Now this is more like it!

Well,  firstly, I am feeling much, much better, brighter and more alive!  I went to see Mr Witt on Monday, and had xrays which showed that nothing had moved, everything was where it was supposed to be and that I had nothing to worry about.  All that being said, my brain was still saying “Okay, so what’s making the clunking, and what’s making that cricket ball feeling?”.  He THINKS (not sure) that the clunking is still the tendon, but he thinks it is the illiopsoas tendon (another story about that later), and he THINKS that the cricket ball is actually a haematoma (blood clot) on a muscle (adductor area).  So I came away feeling a lot better and more at peace – there was a smile on my face! Yay!  First one for nearly 3 weeks!

Fast forward to yesterday:  Went to hydro and physio had hand on illiopsoas tendon whilst I was doing exercises very gently.  Hip is gaily clunking and clicking.  ”It’s definitely not the illiopsoas as I have my hand on it, and I can feel the clunking resonating through it, but it is definitely not IT doing  the clunking!”  So we think it is actually the adductors not working properly, and they are causing the femur to not track smoothly in the socket.  So … I am doing very gentle, with minimal movement, exercises which as Karen the physio said, I will be bored to tears in no time, but am just going to have to put up with it!

Fast forward to today: I went again today, and a funny thing has happened.  For most of the afternoon post hydrotherapy MY HIP HASN’T CLUNKED!!!!!  How weird is that?  I am not going to say too much or say it too loudly, but I feel that I might, just might, have turned a corner.

Anyway, I promised you a picture of LPAO which is now 6 months old tomorrow and this is what it looks like!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please excuse the clothing marks etc.  But it just shows that these things get to look pretty darn good in quite a short amount of time.

Scars!

Well, this is just a quickie to upload photos taken of RPAO’s scars.  Just to show how they reduce in size.  I will take one of my LPAO scar tomorrow, just so’s you can all see how insignificant it now is.  This might help some who are about to go through this for the first time.  I hope so anyway – hope it doesn’t scare the crap out of you!

RPAO – just a couple of hours old!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RPAO – 1 week post-op

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RPAO – 3 weeks post-op

So …!

I have been a little quiet of late, which is unusual for me!  To cut a long story short, I have, since coming out of the anesthetic, been experiencing lots of clunking and clicking.  Some of it painful, some of it not.

This morning I had an on-land physio assessment to determine what is going on.  Whilst she was gently manouvering my leg about it clunked – this was immediately diagnosed as ‘an unstable hip’.  Looks like my adductor muscles have gone on holiday – basically they have just decided post-op not to work (well, that’s what we are hoping, anyway!).  All I can say is that I hope that they are bloody well enjoying their little vacation, because I am not!  My physio is contacting Mr Witt to discuss, but feels that we should spend the next two weeks really working on the adductors to try to get them stronger, and in that way, hopefully stabilize the hip.

So here’s hoping!

To say that I am down is a bit of an understatement, but then LPAO did recover rather swimmingly, so I had prepared myself for a not so gentle ride, but, admittedly, I didn’t expect it to go quite like this.

I will keep you all posted. xx

On the dark side – a second time!

Hello fellow hippies!

The buggers nicked my knickers again!  And this time they were very fashionable fishnet style rather than the old paper granny knickers of late!  I also had dayglo yellow slippers to add to the effect – they were gone too, when I had come round!  But I had written “Oi” just under my knickers so when they ripped ‘em off they would know that I was on to them! Lol!

I wasn’t so quick to update you all as my laptop decided, just before I went to theatre, to pack up, so I have had to wait till my daughter was around so I could use hers!

All went well and Mr Witt was very happy with the whole procedure.  I didn’t loose very much blood, which was good, and tucked into tomato soup, followed by cheese burger and chips, with salad, followed by chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream within two hours of coming round!  Slept well, although woke very early and have spent the day dozing in and out.  Walked down the corridor twice, and have a hydro session booked for tomorrow afternoon.  The physio will come in the morning and we will ‘do’ stairs.

