Mending and on track...

Finding myself superstitious after the travails this hip has given me, I've been laying low, not wanting to jinx my recovery. But at this point, I've decided to emerge from my hideaway to give this report. 

My doctor has cleared me for full activity, provided I listen to my body and avoid extremes. I've ridden my road bike four times over the past 10 days, discovering mostly that I am now fat, slow, and out of shape. I also hiked up Mt. Cardigan in New Hampshire, about a 3 mile roundtrip hike with about 1000 feet of climbing on a moderately rough trial. Given all that and how I felt, I also stopped outpatient physical therapy this week, figuring that activity like I was doing plus some exercises at home would be fine, and save me some time and the healthcare system some money.

So, 75 days after the revision surgery to fix the slipped cup, things look good. I still get a little sore if I push it on the bike, or briskly mow the lawn (it's about 3.5 miles of walking on uneven terrain behind our wee little Neuton electric mower). But flexibility is good for the new hip and mostly there are lingering tugs and pains in me butt.

One tip - About two weeks ago, feeling sore after a session with the lawn, I popped one of my diclofenac anti-inflammatories that I had been using before surgery. Just one long-release pill. Wow! It just took away the soreness, and I felt great. I asked my doctor and he said it would be fine to do this on occasion, understanding that by the six-month point pain relief should not be necessary. So, if for some reason like me you have been going cold turkey on meds but you're feeling sore, try an Aleve or something like that. You might be surprised at the improvement.

I guess the only other thing to report is my blimping up by a few pounds. The scale provides the undeniable evidence of the net change (as do my riding jerseys) but I don't feel like I changed my eating habits. But about two weeks post surgery, with my weight having been stable, suddenly I just started the enblimpification. It's probably some depressingly simple thermodynamics that are the explanation (one extra cookie per day....), but the explanation I prefer is that the surgery has caused me to become photosynthetic, such that the spring weather has caused me to leaf out. Right. So now it's time for discipline and ramping up the riding miles.