DIARY OF MY RECOVERY
(surgery day -to- 2 years aniversary)
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Surgery + 12 days.
Well, its now almost two weeks since my surgery, and things are going just fine.I am now walking around the house on just one crutch for balance, still 100% weight baring.I am walking outside the house as many times a day as I can manage, and appart from a rather bad muscle ache at the back of my leg, there is no real pain. In fact, since the moment of waking up after surgery, the arthritic pain had gone, and it was easy to tell that from the muscle aches etc.
I am very surprised at how quickly my body is healing. The muscle pain seems to be either from over doing my P.T, or maybe even from spending so long sitting in a normal chair with my leg bent. I am trying to sit on the floor with my leg perfectly straight, but I must admit that the muscle (or tendon) is very tight and slightly uncomfortable.When I go walking along the promenade, I take both crutches with me, and just use one of them (oposite side) for the walking, and carry the second crutch parallel with the ground, just incase I walk so far that I need two sticks to get home.
I spend a lot of time every day doing stretching and loosening exercises. What I have done is to go to my local camping shop and buy a middle-range sleeping mat. Not the foam ones, but rather a self inflating air mat, that when its inflated is about 1 inch (2.5cm) thick.This is very comfortable for doing my morning P.T, and also for sitting or laying on the floor with my leg perfectly straight.The longest walk I have done yet was my epic 1.5Km walk earlier in the week. It felt good at the time, but I suffered all night, and most of the next day with sore muscles..
LESSON 1.. Do not over do the P.T, listen to your body, and when the muscles start acheing, stop!I spent a lot of my time figuring out how to make this website, which has been a very productive way to utilise my free time, and I am very impressed with how many people have visited it already. Thanks for the support.
LESSON 2.. Do not stay too long in the same position. I am sure that sitting at my PC has caused the problem with the muscle or tendon in my leg. I have made a point of not sitting or laying in the same position for more than 30 minutes before I change position.
I am very surprised at how quickly my body is healing. The muscle pain seems to be either from over doing my P.T, or maybe even from spending so long sitting in a normal chair with my leg bent. I am trying to sit on the floor with my leg perfectly straight, but I must admit that the muscle (or tendon) is very tight and slightly uncomfortable.When I go walking along the promenade, I take both crutches with me, and just use one of them (oposite side) for the walking, and carry the second crutch parallel with the ground, just incase I walk so far that I need two sticks to get home.
I spend a lot of time every day doing stretching and loosening exercises. What I have done is to go to my local camping shop and buy a middle-range sleeping mat. Not the foam ones, but rather a self inflating air mat, that when its inflated is about 1 inch (2.5cm) thick.This is very comfortable for doing my morning P.T, and also for sitting or laying on the floor with my leg perfectly straight.The longest walk I have done yet was my epic 1.5Km walk earlier in the week. It felt good at the time, but I suffered all night, and most of the next day with sore muscles..
LESSON 1.. Do not over do the P.T, listen to your body, and when the muscles start acheing, stop!I spent a lot of my time figuring out how to make this website, which has been a very productive way to utilise my free time, and I am very impressed with how many people have visited it already. Thanks for the support.
LESSON 2.. Do not stay too long in the same position. I am sure that sitting at my PC has caused the problem with the muscle or tendon in my leg. I have made a point of not sitting or laying in the same position for more than 30 minutes before I change position.
Surgery + 5 weeks
Well, its now 5 weeks since my surgery. Its hard to believe that I was in so much discomfort 6 weeks ago with an Arthritic hip.
Already I am having trouble trying to remember just how much pain I had before surgery, just doing small things.
The cramps and pains that I was having for the first few weeks post surgery have pretty much gone, and did so after the 3 week point. For most people they stop much sooner, but I think mine lasted longer because of the leg lengthening, plus the fact that my legs are moving in to positions that they havn't been in for 10 years or more.
I started work again at the 2 1/2 week mark, an office job sat at a desk. The journey to work was quite a thrill, with a 25 minute train ride and a metro ride, then a 15 minute walk to the office. I made an arrangement with my boss to work just 3 hours a day until after the new year, mainly because after 3 hours sat in a chair it felt a little uncomfortable.
