Hippie Problems

My last hip surgery was easy peasy. It took a lot of work on my part (the PT is pretty intense) but my recovery was text book. Moved steadily forward with the occasional hard day. My range of motion was better than expected at every follow up. The first few days after this surgery were a little rough but after my incision pain went away the left hip seemed to be doing even better than the first time around. I was driving, walking, riding the stationary bike...... Then at six weeks post up I tried to get out in the shower and something locked up. I had the worse pain of my life in my butt and burning pain from my hip down to my little toe.

I couldn't find a single comfortable position. Sitting sucked, laying down sucked, walking was impossible (I even managed to fall down once). I couldn't drive. I had to go back on narcotic pain meds but those aren't good for me. I was crying like a baby all the time and wallowing in my pity. I've had a pretty high level of pain for the last 12 months. Tacking this on right when I could see the light at the of the tunnel felt like more than I could handle.

I realized I can think "I can't take this" all I want. The reality is you don't really have a choice other than to keep waking up. I spent some time on the googles self diagnosing. It was clearly sciatic pain and the culprit was either my back or the piriformis muscle. I just had a car accident so a disc problem is plausible.  The piriformis gets pissed off with hip surgery. If it gets inflamed then the sciatic  nerve gets trapped between bone and muscle. 

The hardest part of my hip issues hasn't been the pain. It has been the helplessness. This last round I knew I needed massage, pool time, and pt. It's hard to get these places when you can't drive. My family and partner have already taken countless days off between two surgeries and getting my parent's house ready to sell. Luckily one of my amazing friends who works swing shift was willing to haul my ass around. 

Said friend also happens to work at a pool. They have a lap pool and warm therapy pool. Walking and stretching in the warm pool helped me turn a corner. I was also put on a short course of steroids because my surgeon suspects a herniated disc. Things are ever so slowly improving. I'm finally able to drive. I can get through the day on over the counter pain meds. I'm able to do some work with my horses. Slow and steady slow and steady. I'm hoping that I will be 100% before too long but right now I'm just grateful to leave the house whenever I want.