Had my second follow-up appointment with my surgeon today. Everything is coming along smoothly. My PT weaned me off crutches, one crutch at a time. It was a quick transition from two crutches to one so I could carry stuff around (especially food or beverages). On my fourth week post-op, she had me start walking around the house without crutches. It took a full week before I was able to go the whole day without becoming painful and reverting back to one-crutch walking. So I was fully off crutches on the fifth-week post-op. I also started driving that week. Driving felt fine as long as the road wasn’t too bumpy and I would need a stretching/standing break every two hours for a long road trip. Since then, PT started transitioning from stabilization exercises to more strengthening exercises.
I’m not much of a supplement person but decided to take glucosamine while healing. My surgeon was ambivalent whether I take it or not but did recommend glucosamine/chondroitin 1500mg/1200mg dosage if I did want to take it, so that is what I’m taking daily. I still take 600-800mg ibuprofen in the morning and again before bed every day to keep inflammation down, and I’ll take a third dose mid-day if I’m sore. I still ice the area if I do something to really aggravate pain, typically a squatting move or sitting and reaching far forward. But the pain isn’t bad, more of a deep achiness, usually a 3 or 4 out of 10. And after icing, extra ibuprofen, and rest, the pain is usually gone by the next day.
I am sore this week because we started incorporating shallow squats into the exercises. The surgeon said it was normal for pain to flair with increased vigorousness of PT so she wasn’t worried about it. But she did want me to wait another six weeks before adding high impact activities such as running. I’ll be seeing her again at the three-month post-op mark at the end of September, then once more at the six-month post-op mark at the end of December. I asked her again if she thinks I’ll be able to thru-hike next July. She said yes without hesitation so that made me happy.
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