5 weeks post RPAO

In terms of how I'm doing physically for the RPAO compared to the LPAO, I feel like I'm lightyears ahead! That's a major exaggeration, but it certainly feels that way to me. I reviewed my entries for the LPAO at 4, 5, and 6 weeks and I have already achieved everything in those 3 weeks now, at just 4 weeks going into week 5 of my recovery. I'm going to say it definitely helps having gone through 3 open hip surgeries, experience is a plus, but I may attribute some of that success to the awesome skills of my surgeon as well!! : )  Mentally I am still a bit more discouraged on this one compared to the left one and I know that doesn't make any sense considering how well I'm doing with ROM and mobility, but the discomfort I have with this hip is still at a higher level at this point in recovery than I had for the LPAO.

I am managing the pain well enough now with just a half a vicodin in the morning (if needed, otherwise I take 2 extra strength Tylenol) and a half a vicodin at bedtime. I also have to take my Lunesta at night to sleep or I will still have trouble sleeping due to pain. So I have been able to cut down my usage of narcotics since the last entry. It is slow going, but finally making some progress. I sure do miss taking my anti-inflammatories though.
I have tested putting more weight on my right leg lately and I have developed a pins and needles/jabbing feeling in the foot with any weight bearing I do. I noticed twice at night also, that I felt a slightly prickly/falling asleep sensation in the toes. I will be paying more attention to this, although I'm not very worried about it since it's not happening all the time.

I am happy to report I am lying on all sides in bed now! (I couldn't do this until week 6 for the LPAO) I experiemented with lying on my right side just last night and was able to lie that way for at least an hour before I started to feel muscle twinges and had to roll over to my back again. It did feel a little "weird" lying on the right hip directly, so I shifted my weight more to my back side with a pillow behind me to support my body. I'm still needing a pillow between my legs when side lying most of the time, but sometimes find myself having removed the pillow when I wake up. I lie flat when on my back or stomach and only when I put excess pressure on my right side do I feel the pain from the screws or pulling on the incisions. It feels so good to have a new position to sleep in again. I don't know that I'm "allowed" to sleep on the right side yet, so I'll take it slow with this position until I have my follow up in the next few weeks.

I started to "practice driving" recently, while sitting up in my recliner. I failed. I can "push the accelerator" to the floor just fine, but when I tried to move my right leg over to "push the brake", I couldn't move my leg hardly at all, so had I actually been driving, I would have caused an accident. I can always brake with my left foot though, and if that's what I need to do, then that is what I'll do! Once I'm completely off narcs I will have Todd or my mom go with me somewhere that has no traffic and I will actually test drive to see what I can do. It's amazing how little control of the leg I actually have! I thought it was better than that...

The screws are starting to make their acquaintance....my how I missed thee! This is probably the only thing that didn't happen faster for the RPAO than the LPAO. I noticed the screws in the left almost immediately whereas I'm just now this last week becoming aware of them in the right. And the feeling isn't so much as achy like it's been the last 2 times, but more a sharp pulling pain right at the site of the screw heads. If I rest my arms on the top of the hip, I feel pain from the screw heads but not the deep ache I was used to from before. I noticed on xray that Z seems to have countersunk these screws a little more than the left screws were, so that could explain why I wasn't aware of them as soon.

I'm still pretty swollen and tight in between the incision for the PAO and the scope sites. The left hip re-incision is no longer swollen and only feels like a deep bruise now. I'm not really aware of it at all. My knee and foot are still swelling badly after any exertion and often icing will help resolve most of it but I prefer heat which doesn't help the swelling. It just relaxes my joints and muscles more and feels more soothing overall.

I received a summons for jury duty this month and jury duty is required until September 30th. This is my first summons since I turned 18 and I would normally be really excited to do this, but I can't sit for very long and the benches/chairs in the court room are likely to be wooden (ie: hard). I still have to get up and move around a lot and shift positions to avoid putting too much pressure on either buttock. This would not be tolerated during a court case I'm sure. So I'll have to write to the judge to be pardoned. Hopefully Dr. Z will write a letter in my favor.