Day 84: 12 Week Mark
oday is the 12 week mark. Today is the 12 week mark. According to the surgeon, this is supposed to be a big landmark day.
To be sure, things are better, but I’m not perceiving anything I could call “landmark improvements”.
Overall
Aches and pains come and go. Sometimes on the right side (more often), sometimes on the left. I still can’t pick up anything small or flat off the floor. Putting on socks still hurts — much more on the right side than the left.
I’m walking fine, and even lightly running stairs (5 times every other day, or so.) If the day feels like it’s going to be an aching day, I’ll pop an ibuprofen with breakfast.
I can mount the Burgman and ride without any issues. My hip flexors used to cramp and hurt like hell on the Burgman before the surgery — I’d attempt to alleviate the pain by stretching my leg out in front and bringing it back and spreading my knees in and out. That helped, eventually.
Now, there is no cramping. The hip flexors mainly feel fine.
Right Hip Issues
The right hip is still lagging. I still can’t don a sock on the right foot with normal procedure. I have to toss the opening of the sock over the toes and then I can grab it, work it up over my foot, heel, and eventually the calf. It’s a bit laborious, but it works.
On the Burgman , when I accelerate from a standing stop, throwing my right foot forward and then on the floorboard hurts the hip, still (that movement on the left side is fine.) The solution I’ve come to is to lift the leg straight up and plant the foot on the rear part of the floorboard, rather than throwing it forward — that works out much better and doesn’t stress the hip flexor or the hip.
Every once in a while, though, I’ll still try throwing the foot forward, to see if there’s any progress.
In general, the right hip tends to ache more — mainly in the outside of the glute and along the outside of the quad.
Is it an improvement over the pre-surgery condition? Yes, I think so, but a lot of the aches and pains are reminiscent of that pre-surgery condition. I wonder sometimes if I have a congenital issue with my right hip muscles and tendons, and if they’ll ever heal, completely.
Progress/ Surgeon Followup
Nevertheless, things are getting incrementally better, it seems — it’s just that the increments now are very small. I’m on the upper part of that logarithmic curve where the healing changes are much smaller than the lower part. I will consider it a major milestone when I can put the right sock on as easily as I can the left.
That seems a ways away.
The surgeon assures me things are going well, despite the lagging right hip. The X-Rays certainly look good and don’t reveal anything untoward. Remember that in the pre-op cautions and notifications warnings paper (everyone has to read before authorizing the surgery) that the hip(s) can take up to a year to heal completely.
Right now, I do wonder if I’m on that trajectory.
In any case, barring any emergencies or other urgencies, he doesn’t want to see me until a year after the surgery date. It will probably take that long for everything to completely set, and any entrenched abnormalities to reveal themselves.
Synopsis
Overall, I’m doing fine, I think. I’m walking, although still hobbling a bit after long periods of sitting. I can bicycle and ride the Burgman — two major accomplishments in my mind. I’m mostly functional and don’t need any assistance getting up or down, dressing/undressing, or getting about.
An occasional ibuprofen helps with long Burgman rides or flare-ups (typically in the morning, mainly.)
I plan on writing a full synopsis article soon, outlining my experience in more brief form than this complete series.