Unrestricted

I can flex my hip freely to a little over 100 degrees! This is truly wonderful! This is the outcome I was hoping to achieve and thankfully it happened. I know my husband and family have been grimacing at the thought of "what if this didn't work". Well the hip is definately not a "good" hip anymore but now that I have free, unrestricted movement (which I've never experienced on this side) it is amazing. More so than what my left hip felt like after being stabilized with the PAO! I will report the exact amount of degree of flexion after my follow up appointment. I'm sure it's better than anything I've achieved before. But more than numbers is just truly NO blockage or a hard end point feeling. It's great!
My pain has improved too. It's not bad at all now. When I'm resting (laying down) it aches to the point of distraction, so I'm not sleeping well. Plus if I stand more than a couple minutes I get pretty achy. Moving helps ward it off. I still feel like something catches if I'm bending the hip, so I'm resigned to the fact that feeling will probably always be there.
I got my surgical report back and among the things Dr. Z found were chondrocalcinosis, bone spurs, frayed cartilage and labrum, softening of the cartilage and cartilage fissuring, synovitis, dense adhesions of the capsul and near the bursa and glute muscles, and of course the acetabular impingement. He burred down 7 mm of the impingement and what a difference! Among all the other work he did in my hip, this is what made the most impact, although he feels it's going to be the release of the adhesions. Time will tell. He's usually right.
I'm unusually atrophied in the thigh in my opinion. I think it might be because of all the other surgeries on this hip. But it has made walking unassisted really difficult. I can't go more than two steps without a pronounced limp, pain, and my knee locking up. But I am getting better at walking more "correctly", that is, with my foot pointed straight and not outward. I'm glad that the instructions say to use the crutches for 4 weeks. Even straight leg lifts and knee extensions are too painful and hard right now. My thigh shakes and there is a sharp pain initially with a dull ache afterward. It is only 2 weeks post op tomorrow, but I still have the mentality that I should be up and running by now. Not very realistic, I know. The majority of my discomfort right now is laterally and at the knee, except at night, then it's all the hip joint.
Mostly what excites me is that the feeling I have with this unrestricted hip flexion is that I feel as good about it as my left hip!! Dare I say it will last?? I can hope, what else do I have? 2 week follow up with Dr. Z is on Monday.