I did find that now having to use my left leg as a support that I am slightly less coordinated – presume that’s down to being right handed, and my right leg being the ‘leader’ normally.  So with my track record of falling over etc, I shall be extra vigilant this time!

My scar is good – shall up load picture soon, and doesn’t seem to be as inflamed as my left, and I also don’t have nearly as much numbness this time, which is nice.

Anyway, will let you know how the stairs and hydro go tomorrow.

xx

We did it!

Yay!!!!

Yesterday, my husband (Phil) and I walked The Great South Run!!!  We did it in 2:23:51 which was well inside our target time of 2:30.  I was sooooooo chuffed.  And what was nice was that at the end we didn’t feel “Oh God, couldn’t have walked another step” which is great, in preparation for my walking the London Marathon in 6 months time!  It is doable!!! Yay!

The sun shone which was just wonderful (first time in a number of years on that race! Lol!  The last two that I have run it has peeeeed down!).  It was a tad windy over the last two miles as it goes along the coastal road of Southsea, and generally you are always going into the wind on that stretch.  We jogged the first 800 meters just to get out of peoples way, and then we jogged the last 800 meters.  AND THE HIP FELT FINE!!!!!!!!

My rectus femoris feels a little tight this morning but I have told it that that is fine – it is allowed to!  But apart from that NO PAIN!

It was just sooooooo brilliant to be a part of it all again – the atmosphere was wonderful.  I carried a balloon with ‘47 Today’ written on it and on my back I had a ‘blurb’ as to why I was walking.  I got so many wishes of Happy Birthday and “Good on you” etc. it was wonderful.  So encouraging!  I was grinning from ear to ear.  I have never shared my birthday with 21,000 but it was a great way to do it!

Can’t wait for next year when I intend to run it!

One week to go before RPAO!

Well, it’s been a few weeks since I last posted, but lots has been going on.  Mainly colds, coughs etc., but also my hubby and I have been ‘training’ for our 10 mile walk this Sunday – 25th October, 2009!  And it has gone really well, I am pleased to say.  Yesterday, we did 8 miles and completed it in 1:58:25, so we are well in on our target time for the 10 miles of 2:30.  It has been really fun having him by my side, and partaking in something that he normally would not do.  I think, secretly, he is actually starting to enjoy it, and is starting to see the benefits of getting fitter!

It is going to be a fun weekend, as on Thursday we will have my sister and her husband over for an early birthday/operation celebration meal.  (I turn 47 on Sunday, so it is rather fitting that Phil and I will be doing the walk together).

On Saturday it will also be a very special anniversary for Phil and myself, as we will have been together for 25 years on that day.  We will not be re-enacting what we got up to that evening – nothing rude, might I add – we went out for a meal, then drove down from London to Brighton to sit on the beach and drink a bottle of champagne!  The joke being that on leaving the restaurant he produced a bottle of champagne, and asked where I wanted to drink it.  We, at that moment, drove past a road sign directing to Brighton.  ”Oh, I’ve never been to Brighton” I pipe up – so off we went on an hours drive.  As we drove down the steep hill into Brighton, I say “Oh – Yes I have, I remember now!!”  He wasn’t terribly impressed, but we sat on the beach (in the car) and drank this bottle of champagne, with a Police Car parked just opposite us!  Then drove back up to London and had breakfast in Smithfield Market!  Then went straight into work (well, obviously my mind wasn’t on work at all that day!) It was brilliant – that evening I dumped my current boyfriend (we were on the verge of splitting anyway, as I had fallen for Phil sometime before!) – and the rest is history!

Anyway, we will have a quiet night in, in preparation for our ‘walk’ the following morning.  I think it will be quite emotional crossing the finishing line and getting our medals.  I have worked hard to get to where I am now – 5 months post LPAO  - and I now know what work is involved if I want to do the marathon next April 25th, but I will give it a bloody good go!  I am so very grateful for the support Phil has shown in his encouragement to getting me to the start line of this race and I know that he will do the same for the London Marathon.  I will update our results on Sunday!

