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.