for ine, Pat, and Liz

[Guest guest]

Hi

That's wonderful news, ine, that you did so well this time!

You must be very relieved. I hope you continue to feel great, and this

time you won't have a very arthritic other hip impeding your progress.

Pat, I'm so happy that they let you go to G.F. Strong, so you

didn't have to try and manage at home alone. It sounds like you are

making good progress under the circumstances, and it's great that you

are making new friends for the future. Love your positive attitude!

Liz, you could add to your list of essentials, a gadget to help

you put your socks on. Mine was a piece of plastic with two " wings " .

The wings had thick fabric tapes attached to them. You fold in the

wings, gather the sock and pull it over the plastic, insert your foot,

pull on the tapes to slide the gadget up and out, and the sock

magically covers your foot. If the sock is long, you might have to

finish pulling it up yourself, but you can probably do that if you can

reach your ankle without bending more than 90 degrees. Now if they

could just invent an easy way to get the sock off! I found the

grabber worked if I was very patient, but it was difficult. Usually I

asked for help if someone was around.

Besides the toilet grab bars, a raised plastic seat is a big help.

Also, a long shoe horn.

For those worried about pain or mobility setbacks at 4 weeks,

don't be. Many of us had them. I still get stiff at 5 months post-op

if I sit at the computer for hours (yes, I do know better! ), and if

I do a lot of physio exercises, sometimes I have pain in the

long-unused muscles, but if you look back to even a few weeks earlier,

the general trend is always an improvement.

All the best,

n

rBHR Oct.03 McMinn