Henry Warner Hip Resurfacing Day 4

Monday, Day 4 was Memorial Day.  It pretty much rained all day, despite the optimistic forecast of several days ago.  Today Henry Warner left the house for the first time as we went to look at a couple of wedding event locations and wedding guest accommodation sites for our daughter Lindsay’s wedding next year.  As such, I had to get in and out of the car several times.  I found that I could get out of the front seat without assistance, but getting in was another story.  I had no strength to lift my leg into the car, so someone had to do the lifting for me.

I am definitely progressing.  I am using just one crutch to get around; never two.  On occasion, I am standing without any assistance, such as at the kitchen sink.  The hip feels solid and I don’t have any feeling of potential collapse or failure.  But I need to be careful and not get over-confidant.  A fall would obviously be quite nasty and harmful.

I am still experiencing the “clunking” sensation.  For example, I might walk a bit and stop, then I get a feeling like the joint clunks or settles down like maybe a sixteenth of an inch.  It’s almost like it is seating itself and locking into place.  I’ll continue to monitor and report on this sensation on a daily basis, but at this point I am assuming it is the normal clunking reported by many for the first several weeks.  I will also ask Dr. Pritchett about this at my first post-operation of June 7.

I am happy to report today, though, that the pinching sensation I felt several times yesterday seems to be diminished today.  This is a somewhat subjective conclusions, so we will let more time pass before I declare victory in this regard.

My pain level continues to be quite low.  I took two 500 mg acetaminophen tablets this morning along with two 325 mg aspirin pills.  I did this more out of a feeling that it was beneficial, rather than actually being in pain.  When I am sitting or walking, there is basically zero pain.  I only feel pain at an extreme motion moment or when pushing a stretch.  With dinner, I took two 325 mg aspirins, but no acetaminophen.

While I am walking quite comfortably, it is a challenge to do leg raise movements.  For example, sitting on my recliner chair, it is very difficult to slide my operated leg outwards and to retract it inwards, as this requires lifting the leg slightly off the leg rest.  I can lift my non-operated leg off the leg rest quite easily, but I cannot budge the operated leg even a quarter of an inch in a leg-raise motion.  This prevents me from doing any abductor and adductor type motions while sitting or lying on the bed.

Another thing to mention is the dressing that was applied over the incision.  It itches constantly.  I don’t know if I am reacting to the dressing material or it is just the wound healing.  I would love to give that area a good scratching, but obviously can’t at this stage.  The dressing is to remain until seven days after the operation.

But all-in-all, I can’t complain about where I am at the end of Day 4.  I feel relatively good, am mostly pain free and my strength is slowly returning.

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