change sleeping positions. Always before I could feel "something" inside the hip. As I started the day today I could once again feel improvement from how I felt only 24 hours before.

Heidi has various places to sleep scattered throughout the house. This spot is one of her favorites and it's one of the first places I put a blanket down for her when we moved in. She has not slept yet on the tile floor, always finding a blanket or the carpet piece inside the front door. All the bedrooms are carpeted so she likes that.

Just like today, it was beautiful yesterday where the temps spent most of the day in the 70s and only toward the very end of the afternoon did it creep up to 82°. I knew before I moved here, there was great weather here and it would be sunny 300+ days per year but I didn't realize just how nice the weather really is.

I didn't do much yesterday. I walked close to 6,000 steps and took numerous short walks during the day from five to ten minutes each. I decided to see if that huge dog was living in that house or not, so I walked that way to the end of the street and back ... did it again a few times today. I did not hear nor see that huge dog.

I do a lot of laps around my backyard, that is .02 of a mile per lap and takes 1:12-1:23 in minutes and seconds. You can tell the monsoons have been here, look at all that green.

Luckily Stella is not a barker like other dogs in the neighborhood, especially like the one next door. She will stand and listen to all the noise but never barks or howls back at them. Here she is deciding whether to walk with me or stand and watch me.

The new iPhone 11 Pro talks about taking great photos in the dark. Over the past week I have tested my 8+ taking the same photos in the dark and look what I find sleeping next to my bed at 3:30am. I didn't know she was there but just held the camera up in the air from my position on the bed to see if she might be.  That's not a bad photo in a pitch black room. She started then night sleeping in the walk in closet again.

The hounds were up again at 3am for their pee breaks. Ten minutes later all three of us are back in the bedroom sound asleep. We slept so soundly that I almost missed today's sunrise. I was able to catch it about 20 minutes from the time the sun came up.

At this time of day it is now normal to have low 50s as the temperature to start our day. I like that.

In the short time it took to make coffee, the skies had changed and it looked like a storm front or a fog bank rolling in. No rain in the forecast, so it's hard to say what it was.

For the second day in a row I had a really long phone conversation with an old friend. All of us seemed to be finding out that we are aging whether we want to acknowledge it or not. All of use have had some major health issues this past 6-9 months. We are all the same age, give or take a couple of years, are active with swimming biking running or walking.

Stella does a lot of this during the day and once it reaches to the high 70s outside, she will sleep on the tile with no complaints. Heidi? Still on the living room rug or back in the bedroom on her dog bed.

I am not done walking yet for the day and I have walked a total of 2 miles today and 5,538 steps. Each time I was finished walking I did not feel any kind of weakness or discomfort in my hip or legs. All of that was walking on my own slowly, with short steps, carrying a cane in case I need it.

Mexico is looking good today.

Bisbee is looking good today.

Since there is nothing important delivered in the mail today, I will not be making a trip to the mailbox. I think I have walked about all I need to really and I can spend the rest of the day resting and watching the MLB Wildcard game at 5pm.

As I sat down at the computer desk to put this post together, Stella slid into her normal spot anytime I am on the computer. She seems to like the right side of the desk this this week.

I had another person confused today when she read about the heart report I spoke of. She also had the impression that I was ONLY going to use that report to base my decision on what my next move would be. She also felt she needed to remind me that I needed to see a cardiologist and let him make the decision. What is it with people? Was it that hard to understand what I was saying?

I cannot explain it well enough I am sure but I can feel that the hip is stronger than it was just last week. I have no plans to see just how wide I can move the right leg to the right, nor do I plan to increase my walking ... I'm going to continue the protein and collagen supplements to help the hip heal. I cannot wait to see how good I feel by the time I talk to the surgeon again on October 20th.

The hip just feels stable, sturdy and strong.

No urges to drive yet. I don't need to go anywhere right now and figure the longer I hold off trying to drive the more my hip will be healed.

So a pretty quiet two days. Lots of rest, talking on the phone, watching a little baseball and reading some.

There is some great weather happening in the Wild West.