I started physio therapy at the 4 week point, and its incredible how much progress one can make in just 1 week. I wish I had started physio sooner, but my insurance were fooling around.2 weeks ago I could barely lift my leg off the floor, after just 6 physio sessions I can now happily spend 20 minutes or more doing circuit training, laid on my back with my leg elevated in mid air.I am still using my crutches when I go walking, I feel that the point of loosing them is close, but I still need to strengthen a few muscles. It is very tempting to walk around the house, with no pain, but with a slight wobble....This is something that I constantly have to remind myself not to do. There is no point in learning to walk and teaching my brain and muscles to do it the wrong way.
I have done many long walks, from plain walking along the promenade, through to window shopping in the city for 3 1/2 hours, through to my Christmas shopping & even ending up in a couple of night clubs. Although I did not dance in the clubs, I had a whole load of fun kinda dancing on the spot, just rocking from side to side and lifting my feet slightly off the floor. I had no pain, and slept good with just a few tight muscles the next morning.
Thats the crunch at the moment. I have no pain during the days when I am moving around.It seems that the only uncomfortable time is when I wake up in the night with stiffness, and when I wake up in the morning with stiffness. In the night I just change position and I can sleep again, and in the morning, as soon as I stand up and move around a little, the stiffness goes away. This is obviously just something small that will go with time.
Up until now, I think that the surgery was a stunning success. I am very happy with the short term outcome. Every couple of days see a difference in the feeling from my hip. It does feel very natural, like I just have a normal hip, and its almost as though am just recovering from a few torn muscles. Its a crazy thing!!
Already I am having trouble trying to remember just how much pain I had before surgery, just doing small things.
The cramps and pains that I was having for the first few weeks post surgery have pretty much gone, and did so after the 3 week point. For most people they stop much sooner, but I think mine lasted longer because of the leg lengthening, plus the fact that my legs are moving in to positions that they havn't been in for 10 years or more.
I started work again at the 2 1/2 week mark, an office job sat at a desk. The journey to work was quite a thrill, with a 25 minute train ride and a metro ride, then a 15 minute walk to the office. I made an arrangement with my boss to work just 3 hours a day until after the new year, mainly because after 3 hours sat in a chair it felt a little uncomfortable.
I started physio therapy at the 4 week point, and its incredible how much progress one can make in just 1 week. I wish I had started physio sooner, but my insurance were fooling around.2 weeks ago I could barely lift my leg off the floor, after just 6 physio sessions I can now happily spend 20 minutes or more doing circuit training, laid on my back with my leg elevated in mid air.I am still using my crutches when I go walking, I feel that the point of loosing them is close, but I still need to strengthen a few muscles. It is very tempting to walk around the house, with no pain, but with a slight wobble....This is something that I constantly have to remind myself not to do. There is no point in learning to walk and teaching my brain and muscles to do it the wrong way.
I have done many long walks, from plain walking along the promenade, through to window shopping in the city for 3 1/2 hours, through to my Christmas shopping & even ending up in a couple of night clubs. Although I did not dance in the clubs, I had a whole load of fun kinda dancing on the spot, just rocking from side to side and lifting my feet slightly off the floor. I had no pain, and slept good with just a few tight muscles the next morning.
Thats the crunch at the moment. I have no pain during the days when I am moving around.It seems that the only uncomfortable time is when I wake up in the night with stiffness, and when I wake up in the morning with stiffness. In the night I just change position and I can sleep again, and in the morning, as soon as I stand up and move around a little, the stiffness goes away. This is obviously just something small that will go with time.
Up until now, I think that the surgery was a stunning success. I am very happy with the short term outcome. Every couple of days see a difference in the feeling from my hip. It does feel very natural, like I just have a normal hip, and its almost as though am just recovering from a few torn muscles. Its a crazy thing!!
Surgery + 4 months
Its now comming up to 4 months since I had surgery in Belgium. I have to say that I feel absoloutly fantastic.
I have no pain whatsoever from the hip and have not had any pain from the joint its self that I can remember.The muscle soreness is something of the past and I only have slight cramping if I walk long distances very quickly, like speed walking.
I often wake up in the morning and realise that I have slept on my operated side, and it does not really bother me.I have an amazing range of motion in the hip, and is as good as my natural hip.
