Physical Therapy

I went to PT yesterday, everything is going pretty well. My hip has a pretty good range of motion (ROM) which is the main thing I'm working on now. I won't start much strengthening until I can bear more weight.

Recently, I've been having this strange left knee (operated on December 09) feeling/pain when my knee is bent. I notice it more when I lift up my knee in a bent position, like when I lift up my leg to get out of my wheel chair. My PT thought it might just be that my joint is stiff, so I'm going to work on that and see if it goes away. It's strange because it's not so much pain, which is a good thing but it makes it a little challenging to explain what it feels like.

I've been able to lay on my non-operative side recently which is very nice and more comfortable. I also have been able to lay on my stomach more. It gets rather boring to lay on my back all day, everyday so it's a nice, exciting step of mixing up laying around all day.

I get my stitches out tomorrow early morning, then I got to PT in the afternoon with my regular therapist.

Update

I'm not taking anymore narcotics, which is a big step. I'm feeling more like myself, also good but it makes not being able to walk more annoying. Even though my hip isn't hurting so much anymore it's still uncomfortable to sit up in my wheel chair. The couch is a little more comfortable, but my bed is still the most comfortable. I have to be careful and plan out my days according to when I need to be up in my wheel chair and make sure I'm not making myself do too much sitting. Needless to say, I'm ready to start walking, although I have quite a while before I'm actually able to do that.

I have another PT appointment tomorrow. Then Thursday I'm having my stitches removed, then more PT (this time with my regular guy).

5 Days Post-op

When I woke up this morning my feet were hanging off the bed, and my hip was killing me. I'm not sure what or how I pushed myself all the way down my bed, but I know my hip didn't like it very much.

I laid in bed all morning, well really until about 4:00, with the CPM machine trying to get my hip to calm down. As long as I'm lying down and not moving too much, then my hip feels alright. After a while, I got up and sat in my wheelchair, put on some real clothes and was feeling more normal. I sat up for over an hour, then moved out onto the couch in the family room. When I got out of my chair my hip immediately hurt a lot more. I knew it was starting to hurt more when I was in my chair, but getting up made me notice it more.

I was able to cut down a couple times today on my pain medicine, but I think it's going to be a little while longer before I can cut down any more.

I have a PT consult tomorrow. My regular therapist is out of town, so I'm going to see someone else just for this initial consult so that when it's time for me to start PT this is already taken care of.

Post-op Update

I'm slowly starting to feel a little better each day. As of yesterday I'm not as tired, I can keep my eyes open for a little bit, before it was a lost cause.

I'm not quite ready to start skipping and cutting down on my medicine, I'm still in quite a bit of pain. Moving around is a struggle and makes my hip very soar, so I usually stay in a spot for the majority of the day. Right now, it's uncomfortable to sit up in my wheel chair so I either lay in my bed or on the couch.

I'm still not eating much. My dad made some homemade pita bread last night and I was able to eat that. Once I start cutting down my medicine I'll get my appetite back, but until then I just have to be careful that I'm eating enough so that I don't pass out.

Yesterday I had a bad headache, almost a migraine. I had a bad one in the summer with my right hip surgery. It turned out that I was getting too much oxycodone. Remembering that, my mom had me skip my next oxycodone and just take my other pain medicine (trazadone). After a nice long nap, my headache went away. Skipping the oxycodone was good for my headache, but it made my hip pain hard to control after that. It took a couple rounds of medicine to get it back under control.

I had some friends visit Friday, which was nice. They brought me a bag full of stuff from my journalism class with lots of useful recovery items to keep me warm and occupied. I really appreciate having my friends stop by, it makes my recovery more pleasant.

I'm Home!

I got to come home today around 2:00, which was all I wanted to do since I woke up this morning.

Last night it took a while to get my pain under control, but they finally figured it out so that made me more comfortable. I got really nauseous last night so they gave me some IV medicine to make that go away and I haven't noticed it since then. I successfully got up with physical therapy today, without passing out which is something I often do post-op.

Right now I'm feeling much better than I was last night. As long as I take my medicine every 4 hours my pain is controlled fairly well. I'm using a CPM machine (I used it in June with my other hip). It bends my leg at my knee which provides movement in my hip so that my leg and hip don't get stiff. I like it, it makes my hip feel more comfortable. I have to use it for at least 4 hours for the next 2 weeks. When I'm not in the CPM machine I have to put these boots on. They look like soft ski boots and they Velcro together so that I don't laterally rotate my hip joint (a movement I have to avoid for the next 4-6 weeks).

So far I'm doing pretty well.

Thanks to everyone for all the good wishes, it mean a lot to me.

Surgery Report

Surgery went well. I'll have more specifics later on.

I think my pain is finally under control.

I started feeling very nauseous a little bit ago, but I got some medicine and it seems to be going away.

Well time for me to get some rest. I'll give a better update tomorrow hopefully.

A Little Update and Some Surgery Talk

I know it's been a while since I've filled everyone in, it's been a busy past couple of weeks. I thought I should get a quick update in before I have surgery.

My left hip (operative side) is pretty much the same, still popping out (the reason I'm having surgery) and still causing me pain. I guess that's a good thing since I'm getting it operated on this Wednesday. My right hip (June operation) is so much better than it was a year ago, and I can't wait until I can say the same about the left side. However, my right hip has started some new issues. I'm having more joint related pain, most likely due to minor subluxations in that hip. But, it doesn't cause constant pain and it seems to be subsiding from what it was a few weeks ago so that's good news. I'm still much much better than I was a year ago, even two and three years ago so I'm not complaining.

Well now that we have the hips out of the way...
I've been having more lower back pain (SI joint area). It's most likely due to the increased subluxations of my right hip. I've had SI joint pain off and on way before I knew I was diagnosed with EDS. It was always just on my left side, now it's on the right side too. There isn't much I can do before I have surgery, so I've been using the heating pad as much as I can, which gives me some relief. I'm kind of getting used to the back pain, which makes it seem not as bad. I'm hoping that I'll get some relief once my left side is operated on because I'm sure the fixed hip v. the not fixed hip isn't helping the situation.

I go in for surgery tomorrow, which I'm completely ready for. I'm ready to get it over with and I'm ready to have a working hip. The hospital will call sometime this afternoon with the time that I need to be at the hospital, most likely bright and early. The surgery is the same on I had this past June, just on the other side (left) and it's a combined surgery as opposed to the separate scope and Z-Plasty (lengthening IT Band) surgery. Overall, it will make my recovery faster, but I'm expecting to feel not as well for a little longer than I was in the summer since it will be more extensive surgery all at once. My surgeon will go in with the scope first to check things out, fix any tears and tighten my hip capsuel and any other surrounding ligaments that need tightened. Then he'll open my hip up laterally and lengthen my IT Band with the Z-Plasty technique. (see past blog post on Z-Plasty)

I'll update as soon as I can after surgery, probably tomorrow night.