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!)

Read Full Post »

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

 

Read Full Post »