I can now walk so far that my feet hurt, and do not get any pain at all in the joint whatsoever. When I am walking I share weight loads equally between both legs, such as for example when crossing roads, I always used my good leg to step up kerbs... now I don't even think about which leg i will use... and more often than not, its my operated leg.This is good for helping build up the muscle after all those years of not been used.
I just moved to a new city in the south of Spain, and I have had a lot of fun walking all day and exploring the place, going to night clubs, bars etc.I find that walking along the beach does tire out my muscles much faster than walking on firm ground, I guess because the beach is not solid and moves onder your feet, flexing the muscles more.
Other things that I do without thinking are sitting cross legged on the sofa or floor, squatting, kicking socker balls, and infact i almost played a game of rugby until my mate reminded me that i just had surgery and i must be nuts...He was right of course. I do tend to forget that I have had surgery and have done some silly things, like running 20 meters to catch a train or a buss.Running accross roads when I get to the middle and a car comes...This is something that I really need to watch out for. It could well screw things up for me ... just a silly little forgetfullness like that.
I am over the moon so far, I am looking foreward to getting to the 6 month post surgery mark, so I can safely do more activities.I do not think I will be running on my new hip, because even if some doctors do recommend it, I intend to take good care of my hip!
I will continue walking like a crazy person, swimming and cycling. As well as it been good for the leg muscles it is also increasing my personal fitness level.I have already lost almost 3 english stones in weight , thats around 40 English pounds, and around 16 Kilograms.I intend to keep that happening until I am looking fit.
So as you can see, my surgery has been a great success so far. And even if my BHR failed tomorrow, I would still do it all over again, just to have the 2 months of phenomenal pleasure with no pain.
Dr de Smet is a fantastic guy, and I say again that he has changed my life enormously already, and I am just getting started.
I am looking foreward to a long term relationship with my new hip, and a whole new lifestyle that I intend to build for myself.THANK YOU Dr. De SMET!!!!
I have no pain whatsoever from the hip and have not had any pain from the joint its self that I can remember.The muscle soreness is something of the past and I only have slight cramping if I walk long distances very quickly, like speed walking.
I often wake up in the morning and realise that I have slept on my operated side, and it does not really bother me.I have an amazing range of motion in the hip, and is as good as my natural hip.
I can now walk so far that my feet hurt, and do not get any pain at all in the joint whatsoever. When I am walking I share weight loads equally between both legs, such as for example when crossing roads, I always used my good leg to step up kerbs... now I don't even think about which leg i will use... and more often than not, its my operated leg.This is good for helping build up the muscle after all those years of not been used.
I just moved to a new city in the south of Spain, and I have had a lot of fun walking all day and exploring the place, going to night clubs, bars etc.I find that walking along the beach does tire out my muscles much faster than walking on firm ground, I guess because the beach is not solid and moves onder your feet, flexing the muscles more.
Other things that I do without thinking are sitting cross legged on the sofa or floor, squatting, kicking socker balls, and infact i almost played a game of rugby until my mate reminded me that i just had surgery and i must be nuts...He was right of course. I do tend to forget that I have had surgery and have done some silly things, like running 20 meters to catch a train or a buss.Running accross roads when I get to the middle and a car comes...This is something that I really need to watch out for. It could well screw things up for me ... just a silly little forgetfullness like that.
I am over the moon so far, I am looking foreward to getting to the 6 month post surgery mark, so I can safely do more activities.I do not think I will be running on my new hip, because even if some doctors do recommend it, I intend to take good care of my hip!
I will continue walking like a crazy person, swimming and cycling. As well as it been good for the leg muscles it is also increasing my personal fitness level.I have already lost almost 3 english stones in weight , thats around 40 English pounds, and around 16 Kilograms.I intend to keep that happening until I am looking fit.
So as you can see, my surgery has been a great success so far. And even if my BHR failed tomorrow, I would still do it all over again, just to have the 2 months of phenomenal pleasure with no pain.
Dr de Smet is a fantastic guy, and I say again that he has changed my life enormously already, and I am just getting started.
I am looking foreward to a long term relationship with my new hip, and a whole new lifestyle that I intend to build for myself.THANK YOU Dr. De SMET!!!!
