Five Weeks and a Day

Having passed the five-week mark since my surgery yesterday, I can confidently say that I am back to 100%. In fact, I'm at 110%; I am much, much more pain-free than I was before surgery, and find that I am able to do things that I hadn't been able to for years.

I've been going to the gym and using the elliptical machine for up to an hour at a time! Before my hip replacement, anything more than 20 minutes or so would cause soreness and stiffness in the joint that I would start to feel immediately but would become progressively worse over 12-24 hours. I now have absolutely no stiffness or soreness whatsoever.

I've still been going to physical therapy to work primarily on increasing my range of motion and strength, but after my sessions next week, I'm done with PT. I'll still have some exercises to do at home to continue to strengthen my new hip.

Beyond that, I'm still following my hip precautions (no crossing the legs, no bending the hip past 90 degrees, no angling the feet), but find I have to remind myself not to break the precautions all the time because I don't remember that I've had surgery. I'd say that's pretty successful.

If you would have told me how quickly my recovery was going to be, I wouldn't have believed you. Looking forward to continued recovery in the weeks to come!

Three and a Half Weeks Later

I am fast approaching four weeks post op and am happy to report that I feel almost fully recovered. 

I have been walking around, going to work, and doing most everything normally with no pain whatsoever. And I write this post at the gate of an airport in Florida as I prepare to head home from a family wedding. Airplane travel was no issue whatsoever, and my new hip didn't even set off the metal detectors (though it has previously at other security checkpoints).

I continue my physical therapy twice a week, which focuses on both expanding my range of motion and building strength in the muscles around the hip. I'm still walking with a slight limp -- it gets worse when I'm tired -- but I attribute that to years of compensating for a bad hip rather than any pain or discomfort from the hip replacement. 

I've also been able to sleep on my side -- finally. I keep a pillow between my legs to make sure I don't break any of my precautions, and even with a pillow it is fantastic to not have to be stuck on my back all night. 

All told, my recovery has been much, much faster than I anticipated it would be in the lead up to surgery. It's been fantastic, and I am so glad I did it.