4

How cool.
well i finally got daring and wanted to do one of my final posts. i started this blog about a year ago now. as time has gone on i've posted less and less. There is a good reason for that there is less to say. I had my first real world changing experience the other day. It was the day i'd waited for my entire life. I was walking down the hall and caught myself in a window. usually i'd see how i was walking and try and straighten up. well not this time. i looked in amazement as i saw i was walking straight. so i did something i've never gotten to do before. i slowed down. I've been walking fast for years it was for many reasons. first if i can walk fast enough no one will see me limp. second to get to someplace to sit down. third seeing myself wobble just made me mad. I took a deep breath and relaxed, how cool is that. my muscles were tired that day and i thought to myself, a few more weeks and i'll be able to try some of those things out that i've never done before. i want to glide, saunter, swager, strut, prance, stride, take walks, maybe even hike. havent decided if i'm not just to lazy for the last one or not. every step has taken so much thought and effort for so long that being able to, just do it ,is a completley new experience. i will stand now even if there is a chair open. i sway just a little because it dosent hurt. i can finally say this is amazing. i would have had to deal with it if they couldnt have adjusted the leg lengths but after waiting so long for surgery i wouldnt have been near as happy with the final outcome if i still had to hobble wobble or limp. I owe alot to my surgeon, the whole physical therapy staff, my two wonderful occupational therapists who helped me make sure i was able to do all my own adl's when i got home. Most of all my family. Louis , dylan, alexis , kaylee, kevin, randy and grandmommy, zoe, linda , my hippie friend jill . I've been truly blessed to have each and everyone of you in my life thank you.

how do you even explain these. they are amazing. the work is unreal. i went from nothing to something. yeah i still have a ways to go. but how could i begin to complain. if they did that much drilling on any other bone they would have gone straight thru it. i had to put the normal one just for comparison. its a dramatic difference easy for anyone to look at. my os should have taped this one. he did some fanatstic work. and i'm young enough he'll be able to brag for years and years.he said he had to go in and find the landmarks to make sure everything came out even. what land marks. there is nothing symetrical about my hips. lol. before surgery nothing matched this is pure artistry. when he went in the left there wasnt even bone where he needed it to be. i am so greatful God truly put me where i needed to be. and you got to love the screws, i might get arthritis in every other bone in my body buy by heavens those hips arent moving. lol.

getting up to speed

i was so good about posting after the last one,
so let me play catch up. This is a different experience
the other day i was thinking about how slow it seems at times and it hit me. when i first came home i couldnt move my left leg on my own. the first day at pt standing up to move it by itself forward just a few inches was a job. moving it to either side, pretty much impossible. This week i did my first leg raises, i'm still needing a fingers worth of support but i've been doing them. two weeks ago i was happy with raising my heal off the floor two inches. its a big change. i'm getting to the home stretch. next week i'm looking at going from two crutches to one. this is week 5, i have to tell you there is something to week 5, its the impatient week i think. the first couple of weeks excepting limitations is ok, right about now this is the time when your just about there, and it is a rough time. i overdid it yesterday and had to cut back on pt a little. i did that last time too. lol, i am a creature of habit. well i'm able to sleep easier and i've only been taking pain pills on occasion. i actually tied both of my shoes this week, even put my socks on. i am a perfectionist so i'm pretty hard on my self, but you know when i see it all written down i'm pretty proud too. when i started back to pt this time. i was really scared. my left wasnt strong at all and the question i had in the back of my head is, " am i ever going to get it back" i didnt tell anyone. i'm supposed to be strong, i begged for both hips to be done close together, i didnt want to show i had any weakness. now i can say it because i can actually see the progress.
i get excited knowing that in a short time the crutches will be gone and i will be walking. strolling, sauntering, gliding, prancing. and doing all of that without thought or pain. life is good.

round 2

well i'm really behind but i wanted to catch yall up
i went for the second thr the right this time 2weeks ago
august 22nd. this was supposed to be the better of the two. it surprised the dr and me. turns out part of the cup the holds the long bone in place just wasnt there
that was news to both the dr and i. the top of the long bone wasnt much to speak of either but he had to do extra drilling and positioning to put the cup in. then what i can only think is explained by previous osteotomies my muscle was twisted around my bone. so my os was kind enough to reposition the muscle. The first week after the surgery was pretty intense. it was alot more painful and i'm more restricted this time. I promised my os i would be good so unbelievably i have been . plenty of rest and elevation. my leg this week is not as strong as the other was but all that will take is more exercise. the great thing is these new hips are mine permanently. so i have plenty of time to build the muscle and there is no marathon i have to be ready for. in the next few weeks i know there is going to be a day that i wake up and without medication i realize that its thru. this journey i've been going thru for years now is over and i can just relax because the pain is gone.

