Week 34 - 39

Virtually 9 months post-PAO surgery and 7 weeks post- hip arthroscopy and screw removal

To summarise the last five weeks; I’ve been focussing on my rehabilitation, wedding planning, job hunting and moving.

When I last updated you all my hip was still fairly painful and the physios had taken my rehab completely back to basics. This continued for three weeks, at which point the physios deemed me to be a cause for concern and referred me for regular hydrotherapy. As I could walk fine and dandy I thought hydro was a bit extreme, and recalled something Debs said to me a few months back. She explained that it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach and rehab needs to be tailored to each individual. She went on to say that with my strength and control I may be able to handle slightly more advanced exercises and I should trial and error things, and only stop if it gets too painful. The physios at the Royal Berkshire Hospital advised me not to return to the gym but I felt I needed to try it for myself. I want to reiterate that I’m not stupid or overly impatient; I have a fair bit of knowledge in strength and rehabilitation so I felt qualified to attempt something different before resorting to hydrotherapy. Without blowing my own trumpet too much, I was onto a winner…

All I did was a bit of cycling and upper body resistance, followed by a brief stint on the cross-trainer and then my basic hip exercises. I had no pain throughout the session or for the rest of the day. It literally cleared up and I was so happy that I visited the gym the next day for another low-intensity session. I must have gone three times between physio appointments and they were happy my pain had gone and cancelled the hydrotherapy. It was a new physio I saw that day and I reassured her that I had continued with my hip exercises daily, to which she was also very happy about. It was then that the physio explained why it was so important to follow the basic exercises, other than the obvious reason to strengthen the muscles surrounding the joint. She asked if my hip was ‘clicking’ still – something both hips have done for a long time.  I explained there was still a lot of clicking and I that I had thought it would stop after surgery. The physio explained that I had a lot of scar tissue in the joint and adhesions which need to be broken down and eradicated. The clicking sound produced is an indicator of the adhesions being broken down between the bones that make up the ball and socket joint. Therefore the clicking immediately after surgery is a good sign but the frequency of the ‘clicks’ should decrease as my rehab advances and the adhesions disappear.

This particular physio (wish I could remember her name) was really helpful and provided me with new useful information and it was just the extra motivation I needed to keep up my hip-specific exercises. She also explained that I had tendonisitis in both hips and that I need to resume taking ibruprofen and stretch regularly. Towards the end of the session, she mentioned and recommended that I attend the hospital’s ‘hip scope’ group. They offer two classes a week of up to eight people and it’s a chance to complete your exercises for an hour. You have the benefit of all the equipment and three physios in the room to assess and progress you during an allocated 15-min one-to-one slot. So alongside the gym, I’ve been going to my hip class for the last few weeks and my hip is getting better and better. - So much so that I got the green light last week to attempt some fast step-ups and even had permission to resume my interval jogging. I can confirm that I am now successfully completing six sets of 2-min running intervals and my right hip finally feels almost normal again. If I had to rate it I would say it’s currently at the 90% mark and I finally feel young again!!

My check-up with Banksey is this Friday, although I’ll probably be seeing one of his minions. I really I hope he’s at least working in the hospital though as I seem to have two “dissolvable” stitches poking out of my thigh. You may recall that I had to pluck the last stitch out of the top of my wound in January after PAO surgery. Well, since the dressings came off a few weeks ago there are noticeable stitches protruding from each scar, only this time, it hurts when I tug on them. These little buggers are not budging and I need Banksey to remove them.

My left hip hasn’t gotten any better or worse since my last post. It twinges now and then, and sometimes aches but still hasn’t interfered with my walking. Another reason I hope to see Bankesy on Friday is to find out what exactly the plan of action is regarding my left PAO surgery, especially as we’re moving…

I’ve been keeping a secret from you all for a few months now and couldn’t announce it until everything had been confirmed. You may have thought it was odd that we visited Abu Dhabi twice in the space of three months but the second trip in particular wasn’t just for a holiday. Andy has recently accepted a new job over there and so we’re officially moving to the Middle East on the 18^th September! This is why we brought the wedding forward a few months – as not only will it enable us to live together legally, but we agreed that planning a UK wedding whilst living abroad would be way too complicated. So as you can imagine, these last couple of months have been mega-busy and it’s felt so good. I’ve been off work for 9 months now and organising this wedding and the move has not only given me two things to look forward to, but mentally I’m in a much better state than I was 5 months ago.

I remember writing that it felt like I was taking so many steps back when we lost the flat and then I had to move back to my dad’s house. At the time it seemed like we had a string of bad luck; my hips, losing my job, the flat and subsequently having to live separately from Andy. I’m a firm believer in things happening for a reason and I felt that we deserved our silver lining after a tough old year. Despite a lot of ups and downs I tried to remain optimistic and now 2013 is set to be the best yet. So far it has brought me one fully-functioning, pain-free hip, and four-weeks today I will be moving to Abu Dhabi with my perfect husband to begin our new, well-deserved adventure.

The wedding is eleven days today, then we fly to New York for a mini-moon (to tide us over until the big one next year), and then it’s all hands to the pump for the big move abroad. Wish us luck!!