 The BEST workout buddy ever. My Memorial Day MURPH went: 1/2 mile walk; 5 rounds of 10 rows, 10 push ups, 20 glute bridges; 5 rounds of 10 rows, 10 push ups, 20 crunches; 1/2 mile walk. It was all about the CAUSE this year, rather than the workout. The other day I was talking to a friend about some things that are going on in our lives and about 20 minutes into the conversation she said, “Oh, how is your hip?! I feel like that isn’t even a thing!” I laughed and replied, “Yeah, it’s not really a thing, to be honest.” Now don’t get me wrong, I still have a long way to go, but the progress has been both remarkable and pretty straightforward. Since I haven’t updated in just over two weeks, let me recap what has been going on in my hip world: I totally eased my way off the cane at about the 2 ½ week mark. I started walking around the house without it, only taking it on walks with Comet or to go to the grocery store. Then I took a few short walks without it and journeyed into the public cane-free. It has been just fine, and I feel super secure in my strength and ability without it. I have also gradually been increasing my daily step count-- starting with around 4,000 steps and slowly working my way up to about 8,000. My goal starting tomorrow will be to get back to my 10,000 steps-- definitely feeling strong enough for that! Besides that, I have been working to strengthen my glutes, quads, core, hip flexors, and all of the other muscles that were affected by the surgery. (You can see one of my workouts in fast time in one of my facebook posts.) Overall, I’ve really been feeling stronger and stronger every day. While the specific workout varies, the movements have generally stayed the same and go something along the lines of:
I am also desperately working towards being able to do dead bugs! I can FINALLY hold my leg up in the air at a 90 degree angle, but I can’t extend it just yet. In other news, I am able to lift my leg up normally when I go to bed, climb in the shower, and get in the car. I am still sleeping with a pillow between my legs, and I still can’t lay on my left side for a significant amount of time. My hip is definitely stiff in the morning, and I have also been massaging the scar because I feel quite a bit of scar tissue gathering there. I can also play a mean game of tug-o-war with Comet! I certainly understand how it is going to take 6-8 weeks to feel back to “normal.” While I am not walking with a limp, I definitely feel it, and regaining my strength is going to be critical. I am still trying to find a balance of not overdoing it, but still doing enough. I think I am. I also firmly believe that a large part of my recovery is going to be gaining trust in my prosthetic. What can it do? What works? What is uncomfortable? Where are my limits? It is going to be a process of learning how to trust and navigate my implant. With that being said, I was thinking about naming it, just to make it more a part of me, but I haven’t come up with any ideas just yet-- I am open for any and all suggestions! My original surgery date was May 28th, but obviously I was able to move it up to May 7th. It’s strange to think that I could be 3 days into my recovery, rather than 3 weeks! I am so thankful to have gotten this over with when I did and hopeful for my future athletic endeavors. I already seem to be doing an amazing job, and I don’t plan for that to change! One day very soon I will look back on this and say, “What hip replacement?!?”  Not hip related, but ISN'T SHE THE CUTEST!?!
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 Living my best cane life! It’s been 9 days since getting chopped up and honestly, I am feeling GREAT. This surgery is just blowing my mind over and over again-- I literally can’t believe I had a titanium rod shoved into my femur and one week later I am walking with a cane. CRAZY.On Thursday, 1 week post-op, my cane arrived, so I started using it around the house a bit. I still wasn’t 100% comfortable, so I stuck with the walker for another day. I probably COULD have transitioned to the cane that day, but I also think it’s important to do what makes you feel comfortable, and I didn’t see the rush in switching over on THAT day. So yesterday, day 8, I DID make the transition. I felt way more confident on the cane and only used the walker to go outside and take a walk to the mailbox. As the day wore on, I put the walker to the side and haven’t looked back. This morning, I actually maneuvered my way around the house a bit without any walking assistance. I’m trying to gradually decrease my cane usage so I can get back to just walking normal. “Normal” is a relative term. I’ve still got a pretty large limp when I walk, and I’m not EXACTLY sure why. I think it’s partly mental-- I feel like I can’t walk normal or something is different so I’m limping without even thinking about it. Though, I do think part of it is real. Before I had this surgery, I spoke with a fellow 29 year old who had both hips replaced. He explained that when you have arthritis, it causes the surrounding muscles to seize up because they are working to compensate for the ineffective joint. In my case, it was my quad that tightened like no other. When that happens, your leg basically gets a tiny bit shorter because the muscle is constantly in