Dawn in the blogosphere

I have been trying to write every day about the hip replacement, for others who might have to have one. I do it when I get up in the morning, before everything else intervenes.

I'm now more than two weeks out, and I feel as if I am in the same amount of pain I had before the surgery, but for different reasons.  Now the pain is not in my hip, but in my back from general lack of exercise,  I feel like I can take care of that problem in a couple of weeks when I am allowed to do things again.

In the mean time, I am now at the point where I am walking with just the cane, and even bouncing off the walls of my house without anything, I feel very steady, and I am going to start driving, since this is my left hip. In week three I can legally go out without losing my Medicare benefits (the home nurse and the therapist) and I will be thrilled to resume my life just in time for all the Christmas parties,  Not that I haven't been walking around on my block and in my yard :-)

The scar is healing beautifully,  It's big: probably over a foot long.  I had a lot of staples. I think that's because Dr. Whirlow had to really look at my pelvic area and back to see how to place the new joint so I could go back to all my previous activities. When I see her on Tuesday I am going to ask her how she did it, and what muscles she cut. I'm getting them back slowly, but I can see now that I will be going to therapy for a long time.  I guess that's why people say the rehab is difficult. It is.

Before I had this surgery, I never realized how many things fall to the floor as a matter of daily life.  Now, since I have to go find the grabber to go pick anything up, I am acutely aware. Sometimes the cane falls over.  Last night I dropped a package of applesauce out of the refrigerator,  And feeding the dogs is a logistical challenge; if I leave their bowls on the counter I can load them with food and feed the boys on the banquette in the kitchen. Then no one, even them, has to bend over. But last night Temple fed them on the floor, and didn't pick up the bowls. This morning, when I went in to feed them:  GET THE GRABBER, BOYS!!! They don't understand all this complexity, which is why I love them.