9 months - what hip problem?

This may become a little redundant after a point, but did I mention how happy I am with the results of my hip resurfacing?

Over the the past 10 days I:
* played in 5 soccer games, including 3 in one day
* played pickup basketball for the first time since surgery
* did wind sprints and jogged with a friend 3 times
* did Vinyasa yoga twice (recommend it!)

My hip? No worries. I'm still icing it afterwards and taking ibuprofen, but the soreness is definitely less than it was with each passing month. My speed and flexibility are slowly returning too. I'm not saying I never notice it, but I am just so grateful to be able to participate in all of these activities again. I'm really more conscious of my conditioning than the hip at this point.

I guess the risk now is that I will take it too much for granted and engage in riskier activities (football, taking the big jumps on the mountain, ...) -- none of these things are recommended, but its hard to resist when everything else seems to be going so well.

There's also the inevitable question of the other hip -- there's really no significant pain on that side at this point, but I understandably get nervous whenever the groin gets tender on that side. I guess I'll have a better sense of where things stand on that front when I go for my 1 year checkup with Dr Gross. We'll do x-rays at that point and see if the cartilage had deteriorated much on that side.

That's it for now. Back to the field!

7 months out - almost good as new!

Hey there... I've gotten lazy about posting... should have updated because I have good news... I'm playing soccer and snowboarding again! I can't tell you how happy I am to be back doing the activities I did before. I'm still battling some inflammation in the groin and surgical area - so there is often discomfort, particularly the day after exercise, but there is no doubt that its much better than it was before surgery. I literally had trouble walking the day after exercise before -- and now I'm just dealing with mild pain the day after.

I started running in February on the treadmill and played lightly on it in March. I got the green light to resume full activity from Dr. Gross's office at the end of March. I was reassured that discomfort will occur for up to a year after surgery. I took this input to heart heading to Whistler for a four day snowboarding weekend -- the hip held up great. I've since been playing soccer again - full field and its just terrific to be doing what I love again.

On the downside, I'm definitely out of shape and have lost a lot of speed -- am hopeful that this will return. Am trying not to be too hard on myself as it is pretty incredible to be doing this again only 7 months after surgery.

Don't know when I'll post again, but I heartily recommend this procedure for anyone considering it.

4 1/2 months

Haven't posted in a while. Things are going pretty well.

I had a tough stretch at about the 3 month mark where I was experiencing a fair amount of groin pain - not sure if I was pushing myself too hard or if it had to do with the cold weather. I tried icing my hip regularly for a while and taking more ibuprofen (800mg) a day. Seemed to help a little.

I stopped going to physical therapy shortly after that, opting to do exercises on my own instead and I've been pretty disciplined about doing them. Consists of leg lifts with light weight and stretching. I also get to the gym 2-3 times a week where I've been progressing from the exercise bike to doing the elliptical machine the past couple of weeks. Its feeling good so I may try the treadmill in a couple of weeks.

I won't say I don't feel any pain - it appears that I'm going to battling inflamation in the surgery site and groin for months to come. But I continue to notice improvement as well.

Technically, I'm not supposed to run for 6 months - but I'm feeling pretty good and assume that this is the safe estimate for the average patient who is generally 10 years older than I am. I'm hoping to play soccer again in late March/early April. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but the logic makes sense to me. And no, before you ask, I haven't talked to my doctor about this theory!

A friend sent me this link - a good summary article of the state of Hip Resurfacing.

Thanks for checking in!

6 weeks post-op

Been off the blog for a while -- too busy walking around! The recovery continues to go very well. The leg restrictions are behind me - at this point the only rules are: no jogging, jumping, lifting heavy weights. This is supposed to last until 6 months post-op. Not sure I'll be able to hold out that long, but I've made a firm promise to myself to wait at least 3 months, no soccer or running until next year.

I had my first physical therapy session this week and it felt good to get on a stationary bike and move my legs. The exercises from Dr. Gross are pretty easy to do, am hoping to move to more strenuous stuff soon if it makes sense.

There is still some inflammation around the wound and in the groin area, it is going away, but going away very slowly. I haven't been as consistent as I probably should be about taking ibuprofen -- trying to take 400mg a day when I remember to.

Since I'm not headed back to South Carolina, I will be getting my x-rays done locally and sending them to Dr. Gross. Hope to have that done soon and should have my followup with him by phone shortly after.

That's it for now -- don't know how many more postings I'll do here. Maybe one after talking to the doctor and one when I'm back on the soccer field next year!

Three weeks post-op

Not too much to report... I ditched the cane a few days ago and am walking pretty much normally now. My limp is mostly gone. The area around the scar is still a little inflamed and the groin muscle on my operated leg is tender when I lift my knee, but its exciting to see so much continued progress.

I'm eager to get to my 6 week followup to find out what I'm going to be allowed to do, exercise-wise... I really want to get up on a stationary bike or eliptical machine and start getting those muscles working again.

In case you missed it, there is a great article about Hip Resurfacing in the New York Times this week.

Not sure when I'll write next, perhaps in a couple of weeks.

Two weeks post-op

At two weeks after the surgery, I continue to make progress, though the improvements are less noticeable each day. I'm now able to walk without a cane or a crutch, though I still have a healthy limp so I'm keeping the cane with me when I leave the apartment. Its been nice to get out and about. I've been going to work using public transportation, which has been working out alright. I drove for the first time last night, which was a little uncomfortable since I have a standard transmission.

Today the steri-strips came off and I had my first look at the scar with nothing on it. It seems to be doing pretty well for the most part - healing pretty nicely. Its good to feel like I'm almost back to normal. All I'm doing now medically is taking ibuprofen.

I've been doing my exercises (simple leg lifts that the doctor outlined) and walking 1 1/2 miles a day. The biggest challenge continues to be remembering to follow my leg restrictions. Sleeping with a pillow between my legs gets to be kind of a drag and I still don't feel totally comfortable sleeping on my side even with the pillow because it feels like my legs are coming together, which they aren't supposed to.

The other downer at this point is the groin pain I'm feeling. Groin pain was the reason I had the surgery done in the first place and I was hoping it would be gone now. I understand the area is still probably a little inflamed and that is the likely culprit, but I can't help wondering if after all the effort, I'll still be limited by groin pain when the recovery is over.

Expected to have ups and downs - can't complain too much to be walking around without much pain 2 weeks after surgery though!

All bandages off - not TOO ugly

10/5 One week post-op

Its been really great to see progress every day. I literally feel better each day that goes by. Last night I was able to sleep without vicodin and am considering going off of it entirely at this point because I really am feeling very little pain.

The main concern for me is trying to remember to follow my leg restrictions (don't bend knee past 90 degrees, don't cross legs, don't point toe inward) -- I've been trying very hard to be conscious of these things but the activities that happen during the course of a day and night sometimes push the boundaries. I had assumed that pain would be a guide but it really doesn't enter into the picture.

I do still have some inflamation and swelling around the scar, so I'm trying to keep it iced during the day, and am taking celebrex as prescribed. I've also got another 3 shots of Arixtra to give myself to guard against blood clotting -- but it feels like I've definitely made it through the next hurdle.

My friends have been great since I returned... I've had visitors every day, bringing me food and hanging out. All the attention is kind of nice. I feel a little funny about it because I am able to go out and wander down the street for supplies at this point, but I'm not complaining!