use. When they do the hip replacement, they put your legs back to their correct length, something I haven’t felt in quite some time. Because of this, I was told it would feel like the side that was operated on is too long and they didn’t measure correctly when they put the prosthetic in. In reality, my doctor just restored my body to it’s correct measurements and now I am having to adjust to that. So this is my roundabout way of saying that I am almost positive that my limp is due to that, and over time, as I get used to the length of my legs, it will gradually go away. “Normal” is a relative term. I’ve still got a pretty large limp when I walk, and I’m not EXACTLY sure why. I think it’s partly mental-- I feel like I can’t walk normal or something is different so I’m limping without even thinking about it. Though, I do think part of it is real. Before I had this surgery, I spoke with a fellow 29 year old who had both hips replaced. He explained that when you have arthritis, it causes the surrounding muscles to seize up because they are working to compensate for the ineffective joint. In my case, it was my quad that tightened like no other. When that happens, your leg basically gets a tiny bit shorter because the muscle is constantly in use. When they do the hip replacement, they put your legs back to their correct length, something I haven’t felt in quite some time. Because of this, I was told it would feel like the side that was operated on is too long and they didn’t measure correctly when they put the prosthetic in. In reality, my doctor just restored my body to it’s correct measurements and now I am having to adjust to that. So this is my roundabout way of saying that I am almost positive that my limp is due to that, and over time, as I get used to the length of my legs, it will gradually go away. Other things to note:
I definitely saw the largest improvements in days 5-8 post-op. It was like someone flipped a switch and my body was like GREEN LIGHT!!!! Every person who I spoke with before my surgery said the first few days would be the worst, and they were absolutely correct. I know I still have a long way to go, but the fact that I have almost entirely put my walker away 8 days after surgery is enough success for me! I haven’t heard from my doctor since leaving the hospital. I’m planning on giving his assistant a call on Monday to ask some questions about what I should and shouldn’t do. At this point, I know myself, and I know that I have a tendency to overdo it. Given the fact that my actions over the next month will essentially dictate the rest of my life, I want to make sure I do it correctly. I’m worried that I will walk too far or do something I wasn’t supposed to do, and that it will cause permanent damage. At the same time, if I have the go-ahead to increase my daily step count, then you better believe I’m coming for those 10K steps! (Speaking of that, I have been wearing my Garmin to track my steps, but it doesn’t calculate them when I use the walker-- probably because of the sliding motion-- so now that I am on a cane, I will know how many I’ve done. Trying to get to the 2K range to start-- again, not wanting to overdo anything.) I was also thinking about, if I were working at this time, when I would have been able to go back. I likely would have taken 2 weeks off, but honestly, I feel like if I had to return to work on Monday I would 100% be able to. Obviously I wouldn’t be jumping up and down and dancing around the room like I usually do, but I would definitely be able to do my thing effectively. With that being said, I am super thankful for the extra time to recover and for the fact that I don’t have to go into work! So I think that about does it for my current updates. I am looking forward to being able to go on long walks with Comet again and to jumping into some Crossfit classes soon. I’ve also rediscovered my love of Survivor and am making my way through some old seasons, (Season 1 right now-- it is SO DIFFERENT than Survivor in its current form-- it’s NUTS!) so that has been keeping me busy. Just three more days of school, and then summer is officially here. What a strange school year it has been-- but that is a different post, for a different day. Cheers to being off pain meds, walking, and living arthritis-free! Beautiful flowers from my best friends :) It’s been almost a week, and honestly I am amazed at how little pain I feel and how quickly I am progressing. I’m able to put a little more weight on my leg and walk a tiny bit more every day. It’s pretty remarkable. I am convinced that the hard part of this surgery is not the immediate physical recovery, but the mental game that comes with it. Granted, I was in relatively good shape going into surgery, and I am young, so I already have a massive head start in my recovery, but the mental part is different. I am constantly wondering if it should feel a certain way or if I am going too fast or too slow. “Was that pain I just felt normal?” “Did I walk too much today?” “Will I be able to do this again?” “How long until I can do that again?” “Will I need a revision surgery in 15, 20, or 25 years?” “Am I ever going to be able to…?” There is just so much uncertainty that really weighs on you when you are limited to very few steps a day.  