Hippy Update

My new hip is 6 months old! I saw my surgeon last week, he is delighted with how I'm walking. The joint still hurts a bit now and then, but compared to pre-op, it's a vast improvement. I don't need a walking stick or crutches any more, yay! The scar has healed really well, and the obturator nerve damage is healing too. I've finished my 6 months on Warfarin, no more rat poison yay!

Some movements are still difficult, like putting a sock and shoe on my left foot, but on the whole I've adjusted to the permanent hip restrictions. Let's face it, I'm not that upset about not being allowed to run, jog, jump, or play rough or contact sports (I know, isn't it great to have a legitimate excuse?!).

But. (You knew there was a but, didn't you?)

My surgeon corrected the length of my left leg, which is now 1 cm longer, and closer to 'normal', and straightened my leg (which had been surgically rotated outwards by 30º when I was a kid). You'd think my pelvis would be glad of this change but nooooooooo, it's grumbling all the time, ungrateful wretch.

I've got all sorts of aches and pains from this - iliopsoas bursitis, all sorts of stretched nerve problems, coccydynia (ie sore bum when I sit or move from sitting to standing), sore lower back when lying on my tummy, a torn calf muscle, and so on ad nauseam. My fibromyalgia has been flared up since surgery too, which is an exhausting pain in many ways than one.

This week I've developed searing aches, pains and intense muscle cramps down both legs. Woo hooo. My GP was concerned it could have been DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis), especially as I got a pulmonary embolism post-op, and am at a higher risk of developing blood clots now. So yesterday I tottered off for a lengthy and OMG expensive ultrasound of my legs. The good news is they're all nice healthy veins, no sign of clots. The bad news is, I still have terrible pain!

I had a quick chat with my physio today, and he thinks it's "neural tension", I guess my nerves are being constricted or pressed on somehow or other. I'm seeing him next week. He's told me to do lots of 'trigger point' releasing with the Ball of Pain (tennis ball). Celebrex does help a lot, thankfully, so something inflammatory is going on at some level.

My sports physician and physio both say it'll take at least a year for my body to adjust to the new state of affairs, so I'm halfway through ... it'll be a novel experience to have my hips, pelvis and legs working better. It's a bit disappointing that the surgery didn't suddenly fix everything, but that was probably a naïve expectation!

Miss Petal is finding this cold weather rather - well - COLD! She loves to snooze in this sleeping bag ...