My 6 week appointment

I am already 6 weeks post op. I went for my first visit since the surgery in December and I had a great visit. My bone is 80% healed already and I saw the xray even though I was hesitant. I wasn't looking forward to seeing the rod and screws in my bone, mainly because if they were crooked or bent, then I thought I'd feel it. Well the screws were put in perfectly I couldn't believe it. It looks too good to be true. These was no  additional Heterotopic Ossification either which I was most worried about. Hey, if you ever need this surgery I highly recommend going to Dr. Buly and his team at Hospital for Special Surgery. They really know their stuff!

As for recovery, I still need the crutches. The glute and the outer leg muscle is the last one to come back and these are for proper gait (walking). I can't do a side leg raise on my own but a straight leg raise I can. The crutches get tiring and my upper back is feeling it. I am so glad I shed those 30 pounds! I'd be dying if I had to truck all that extra weight with me.

He also showed me my 3D CT scan. I was more impressed with this then my post op xray. You really can see the whole hip and how sad it looks:( But knowing I had it corrected, hopefully all that dreaded groin pain will be gone after all this. My right groin bothers me some still, we will have to see where that goes. I am NOT having another hip scope no matter what. No more traction for me!

I started driving this week and seems to be fine. I tend to get tired after PT or just simple things we all take for granted. I am hoping to go back to work at the end of February but not looking forward to being on my feet. 

The correction was 20 degrees. You can really see a difference in my left foot from before the surgery.

Oh, my quad,

I am almost 4 weeks post op and my quad is what't giving me the most pain. I think I over-did it on the home strengthening exercises. I was at the point last week where I had difficulty walking with the crutches. I couldn't finish walking my laps in the garage. I had pulled my quad muscle getting up from the bed the saturday before, it radiated all the way down my shin. My doctor agreed to having me try a muscle relaxer with regular tylenol which I only took for 2 days because they made me feel weird. I stuck with regular Tylenol because I thought I was ready and was trying to come off the Percocet. Well, I was starting out patient PT that wednesday and stopped the muscle relaxer and started taking the Percocet again. It made a world of difference! That and asking God to take some of the pain away. I really couldn't handle it anymore.

As of today, I still need help down the stairs. I almost fell a few times because I lose my balance. I am working on putting equal weight on my legs but it was tough when I was having that excruciating quad pain. I am down to taking only 2 Percocets a day, one in the morning before therapy, and one at night. I haven't driven yet and am in no rush to do that. The only household chores I do are kitchen sink dishes. I have a sit down rolling walker that I use there which comes in handy.

Once the quad muscles are stronger and are used to their new place in my body, I am hoping the quad pain gets less and less and goes away. I have a feeling I will need the crutches for a while past the 6 weeks. I have a follow up appointment with Dr. Buly in about 2 weeks. Then I will get my xray and see the hardware in my body. This I am not looking forward to!