My view for much of the day... someone is happy :) On top of that, comes the forced slow down of life. Let’s face it, I am a very active person. I walk my dog AT LEAST twice a day, play with her, do stuff around the house, exercise, and find whatever I can to fill the day. It is absolutely killing me to not not be able to do those things AND to not know if I am overdoing it when I TRY to do those things. On top of that, my stomach has not entirely agreed with the anesthesia and pain medications, so there have been added challenges beyond my actual hip healing. I am trying so hard to stay positive, but I can so easily see how depression could swiftly kick in to a person undergoing this procedure.But as a whole, from the healing perspective, things are really great. I even dropped into a Crossfit New Haven class yesterday and did a few, light stretches. It brought me back to my Tae Kwon Do days when I stood in the back of class and did 100’s of push ups after my compartment syndrome surgeries. Fun times, fun times. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do all that much just yet, but it’s been 5 days so…. Part of the uncertainty of what I am going through is the wide-array of internet advice on hip replacement surgery. There are SO MANY ARTICLES telling you what you should feel on a certain day and what you should or should not do in recovery. My take is that the vast majority of those articles are written for an age group of 65+, and my age group’s “advice column” doesn’t even exist! These are purely my experiences. I am simply sharing so that a person going through this at a similar age may have some reference as to what they should be feeling on any given day after surgery, in bullet point form. Days 3-5 after surgery:
I’m going back to my original theory that the reason there are no articles or guides for young people getting their hip(s) replaced is because everyone recovers so fast and forgets it even happened. Don’t get me wrong-- there are still moments of discomfort, and I am by no means out of the woods, but I am starting to believe that it might just be as easy as they say it is-- despite my mild mental turmoil. I did manage to do a Zoom call with 30 4th and 5th graders and NO ONE KNEW anything had even happened to me. #forthewin I am officially titanium. Although I don’t necessarily “feel” that way. It’s strange that they can literally cut a piece of your bone out and replace it with new parts and you wouldn’t even know it. After going to the wrong hospital at 5:00 AM on Thursday morning, we eventually made it to the CORRECT location, only to have a wrench thrown in our plans by good ol’ Covid-19. Joseph had to essentially drop me off at the hospital and wasn’t allowed to stay in any way, shape, or form-- not even in the lobby while I waited to register. I was in this by myself. As if my anxiety wasn’t high enough already. So I get checked in, change into my gown, shove this nasty iodine solution up my nose to clean it out, wipe myself with disinfecting wipes that smell terrible, and it’s time to put my IV in. Did I mention I don’t always do well with needles? Well, I don’t. The IV is inserted and I begin to see stars. “I’m going to pass out,” I tell the nurse. Sure enough, I wake up, surrounded by the nursing staff with a cold washcloth on my face asking me if I’m ok, and if this is “normal.” I suppose it’s not “normal” in the sense of the word “normal,” but for me, it’s pretty much expected. I’m glad I got it out of my system.  Ready to rock and roll! The next part totally blows my mind when I really think about it. You see, they had to do some sort of spinal injection to numb my legs. I was supposed to be “awake” for it. During my PAO surgery, I had an epidural inserted and I nearly had a mental breakdown, so needless to say, I was quite nervous for this spinal injection. They had me sit up on the side of the bed and all I can remember is asking for more drugs to calm me down. The nurses were asking me what I did for a living, “I teach elementary school music,” and next thing I know I am waking up in recovery. Of course, my first question was about the spinal injection, because I had no recollection of it whatsoever, and they shared that I didn’t have any problems and I was “awake” for it. Hah, ok. I wonder what crazy things I said when I was supposedly “awake.” The surgery was SO QUICK. I went “under” around 7:30 AM, they were done operating around 9 AM, and I started to wake up around 10 AM. CRAZY! Fortunately, they let Joseph stay in the recovery room while I was waking up. Because of the injection, when I woke up, my legs were both numb, but I quickly regained feeling in them. Honestly, the pain level wasn’t all that bad. Then comes the fun part...Nurse: “Here’s your oxycontin!” Me: “I don’t really do well with oxycontin-- it makes me really sick.” Nurse: “Ok, we will give you some nausea medication to go with it.” Me: “Alright, let’s try it.” Nope. No. No way. My stomach and oxycontin DO NOT MIX. Just after taking it, I had a nauseous, almost-black-out, blood pressure dropped, all-out panic attack. I think there were about 4 nurses and 3 doctors (including the surgeon) in the room with me, watching the color leave my face and my lips turn blue. I should mention a couple of things in regard to this part of the story-- 1. My surgeon said the surgery went extremely well. He was able to take out the old parts and put a nice, new hip in there. 