Graduated!

This post has been the one I've been waiting to write since May 8th.  3 Months and 1 day after my surgery, I took the physical test that I had been dreading for weeks.  I kept thinking that there was no way I was gonna pass and I was going to have to come back over Thanksgiving break and try again.  I stressed and worried and practiced for a week.  When the day finally came, I was a nervous wreck.  The test was out of 20 points and to "pass" I needed 17 of those points.  There were 4 sections to the test, and of course we started with most difficult part first.  When I only missed 1 point, there was finally hope that I could actually pass!  When I had completed the test, I still had only missed 1 point.  I passed and officially graduated from physical therapy!  Needless to say I am thrilled that this recovery process has been so successful and is finally over!

Touchstone Therapy and Wellness

I've been meaning to give a big thank you to my wonderful physical therapist, Kelly Sykes, and all of the people at Touchstone Therapy and Wellness in Columbia, MD for all the of the support throughout this recovery process.  It has been a long road and a lot of hard work and with physical therapy 3 times a week its all starting to come together.  Today I will be running for the first time since I injured my hip last year and this time next week I will be taking my "graduation" test as required by Dr. Petre.  I still can't believe that I have been pain free for two months and I am starting to workout again.  In the beginning I thought I would never feel "normal" again and I can't believe the progress that I have made.   Touchstone Therapy has been a crucial part of this recovery and was a great place to go even if it did mean working my butt off.  After seeing how much Kelly has helped me through my recovery, my mom is now going to Kelly as well for her lower back pain.  I am very thankful for all of the support and motivation that Kelly and all of his staff have provided me during the past 3 months.  I will be posting a few pictures of my exercises that I have been doing over the past few weeks.  I hope these will give an idea of the type of exercises that are included in the last part of physical therapy.

Videos!

I want to give everyone a chance to see what the surgery actually looked like from the inside!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlmk8WK6jSw&feature=youtu.be


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6cC9q8ImVE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-xdc52O6Ww

Feeling Normal Again

So last Wednesday was one month since my surgery.  It was also the day that I was first allowed to gradually move towards walking by only using one crutch.  This was the first taste of freedom.  I could move faster and easier and I didn't get so tired after going to the grocery store for 20 minutes.  Needless to say, I only wanted to progress further and get off crutches completely.  I was anxious to move without restriction.  Today I am very happy to say that I took my first steps without the assistance of crutches! To those who watched me begin to walk at physical therapy, including my mom, said it was like watching me take my first steps.  As you can imagine there were many smiles and congratulations. Taking the stairs was another big moment of the day.  With one hand on the railing, I slowly and cautiously attempted to ascend the staircase.  Once I got going it wasn't so bad, but that was going up.  Coming down was a whole other story.  Lets just say it was a bit shaky.  It didn't hurt which I was grateful for, but it wasn't easy.  My leg was shaking so much I thought it was gonna give out and find myself taking a face plant down the stairs. No need to worry though, I made it down the stairs unscathed and exhausted.  I'm not sure if I will be able to get out of bed tomorrow because I will be so sore, but I would call today a huge success! 

Two week follow!

Today I went to my two week follow up appointment with Dr. Petre.  It really was the best doctors appointment I have ever been to.  The first thing the nurse did was take out my two stitches and place steri strips on my two incisions. Next, I was taken to get two xrays taken, which the doctor said looked great.  Dr. Petre also went through the pictures and the video he took from my surgery, which I will try to put up on this blog!  He said that I had great movement and was progressing very well, however I should not attempt to progress faster than I have been in physical therapy.  The first 6 weeks of physical therapy are critical in making sure that scar tissue forms in the correct way and doesn't form in a way that would require further surgery.  Dr. Petre did lift a few restrictions.  I no longer have to wear my hip brace or the TED stockings, I can now sit at 90 degrees, and I can go in the pool as long as I keep my incisions dry with waterproof bandages.  All in all a great day! 

Personal Milestones

Since I've last written an update,  I have reached a few of my personal milestones.  A few days ago, I made it to the top of the stairs and took my first shower since the surgery.  It took all morning, but it was well worth the effort!  I still couldn't get my incisions wet so I had to waterproof the top of my thigh.  The waterproof tape I had worked really well, I just put a small square of regular gauze over the incisions and made sure all the edges were sealed.  However, the biggest challenge was getting up the stairs.  I made it though, with my mom standing behind incase I fell backwards.  Lucky for me I have pretty good balance.  The stairs took a lot out of me so I had to take a break before a ventured into the shower.  Trust me, it was an adventure.  It would have taken me forever if my dad hadn't installed a removable shower head so that I didn't have to move much.  I still can't put more than just the ball of my foot on the floor.  After it was all done, I was exhausted but I felt accomplished.    

