More surgeries

I went into my oral surgeon's office last afternoon to rid myself of one wisdom tooth and left two yours late missing three. I had my first one out back in college; it was growing in the wrong way and the other seemed to be OK. Well now another one is bothering me and seeing how this is not all that pleasant of an experience and my insurance covers general anesthesia for three and only local for one, it is not all that difficult to understand my decision. I was actually pretty shocked that my total bill was only $295 - but hey I am not one to complain.

Once they hooked in the IV I felt very relaxed, it was like having a nice glass of wine and chatting away with good friends. God only knows what kinds of TMI I divulged to my surgeon. Within 5 minutes it felt like I went from having one glass to chugging the entire bottle of Cabernet. I remember some poking around my mouth but that is about it. No recollection of any noises or drills or pressure. Before I knew it, I was in recovery feeling a bit hung over. The four block trip to CVS to pick up my antibiotics and vicodin was quite interesting. I don't understand why the surgeons don't keep all that stuff to give you at their office. I almost fell asleep in the waiting area but the pharmacist was very nice and got me all my drugs within 20 minutes.

The vicodin didn't do much in the first few hours so I immediately switched to the leftover oxycodone from the hip surgery. THAT definitely hit the spot. Combined with the Ambien, I slept like a baby.

No work today. I want someone to come take care of me but of course my banker boyfriend cannot leave his post at the fear of being the next one to get the pink slip. Sad.  Speaking of banker boyfriends, I found a fantastic blog Dating A Banker Anonymous.  They really do have a support group for just about anything out there. 

I am feeling better today, still look like a chipmunk though. 

A note on the hips - they are doing well though I have been feeling a weird pain almost inside of my groin over the past week. It especially feels odd when I cough. Hope nothing is wrong...

Happy New Year!

I am 11 weeks post-op. I have a new position at work with a new office to go along with my new hip in the new year. This is all about new beginnings and so far things are going great.

It has been so great to be back in New York, back in my own apartment. I do miss my family but it was definitely time for me to go back to my own life. The holidays were lovely and it was really nice to spend them with my boyfriend, even though he worked most of the time (but at least he still has a job which is more than I can say for some of my other investment banker friends). Next week is our two year anniversary and he is taking me to Stanton Social - YUM.

The hip has been giving me no troubles and has survived wandering around the mall as well as NYC several times for more than 3 hours at a time. I have been slacking on my exercises at home so it is nice to be back to work and to physical therapy. Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time since the surgery. I rode the bike for 20 minutes, spent 20 minutes working on my upper body (sadly I could only do 15 push ups), 20 more minutes on the StairMaster, another 10 minutes for upper body, and finished with 20 minutes on the elliptical. It felt amasing to break a sweat again and I am vowing to keep this up 5 times a week at least until I get back to my summer weight, which means dropping 8 lbs.

Week 9

I had to get the calendar to figure out that this is week 9. Great sign of recovery. I've now gone to 6 physical therapy sessions and am feeling fantastic. I love using the pilates reformer machine and will miss it. My physical therapist printed out a pilates routine for me to do at home, it is nice to feel my leg getting stronger with each set I do. If anyone is interested, I can give you the exercises. 

Overall the hip feels great. I feel completely normal and can do pretty much everything, except for running. I can walk up and down the stairs without any pain or discomfort and can put my pants on while standing up without holding on to anything. 

Don't tell my surgeon, but I have started driving about 2 weeks ago. I have total control of my leg and foot and my doctor (my dad ^_^) told me it was OK to start. It feels amazing to get back the freedom of going where I please. I finally made it to the mall to get my boyfriend his Christmas present, which I cannot wait to give him. And of course I had to get myself a present from myself  - those are the best ones! I also got some awesome wedge boots to wear for the winter since all my shoes have heels. I wonder how long until I can wear heels again? I should have asked my doctor... Now the challenge is to pack all this (and more) into my one suitcase since tomorrow morning I fly back to NYC. I am beyond excited, though kind of sad to be leaving my parents. I cannot remember the last time I lived at home for this long. I just hope JFK does not shut down due to all the snow storms!

Week 7

Weekend was great! I spent the entire day on Saturday shopping and walking around the stores. It was great not having to get those motorized chairs, though I will admit those are pretty entertaining and one of these days I will post some pictures of me racing on of them in Target a few weeks back. I am also done with all my holiday cards ahead of schedule. Love having all this free time now that I can move around on my own. 