My best wishes to one and all who reads this- to those who have just undergone the op, you will get there, stay positive and have goals, and also to those about to get theirs done, first or second – see you on the other side! Lol!

Lots of love xxx

Well here goes No.2 PAO!

Well having scared the …… out of myself the past two weeks, thinking that I had done some serious damage, i.e. stress fracture, from way-overdoing some gardening, I am pleased to inform one and all that all is well in the pelvic area and that I think Mr Witt is really looking forward to getting stuck in to the other hip!  So it’s official, RPAO on 28th October!  Yay!  Turns out the pain that I had suffered after my monumentous gardening efforts were merely an inflamed hamstring!  So much for having a high pain threshold then!  The xray showed everything had healed, except for, I think, the Pubic Ramus? (can’t remember it that’s what he called it) but this isn’t a worry, apparently it may never heal as there is such a large gap from where they have realigned everything, to give the best coverage and try and avoid loading on the damaged area.  He said all the aches and pains (pubic bone area) are due to everything settling down, and that because the groin area is still a bit tight – psoas  area – this will ease up in time.

The other FANSTASTIC thing Mr Witt said was that I could start jogging on the treadmill!! Yay!  (He had said that I could do impact stuff in about 4 weeks time, but then I pointed out that it wasn’t really worth it as I would be in the following week for the next op, HA! HA!)  So I am going to give it a go tomorrow.  Yesterday, hubby and I started our training for our 10 mile walk on October 25 – my “5 month post-LPAO celebration”, on my 47th birthday!  We did 2.2 miles in just over 30 minutes – we are trying to do 15 minute mile pace so we were pretty pleased with that.  We have devised a training schedule and it is certainly, at the moment, looking like a goer!  I might even jog a bit of it!!!!!  Well, I will have a week in hospital to recover!  (He has also said it’s fine to do aerobics, body balance and pilates etc.)

I did query about whether it was worth doing the RPAO now – just to see if he would say that we should wait till I was in pain, but he said it was up to me!  We all agreed that it would be better to get it done now – I really can’t face getting back into running then having to stop again – I might as well start again, afresh with new hips, next April/May.  I can honestly say that I am excited!  Sounds really weird after all the fear of the first one!  And as for taking the pins out, we will do that about 6-9 months after the second one is done and do it all in one go – OUCH!

Anyway, a good day, and a so much better result than I was expecting after the past couple of weeks of doom and gloom (all self-inflicted, I know!)  I promised him I would behave myself on this next one! (Well, we shall see – time will tell! Lol!)

Fin des vacances!

Ah well, all good things have to come to an end, and it has!  Our much needed holiday to the South of France was over in the blink of an eye.  Fabulous weather – oh, how I love the sunshine – far too much wine, loads of volleyball in the pool with the kids, and lots of fun.  Sadly, my husband had to spend time working (not his choice needless to say – I rue the day that mobile phones and computers were invented at times because you can never escape!), but it was a break, a change of scenery and a step closer to making a decision of where in France we want to live eventually.  En route back from Gourgas, we stopped on the outskirts of Paris at The Abbayee de Vaulx de Cernay and drove into Paris that evening to do the Eiffel Tower – wonderful and a great experience, although due to too many people we were unable to get right to the top (not such a bad thing in my mind!).  The following morning we headed for The Palace de Versailles.  Again too many visitors thwarted my attempts to see the Hall of Mirrors, and we found ourselves visiting the Palace Gardens instead – and we were not disappointed.  In fact, we were all totally blown away by the sheer magnificence and grandeur of them.  We pottered and pootled, hired a rowing boat and went out on the lake for half an hour, and generally had a fabulous end to the holiday.  Then it was a mad (really mad) dash to get to Calais for the ferry (incurring a 45 euro fine along the way for going a tad over the speed limit – lucky they didn’t see us an hour before, otherwise the fine would have been an awful lot more!).