Another milestone I accomplished just today was getting into the front seat of the car.  I have been just sliding into the back seat and letting my leg rest on the seats as I sat sideways.  It has been very difficult for me to lift my leg at all because Dr. Petre had to cut my Psoas tendon so that it would grow back longer.  Needless to say lifting my leg into the front seat was much more difficult than usual, especially because I am also not allowed to sit at greater than 70 degrees.  Today, I decided that I was feeling well enough and a little more flexible after physical therapy to try the front seat and it worked! To make my day even better, my mom wheeled me around the mall just to get me out of the house for a little bit!  The cherry on top of a very successful day was a lovely nap in my own bed upstairs!  I'd say I'm definitely making progress. 

Day 5

Its day five and I’m still moving along!  Today I indulged in coffee and popcorn.  Any idea what those two things help to relieve?  They fall into the same category as foods with fiber and whole grains and a popular one, prune juice!  Did that give it away?  Well if you know what I am talking about, great, you figured it out!  If you still aren’t sure, well that’s probably for the best.  Never the less, there is no avoiding it when you are taking narcotic pain medications after surgery.  I am not particularly a big fan of prune juice so I decided to go with two things that I do enjoy, but there are many foods that serve the same purpose.  It also helped that I was feeing well enough to stay off my pain meds for the day since I didn’t have physical therapy to work through.  I have also been taking a medication since the day of my surgery to help with this specific situation.  

Day 4

Today came with only one goal that I set for myself: wash up.  I haven’t been allowed to shower since the day before my surgery so you can imagine how anxious I am to freshen up a bit.  I figured I would have to do this in stages considering I’m exhausted after just changing my clothes, but I was more than willing to expend all of my energy to finally wash my hair. 

Those of you who know me personally know how long my hair is.  Between not being able to get in the shower and not being able to sit at a 90-degree angle, it was certainly a challenge to figure out the best way to accomplish this task.  After giving it some thought, I decided to put a trash bag over my head like a rain poncho and lean just my head over the kitchen sink where we have a detachable sprayer faucet and let my mom wash my hair.  It wasn’t pretty or easy but it got the job done and I stayed relatively dry.  Washing up everything else was straightforward from there, just a few washcloths, water, and body wash and I was all set. 

After I was clean and exhausted, I was once again ready for a nap, which is a great time to lie on my stomach to stretch out that hip flexor that I had mentioned previously.  Yesterday, when I attempted to get into this position I had a very difficult time moving and shifting and it was very painful.  Keeping that in mind, we tried something different today.   The wonderful parents that I am very lucky to have decided it would be easier for me to get into this lying position if I were on an actual bed instead of a couch.  Since taking the stairs takes me forever and is very tiring, they set up a bed for me in our dining room.  This idea ties with the elevated toilet seat for the best thing I have had during this recovery.  It was much easier and much more comfortable to get into the right position on the bed.

Day 3

So I must say that day 3 was pretty great.  The day began with physical therapy, which was exhausting but productive.  The second session was pretty similar to the first one, working mostly with passive range of motion and a few minutes on the bike at the end.  The best part of my day came shortly after when my wonderful boyfriend made a surprise visit with flowers and Goobers in hand.  Easy to say, he made my day and put a big smile on my face.  It was really great to have him on the couch with me to keep me company even during naptime.  He really is the best. 

One piece of advice that I have been meaning to share has to do with the TED socks that are required after surgery to help prevent blood clots.  Some of you may have seen these socks on an older patient residing in a nursing home and you may know how annoying and difficult they can be to put on and take off.  However, something as simple as a plastic bag makes a world of difference.  Before trying to put on the sock, place a small plastic bag on the foot.  This should help the sock to slide on easier, and when the sock is pulled up all the way, remove the plastic bad from the hole near the toe of the sock.  Hope this helps!