The crutches and the shower chair have officially been packed away somewhere in the garage, following the fate of the walker.  I can now walk up and down the stairs one leg on each stair, instead of moving one and bringing the other one to meet it on the same stair. There isn't really anything I cannot do anymore other than sit on the op side with my legs tucked under the side. I think my muscles are still too weak for that.

Just took a photo of my scar, it is actually looking kind of cute. It's completely flat and smooth except for the little irritation on the top which is going away. Here it is at 7 weeks:

For comparison, here is the 4 week shot:

Physical Therapy

I have not touched my crutches in two whole days, literally since my last post, and it feels great! I never thought I could make the transition from no weight bearing to walking completely on my own in a matter of hours but it just makes me feel proud of all I have accomplished. Hard work and a good attitude really does pay off! 

I think what has helped me the most throughout this whole process, besides my family and the workouts I did prior to the surgery, was having little goals I set for myself. I had a different one for almost every other day and that made recovery that much more exciting. And now I am walking on my own. 

The moment I started walking my mom announced that she has loads of ironing she needs help with so I spent half the day today ironing sheets along with 19 of my dad's work shirts. I'll confess I am a bit sore from all that standing but it feels wonderful to be able to contribute something to the household.

Yesterday was my first PT session. They had me walk up and down the street and said I don't have a limp, which is weird because I feel like I do but maybe I am overcompensating for it. My legs measured at the same length, which was also good to know. The first thing they did was stretch out various leg muscles and assess my flexibility. My quads are pretty tight so that's what we focused on the most. Laying on my stomach, the PT brought my operated leg up to my butt to the point of tension in the muscle and I had to contract my butt muscle on that side and hold it for about 30 seconds. When I released the tension in the quad seemed to lessen and he would move my leg closer to my butt, increasing the tension again and repeating the exercise. Those took about half an hour and included a nice butt massage :)

I switched PTs and had about 30 minutes of pilates on the reformer machine to work on my range of motion. We also got in some ab work since mine are nonexistent. The session ended with 10 minutes on the bike, which seemed pretty easy.  

 I am supposed to do these 3 exercises daily:

1. Either holding my leg back towards my butt, or putting it up on a chair, I am supposed to tighten my quad muscle to about a 2 level of discomfort (on a 1-10 scale), contract butt muscles and hold 30-40 seconds. Relax and start over. Repeat for 2 minutes, trying to build up to 8 minutes over time.

2. Pilates Mat - Bent Knee Fallout - Lying flat on my back with bent knees, move the knees one at a time outward while keeping the hips firm on the ground.  20 reps on each side. This is supposed to increase range of motion.

3. Pilates Mat - Pelvic Clock - Kind of hard to explain - here is the detailed explanation http://www.emr.msu.edu/documents/rehab/pelvic_clock.pdf I am supposed to do 20 reps.

Seeing how recovery is coming along rather nicely, I have booked a flight back to NYC. I will be leaving December 22! Cannot wait to test out those airport metal detectors.

I am WALKING!

Yeah, that is right! Since coming home from the doctor's office I have ditched the crutches 100%. I realize that I will probably be sore tomorrow but it feels so great! 

6 Week Appointment

I have been waiting for today since before the surgery. The day I will finally be allowed to start getting my life back on track. The day I will begin to walk on my own two feet, and hips of course.

I am happy to report that everything is not just on track, but ahead of schedule. The doctor was very impressed with my leg strength, which I attribute to the pre-surgery exercises with my PT. He said that while much of my quad is atrophied, there is a substantial amount of muscle left which will make an easier transition to walking. He re-measured my angle on the new X-ray and it is still at 35 degrees, up from 20 degrees pre-op. My scar is healing nicely and measures at 9cm, or 3.6 inches. 

I was pretty surprised when he told me I don't really need physical therapy and should just hit the gym to do the bike, elliptical and stair master. I am going to go to PT anyways for the next two weeks, until I go back to New York, since I don't have a gym membership in San Francisco. Once I am back, I have a gym at the office along with free physical therapy on site. I cannot wait to get back in shape!

The moment the doctor left the room I decided to attempt a few steps sans crutches. Let me tell you, it was scary! It felt like I was going against my body. I guess I didn't realize just how much of a reflex it has become to put all my weight on my left leg. By the time we walked through the hospital to the x-ray library to get a copy of my film and back to the car, I was pretty comfortable with one crutch. This made the stairs at my house seem like a piece of cake. I  can finally leave the house on my own! I have also gotten a bit braver and have wandered around the house crutch-free. The wobbling kind of makes me feel like a duck but it feels so great mentally to be able to carry things from one place to another. Practice makes perfect!

Tomorrow is my first physical therapy session.