Re: Re: Moving slowly to Eleanor, Sunita, Cindy

March 10, 2004

Dear Lari

I have been seeing some improvement this week... Finally!!! (9 and 1/2 week post

op):

1- I am sleeping better

2- I have less pain in the groin

3- can walk a bit better and my leg is not " dragging " as much.

I am really afraid to say this in case I would have another setback like last

week and like many in the past few weeks! But really I feel more energetic. I

can even think about surgery for the second hip without feeling nauseous and

sick to my stomach!

4- I drove a couple of times and it was OK (had to use left leg for the brake a

few times but that too was OK)

So I regain my hope in the future and my fears are not as overwhelming.

I also talked to a physio at the Arthritis Society who knows a lot about hip

surgeries and she said that some people have pain for 6 months to a year; she

did not seem concern about the timing! and I have an apointment with her on

Friday to assess my situation so hopefully I will have a better understanding of

what is happening then. It will be good to have a consultation with her since I

cannot consult with my surgeon in Belgium.

I am keeping a journal of how my body feels everyday so that I can see more

easily the changes. Maybe you could do that too. It is easy to forget how we

were 1, 2 or 3 weeks ago and not see the improvements; cause each time we

improve a bit, we do more so the improvements seem to disappear.

Keep your focus on beeing aware of what your body can do and not do and take

good care.

yes I am sending my prayers for ine and also Pat here in Vancouver.

Sunita

Re: Moving slowly to Eleanor, Sunita, Cindy

Dear Eleanor, Sunita, Cindy (ine's in hospital);

Sunita, I can't believe how much your situation compares to my own.

I, too, believe that a week or two will make a difference, but at

six weeks out tomorrow, I'm still extremely fragile. My mind bounds

ahead of my dragging body. I just want to put this chapter behind me

and move on! But, unfortunately, not so fast... Today, I had my six-

week supposedly all-clear visit with my surgeon, and rather than go

into huge detail, the gist of it is that he, too, is concerned, but

really believes that it's a case of slow muscle healing. Sometimes I

think it's hard for us mere mortals to understand just how much

muscle is really disturbed in a surgery such as ours. I will accept

this for now, but monitor myself moment by moment, and listen to

that little voice inside my head and heart, as you do. I will

curtail my up-to-know disappointing therapy " program " (really

wasn't) back at the hospital, and look for something far more

aggressive, professional and sports-minded. My surgeon will help me

with this. He agreed that I need something more. I need to know

what to do to really re-build my muscles.

Eleanor, I've e-mailed you in response to your message. Hope you

received it. Glad to hear that you're having better night sleeps

and less adductor pain. That's been my problem, too. Bad knee pain,

as well. BTW, I've gotten my hands on that tylenol arthritis, and it

really DOES help me to sleep better at night. My sister is

supposedly sending some my way. If you can't get access, I may be

able to procure an extra bottle from her, and send one on to you.

Let me know. Also, let me know if you've received my mail.

Cindy, keep on writing about your experiences. They help so much

for those of us who are trailing right behind you in progress...

Finally, and before I close for the kids' bedtime rituals, let's all

keep ine in our foremost thoughts, as she will undergo her

surgery tomorrow. How interesting it will be to see how she gets on

after minimal incision surgery.

Take care everyone, and stay in touch-- please!

Lari

>

> In the meantime, I will tryto 'do less', although it is

difficult to

> know what this should be.Less driving? Less walking? Less

sitting?

> Hard to know what is bestto be doing. Do you guys find this?

Patience,

> patience, patience, Iguess.Eleanor,

>

> Probably the thing I find the strangest about the artificial

hips is

> that I cannot tell that I have overdone it until it is too late.

> Pre-surgery, I would work as long as I could, and could tell

when I was

> getting tired, and could stop. Now it's like " Whoops,

shouldn't have

> done that last (whatever it was I was doing). " No warning until

it was

> too late. I've suffered lots of muscle pain from overdoing,

including

> groin pain which I had never even had pre-op.

>

> Cindy

>

> C+ 5/25/01 and 6/28/01

>

> _______________________________________________

>

March 11, 2004

Dear Sunita,

Thank you for this. Am glad that things are continuing to slowly

improve for you---albeit up and down. It helps me keep things in

perspective with my ups and downs.

I answered Lari personally last evening, and was trying to remember what

it was like for me at my 6 week checkup. My memory is that it was worse

physically---very swollen leg and knee, much less movement than now.

Pain only became worse when I've started moving so much more-hence the

'overdoing it' hypothesis. Certainly I am finding out that I am a lot

more sore and have more difficult nights on the days I go into work.

But I do enjoy my work so much, that on the whole, think it is worth it.

Have dropped to 3 days/week for the time being, however, and even that

is going in late and coming home early.

The idea of keeping a journal is such a good one. You are right, one

does forget. Guess I could check out my 'sent mail' to surface hippy

and that can be some kind of journal.

Eleanor

Re: Re: Moving slowly to Eleanor, Sunita, Cindy

Dear Lari

I have been seeing some improvement this week... Finally!!! (9 and 1/2

week post op):

1- I am sleeping better

2- I have less pain in the groin

3- can walk a bit better and my leg is not " dragging " as much.

I am really afraid to say this in case I would have another setback like

last week and like many in the past few weeks! But really I feel more

energetic. I can even think about surgery for the second hip without

feeling nauseous and sick to my stomach!

4- I drove a couple of times and it was OK (had to use left leg for the

brake a few times but that too was OK)

So I regain my hope in the future and my fears are not as overwhelming.

I also talked to a physio at the Arthritis Society who knows a lot about

hip surgeries and she said that some people have pain for 6 months to a

year; she did not seem concern about the timing! and I have an

apointment with her on Friday to assess my situation so hopefully I will

have a better understanding of what is happening then. It will be good

to have a consultation with her since I cannot consult with my surgeon

in Belgium.

I am keeping a journal of how my body feels everyday so that I can see

more easily the changes. Maybe you could do that too. It is easy to

forget how we were 1, 2 or 3 weeks ago and not see the improvements;

cause each time we improve a bit, we do more so the improvements seem to

disappear.

Keep your focus on beeing aware of what your body can do and not do and

take good care.