Week 7

Here is seven weeks, and I’m still making great progress. As predicted, toward the end of Week 6 I did stop using my ski poles. I’m walking much more normally now. A couple days ago I even drove the car for the first time! That was…okay. Lifting my own leg to move from the gas to the brake and back was rather painful but I could do it. I’m not quite ready to drive myself as far as San Francisco, but hopefully I can the following week. 

Apart from now being able to put my own bottoms on, I can also kind of put my socks and shoes on. It still hurts, but it’s less unbearable than before. I still ask for help with it, but I can do it myself if necessary. Since it’s fire season in California, I must be ready to evacuate at any time, and now I’ll be capable of doing that alone if such a situation arises. 

In PT I’m moving on to clamshells and flamingo balancing. The clamshell, pictured below, is an exercise I used to do back in middle school when I was trying Pilates for my hips. The Pilates did not help, and I remember hating the clamshell because it hurt me so much. So far, doing the clamshell post-surgery has not pained me greatly. This is a really positive sign that the surgery was successful. This time around I like doing clamshells! And today in PT, I did a total of thirty squats. I held onto straps for support, but that was a huge deal. My legs wanted to wobble out from under me at the end. I am building up my strength!

Recently, Greg has been ramping up the deep tissue work on my hips. Since my incisions have healed, he now can dig into the scars to prevent any scar tissue developing. Ouch. This really hurts, since my surgery sites are still super sore. Brandon has also started moving the tissue in my adductors, and that is super painful, too. He says my tissues feel crunchy, like aluminum foil. Thank goodness he’s there to smooth out the crunch! I’m so glad I have people as knowledgable as Greg and Brandon doing this for me! I had nothing—no PT at all after my previous surgery. The combined tissue work and exercises in PT are giving me every possible chance to recover in the best way.

Flamingo balancing

Clamshells

Extended weight shifting