20 days post THR and getting better — But still frustration

Hi everyone!  Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since my right THR.  I had my surgical checkup and my doc said I was doing fantastic — walking easily with no cane, incision healing beautifully, etc…

I’ve been doing the home PT and walking a little bit every day, increasing a bit each time.  I only had one setback at the end of last week where I obviously did too much last Friday/Saturday and Saturday my body let me know — a throb and pain in the leg and hip I hadn’t had before.  Took it easy Sun/Mon just doing PT exercises and limited walking and today I feel much better, ready for my first outpatient PT session today and driving again!

The only painful part for me is the back of my knee/leg on the surgical side — Had lots of bruising there and find it is always the most painful and very painful to sleep on it for any period of time — Anyone else have this?

Also, I’m discovering that everyone’s body reacts differently to pain meds — and the process of coming off of them.  I’ve been weaning down off the Tramadol for several days (getting down to only at night) and happy to report I have been only on Tylenol now (which I think does squat but can’t switch to Advil till I finish my Celebrex in about a week) — But I can tell my body is struggling with the removal of the stronger drug.  I’m more easily upset, felt weaker, I don’t feel ‘like myself’ — but it is getting better.  I know not everyone has adverse reactions to pain drugs but this has been a great lesson for me if I ever need pain meds again.

I can relate to Andy’s recent post about tapering Tramadol!  Some of these meds are just so complex it’s hard to know how your body reacts.

Excited for outpatient PT today and ready to push myself!  Thanks for everyone’s great stories.