Question
Hello again Sharon - I tried posting a follow up but there was no place to on the screen that came up so . . . thank you so much for all your info.

Happy early 50th birthday - its a big one so you need to celerate for a full year :))

I am on antidepressants and I still have had my very depressing days where I think I will be in pain forever.  I had to get off the narcotics as they made me sick and also seemed to give me bad mood swings.

Let me ask you this - am I ever going to be able to bend over (after 2 THRs and a revision) and pick up a frisbee off the ground to play with the dogs or pick up a dropped pill off the floor or is my grapper a part of my life forever ?

Also, is there any way to get down on the ground and back up ?  My physical therapist says no.  She was here yesterday and I used the walker to get to the stairs and went down them with crutches and then back onto the walker to the door and then to the crutches for the stairs to the garage and then back on the walker outside.  What a treat.  I was outside for the second time in a month and it felt great.  The othr time was to go to the Dr. and I was in much more pain then and did not enjoy the freedom then.

I have sheep an goats and very much desire to be a part of the birthing proess again and also sitting out on the ground and cuddling lambs, kids, and the dogs.

One of my goals is to be able to take my dog on a leash across the street into the national forest on Labor Day.  We have lived here almost 4 years and my hip situation has been going on almost that long and I've never been into the forest with my dog.

Thank you again for being there and have a GREAT birthday.  Rosie  

Answer
Hi again Rose

My home email is:

[email protected]
feel free to email me there.

I am actually turning 49 not 50 on July 1, so I'll stay in the 40's as long as I can....LOL

Unfortunately I was also on very high narcotics.  I was on the morphine patch and I was so sick from it, I weaned myself off of it.  It was awful.  Every now and then I have to take a Tylenol 3, but it's very rare.  I just don't like the way pain meds make me feel.  I cannot take anti inflammatories since I also had a kidney transplant 33 years ago, so I have to go with Tylenol which normally doesn't work all that great.

The anti depressants will help you and truly, as you get more and more independant, you will need them less and less.  The thing that makes us depressed is the "loss of control" we feel.

You should be able to eventually bend over to  pick something up, but you will have to be careful.  You'll have to bend at the waist, and turn your knees outward when you bend.  You'll never be able to sqat again or you risk a dislocation.  But give it time.  I still use my grabber a lot.  Bending is just too much effort and after many, much too many, dislocations, I'd rather be safe than sorry.  So use the grabber and eventually you'll be able to do the waist bend.  Remember bending at the waist to the floor will still keep you in that good 90 degree area.  Just keep those knees pointing out when you bend and get the OK from your PT first before you go and do it.

As far as getting up from the ground, no you can't.  I fell the other day and someone had to bring me a chair that I could pull myself up from.  It was raining out and I came into a doorway and my shoe was wet on the bottom and I slipped and fell.  I was terrified.  I had to call for someone to help get me the chair.  If I ever fall, and there is no one around, I'm in trouble.

I remember when I was in a body cast and had my third surgery.  I was not allowed to go out (due to health insurance reasons, not sickness) and one day, after three months in the house I thought I'd go absolutely stir crazy.  If the health people saw me outside, I could have lost my coverage.  I have a one floor house, so I went into the car while it was in the garage, and had a hat on and he took me to the beach for a ride in the car and I cried becuase I had been in the house so long.  It was awful.  I had an ice cream in the car and I cried from that little pleasure so I know where you are coming from, I truly do.

You will take the dog out in the forest.  I'd be careful with a forest as the ground is not level and may be a bit dangerous, but you could at least go to a park, don't you think?  But you never know, you might be able to go to the forest, take it slow and steady and you might just be there.

Again, feel free to email me at home anytime.  

sharon