Learning to relax

It is lovely to be at home recovering, and although my routine hardly differs from when I was in hospital it is very nice to laze on my own couch watching the pile of DVDs which I have borrowed, rather than being in a hospital bed watching the small TV. Let me tell you, day time television does not quite do it for me!! I have had friends and family visit me over the past 4 days which is a welcomed distraction from the long days on the couch.

Usually being very active and not one to sit down all day I am still trying to get used to "relaxing" and not having to cross things off my to-do list. I know that the change of pace is needed to allow me to focus on healing, however it does take a while to break old habits... just don't tell my surgeon that I have vacuumed the house while on crutches! I never thought that being on crutches would make even simple tasks much more complex. In particular I find carrying objects extremely difficult as my hands are needed to propel me on crutches. I have overcome this by using a bag which I load in one spot before moving to where I need to take the items. As you can imagine this slows me down a lot and there is nothing more frustrating to sitting down at the table for lunch and unloading my bag to find that I have forgotten to put the cutlery in. Back up on one leg to hobble to the kitchen for cutlery I go.

I am still taking pain meds daily however I am managing mainly on panadol with endone for night.  Overall my hip is feeling good. I still have a low level of constant pain with only occasional sharp twinges if I over do it. When I was trying to put a sock on my left foot I did not have the available hip flexion range and I was made aware of that when the pain stabbed me in the groin. Might be a while before trying to put my own socks on again!! If I spend too long in one position, such as in sitting, my hip tightens up and takes a while to get moving again. I have lost a small amount of extension range (ie I cannot fully straighten my hip as I would need for upright standing) however I am not pushing it yet as it is still early days.

When Sam married me he knew full and well that I was planning to have hip surgery less than 3 weeks after saying "I do", but I highly doubt that he realised exactly what that meant for him. Nothing kills romance in the "honeymoon phase" like helping your newly wed wife shave her legs so that she can wear shorts!! On a positive note Sam has re-joined me in our bed, no longer needing to sleep in his swag on our bedroom floor, as my fear of him knocking my left hip during the night has reduced. He has been the perfect husband since I have returned home. Although I can sometimes see the frustration in his eyes he never complains even when I ask him for the 100th time to grab something for me only seconds after he gets comfortable on the couch. Secretly I think he sometimes looks forward to going to work for a rest. I am one lucky girl to have him in my life.

I am booked in to see Jit for my post operative review in 2 days time. I am realy looking forward to speaking to him in more detail about how my surgery went and finding out about the next step in the rehabilitation process. I am hoping that the scar has healed nicely so that I can commence some gentle exercises, possibly some hydrotherapy and very light resistance exercise bike.