There is a side note i just want to let you all know about. i wondered when the day would come and it has. my right hip now just feels like my own. it dosent feel replaced its 10 weeks old today and outside of having to remind myself when i'm standing it feels fantastic. i'v been on the walker since surgery but as it is my good leg right now it is doing fantastic.

that is what this is all about. two big surgeries and two recoveries but at the end of a few weeks i get to feel normal. Thank God. i'll post later

the next step

hi everyone,
well i'm 71/2 weeks out from my first new hip. i have to tell you its great. before the last hip i had a cookout with tons of people this time it wont be that instead i'll be taking the kids to the infantry museum. yes a walking day. i'm not afraid of it either. it was funny though when i went for my pre op the parking lot at the hospital was full, that old horrible feeling of "oh no" came back. i used to hate that walk. well it wasnt bad, it was long for the new hip but the left was the one that hurt and that is why i'm doing surgery #2. with the pain gone in the right getting up and down has been much easier so much in fact that even i had to think is it really worth doing the left or was it just compensatory pain from having to do so much work. well during that walk i remembered. i remembered just how bad the left is. it always hurt differently then the right . it was hard to describe before but the right hip just killed me to stand , just to stand was excruciating it only took a few minutes of walking before i was just throwing it forward to take the next step. the left was different its always been the one to pop and click. its always been more unstable and infact until the right collapsed no one believed that the right really hurt more then the left. boy i showed them, lol. anyhow sleeping and the grinding pain from my left hip is about to be gone. i'm starting all over and no i really dont like that part, its surgery and surgery is never fun buy i'm so greatful that once its over i'm done not just for a little while for a very long time.
i have to give my surgeon some credit here. i have faith in him that is the reason i feel so confident that once this is over i wont be back for a very long time. i can physically see by how straight my leg is and the precision of his work, but looking at the xrays made me feel even better. you know it makes all the pt feel very worth while too because i'm working towards an end. that point that i dont even feel like i have new hips and i dont have pain anymore.

i've always dreaded the relearning how to walk part but it is very different this time. this time it feels final. yes i'm young and there will be at least one replacement years from now but i'm so excited to think that its years without pain i have to look forward too.

I have my mom to thank and she's not here to tell her, but she had her hip replaced during the stone ages. i wish she could have had the success that i have already started to experience. before she died at 58 she had already had multiple revisions, cement disease and stress fractures beneath the prosthetic. it really didnt make the outcome look very appealing i was really scared how much pain she would have had to live in had she gotten old. i was scared for myself too. my outlook has really changed in the past month and now i'm more excied then anything . so pray for me because i can only imagine how great this is really going to be.

a special note

normally i dont use names on here because its public
but today i have to. i've been in physical therapy for 5 weeks now
yall have seen my critic. i've become stronger and feel truly great. they have been great to me there. bless their hearts, as i have been in the house for the last two months with mostly the kids and i already have an apptitude for speach, you know i talk them to death. lol. Now let me tell you about my buddy she is a student who just started her clinical portion of school. Even in the last few weeks i've seen her confidence grow. She is enthusiastic and positive always cheerful and very caring. she has been patient and you can see her excitement about trying the stuff she has learned. now yall know me and i ask alot of tough questions, you know medial people make the worst patients. If she didnt know the answer she found out the answer for me, i also appreciate that she didnt just guess. the best person is the one that remains teachable. now alot of people might think that hip surgery is about the hardware and the actual surgery. that part is really the planning stage.
you make sure you pick the best surgeon, one with skill that you trust. during surgery your asleep though and after its his/her job to make sure you dont hurt and your progressing. After surgery comes the work part and the physical therapists are the ones that are there. from a very personal view my limp has been just as hard on me as the pain. even before the really bad pain started i hated it. the constant looks and people wondering what was wrong with you. its like someone constantly saying you must have a cold when you feel fine, your first thought is i must look bad. So Colby as you go into the work force and continue what you've started i hope you know that all your hard work is appreciated, i hope you always strive to push people a little harder then they think they can go , and keep that wonderful attitude because as they walk, bend, use their hands and arms they may not think to thank you but you are impacting their lives just like you have mine. i hope you share this post at school and friends and family because you've earned it.
monique

the left hip

i finally got a good pic of the left. i've flipped them in the past so you could see them from the back this time its looking at you so it looks like i'm showing you the right again but this is the left.