It truly is a happy Friday, and I'm so grateful for that. I feel really good right now, better than I have in a long time. In fact, I just walked home from my parents' house - three blocks - with virtually no pain and no limp.
This is after a very up and down week. On Tuesday, I was extremely sore and in so much pain after a full day of work. My hip flexors in both hips were so tight, I could barely do anything at PT, so my therapist had me do some stretching and then did some massage. He had me dangle my leg off the side of the table to stretch while he was massaging my hip, which was extremely uncomfortable, but seemed to help a lot. After that, we tried electrical stimulation with heat, which seemed to release some of the tightness. I also spoke with my orthopedist's medical assistant about a pain medication that I could take that would not make me bleed, but that was also not a narcotic. She suggested that I start taking the diclofenac again. I had stopped because my post-op instructions were to take it for four weeks after surgery, which I did. However, I felt like it might be making me feel sort of crappy, and I am positive it gave me GI distress, so I stopped as soon as the instructions said I could. But on Tuesday, I was feeling sort of desperate, so I resumed. And... I definitely had GI distress on Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe it was just coincidence, but maybe not. Ugh. I have had such horrible stomachaches all week that I decided not to take it today. I remember when I first started taking it after surgery, it caused GI distress that went away after about a week, but at this point I just can't put up with that. Hip pain is easier for me to deal with than abdominal pain.
PT and a day of rest on Tuesday were very helpful, and I actually felt pretty good on Wednesday, which was another full day of work for me. I felt even better on Thursday, which was encouraging since it was after a tiring day. Compared to Tuesday, I was a whole world better on Thursday. Unfortunately, Thursday was the height of my GI distress, and although my hips and leg felt good, I was extremely nauseous throughout PT. I sort of mentioned it to my therapist, but I really didn't dwell on it just because I feel like I've been Ms. Gloom and Doom, and I hate that this is the only side of me he has ever seen. I just don't feel like that's me, and I feel like I need to be better than this, especially as I'm reaching the final stage of my rehab. So I tried to focus on how much better my hips felt. Despite my horrid stomachache, I gritted my way through a very full PT session - bike, weights, walking, marching, stretching, stretching and massage, electrical stim... I feel sort of bad because when my therapist was trying to talk to me before I left, I seriously thought I was going to throw up, so I was barely responding to any of what he said. After I got home, I lay down for an hour to let my stomach calm down, and when my stomach pain subsided, I realized that my hip felt awesome.
And today, my hips feel even better. Am I over the 'hump'? Of course, there is still the blood clot, and while my leg is still very swollen, the pain has decreased in my leg as well. There are still some motions that hurt my hip quite a bit that are slightly worrisome, given that the pain is the same sort of pain I had before the surgery, but I am trying not to think about those right now. A very hopeful thing I noticed today is that when I stand up after sitting for a while, my hip doesn't hurt the way that it used to. Before the surgery, one of the hardest things was going from sitting to standing (which I do a lot). After sitting for just 10 minutes or so, I would have to stretch for a good 2-3 minutes before I could even walk at all. Now, sort of by habit, whenever I stand up after sitting, I immediately start to stretch. But I realized today that's not necessary anymore. I do feel a little stiff still, but it's nothing like it was before. So... progress?
Also, it has been three weeks since the blood clot was diagnosed and I started taking Xarelto. This means that I get to move from taking 15 mg twice a day to 20 mg once a day, which is really nice, because I'm not good at remembering to take medication, and it was hard for me to remember to take the second dose at night. I have to hold onto the hope that the decreased pain in my leg means that the medication is working.
Happy Friday, and I hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend. :)
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