Well its now mid April 2002. Its 5 months since surgery and everything seems to be going very well indeed.
As far as the healing is concearned, I do not really notice much these days. Apparently it takes around a year to fully heal and recover from the surgery, but for the last moth or two, the difference is negligable. The changes seem to be so slight that I do not notice them.
Its been a while since I kinda sat and thought to myself
"wow!!, I havn't done that before, ..or... WOW!! I never knew that I could do that"
Last weekend I played Paint-Ball for the first time in over a year. I used to like it very much but stopped playing because it just wasn't worth all the pain and aches afterwards.
I had a huge amount of fun, and although I didn't do any running, I did do a few 20 pace dashes to avoid being shot.
I spent a load of time rolling around in the mud, jumping for cover, walking whilst in a squat position, crawling and in general... being a real aggressive ,boystros, warrior...... it was fantastic.
We played the whole day, 6 or 7 games, and the only thing that hurt were the blisters on my feet from not using my boots for a year, and a few grazed knees and shinbones...hehe...I HAD ABSOLOUTLY **NO PAIN** IN MY HIP . It was outstanding.
A group of friends invited me to go to Switzerland with them, for winter sport.. Skiing, Snowboarding and a whole load of other stuff. I thought about it and decided that I will wait until next season... although (being recently made single) I did seriously consider going along just to have some fun in the bars ;-)
Thats about it for now. There is nothing really to add to the recovery diary. I will be adding more things as they happen, otherwise I will just give a 12 month update when it happens in November 2002.
As far as the healing is concearned, I do not really notice much these days. Apparently it takes around a year to fully heal and recover from the surgery, but for the last moth or two, the difference is negligable. The changes seem to be so slight that I do not notice them.
Its been a while since I kinda sat and thought to myself
"wow!!, I havn't done that before, ..or... WOW!! I never knew that I could do that"
Last weekend I played Paint-Ball for the first time in over a year. I used to like it very much but stopped playing because it just wasn't worth all the pain and aches afterwards.
I had a huge amount of fun, and although I didn't do any running, I did do a few 20 pace dashes to avoid being shot.
I spent a load of time rolling around in the mud, jumping for cover, walking whilst in a squat position, crawling and in general... being a real aggressive ,boystros, warrior...... it was fantastic.
We played the whole day, 6 or 7 games, and the only thing that hurt were the blisters on my feet from not using my boots for a year, and a few grazed knees and shinbones...hehe...I HAD ABSOLOUTLY **NO PAIN** IN MY HIP . It was outstanding.
A group of friends invited me to go to Switzerland with them, for winter sport.. Skiing, Snowboarding and a whole load of other stuff. I thought about it and decided that I will wait until next season... although (being recently made single) I did seriously consider going along just to have some fun in the bars ;-)
Thats about it for now. There is nothing really to add to the recovery diary. I will be adding more things as they happen, otherwise I will just give a 12 month update when it happens in November 2002.
Surgery + 5 months
The whole Resurfacing experience has been magical. Its been a great journey from first looking up THR on the internet and finding out about RESURFACING from Mr.Keith Brewsters site Active Joints.com (link in my Favourite links page).
I really can't say enough nice things about Keith, and the members in the SurfaceHippy chat group. Without them I would either be still in a lot of pain and gritting my teeth and bearing it... Or I would now be the owner of a THR. I am sure that I would have been happy with my THR, but I am much happier knowing that I have a Resurfacing.
A SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!! & YOU ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!
Dr.Koen De Smet by now needs no introduction. In my opinion he is a GOD!! I recommend him to everybody that I meet!! Thanks Koen. You have given me my life back!
Its simply remarkable how much my life and general lifestyle has changed. The physical changes are impressive, but the psychological changes are even better. The whole way of thinking is altered... just that 10 minute walk to buy the newspaper on Sunday morning is a joy... rather than the "oh heck... I have to go and get a paper.... that will be a 'GRINDING' experience...geeess"
Simple things are as they should be........... "SIMPLE" and "PAIN FREE".
More adventurous and strenuous activities are just as they should be....."ADVENTUROUS", "STRENUOUS", "FUN" & "PAIN FREE".