2. He said my hip was way worse than he expected it to be. His exact words were, “You had the hip of a 70-year-old in there.” 3. Because of my previous surgery, there was a lot of scar tissue in that area, meaning I lost more blood than is usual for this procedure. Hence my blood pressure dropping and mild panic attack. Typically they don’t have hip replacement patients spend the night. Crazy, I know. But it really is true. They were really trying everything in their power to have my go home. My “goals” board even read, “Eat, Physical Therapy, Discharge.” However, this minor set-back led the doctor to decide two things. 1. I will get a unit of blood. And 2. I should spend the night. I was actually pretty happy that he had me spend the night. I didn’t feel totally comfortable going home just yet. I was moving my leg a little bit, but every time I tried to sit up, my blood pressure dropped crazy low and I would get super dizzy. I was still very nauseous and not able to get up and walk or eat much, so my PT was pushed back and I was having a hospital sleepover. After a dinner that consisted of about 28 saltine crackers, and a typical night in the hospital (being woken up every 3 hours to check my vitals), it was morning, and time for me to rise and shine. The nurses came every now and then to check my orthostatic blood pressure. They took it while I was laying down, sitting up, and standing up. Unfortunately, I still wasn’t able to stand long enough without getting dizzy and my BP dropping too low. It was touch and go for a while, but eventually, I was able to walk to the door and back, albeit, very slowly. Nonetheless, I cleared PT. Next, the occupational therapist came and did her own screening. My BP was still dropping when I stood up, but it would come up super quick, so after some hesitation, she also cleared me. The extra blood work came back all clear, so I was officially checking out!  Just your old, run of the mill, blood transfusion. I had busted out of the joint.The pain hasn’t been too bad-- it was more uncomfortable than anything. I feel like there is a giant knot in my quad that won’t go away. It’s been tough to get comfortable, but it is definitely getting better every day. The first full day of being home (day 3 post-op), I was moving very slowly and putting hardly any weight on my leg. I started to be able to slide it up and down from a straight position to a bent position, without using my arms or right leg to help it. They want me to be able to slide it out to the left as well, but I’m not quite there yet. They also prescribed me glute squeezes, but really, I long for the day I can do FROG PUMPS again. (My CFNH friends will understand the reference.) As of this morning, day 4, I am actually putting weight on it, moving better, and the pain is hardly any. There is definitely still some discomfort, but I can’t believe how quickly I’m improving. This procedure is pretty remarkable. When I look at my x-ray, I am blown away by the fact that they could do that to me and I was still able to get up and WALK the very next day. If I’m being perfectly honest, it was a rough-go for the first 2-days. I tried my hardest to stay strong and be the “warrior” who so many people told me I was. I definitely doubted myself and questioned why I had this procedure done. But I kept telling myself that I could do it and that I had to do it. So far, my hip replacement has proven to be significantly easier than the PAO I had almost 10 years ago. I know my recovery is far from over, but I am completely blown away at the fast progress I’ve been able to make, even if I did regret it for the first day or so.  Escape from room 4005. I’ll sprinkle some more details in from my hospital stay as they fit, but my biggest takeaway from this thing is that if you can embrace the suck for the first couple of days, it’ll all be worth it-- especially when your doctor says, “Your hip was much worse than I expected it to be. Good thing you had this taken care of now.” Helllllo new hip! 😍😍😍😍  I am getting my hip replaced tomorrow. I’m 29 years old.Common responses to this statement include: “What?” “You?” “Huh?” and “No way!” But yes, it is really happening, and no I am not making this up in any way. Here is the full story: I grew up doing Tae Kwon Do. It was my ‘thing,’ if you will. Head kicks, board breaking, hardcore stretching, and all, it was everything. Then in 2009, I started to have some hip pain. It mostly hurt when I was stretching, but it was just one of those things that wouldn’t go away. So I went to the doctor and was told, “We don’t see anything wrong. Maybe you just shouldn’t do Tae Kwon Do anymore.” WRONG. I made my way to another doctor for a second opinion who showed me my x-ray, drew some arrows and angles on the board, and said, “You have hip dysplasia.” I replied with, “I have what???” You may have heard of hip dysplasia in your neighbor’s golden retriever, but it does, in fact, occur in humans as well. In people with hip dysplasia, the hip socket doesn’t fully cover the “ball” portion of the hip, which basically causes the hip joint to wear out, leading to arthritis in very young patients. Basically, when