After Surgery

This is a picture of a rainbow from my window at the rehab hospital, the evening before I left to come home.

I had surgery on May 12 to repair my fractured, impacted hip with great results. I had a bone graft done and a total hip replacement. I had to wait 9 months to get the surgery, and I am now feeling like it was worth the wait. When I stand now (although I'm not supposed to) I don't lean anymore! Both of my legs match in length again.

I don't remember much about the first several days post op. I do have a couple memories of them getting me out of bed and how heavy my leg felt and how much pain I was in. They got me out of bed every day and I was faithful about doing breathing exercises every 2 hours. By the 5th day they were ready to send me on my way and off I went to a rehab hospital. By this time, my hip was already starting to feel better than at any time since I had broken it!

My six days at rehab were great. I went kicking and screaming but soon found myself enjoying it very much. The staff made me feel welcomed and good about any progress that I made and there was lots of laughter and work. They even incorporated elements of their pulmonary rehab program into my PT and OT programs. This particular hospital actually has an inpatient pulmonary rehab program and if I should have an exacerbation and need pulmonary rehab, I will certainly do that.

I had PT and OT and nurse visits for about 3 weeks after I returned home. The nurse would check my vital signs and assess my suture line, which was healed by the time I got home. PT and OT did exercises with me and just a couple of weeks ago, put me on hold until I get permission to progress with weight bearing. So I spend about a half hour to 45 minutes each day doing exercises on my own.

So that is my journey so far. I hope to be walking by fall, but that's getting ahead of myself and I will continue to exercise so that I'm ready when the day arrives!

~Eileen

Tuesday - August 14, 2007

Ahhh, the sweet smell of progress! Rehab has felt like it's been going at a snail's pace for the past few weeks; my recovery from pneumonia and this most recent exacerbation has been tortuously slow. But by the end of last week, and more so this week, I have felt better and more able to tolerate movement without disabling shortness of breath.


My friend Gail has been bringing me to rehab since I got out of the hospital and wheeling me from the entrance to the rehab room. Today I walked from the parking lot, into the hospital and to the rehab room by myself. I rested once about half way through. I also walked all of the way back to my car. How sweet it is!


I rested for a few minutes once I got to the rehab room and my BP was 155/87. This is pretty high for me, but I figured the effort of walking in might be the cause. I have a history of high blood pressure, but it's been down since I don't work full time anymore. It was a stressful job and my blood pressure has been good since leaving the job.


First I went to the UBE and worked my uppper arms for 20 minutes. I rested and headed over to the Nu-step. I worked my arms and legs for 20 minutes, and did 1,660 steps on Level 5. Up 5 minutes from last week!


Then on to the treadmill and I finally made it to 15 minutes at .9MPH. Sweet, sweet, sweet! 5 minutes on it had been torture for weeks and now at the slower speed, I am able to do better. This makes me feel so much better about how it's all going!


I can't say enough about being persistent and consistent with trying. I thought I might be in for a decline but it looks like I will be able to come back and even be better if I keep trying and be patient!


Progress, not perfection!


~Eileen

August 9, 2007

While rehab didn't happen on Tuesday because of continued oxygen problems, Thursday was great. There was progress and my oxygen issues have been resolved.

I went for 20 minutes on the UBE without experiencing any muscle burn. For some reason, the time just seems to fly by when I'm sitting there peddling my arms. I'm relaxed and I listen to conversations around me and let my mind just wander wherever it wants to go.

Next was the Nu-step and I did it for 15 minutes, doing 1,200 steps on Level 5. I would probably gone 20 minutes, but there were about 11 of us at rehab and someone was waiting for the machine. For the lot of us there are 4 treadmills, 2 UBE machines, 3 recumbent bikes and 2 Nu-steps. There is also a gazelle and a rower and multiple bikes that are rarely used, at least in our class.

When I went to the TM, I decided to try it slower to see if I could do better and sure enough, I was able to get to 10 minutes. For me this is a huge improvement. I really think that now that I've discovered my speed for now, (1.2 - .9)I will be able to get to 15 minutes next week and who knows from there.

My O2 sats ran around 95-96%, my pulse would get up into the 120's, but the best was my blood pressure which ran around 103/64! My pulse did come down during rest periods and maybe by next week it will be lower still.

I can't wait to see how I do next week!

~Eileen