1/18/2014 A Very Good Day - Sunshine and a Massage.

1/18/2014

A fairly quiet and very lovely day! 

I got distracted this morning and didn't get in my full PT session for the first time maybe ever post-op - not good, but I did several standing exercise ses as I got ready. 

I drove to my massage about 30 minutes up the freeway - here in Northern California we are having a terrible drought. 

No rain week after week... and in January, it should be raining a lot, and our coldest part of the year. 

It's getting down to the upper 30's most nights - but - it was somewhere around 72 degrees today and BEAUTIFULLY sunny! We are pretty concerned about the drought here - really - we are the cradle of the nations' produce. That's bad... but I found myself feeling so happy and comfortable with the warm sun and fresh air on my skin - I made a choice: 

"There is NOTHING I can do to change to weather today. It would be REALLY good if it were snowing in the mountains and raining here in the valley. But - it is not. I cannot change that. And so - It is OK for me, and I am not an awful person, if I allow myself to revel in the beauty of this day!! SIlver Linings, babies - it's what I am about. Celebrate the good stuff. We will get rain one day. 

But today - I was REALLY happy! My massage was wonderful - the first since Thanksgiving week, and it was just great. Curt, my massage therapist, walked out, used to getting the walker out of the back of my car for me before... but I told him, "Hell, no! Not that thing!" With a smile - and swung out of the car and stood right up with my cane, and picked it up and took a few showoff steps. He was pretty happy for me - he's a great friend as well as massage therapist. 

It was no problem at ALL to cimb up onto the massage table - it has been for a long time... and when it came time to roll over on my back, I was able to do it all on my own, pain free! Curt is used to having to help me rool over and it being REALLY painful and full of "Ouchy noises" as I have referred to them. 

i.e., 

"I make a lot of Ouchy noises - don;t worry - it just hurts, and you'll want to help but there's nothing you can do - so - just ignore me unless I ask for help." Groaning, grunting, intakes of air through my teeth - all involuntary, all unavoidable - BEFORE. All gone now! 

I still have pain, but ever-diminishing, and completely manageable! The only way it holds me back is in the distance I can walk, and my ability to completely freely walk without the cane at all.... 

All in good time. 

SO it was a great, happy day! 

I had one concern, though - all day (Maybe it started a bit yesterday?) I have noticed a slight, mild "clunk" or "Pop" in my left hip joint. Remember - we are watching my joints carefully, having had to have them re-scuplted pretty seriously due to hip dysplasia. Where there is usually no cement used, he used screws - two on the left, and then took extra time, packed it with bone dust and used THREE screws on the right side. The Joy of Genetics!! 

 The left had a very very small gap in one spot on the ex-ray that still needs to fill in with bone. So - Dr Smith is keeping a watch on it. I have an appointment at then end of February (Two months after my post-op appointment) to check the progress. THe thing one does NOT want to happen, is for that little gap to cause instability, and the connection to loosen and start to sort of rock - that's bad - painful - and would need a Revision. IE - he would have to go back in and re-do the socket. I hate that. NO MORE SURGERY - please!!!! 

SO. Hearing - no, really more *feeling* a little clunk with each step of my left leg? A little ominous... 

so I looked it up. I Googled "Is it normal for a hip replacement to click?"

And found this in a Hip Replacement FAQ: "19. Is it normal to have a clicking or a clunk within my hip? • The clicking or clunking some experience following a hip replacement is the artificial surfaces coming together."

So - I'm going to take that as "Normal", and not worry a bit about it.

I have worried and worried so much through this process. I'm done worrying.

Attention must be paid, as a wise man once wrote, and it is. I may even drop a little note to my surgeon to be certain. BUt I feel good and confident about it.

I simply never want to let something like that just go on and on, hoping it gets better, any more.

This afternoon, I loaned a friend my car so she could drive to an audition out of town - SO many people have helped me this past year - when my car dies and I wa without one (I drive half an hour to work, and at that time I was in a professional production - VERY BAD TIMING - also, being about two weeks before my hips finally went South! HAve I mentioned I had a REALLY BAD YEAR?) and I just put the word out - "On the off chance, is there anyone who has a car they are not using who might let me borrow it for a bit?" And within a day I had enough car loans offered to get me through about two months. AMAZING. Then a friend sold me her little darling 1997 Rav4 for $1,000 - it runs beautifully, and is practically custom-made for my short stature - I love this car!

SO - when I heard that my friend needed a way to get to auditions, I was DELIGHTED to pay it forward! Had a lovely visit with her - she's a doll! And sent her off into the sunset with my little car to get her there safely and back.