#crossfithipreplacement

[flyinglog]

Day 8 - total hip replacement

Continued improvement. In rehab was able to do single leg step ups on a 12” box. Not expecting that. 30 calorie time has dropped to about 5 min on echo bike and I can spin at 80 rpm on bike wo issue. Still using cain but can walk workout much limp without it.

Did a workout with Nicole at roots today. PT plus a bunch of shoulder and bench work. It felt great.

Lots of time in normatec boots has helped swelling tremendously.

Driving around Boulder feels fine.

[flyinglog]

Day 6 - total hip replacement

Saturday and Sunday were similar. Slept poorly but days improved and walking and ROM increases each day. Tried to spend more time on both on the ice machine. I am able to lengthen gait slightly which is helpful for a smooth stride. Drove to cars and coffee at Gloss today w Joseph.

At this point the muscle relaxants are the most helpful drug - as those wear off I get a lot of spasms and painful twitches in legs.

I am able to walk without the cane, slowly, but it feels clunky and not ideal. The slightest bit of cane support is helpful.

They say rapid improvement is upcoming. I have seen incremental this far.

[flyinglog]

Day 3 - night - total hip replacement

2:15am. The recovery overall has been better than expected but the nights, worse. I can’t tell if this is because I am napping too much or that h just can’t get super comfortable for more than an hour or two.

I am getting enough sleep over 24 hours, it’s just occurring all at night.

[flyinglog]

Day 3 - total hip replacement

Woke up feeling absolutely awful. The sleep last night just wasn't great. I had some weird hot flashes. Convinced myself for a second I was getting a blood clot.

Either way, there was a cancellation at Full Swift physical therapy, and they were able to get me in today, so I went in for my first physical therapy session.

That was a godsend. I was stunned by how much mobility I had in the leg. I was able to do things like stand on one leg, bridges, getting up and down off the floor, laying on stomach, etc. .

The physical therapist did some manual manipulation that was very effective and helped actually drain the leg quite a bit. By the end of it, I was actually feeling pretty good, and I took a great nap when I got home.

Also managed to get a little bit of work done today! The physical therapy convinced me that I should not have any trouble resuming full strength activity in the not-too-distant future. CrossFit post hip replacement should not be an issue. The anterior approach really stands out as my muscles are less impacted than any of my hip scopes. In fact, I was able to stand on one leg today, the hip replaced one, with no pain or issue w balance today. Was not expecting that in week one.

Still have swelling and discomfort around the wound site but that therapy today boosted my spirits significantly.

[flyinglog]

Day 2, total hip replacement.

Last night's sleep was fairly mediocre. I had pain and had to pee a lot and could not go poop. It was definitely harder than I was expecting. I was able to lay on my stomach for a little while, which helped. That all said, it wasn't nearly as bad as what sleep was like after the hip scopes, so on a relative basis I would still say this is pretty easy.

Icing and Tylenol are very helpful. I stayed off the oxy last night. I had one moment where I woke up and wanted it, but managed to fall back asleep. I really am not sure that the narcotics are worth all the side effects.

This morning, I was finally able to go to the bathroom, and that was the best part of recovery thus far. I've been eating high-protein, 170 to 200 g a day, and doing my amino acids. Feel like my energy levels are great. Went to the gym and rode the eco bike for 10 calories and 11 min, and then did four or five laps around the gym. Also walked to the end of the block and back. All in all, happy with what day 2 looks like.

[flyinglog]

Total Hip Replacement Day 1

Mediocre night of sleep. Stayed on the oxy till morning. Started Tylenol then which I think actually works better for pain and I don’t feel as out of sorts. Muscle relaxer helps too. Walking easy w walker, just slow. Hit up Roots CrossFit for the stationary bike - 11min at a super slow pace. Some extra swelling today that wasn’t present yesterday but honestly not too bad. High protein lunch soon with another amino acid serving (smoothie w aminos for breakfast). Pain after biking is almost zero. Up and up today. Was great to be in the gym - just people around working out, music blaring, it all helped my psyche.

[flyinglog]

Total Hip Replacement Day 0

Check in at 6am. I had requested Valium to reduce the anxiety and decrease the odds of me passing out, but it turned out to be a failed request because they were not able to give it to me. The anesthesiologist didn't arrive till closer to 7 a.m., and by the time he arrived, I had to sign a waiver. Once I signed the waiver, they gave me Valium, and it really hadn't kicked in. He started describing the spinal block that I was going to have, and in any event, I passed out. Everybody was surprised, as usual.

Once I recovered from that, they had the IV in. They wheeled me to the back, gave me the spinal tap, and that's about all I remember until I woke up in the recovery room. Post-procedure, I felt good for about 30 minutes. The spinal block made everything numb. I couldn't move my feet or my glutes. Once that started wearing off, I started to get extremely nauseous.

They gave me some stronger anti-nausea medication, and I managed to fall asleep for a few hours. Eventually I tried to get up and do the physical therapy, but still felt nauseous, so I went back to sleep. Next try was better at around 3 p.m. Got up, walked to the bathroom, walked around the hospital center a few times, walked up a flight of three stairs, and was able to leave.

Most of the pain was achy and dull. Really not much pain in the joint, and sitting was surprisingly comfortable. I was not the one who talked to the doctor. Natalie did, however. He mentioned that my joint was filled with scar tissue from prior procedures. That's pretty much what it felt like: it was jam-packed with something and would often compress everything around it, irritating it. The fact that I will get relief from that is very exciting.

Came home, ate a full dinner, had some amino acids, protein shake, and regular food, which I don't remember being able to do after my previous hip surgeries. All in all, not a bad day, better than I expected, and I'm surprised with how much weight I can put on the joint. I don't think recovery will be as bad as I was expecting.

It's actually quite nice to be past having the procedure done, as I can no longer question whether I should have gotten a total hip or resurfacing.

I did manage to find somebody on Instagram this weekend who was a CrossFit Masters Champion who had a total hip in maybe 2015 and is way stronger than I ever hoped to be. That's very exciting. He seemed to indicate that I should be back doing:

- full WODs

- burpees

- ropes

- boxes

- et cetera

by the 6-10 month mark, depending on how my recovery progresses. Given that I'm young and going in fairly strong, I have high confidence in my ability to do that.

Joseph and I rode bikes yesterday, and it was extremely uncomfortable the entire time. This was the time I needed to get it done. It's been too long living in pain. I also rode Chapman on Saturday evening, and it was my slowest time ever on Strava. Partially driven by, I was not able to put full power out of my left leg. I'd always said once I couldn't evenly put power out of each leg, and I was getting woken up at night with pain, it was the time to do it. The great news was my hip hurt all last night, so I went into the surgery after having a terrible night of sleep caused by my aching hip. Amazing how good that felt in hindsight.

I walked around the house a fair amount this evening, up and down the hallway, to the kitchen, bathrooms, etc. The hip feels surprisingly good. I find myself not wanting to weight it, but that's mostly because of my history on the hip scopes. Weighting the hip is perfectly fine. I did a test, and I can stand on one leg, which is very surprising. I'm going to try and keep doing things like that if I can avoid the muscle loss that everybody talks about. I think the recovery will go a lot smoother.

If you take out the nausea and the vagal response that I had, today went as well or better than I could have ever expected. I feel like I'm turning a corner on living a pain-free life, and that's very exciting.