Week 6: Mobile at last!

I have been officially discharged from home PT, and I got the "all clear" from my surgeon (or more precisely, his PA). That means I can pretty much do anything I want except run (and by extension, I'm going to include soccer in that). And I can now legally drive again! That was very exciting (of course, the day after I was allowed to start driving, our family found ourselves with another licensed driver, but that's definitely material for a different post!). The next major milestone will be 6 months post-op when I see the surgeon and we discuss "the future" (what I can and cannot reasonably do). The X-ray was pretty cool -- the part looks great (so much better than a normal hip). I will continue with PT to rebuild muscle, which I think is really addressing the year and a half I spent in pain and limping more than any post-surgical residue. So, 6 weeks post op, status is:

• I can walk 4+ miles at a 16 minute pace.
• I can (finally) work hard enough on the elliptical to get a heart rate up to 75-80% of max (which for me is way higher than any of the charts say). It feels good to be able to work up a real sweat (exercising as opposed to hot flashing).
• Range of motion is quite close to normal.
• Every once in a while I can tell that the abductor isn't 100% there on the right.
• My walking posture is almost normal (I have to concentrate on walking straight, but this is left over from the pre-surgical mess I was).
• Quad is still a tad weak (only noticeable if I'm thinking about it going upstairs), but we're getting there.

Overall, I am thrilled -- so much happier than pre-surgery.

Week 5: Definitely wrapping up here

I take it as a good sign that there is less to report each week. Again, changes happen, but are not as dramatic. So, this week's milestones were:

• Wednesday: went for a walk in the woods. I wasn't up to climbing over felled trees (we had a hailstorm on Tuesday), but I was fine with the uneven ground and carried my cane, but didn't use it.
• Thursday: So, based upon the walk in the woods, I shed the cane!
• Friday: I hit the 3-mile mark on my walk.
• Saturday: I hit 13,000 steps.
• Monday: I upped my pace from Friday's 19 min/mile to 18 min/mile.

Tomorrow is my Xray and post-op appointment and next week's post will be my last!

Week 4: Slow and Steady

It's pretty clear that there is less big news to report this week, but progress continues. It seems that the major milestones this week have been:

• Walking without the cane pretty much all the time except for long walks.
• Long walks are approaching 2.5 miles (with the uphills and downhills of Tower Road).
• The last day of week four I did about 3/4 of the walk carrying the cane as opposed to using the cane.
• I can regularly hit 10,000 steps and have hit a max of 13,000.
• PT is feeling more like a workout -- it's all about rebuilding muscle strength.

I'm thinking that there will be only two more posts in this series, as the beginning of week six will bring me to my post-surgical appointment, and I expect to be pretty much fully functional. And anyway, I will need to start on my next blog series: flipping a classroom of 150 students!