Back home, life is almost back to the grind – child No. 2 returns to college tomorrow, so it’s back to the 6.15 wake up call.  Child No. 3 returns next week, and child No. 1 goes back to Uni at the end of September.  I have started going out cross-country on my bike – although alittle bit over enthusiastically yesterday, I found my self toppling off and discovered that I don’t (for the moment anyway!) have the flexibility in my hips that I used to and can’t land on my left leg and swing the right leg up and over as I would have done in the past – this presents quite a problem when heading down hill, with the back wheel not gripping and sliding out to the left and throwing you off!!!!!! Lol!  Needless to say, walking was a rather painful, slow process yesterday evening, but I am glad to report that I have better movement this morning and have a physio session this afternoon which should help things even more!

Rain is forecast – oh what a surprise that is!  And I have three geriatric dogs in my care.  That is not something that I would repeat – they smell real bad, can’t go for long walks (or walks at all for that matter with one of them) and it is just such a responsibility.  I came down this morning and thought the eldest one had died.  Not a single movement from him – no blinking, nothing.  Then he startled the pants off me by suddenly moving – he had just been asleep with his eyes open! Lol!

As for my hips well, I have now been walking for three weeks without any support and there is definitely improvement.  I have spent the weekend gardening and haven’t suffered too much, and I have been doing an alot more than I probably should.  I have a slight, what I call ‘delayed limp’.  I step on my left leg (the operated one) and then as I follow through with my right leg there is a slight hesitation/tightness and then I step.  I will be interested to see how the physio feels I have progressed and what I need to work on, as I haven’t seen her since before I went on hols.

Is it me or am I standing wonky?!

James rowing the boat – can’t escape the camera now!

Toute la famille a la maison dans St Etienne de Gourgas

 

The Prince’s Rainforest Project

Hmmmm…!

Ten and a half weeks post LPOA and feeling a little tender!  Mentally and physically.  Physically because I keep doing tooooooooo much and then I am finding that I get a strange, not pain, but discomfort around the left side of my pubic bone (nice! Lol! – Not an area that you can massage without getting some very odd looks!).  I think it is from where they cut the bone near to that area and I am assuming that it is because I am carrying too much, holding dogs that suddenly lurch forward meaning that you automatically lunge forward on your operated leg etc. etc.  Just generally not understanding how long these things are taking to heal!  I read this morning that these bone cuts take between 4 and 6 months to heal fully – so that is probably why mine is complaining.  And that is why mentally I am feeling a little sorry for myself.  I want to do what I feel I can do, but I shouldn’t.  When someone phones up and says “Can you have my dog for while we go on holiday?”  I can’t help but say “Yes”!  Oh well, I will have two weeks of sitting by a pool, not doing much to hopefully recover any damage I may have incurred over the last couple of mad dog weeks!

They are funny, the dogs, though – one went off through the black mud this morning – well put it this way, she wasn’t a blonde anymore when she came out!  Why is it that the blonder they are the more intent they are in going into the deepest, darkest, smelliest mud they can possibly find?  I just love handing them back to the owner by my finger tips with a big grin on my face! Lol!  I do enjoy it, and have missed not going out with them, which is another reason for taking on so many!  We were six this morning, including our dog, Ella!

The one that went black is sitting in the middle at the back – she was washed off in the pond following her little escapade so is looking just sort of grubby now.  I am not a miracle maker, I only got them to sit like that because my youngest (out of sight to my right) had nicked their ball and was holding it ransom – at the point of taking the photo my son, who was inside the house (to my left), was hoovering the hallway and banged the front door with the hoover – hence you have one dog looking right (Noosa), Charlie who can’t decide which is more important to keep his focus on, the ball or the door, so he looked at me for help, and all the others (Milly, Harry, and Lucia) looking left – except that is for our Ella who doesn’t give a toss about anything!