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There are many emails on the Yahoo
Surface Hippy Discussion
Group with this type of comment:
...today I am REALLY
discouraged and need advice. Here I am at 4 weeks post-op
and I still spend most of my time down. My leg is hurting
more at the incision site, although it looks great. I get up
and it's stiff and sore, and I expected to be so much better
by now! I thought I'd be pretty much back to normal...able
to get out and about, and maybe just using a cane..... ....I
didn't think I'd get the post-op blues, but now I'm just so
frustrated that I cry easily. AND, I seem to have very
little energy. What am I doing wrong?
From: Vicky Marlow
February 18, 2006 Subject: discouraged Don't be discouraged. I know you have read this before but I
will say it again, we all heal at different rates. I know that
reading and hearing that doesn't help much. It has been such a slow
process for me and really difficult for me to deal with. I am at
eleven weeks post op and still using a cane, although I can finally
get around pretty well without one, I still have a slight limp
so I take the cane with me when I go out.
It is really an individual thing as well as individual for
the particular surgery and the condition you are in before and
during surgery. There are just so many different factors involved.
I had a tummy tuck two years ago and eleven days after my surgery
I was going to my ex's house with my kids for Christmas Eve dinner
and able to walk. My ex's wife had a tummy tuck a couple years
before I did and said she couldn't get out of bed for two months
after hers and here it was less than two weeks for me. So why did I
recover so quickly from major surgery with a tummy tuck and it is
taking so long for this? Who knows, but just do know that it does only
get better. The depression is natural. I have cried many times.
I am so used to being so busy and working all the time and more
important, very independant and always self sufficient, then
all of a sudden I find myself depending on other people, and doing
nothing much all day. It easily gets you down when you feel you can
not function well on your own.
I finally have started back with a personal trainer now and
plan on driving to Sacramento this weekend and spending a few days
with my grandbabies. I do know that the OA pain is gone and a
distant memory, thank goodness! My pain now is just muscle aches and
back pain. Take your time, like Alan says, this is not a race, we
have already won, we have won the battle over the OA pain and you
will feel normal again. Probably sooner than I. I'll bet by eight
weeks you will feel better then I do at eleven. Just keep your
chin up. If you feel the need to talk email me privately and I will
give you my number. I have decided there is a reason my recovery is
taking so long, maybe I desperately needed a break from the 14 hour
work days and my body is telling me that. I am better though
every day and that is what counts.... and the OA pain is gone. :-) Vicky LBHR Dr. Bose Dec 01/05
February 18, 2006 Subject: discouraged I bet there are a lot of us who
totally understand your discouragement. I do. I'm at week 14 today. I, too, thought
I should be up and running much quicker than I was. I was
using 2 canes for a few weeks after surgery. At 4 weeks I was trying
to only use 1 cane but found myself back with the 2 for a bit
longer. Eventually I was only using one. When I went back for my
check up I was at week 11 and still using a cane. I have been without
a cane now since week 13 but still limp on some days. You read
about those people who are out skiing a couple of months post surgery,
or walking 5 km at week 4. I couldn't do that. I didn't do a
lot of walking post surgery because of the weather here and that
may have slowed my progress. It seems to me that the more you do
(without over doing it) the quicker you heal and strengthen. You will
get there when you get there. A person I have talked to here,
who is a PT and had 2 hips done by Dr. Bose in India, said he knew
exactly what to do to strengthen the muscles quickly but decided not
to do it. He wanted to see how long it would take to recover if he
was a person, like most of us, who didn't know what to do. Like
you said, am I doing too much? too little? He knew how much to do but
didn't do it. And he still got there. Slower, for sure, but he got
there. He was good with me by telling me that what I do will
get me there. Whatever I do will get me there. I can work out like
crazy or go slower. And I've been slower. You will make it. Don't
be discouraged. Juanita (R ASR 05/27/05 L ASR 11/11/05 Dr. Antoniou)
February 18, 2006 Subject: discouraged Lets take the last part first. The emotional reaction,
tendency toward tears and depression are part of the deal.
Almost everyone has them to some degree or another, EVEN
WHEN THEY HEAL FAST. It is not just exclusive to women.
Plenty of the men have had these intense down periods or
periods when they felt very tired and had no motivation.
When you have concerns that you are not healing fast enough,
it just adds to the intensity of these episodes. Hang tough
- they will pass. If you need to, phone or e-mail another
hippy. They have been through it and will try to help. Re: the healing rate. You say that your incision is hurting
more at the incision site. Do you mean that the pain has
increased from your operation date until now? Some stiffness
and soreness is normal, but if the pain has increased since
the operation you should talk to your surgeon. Who is your
surgeon and the operating date etc.? Have you had any
physiotherapy? I don't mean violent exercise, but supervised
prescribed exercises where a professional measures your
progress? Have you had any professional medical person
looked at your incision? Perhaps you should consult a nurse
or your local GP if it is not possible to contact the
surgeon. Sitting in fear is the worst thing for you. Try to
get some answers so that you can concentrate your attention
on getting better. Keep in touch. We are all here for you. Chris De Smet RBHR June 23,2004 Antoniou LASR May 27,2005
February 17, 2006
Subject: discouraged? I think the feeling of discouragement
as you call it , or sadness, or depression at the point
where you are post op is not uncommon if that's any
consolation and is not necessarily connected to what you
perceive as your progress or lack of it. Granted the external circumstances seem like a logical
"cause" but the feeling may be there no matter the
circumstances...I felt similar feelings and yet for the most
part, except for some setbacks primarily manifesting as
sciatica, except for those several incidents I was really
quite zipping along in my "progress". Even the idea of
progress may cause grief in your case...it doesn't do to
compare to anyone else as everyone tells us and yet it is
both true and somehow almost unavoidable. I've only just
now, at about 11 weeks post op begun to emerge from a total
hip-ocentric mindset, and what a relief! As if the sky has
cleared. So, my experience is just ride with it, be where ever you
are, just really be there and soon enough you'll just be
riding along to wherever you need to go Best of trips... Flame Ure R C+ 12/02/05
Hi Recent Surfacehippy, The only thing I can add to the posts from others is to say
that maybe this is the true initiation to be a "card carrying Surfacehippy". I think EVERYONE, to some degree or another,
has been where you are now and come out the other side. I relate it
to the postpartum blues--that letdown you feel afew weeks after the
baby is born and everything is just "off". You also have had a son
move out of the house--traumatic in itself. No wonder you are down. Forget about not being where you thought you'd be at this
point in your recovery. I used to call myself "the slowest hip in the
east"-- actually another hippy and I shared the nickname for a
while. This place is GREAT, but has a side effect of making us compare
our progress to others, whether favorably or not. I used to get
very upset at my lack of progress (or my perception of it) but it
didn't stop my body from healing anyway. I had a different surgery
a year earlier and still wasn't prepared for these feelings. But at
least I had the perspective to realize that it all ends up fine WITH
TIME. And everyone's body has its own idea of time. I think you get the idea from all these posts that you are
not alone in your feelings and that they will pass. But don't be
afraid to vent or discuss how you feel here. I think the most valuable
thing about this site is the ability to hear from others who have
already been where you are now, either pre or post-op. Which is also why
this site will around even after the procedure becomes commonplace.
This time next year you will be the one to give this very same advice
to another, just as I am now. Hang in there--we are all rooting for you! Allison LeftC+ Mont 1/5/05
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