At the end of the week (23rd June to be precise) my new hip
joint will be 5 months old. As I didn't feel the need to do updates beyond week 6 / week 7 back in March, it seems that life returned to enough normality by
then.
After the Easter holidays and once Miss T was back from her
physio rehab at GOSH, I felt up to returning to my
volunteering duties at girls brigade and at Miss T's school so I remember that feeling very much like a milestone.
My GP referred me for hydrotherapy recently which consisted
of 6 sessions over a 3 week period in May in an attempt to increase range of
movement.
If I'm being perfectly honest, I do feel disappointed that
the range of movement with my new hip is not anywhere near what I hoped it
would be. And whilst the intense night time pain has gone, there is still a
generalised stiffness in the hip area especially after periods of sitting in
one position. I had always imagined that was due to the actual damaged bone but
it seems that everything surrounding the joint can seize up too.
Sadly my back pain is also still there - that was one of my
main motivations for having the joint replaced and for a short time I had
thought it had worked - possibly being masked by the initial pain relief
medication I was on and then being at home more during recovery meant I didn't
'over do' things with my back- which is one of the triggers for the more severe
pain in conjunction with a morning stiffness kind of pain that happens daily
regardless. I'm still hopeful for more improvement as the doctor and physio
said that it can be a full year before knowing how successful the surgery has
been.
Standing for long periods or movements to strengthen the
correct muscles (which I can feel are not yet as they should be) can cause the
weird clunking in the joint. I'm hoping that as those muscles that haven't been
used correctly for 30 years start to strengthen properly that the clunking will
reduce.
The regret of having had the surgery has now totally gone as
those horrendous sleepless nights and difficult early days are well and truly
in the past. I realise now that I didn't have any real choice about the
surgery as the pain had got so bad when it wasn't being controlled with
medication (both prescribed and alternative remedies).
And I actually feel proud of myself for getting through the
worst of that time. I wasn't mentally or emotionally prepared for what my body
went through and the fact that I have got through it, I'm sure has made me
stronger as a person.
Standing strong together as #JIAWarriors |
Gosh hard to read that it hasn't as yet given you all you hoped for but like you say it can take a year and with you being so dedicated to exercising and physio I'm sure you'll see the improvements keep happening. Be blessed, Mich x
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