Right Hip Report

So here's the latest on the hip:

As of February 20th,  I've been off all pain killers. 

It still aches a fair bit and does hurt sometimes, but no more Tylenol needed.  

The muscles, as stated by my Physio Therapist are still a tad angry at me but they're beginning to consider settling down and loosening up a bit. Have to not sit in one spot for too long, and I'm still icing it on occasion, but that's it.

The feeling of having an iron collar around the top of my leg is still there, but there's now some breaks in the collar while other areas are still tight which is a weird but welcome feeling.

PT is going well.  I told my Physio Therapist two weeks ago that the exercises were easy to do now and he replied that he was happy I said that.

He then loaded me up for PT Phase 2 - I now do 20 reps instead of 10 of all the exercises I was doing before and to make it more challenging he added weights to them.  

He replaced the smaller step for step-ups that I was using with a much bigger step that's higher than a normal staircase step.  The first time I did that was a little intimidating, but I'm rocking it now.  Get a good sweat going doing all the exercises and I always try to do more than the 20 minimum.

I'm also doing 20 reps of a 30lb leg press, which doesn't sound like much, but it's a good start. Half the fun is getting the right leg into the leg press machine.  Once I can get setup and get both feet in position it's easy, but the first rep to get into position is hard.

I'm now walking around the house 100% without a cane and only using the cane outside to prevent any falls, which is still the main concern/risk for now. 

I've now been cleared to go up and down stairs, so I've now seen the basement again after over a month, and I now daily go up and down them a few times for a little exercise.

Still on the post-surgery hip safety protocol including a no crossing legs or ankles, and the no bending past 60 degrees restriction which makes putting socks and shoes on kinda hilarious. 

It is annoying as heck when I drop something or something falls or the dogs get into something as I can't just immediately bend down to pick it up.   

Still have more PT to go and a follow up appointment with the doctor to come.

Overall it's progressing along nicely, aches less than prior to the replacement, but as my PT said, I'm not done recovering yet.