I really hope that my humble litte web-site helped you in some way.If it did... it makes it all worthwhile.
GOOD LUCK!!
RICHIE
I really can't say enough nice things about Keith, and the members in the SurfaceHippy chat group. Without them I would either be still in a lot of pain and gritting my teeth and bearing it... Or I would now be the owner of a THR. I am sure that I would have been happy with my THR, but I am much happier knowing that I have a Resurfacing.
A SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!! & YOU ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!
Dr.Koen De Smet by now needs no introduction. In my opinion he is a GOD!! I recommend him to everybody that I meet!! Thanks Koen. You have given me my life back!
Its simply remarkable how much my life and general lifestyle has changed. The physical changes are impressive, but the psychological changes are even better. The whole way of thinking is altered... just that 10 minute walk to buy the newspaper on Sunday morning is a joy... rather than the "oh heck... I have to go and get a paper.... that will be a 'GRINDING' experience...geeess"
Simple things are as they should be........... "SIMPLE" and "PAIN FREE".
More adventurous and strenuous activities are just as they should be....."ADVENTUROUS", "STRENUOUS", "FUN" & "PAIN FREE".
I really hope that my humble litte web-site helped you in some way.If it did... it makes it all worthwhile.
GOOD LUCK!!
RICHIE
RECOVERY + 9 Months
Well, its now nine months since the surgery. To be honest, theres nothing really new to say. Things are just "NORMAL".
I seem to have a very normal life, no pain, no worries, and I have 100% confidence in my new hip.
I am still not running or jogging on it. I don`t plan to do so either. I am very lucky to have it in the first place, I don`t want to risk messing it up. I do short sprints for trains and busses etc, but thats it.
When I say "NORMAL", its true. Most of the time, I don`t even think about the hip. Its just there....
So, unless anything exciting happens, like for example, I really do go to wintersport next year, there is nothing to report.
Good luck, Take it easy & have fun!!
Richie
Well, its now nine months since the surgery. To be honest, theres nothing really new to say. Things are just "NORMAL".
I seem to have a very normal life, no pain, no worries, and I have 100% confidence in my new hip.
I am still not running or jogging on it. I don`t plan to do so either. I am very lucky to have it in the first place, I don`t want to risk messing it up. I do short sprints for trains and busses etc, but thats it.
When I say "NORMAL", its true. Most of the time, I don`t even think about the hip. Its just there....
So, unless anything exciting happens, like for example, I really do go to wintersport next year, there is nothing to report.
Good luck, Take it easy & have fun!!
Richie
29th April 2003. RECOVERY + 18 MONTHS!!
HI, STILL NOTHING NEW TO REPORT. LIFE IS NORMAL, PAIN FREE AND JUST GETTING ON WITH IT. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY "NO" PROBLEMS AT ALL WITH THE HIP, INFACT UNLESS I GET EMAILS FROM PEOPLE VIEWING MY WEBSITE... I RARELY THINK ABOUT IT.
MY FAMILLY & FRIENDS HAVE SIMPLY STOPPED ASKING HOW IT'S GOING, CUS AGAIN..... NOTHING NEW TO REPORT....
PEOPLE WHO HAVN'T SEEN ME SINCE BEFORE THE SURGERY ALWAYS COMMENT ON HOW MUCH BETTER I AM WALKING, AND LOOK IN SHOCK WHEN I TELL THEM THAT I HAD THE SURGERY...... COOL EH?
******* 2 YEAR ANIVERSARY*******
Well, its 1st December 2003 & 2 weeks ago, i had my 2 year aniversary. All is well... infact, so well.... that i fortgot all about it until a friend of mine reminded me....
As opposed to writing a big update, i guess that the best thing to say is simply that "Things are so good, that i forgot about it...."
SO FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT MAIL ME AND ASK IF THE HIP IS STILL GOING GOOD...... "Y.U.P.!!!" Dr. De Smet has changed my life. Special thanks to him, the surface hippy group, and all those individuals that helped me through it.
If you are debating if you should get the Resurfacing device ...or a THR.... GET A R.E.S.U.R.F.!!!! Or I will come and kick your butt!! (because these days.. i can!!!)
Good luck, Richie