I was 18 I already had arthritis. Hip dysplasia is also common in infants, but doctors are usually able to catch it and correct it, which is why it’s not something they look for in older patients. It’s not until very recently that they’ve realized the high number of ‘older’ individuals who have this condition. They aren’t quite sure what causes it, but no matter the cause, there it was, an acute angle on my x-ray, proving that I had this thing. I had limited treatment options but learned about a new procedure called a “periacetabular osteotomy” or PAO. In a PAO surgery, the doctors go in and literally cut your pelvis, change the angle in a way that gives the hip the proper coverage it needs, and then hold it in place with some screws. It was a rough go. In 2011 very few orthopedic doctors did this procedure, so I had to travel to Chicago from Pittsburgh to have it done. After an 8 hour procedure, I spent 3 days on an epidural and 7 days in the hospital, only to return home and develop a pulmonary embolism (PE) which sent me back to the hospital for another week while I watched an IV drip blood thinners into my system.  The screws from my PAO surgery. The longest one is about 4 inches long. The goal of the PAO surgery was to extend the life of my original hip. No one could really tell me how long it was going to last. I definitely thought it would last longer than 9 ½ years, but at the end of the day, I suppose it was “successful.” Since recovering from the PAO surgery I had a brief stint with swimming, cycled not one but TWO century (100 mile) bike rides, did multiple Crossfit competitions, earned my 3rd-degree black belt, got my L1 Crossfit Coaching certification, ran multiple 5Ks, won regional weightlifting competitions, and generally excelled physically. I would venture to say that many of my athletic high points came in the years between 2012 and 2019. Not bad, considering I was told not to do pretty much any of those things. Ever. Fun things I did after my surgery that I wasn't "supposed" to do: But recently, I have been having some trouble again. If I move at a certain angle I get a sharp pain, I have NO flexibility or mobility on that side, and my hip generally feels extremely weak. I put off going to the doctor for months, but when things just wouldn’t get better, I decided it was time. Thinking I had some sort of labral tear and expecting arthroscopic surgery in my future, I got the MRI and went into my follow up appointment. “I think it might be time for you to consider hip replacement surgery.” Um, excuse me, sir. I am 29. WRONG. A second opinion can’t hurt, so onto the next doctor. Emory University Hospital. Reputable. Experienced with PAO surgery and juvenile hip replacement. He will surely tell me this isn’t necessary. “You’ve got some SEVERE arthritis going on, so let’s talk about getting your hip replaced….” Well, I guess we are doing this. After numerous conversations with my doctor, coaches, trainers, husband, family, and friends, I decided I could do this. “The point of a hip replacement is to return you to your normal activities,” says my doctor, “No matter what those activities are.” “Did Crossfit cause this to happen to my hip?” I wondered out loud to him. He replied, “No, I don’t think so. This was going to happen to you no matter what.” EXCUSE ME!? A DOCTOR WHO DOESN’T HATE CROSSFIT……. I digress. So here I am, going into Emory University Hospital, about to get a titanium rod inserted into my femur and a plastic socket put in. My doctor is using a dual mobility hip replacement, which puts my risk at dislocation (the biggest post-op risk) at less than 1%, so I’m feeling good. I also tested negative for Covid-19, a pre-op requirement at Emory these days, so I’m feeling good about that too-- despite having my brain swabbed to learn that information. More "things I wasn't supposed to do"But why am I writing about this? I was really fortunate in that my doctor just happened to do a DOUBLE hip replacement on a patient who is a month older than me. We exchanged numbers and after talking to this patient, I was both reassured and convinced that this was the right thing to do. With that being said, there is almost no information out there about hip replacements in young patients, and the information that does exist is mostly horror stories of surgeries-gone-wrong. The (many) people who have successful surgeries aren’t necessarily writing about it because they are out, living their lives, just like they were told they would. There ARE a few articles about juvenile/young adult hip replacements, but they are scholarly, and I needed a medical dictionary to even graze the surface. So I decided to document my journey as a resource for others. So another 29 year old going through something similar who is thinking, “Holy &%@#! They want me to do what!?!” might stumble upon this and find some reassurance in the process. It’s also for me-- to keep me moving and motivated. If I have to report my progress publicly, I’m likely to take a few extra steps towards my own recovery. So that’s the backstory. The rest is uncertain, but I’ve got this. I know I may not be back squatting 200+ lbs again, but I am certainly looking forward to the day that I can go on a walk and have ZERO pain in my hip. For now, my new theme song: |
