Hip surgery: Day 7

I don't think I'm going to do daily posts anymore after this one. There's really not much more that will happen until next week when I start Physical Therapy.

I haven't took a Vicodin since yesterday evening. So I'm going on about 18 hours with nothing. I feel fine. The crutches are annoying. I can walk without them, I know that the doc wants me to use them for another week, so I will (most of the time) but they're just slowing me down. I don't limp that badly without them. My range of motion is improving, but what I struggle with most is control over the muscles that are in the top of my leg. I can lift my leg up better than I can control it when moving down. For example, when lifting my leg to get into the van seat, it doesn't hurt to lift my leg up, but I can't always do it under my own power. I usually have to use my arm to help bring my leg up. Now, trying to take my leg out of the van, it would kind of just fall due to gravity, and hurt a bit in the process. I can't really use my strength to control the moving down movement. That will be my number one concern addressed in physical therapy. I'm sure most of this is because I had difficulty with those movements prior to surgery. I had gotten so good at accommodating for my pain, that I was weakening my muscles in the process. Rotating my leg left and right is coming along slowly. Recall the first couple of days I could only move my leg an inch left/right. Now it's probably up to 6-8 inches sideways. That's the movement that is allowing me to sleep on the couch and/or on my bed.

I did take a test drive around the block this morning. I can drive just fine. My leg moves enough to use the pedals properly, without any concerns on my part. Believe me, I wouldn't try to drive my kids around unless I knew I'd be driving safely.  The only difficult part about driving was getting into the drivers seat. That normally requires you to put your right leg in first. So I have to adapt, and I figured out my best way to adapt.  Then we're good to go!

The kids are all at the Museum of Science And Industry today with summer camp. I can't wait to hear all about it when they get home. I'm sure they're going to have such a great time.

Until then, my goals are to put laundry away, maybe do another load of laundry, continue working on Bridget's scrapbook, take care of the dishes, and rest.