Learning how to take it easy during rehab

I am now starting my walks outside. I am calling them workouts, but I feel kind of bad doing so since there's not too much to them at this point. I am starting the walks around my immediate neighborhood. I live on a street that runs east to west for about three-tenths of a mile. Each end of the street ends in a cul-de-sac. There is a smaller street going south that intersects about in the middle of the of my street; this takes you out to the main county road. If you were driving down the county road and turned into my addition you'd run straight into my driveway.

Sat July 29 11:00 a.m. I am using a walker and am with my wife. I don't feel safe going out on my first walk alone. I walk to the end of the street and come back (a little over tenth a of a mile) and turn and walk up to the main east/west street and back (about 40 yards). I am not going for speed, and I did it in 18 minutes. This was definitely better than after my first replacement surgery. I iced down my hip after the walk.

July 30 Sunday 7:00 a.m. Again, I'm using a walker, but this time I was alone. I feel pretty confident I don't need Linda looking after me. Anyway she's still in bed. I did the same workout, but did it in 12 minutes (still not trying to go fast). I extended it a bit further to the west and was out a total of 24 minutes. It was very humid. It felt good to sweat. Again, I iced hip after the walk. That afternoon Linda's mother, brother and sister-in-law visited. After they left I took a rather long nap. Guess I was tired.

7:00 p.m. Using a walker, I walked alone on the ame route as this morning. I finished in 20 minutes. I did not try to go faster. I'm already bored with the route. After about the 10-minute mark the hip started to ache (it had been five hours since I had taken any pain pills). The ache went away after a couple of minutes. I iced it afterward.

The pain pills I took home are pretty good. They say not to let the pain get severe before you use them. It is easier to manage low levels of pain than high levels, and there is no reason to let the levels get high. I am supposed to take two every four to six hours as needed. Now there isn't any worry about me becoming addicted to them since I don't like to take pills. Right now I am at the point where I'll take them about seven to eight hours apart. Believe me when I say I'm not trying to be a tough guy, but I just don't need them that often.

July 31 Monday 8:05 a.m. Using a walker, I walk alone. I walked completely around the addition then added another half trip around. I did it in 31 minutes. Again I didn't push it. Iced afterward. There is a heat emergency today with temps in the 90s and humidity levels just as high. They say the heat index will be well over 100 degrees. I'll probably go out later but won't go as far or as long.

Aug. 1 Tuesday 8:13 a.m. I didn't walk yesterday evening since at 8 p.m. it was still over 90 degrees. I want to do two walks a day but that'd be too much in the heat. Looks like the same for this evening, but I won't rule another walk out of the question. I was alone and used a walker. I went two full trips around the addition and then some. That's more than eight-tenths of a mile.  I did the walk in 40 minutes -- wow what a speed record! I cut my pain meds in half before the walk but waited an hour for them to kick in before I went out. There were some twinges of pain but they gradually went away, and by the end of the walk I felt great! I had really worked up a sweat and that felt good in itself.

After my first surgery I was told that I'd have some bad days mixed in with mostly good ones. They were right but most of the days were good. I can't say I've had a bad day yet but it that happens I'll just have to work through it.

Aug 2, Wed 10:00 a.m. As I sit here and look at what I wrote to close off the post I have to laugh at the irony of what I said, "Good days and bad days." How right that was. Yesterday about 5 p.m., while I was talking with my brother Jim (he's the one who got me into reading GeezerJock) on the phone I noticed a "funny" sensation in my left foot. I had Linda take off my TEDs hose/ saw that my left foot had swollen, all in about 5 minutes. This kind of freaked me out since I had not had any swelling in my lower extremities since the surgery. What really shook me was the speed of the swelling, first nothing, then -- BAM -- clubfoot!

I had Linda replace my TEDs and elevate my foot. We put ice on it. We called the surgeon's office, and since it was after hours we had to wait for him to return the call. I wasn't running a fever and the swelling did go down some. When he called, I told him what happened and he put me at ease. Swelling like this does happen. Sometimes in the morning you'll see your ankle and when you go to bed at night you can't see it, it'll be swollen. Oftentime, people who don't experience swelling much at home will swell a great deal when they go out. Such was my case. I asked him about my walking, and he said with the high heat and humidity could contribute to the swling.

He told me to remember what he said the last time I saw him: "Go home and go through life for a couple of weeks. Don't push it!" He added that what I do for the first two weeks has little to do with how the hip is going to be in two months. Basically he said to slow the hell down and don't push it.

So that's what I'm going to do for a couple of days. I'll probably go out for a walk after my stitches are removed on Friday. So right now the word is "easy does it"

Aug 4 Friday I had an appointment at 10:00 a.m. today to see Bri to have my stitches removed. It felt really good to get out of the house, get in a car and go somewhere. Getting in and out of the car was definitely easier than when I returned home from the hospital.

Bri said everything look good and asked about the pain I was having. I told her I was down to three pills a day she said that was great, the healing is going very well. My incision is smaller than from my first replacement, about six inches compared to more than nine inches. Getting the stitches out didn't hurt at all. The most uncomfortable part was removing the dressing. She put some Steri-Strips on it and told me I didn't need a dressing any more. It's amazing on how much better it feels not to have a dressing on the incision!

I can go to a cane whenever I feel comfortable doing so. I don't feel that good about it, but I did go to just one crutch when I walking around home. I'll probably go to the cane in a few days. I also was able to remove the TEDs hose from my non-surgical leg. Now that's a great feeling, those things really bug me. Now I know why women don't like to wear hose in the summer time, they're hot! I have to wear the TEDS on my other leg for two more weeks, but only during the day.

After the meeting, Linda and I went to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch and it was fun to do that. One of the waitresses asked what happened to me and I told her. She said I was way too young to have one much less two hip replacements. Bless you, my child. I did have to take and unscheduled pain pill, because it was a lot more moving around than I was used to. I took a nap and was out to the world for over two hours. Did I mention that naps are good?

So things are going well, I'm resuming my walks tomorrow morning but I'll take it easier.

Aug 5, Saturday 9:00 a.m. I went for a walk with the walker, alone. I went around the addition one time in 18 minutes. That felt good. I could have gone further, but I promised to take it easy so I stopped.  I feel like such a wimp but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.