Glad your surgery went well!!!
That reminds me when I my mom would sit in during surgeries, mainly knee replacements, she said they would upon up the knee, and there were some drills, and a hammer like thing to get the metal really in there, and one day she told me it sounded like a mechanic shop in the OR room lol. And after that she proceeded to pass out lol.
Remind me again what they fixed?
My labrum was torn. They trimmed the frayed and torn parts. They also shaved down quite a bit of bone from my femur (see previous posts for details).
Luckily they didn’t open me up; everything was arthroscopic. I feel beat up though!
I remember you talking about you labrum, I didn’t catch the latter part, but I’m glad they fixed you up nicely, and you seem to healing very well.
I’m so nervous for my check-up in January. I really hope I won’t need surgery, but something tells me I might.
It’s not the end of the world. Think about it. You’ve been trying to manage pain, symptoms, lifting, and life for awhile now and, unfortunately, everything has been less than optimal for you.
On the other hand, you could have surgery and be on the DL for 2-6 months. But when you come back, you can train and live optimally and possibly be better than before…at least I hope that’s the way it works.
I do too.
So far I’ve been hearing, “you don’t want anyone cutting up or poking around in your back”
Or, “no no no definitely don’t want back surgery”
But I feel inclined to question them because they have no absolute idea if it’s even “bad”, to have surgery considering they’ve never had it or even attempted to recover from it.
I personally think if I need surgery or even cortisone shots I’ll be fine. I’m perfectly fine with letting the recovery process fully play itself out.
I went to a spinal specialist when I inured my back in 2014. He looked at my MRI and said he wasn’t worried about my disc and that I would be fine once the swelling went down.
If that wasn’t the case then my surgery would’ve been done with a laser. They would’ve made a small incision and trimmed the disc down so that it wasn’t putting pressure on my spinal cord. It sounded simple enough, but that’s my injury. I’m sure it’s a different outlook if you’re looking at fused vertebrae and/or hardware.
Yeah the fusion thing is what kind of gets to me. I believe that procedure could indeed put me on my butt for years. But I don’t think I’ll even need any fusion or any hardware installed lol. I think. Lol
Woke at 219.6 lbs which is exciting since I’ve spent the last two days in a recliner.
Yesterday’s Nutrition
2961 calories, 239g carbs, 112g fat, 191g protein.
I won’t be tracking today and tomorrow.
A side note about recovery
I’m not supposed to flex my hip past 90 degrees to protect the labral repairs. Unfortunately, this is impossible when sitting on the toilet. I’m too tall. I’m forced to straighten my left leg out because it hurts when it’s flexed too far. This makes going #2 more difficult. If you’ve seen the commercials for the Squatty Potty then you understand that lengthening your legs is counterproductive. I know, TMI.
On the plus side I’m excited to be going #2 post-op without any laxatives or inserting things into my rear.
You should check out tall toilets! A few inches makes a huge difference. It could help recovery, and be comfortable in the future.
Maybe you could get insurance to pay for it?
It would help to add a few inches but even the 17" ones are too short to get my hips to 90 degrees. And who do you think gets to install that? This guy.
Health insurance doesn’t like to pay for blatantly obvious things so I doubt they’d pay for toilets.
Merry Christmas man
Thanks, Duke! Merry Christmas to you too!
Yeah Merry Christmas J 
Merry Christmas ya’ll!
Woke at 224.6 lbs and very thirsty.
It’s time to get around and head to the in-laws for breakfast.
Recovery Notes
It’s day 5 and I can get my stitches wet! I’ll be enjoying a shower later today. I covered my hip with plastic wrap of Friday and fumbled through a shower and changed my dressing. It’ll be nice to just shower like normal.
I’m also able to walk decently but I’m not supposed to due to the risk of fracture. The most painful thing I’ve done is bend over too far to put on a shoe. It’s not nearly as difficult to follow the 90 degree flexion restriction.
Enjoy the christmas food!
I skim read it at first and thought you didnt shower for 5 days haha. That wouldn’t have been pleasant for fhe wife and littlies.
It was tricky. I’m too damn big to sit in a tub so I opted for the shower. I had plenty of bandages on my leg and I was changing them regardless so I thought it was worth the risk. It’s the little things in life that we forget about until they’re taken away.
I got a Fitbit Charge 2 with HR monitor for Christmas. According to it I walked 2429 steps and covered 1.22 miles today. That’s not too shabby considering I was cooped up in a 1000 Sq ft house with 30 people all day AND I’m not supposed to be walking!
It was just easier to limp around with that many people. I took my crutch but it rested against the wall all day. I actually kind of forgot I was supposed to use it and nearly walked normal.
So I’m off pain meds and I can walk 5 days into recovery. Ill advised but not bad.
Woke at 224.4 lbs. I feel and look like crap from the last day and a half. I’m hoping to purge my body of all the poison I’ve consumed but we brought home leftovers from yesterday. We have chocolate, cinnamon rolls, party mix, and other junk still floating around the house.
I have my first PT session today at 1. I’m looking forward to that. I need to clarify this 50% weight bearing thing. Before surgery a lady from the doctor’s office told me to step on a scale with my left leg to get a feel for how much pressure resulted in 50% of my weight. On the other hand my paperwork says 50% would not crack an egg if it was under my foot. Well, hell, that’s drastically different. I think I might crack an egg by just relaxing and letting the weight of my leg rest on it so that’s not much pressure for a guy my size. I’ve been following the actual 50% of my body weight approach. Hopefully I’m right because it takes all I have to do that. I can walk pretty good now so the crutch is hard to use.
PT was good. It’s mostly passive movements for now. I don’t know if it’s the trauma of the surgery or the anesthesia drugs but I don’t have much in me. I’m exhausted and in pain after PT.
Yesterday morning my HR was 94 just moving around to get ready to leave the house. My resting heart rate before surgery was in the 40s.
I’m struggling here. My stomach is also giving me problems. I think it’s trashed from all of the junk food.
On a different note, the PT and I agree that front squats with aggressive depth may have been a contributing factor to this problem. If there’s any Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) then something like that can cause problems.
Just a food for thought item for all of you who do squat variations. Again, it’s only a combination of FAI and certain movements. The movements don’t cause FAI.