Day 2

Another 4am wakeup call, this time for pain meds.  Beginning of day two, the first day of physical therapy.  Before we get to physical therapy, the time has come to change the original dressings from the surgery.  After changing my clothes at least four times yesterday because of the oozing coming from my bandages I was very happy to clean myself up with the help of my mom and get some fresh bandages placed on my two incisions.  Luckily, it appears that I am almost done oozing today.  However, I will tell you I never thought that changing bandages could be so exhausting and take forever! 

After all of the stripping of tape and gauze and placing new fresh bandages, now I’m ready for my first physical therapy session.  I don’t think I really believed they expected me to be in physical therapy the day after surgery until I actually got there.  This brings me to my first piece of advice for the day: taking the stairs.  There are two stairs leading from my kitchen to the garage that I have to take to get to the car.  This obstacle brought me to tears for the first time during my recovery.  Just remember “up with the good down with the bad”.  By this I mean when going down the stairs put the crutches on the step below and bring the “bad” foot down first then follow with the “good” foot.  Hopefully this will save you from sheading the same tears that I did this morning.

Once I finally got to physical therapy, it was pretty easy so to speak.  I give all the credit to my mom for finding a wonderful physical therapist so that I could be confident that I put the rehab of my hip in the right hands, literally.  The first day is all about the initial assessment and passive range of motion.  I credit the good results I had during my first session to the many months I spent in physical therapy while I was at college, waiting to have my surgery.  It is important to keep the muscles around the injury strong in order to have a good foundation after surgery.  Another important lesson I took from physical therapy is that 90 degrees is bad.  This should make sense for those of you who have a labral tear, but to clarify, it is important to keep the leg “open” or at a degree less than 90 and preferably less than 70 degrees.   Maintaining the leg in this position helps to protect the surgical work that has been done in the hip.

My first session of physical therapy took everything out of me, so I came home and decided to take a nap while lying on my stomach.  This position is outlined in the recovery packet provided by Dr. Petre in order to stretch out the hip flexor so that it doesn’t become tight and inflamed.  With that I pretty much wrapped up my eventful day.

           

Day 1

4:30 am came early this morning with waves of nerves and anxiety but also relief that the day of my surgery has finally arrived.  I have been waiting almost a year for this day to come so that I didn’t have to take time off from Nursing School. This past year has been filled with various doctors appointments, x rays, CT scans, and MRIs as well as many months of physical therapy and a cortical steroid injection in my left hip, all in hopes of relieving the pain caused by a torn labrum in my hip.  

            To make a long story short, today I am having a surgery performed by Dr. Petre at the Anne Arundel County Medical Center to do several things including repair the tear in the labrum, shave off extra bone in attempt to prevent another tear from occurring, and to release the pslas tendon that causes the “snapping” in my left hip.  After all is said and done, and having completed my three months of rehab specifically prescribed and outlined by Dr. Petre, the goal is to be free of pain and no limitation or restrictions on physical activity. 

            When I first woke up from surgery I had pain of 9 out of 10 and I was really groggy and shivering which is one of the side affects of the anesthesia but by the time I came to my pain was down to a 5 out of 10.  I was receiving oxygen through the nose and the nurse gave me a few peanut butter crackers and some ginger-ale to make sure I had something on my stomach with the pain medication.  I stayed in the first stage recovery room for about an hour and a half so the nurse could get my pain under control as best as she could before I went to the second stage recovery area. 

            In this area two nurses were there to help transfer me from the stretcher to a recliner.  Now for those of you preparing for this surgery, brace yourself for this step.  It was the worst pain I have experienced so far in this process and I thought I was never going to make it through this recovery.  However, I am here to reassure you IT DOES GET BETTER!  After the pain medication fully took affect and I stopped shivering the pain went down to a 3 out of 10.  By the time I stood up out of the recliner to transfer into the wheel chair to go home, I was so relieved that I could do it will half the pain I was in the first time I tried to transfer. 

            Once I was home it was a pretty non-eventful day.  I settled in a recliner powered by a motor so I didn’t have to hold my leg up a lot by myself which is pretty difficult.  My first piece of advice for future patients is to get a raised toilet.  Trust me it makes a world of difference and you will thank me later!  As annoying as getting up and down to go to the bathroom is all the time, I really believe it helps to get up and move instead of sitting for hours on end and becoming stiff and uncomfortable.  My second piece of advice would be to place a small pillow that’s not too poofy under your calf and ankle but below the knee so you aren’t cutting off your circulation.  This seemed to really help me with the swelling because I didn’t have any below the knee.