Hip replacement update after 18mo.

Before I begin, I want to give credit for this photo because it is amazing, and this would have to be my idea of a slice of heaven, and you have to have a pretty picture to go with a post right?!

I also think it fits how I kinda feel about my on going recovery with my total hip replacement.

So to let all those who have been following me for a while, and know that I had a total hip replacement February of 2010, I'm doing great. It has not been easy, and I have said this before on updates in the past, but I feel that I want to be honest if someone is reading this that has searched on the Internet to get them selves ready for it. While every person is different, and some recover faster than others, mine was tinged with having a herniated disk. It has taken me up until now to feel much, much better.

Early in the spring I started going to the gym three days a week and using the treadmill and the weight machine for my left leg. It use to be a thinner leg, because of the way I used it. Now it matches the other! This is so odd for me to see, and the fact that I'm no longer crooked too(leg being shorter), is sometimes odd. Because the muscles were not used in that leg normally through out the years, it was hurting when I first started using the treadmill. I think I finally got it where it should be now, because I have noticed the pain is almost gone.

As of July I have been going to the gym now 5 days a week and increasing the speed week by week. It feels so good when I'm done, and I feel like I have a lot more energy and sleeping very soundly.

All this being said, I have to give you a small history of me with exercise. To look at me now, a tad over weight middle aged woman, you would never guess that at one time, even though I had this hip dysplasia, I loved being active. All through high school my first love was tennis, second was volleyball, and I played them every chance I could. I was on a volleyball team out side of school, and my Senior year I made the tennis team, but didn't do it because it conflicted with yearbook. I'm kinda sad about that decision sometimes. Playing these sports would make my leg and hip really hurt at the end of the day, but I powered through it and continued to play those two sports all through college as well. I didn't want to play on a team in college, so with volleyball, I did the next best thing, and took the highest course that trained with the team. It was tough, but I loved it! I continued playing tennis with anyone that would, and took as many classes in tennis, just so I could play. After I graduated from college, I had my oldest daughter, and then sports took a back seat, and by that time the hip started to flare up a lot. The best I could do was to take walks and try and keep the weight off. I did alright, until my second daughter, and the further deterioration of the hip joint.

The weight was constantly creeping since I could not be as active as before. I would have total meltdowns some days thinking about my beloved game of tennis and how I could never play it again, heck I could barely walk a mile! This was not ME, and it would make me angry.

Fast forward to present day, and how I feel about the whole hip thing is very mixed. I'm happy there it no pain and things are finally feeling so much better. I'm happy and grateful that I can now walk without having to stop and rest with pain, BUT there are days where I still get frustrated with the thought that I will never really get to play tennis again, if I did, I would shorten the life span of the devise, and I could fall. I'm slowly getting over this feeling though, now that I can walk greater distances for fitness, and feel that great feeling after exercising once again. There is also this constant nagging that something will go wrong with it, and I will have to have a revision. My doctor told me that it takes two whole years to have a total healing from this surgery. I believe him, and I'm looking forward to February to see where I am after a whole two years. Hopefully by then, more weight will come off too, and lighten the load so to speak.

I hope for those getting this surgery, that may run across this post, will get something out of it and what to expect. For those who have been reading a bit, I thought I would do my 6 month update, so you would know where I am today.

That is why I chose the picture above. Today this is how I feel about my surgery. A celebration of modern medicine, and how it can make one live a better life!