Post Surgery: Day 4

Highlights:

• I drove today!
• It didn't hurt. At least, it didn't hurt that much. Driving had already become sort of painful for me before surgery and I don't think it was any worse today than before.
• I got the kids to daycare/summer camp. This was out of necessity due to my husband's work schedule, but it was a feeling of accomplishment nonetheless. My doctor had said that I could drive once I was off the pain meds, and I haven't taken a pain pill since Tuesday morning.
• I started physical therapy.
• After I dropped the kids off, I went to work, since the kids go to daycare/summer camp at the university, and the university is halfway between my house and physical therapy. At the beginning of the summer, I had not planned on having hip surgery, so all my stuff was up in my office. In my last-minute frenzy to prepare for surgery, the one thing I forgot to do was go up to the university and get all my stuff so I could work from home.
• Because I teach science, and science books weigh, like, 30 pounds each, I needed help getting four books plus all my notebooks from my office to my car. If that sounds super wimpy, keep in mind this is a college campus, and there is long, hilly trek involved between where I can park and where my office is.
• Fortunately, I have a couple of awesome colleagues who helped me carry everything down to my car. I hate asking for help, but sometimes you just have to.
• We left my office promptly at 11:30, and I didn't pull out of the parking lot until 11:50, that's how slow I am and how long things take.
• As a result, I was sort of late for PT. I mean, I was supposed to be there at noon to do paperwork, although my appointment wasn't until 12:15 so I'm not sure how late I actually ended up being. I think I pulled into the parking lot at a little past noon, then I'm sure it took me at least ten minutes to get up to the third floor, then go the bathroom, and get a drink of water. I totally had to go to the bathroom when I left work, but I didn't because the bathroom is about 200 yards from my office and it was too much work. (Okay, so I guess I am super wimpy, LOL.) We did go past it on the way out, but I didn't want to go while my colleagues were waiting for me. Stupid, but some things are just embarrassing.
• Physical therapy was okay. I have mixed feelings about PT. In some cases, I've felt like PT is glorified training room stuff, and in others, I've had really great and knowledgeable therapists who were definitely the main factor in my recovery. I mean, coming from an athletic background, I've gone through a lot of PT sessions where we didn't do anything that I wasn't doing on my own already just from working with my coaches. Today was one of those sessions, although I guess it is hard to do much more than isometric exercises when you aren't bearing full weight on the affected limb. However, the therapist was just sort of so-so. She told me she only worked on Fridays, so I was sure not to schedule any more appointments on Fridays, which aren't the best for me anyway.
• The therapist encouraged me to take my pain meds and told me I should not be driving, which didn't sit that well with me. For one, my doctor specifically said it was okay if I drove if I was not taking pain meds, which is actually one reason I stop taking them as soon as I felt my pain was manageable. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-pain medication; pain medication is a godsend when the alternative is being in a massive amount of unbearable pain. I've just never been huge into any sorts of medication, and I'm somewhat paranoid about becoming addicted to a medication the same way I'm paranoid about falling down stairs. Thus, I tend not to take a medication unless something is really horrid, or taking the medication can make something annoying go away very quickly (e.g., antibiotics for strep throat). 
• If I'm doing an exercise and the therapist asks me how it feels, and I say it 'hurts a little,' I don't think it merits a lecture on taking my pain meds. I'm pretty sure I know when I need them. I did take them the first day just because I was afraid of what would happen when the feeling returned to my leg, and I wanted to be ahead of the game, but I think that risk of severe pain is over.
• When I got home, I was sooooo tired. Or sooooo something not good. I've been in sort of a funk (including a few minutes of private tears) all afternoon and evening.
• I'm not sure why. I don't know if it is just fatigue or work depression (that is a different story, but never mind that, this is just about my hip :)). I think part of it is that I feel good enough to get back into doing some of my normal stuff, which a few days ago was awesome. However, now that I'm over the initial euphoria of OMG I FEEL GREAT! life is just ho-hum normal crappy stuff, only with the added inconvenience of the fact that all of this ho-hum normal crappy stuff is 20x harder and more tiring for me and I accomplish 1/20th of what I would normally. Like, I feel way too good to lie around just reading or watching DVDs or doing whatever, but at the same time, trying to live normally and accomplish a normal day's worth of work is exhausting.