My Hip Replacement #15

It’s now been six weeks since my hip replacement and that meant another check with the doctor, this time with x-rays and changes to my daily regimen. Good changes in fact.
Yesterday I had a regular PT appointment in the morning and my therapist said he was recommending I be allowed back on my bicycle. He also intimated that I wasn’t going to need all nine of my remaining appointments as my progress has been excellent. I’m not sure how many I’ll need, but I am headed back tomorrow and suspect I’ll find out.
Since last week my incision continues to heal and looks much better than it did in past weeks. I saw the my plastic surgeon today (there’s a statement I never thought I’d make) and he is very happy with the way things are going. So much so that I don’t need to see him for about three weeks. It would have been two but I’ll be on the mainland and it’s not urgent, unless there are bad changes.
Then it was off to the x-ray department where I had some shots taken of my hip for review. It was pretty unremarkable.
And then my it was back to my surgeon’s office. I saw his assistant again who is a great guy. He checked my wound as well and was happy with the progress as well and happy with the plastic surgeon’s work.
He then showed me the x-rays and said that he could see no gaps that would suggest the device had loosened anywhere: this would lead to trouble. In fact he pulled out earlier x-rays and pointed out where it appears that the bone has done some healing and filled in some spaces between bone and device. Yes!
Then he confirmed that I was allowed back on my bicycle subject to common sense. In short, if it hurts, don’t do it. I’ve been on the stationary bike and doing well so pedaling on flats isn’t going to be the problem: long distances and major hills will come in time.
I’m also allowed to stop using compression hose on a daily basis, though I’m encouraged to use them for any airline flights, and I do have several coming up soon, as well any long drives I might be on. I don’t have those planned. He also said I could get new ones that just went to my knees instead of the one’s I’ve been using the climb my thighs. I’ll look around for some colorful ones.
All in all it appears that everything is currently doing really well. Yes, I still have more healing to do and won’t be able to swim for a while, but hey, I wasn’t doing much of that recently anyway. My bones need to heal a bit more too before I put them to big tests like rides across Iowa (I do wish I could do RAGBRAI this year but no).
And now? It’s time to do some laundry, put some air in my tires, and take my first bike ride in a bit over six weeks. Yes!!!