Nine days until my surgery to replace my hip.
I try not to host a pity party on my blog or facebook, but I'm at a real low point in my life right now. Pain and immobility leave me mostly housebound, with my daily circuit limited to three rooms; living room, bedroom, family room. My world has gotten very small. To move from one to another requires a lot of effort and comes at the expense of more pain.
I often think about that skiing accident years ago that left me with this early arthritis problem. Amazing how one moment in time can change so much of your life.
I've been forced to adjust my days so that I am primarily sitting still. I'm using the opportunity to get a lot of needlework done and look up occasionally at the TV when my kids watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns. I'm reading a lot of books.
But the funny thing is, when you're forced to give up the chores of life and sit still, is when you realize how much you want to be up and about doing all the mundane things. My poor garden! And oh look! that closet needs to be organized!
Nothing I can do about it now, but wait and look forward to a good recovery.
Have you ever been sidelined from life for a while? What did you do and how did you cope?
Monday, July 5, 2010
Counting the Days
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11 people stopped folding laundry to write:
Oh, that must be so intensely frustrating. I hope your surgery goes smoothly and even better than anyone hopes, and your recovery is super speedy.
I've had several surgeries with 3 month recovery times, but not as incapacitating as hip surgery. I hated it.
I hated not being able to lift a pot out of the oven, and I hated not being able to lift a kid who needed something.
No help here, just sympathy. Hope everything goes smoothly. Lay in those juicy novels.
I had major shoulder surgery about 15 years ago and spent 4 months in a full body cast. It was awful...no bath was the worst! I just did alot of handwork and just thanked God for the Hubby! Get an MP3 player so you can download books and then you can sew at the same time! Chin up...it'll be a while but it will be better in the long term.
I have never been in your situation but I am sure I would feel very low about it all. I hope and pray that your surgery goes well and that you can start to have an improved quality of life.
Sending a hug.
Lindsay
x
I think it is the pain that is most debilitating as it makes dealing with everything else just so much tougher. Pain colors everything, impacts everything. It is the first, middle, and last consideration squeezing out so much else. Once the pain is under control, life will be so much easier to handle. Just think what lies ahead with the new hip!
I hope the surgery goes well for you and you are up and around and pain free very soon.
This is a sensitive thing for me to tell you because I don't want you to get me wrong.
You might find my Uncle's blog interesting only because he has been where you are at and beyond.
I don't want this suggestion to sound like a chin up things could be worse - just a place where you might find someone/something to relate too.
http://mytippy.blogspot.com/
I think it is hard for a person to know how they will respond until they've been there.
It's good that you are focusing on the things you can do like your handwork. Try not to think too much about what you can't do at this point. You've got no choice in the matter, so it's wasted energy. It sounds like your on the countdown to getting an improved quality of life, so keep your eye on the prize. Hope it all goes smoothly.
Best wishes for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery. I know it's tough right now, but you have a lot of people holding you in their thoughts and prayers.
Hugs.
My hip 'went out' this week. I felt some pain coming on for 2 days and then Wednesday morning, I was able to hobble to the couch but then I couldn't move off of it. I had to pull myself on all fours with my hands - impossible if we didn't have wood floors. I was able to finally stand and put weight on my right leg after a couple of hours.
Through it all, I thought of you and wondered how you had made it through rehab over the last year and about your pending surgery.
I will be thinking of you and praying for a speedy and successful recovery.
Ooops! I forget to tell you when I was initially side-lined and how I coped. On May 5, 1997, I was driving home when my vehicle was hit by a drunk driver. I thought I would have been fine to work the in two days. Three months later, I returned to work 1/2 days, 2x week and worked my way up from there.
My life consisted of physical therapy, massage, chiropractic, psychological counseling. I worked extremely hard at physical therapy. There were older people there who would stop as soon as they started to feel pain. I knew I had to push past the pain to avoid living in pain every day for the rest of my life.
I had 6 months of intense physical therapy followed by a year of working with a kinesiologist. 13 years later, the residual effects include migraines, headaches, and from time to time, my hip starts acting up. But I am thankful I no longer live with constant, daily pain.
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