12mth check up, 4/13

[Guest guest]

I will be going to my one year post revision check up April 13

wth Dr Rand. Everything seems to be going well. I called Dr Rand's

ofice to cancel my shot for the pain I was feeling, the shot is

suposed to be for the pain the iliac screw is causing or could be

causing. Dr Rand suggested geting a shot for it to see if it relieves

the pain. He said to call and cancel it if stoped huting. He

recomended the injection six mths ago along with my x-ray and CTscan.

I also took Camms advise about Diannes pain taking longer than a year

before feeling better. I feel like its finally starting to subside,

six mths ago I was hurting even with the tramadol, and now my left

back hip doesnt hurt so much anymore but instead it feels more like

my hips feel tired, sometimes even in the morning when I wake up I

don't understand it but I will ask about it and see what Dr R. thinks.

I still get some nerve pain on my right knee when I have been more

active. I usually feel it at night when I lay down. When I

mentioned it to Dr Rand I thought it was just phantom pain but he

said its actualy nerve pain and it takes time to heel. He also said

that I will feel a lot of diferent things during the first year of

recovery.

I realize now that recovery from this surgery is different for

most. A year ago before this surgery I thought I would recover

fairly quickly because I kept in shape I'm 46 never smoked maintained

my weight and kept exercising one way or onother. But now I feel that

it doesnt realy mater how long it takes to get better, everyone is

diferent and you're body is going to heel on its own time. And when

we feel beter we psychologicaly feel more confident to do more.

What I can do so far is pretty much normal I put my pants on one leg

at a time, I shave my legs with no trouble except for the outside

part of my right leg I can reach down to my ankle with my razor but I

cant see what I'm shaving, I think its because i'm a bit twisted at

the hip but having a shower with a built in seat helps I put my foot

on the seat and bend my other leg to reach down to my ankels.

I still use that plastic thing to put my socks on only because I'm

too lazy to lay in bed and reach my feet my left leg feels a bit

stiffer and I don't like to strugle putting my socks on. Onother

thing I do is pre-tie my sneakers then stand at the bottom of our

stairs and put one foot up on the second or third step, reach down

bending my other leg and hold my shoe open to wiggle my foot in.

I can crouch down to pick things up off the floor but it gets

tireing , I hate dropping things, but I go to Baleys and do 15min on

the stairmaster and 15min on cross country nautilus and then some

pool exercisess just to keep my legs strong since i will be using

them a lot to pick things up off the floor.

I also noticed that when I sit in certain chairs I tend to lean or

fall to the left so I position my legs to hold myself straighter.

Since my revision surgery I tend to lean a bit more to the left than

before revision. Dr Rand had one other patient from N.Y. years ago

where she found herself leaning a bit more than before She was

about 1/2 " I now wear a 1 " heel on my left foot but when I'm barefoot

I stand compensating by lifting my left heel off the floor because if

I stand with both feet flat I really lean to the left and its

uncomfortable. Still with all the patients Dr Rand operated on he

only had me and onother patient that ended up leaning more to the

side after surgery. Of course I sometimes wish it wasn't me but that

selfish thinking this surgery is complicated even for the best and we

cant always expect perfection I figured I had such a good outcome

with my H.R. surgery and such an active life I gues it cant be done

twice in a life time but I am doing well and recovering at my body's

own pace. Well this post is long enough so I will post again after

my visit with Dr Rand on April 13th.

Val I read youre surgery is comming up? You hang in there be strong,

You too Sharon. The attitude is different after rivision and you

all can look at this as the past. The good thing about this is that

as Ann said its different now then it was years ago when we had our

H.R. surgery. The best thing for me was, (IS) No more plaster casts.

Can't see me, (or us) in our 40s lying in that contraption with

nothing but a skimpy T-shirt on and being plastered.

Good luck to all and God bless.

Franca