Hip surgery recovery - weeks 3 and 4

​​Welcome back to the blog and thanks for reading!  I am currently in week 4 and feel like right now I’m beginning to enter “The Danger Zone.”  What I mean by this is that I’ve now returned to a pretty normal life and feel pretty good doing most things that I’m allowed to do, which is why it’s dangerous!  I still can’t swim, or run, or walk around a lot, or sit in a chair normally, or drive long distances, or do any lower body work that isn’t rehab, or sleep well in my bed, or put socks on, or tie my shoes, or many of the things that I want to do…..BUT, I can do pretty much everything else (like drink beer, smash pizzas, binge watch, get fat, do my job, do some chores around the house, use the bathroom without help).  The point is, I’m getting better, and as my discomfort decreases, my sub-conscious awareness of my injury and limitations also decreases, and that’s how I’ve hurt myself in the past week.  Keep reading to find out this week’s revelations:

​Things that are new and/or better:

• Stairs!  I can go up and down them normally!  I conquered going up them a little after 2 weeks, but just got back to going down them while walking normally in the last day or two.  Now I have to stop asking my wife to get things that are on a different level of the house.  Upon further consideration, this should be probably be under things that suck.
• Work.  I went back to work for 3 half days at 2 weeks out, and back to full time this week.  I have to stretch repeatedly throughout the day, and I do get fairly uncomfortable and fatigued in my Psoas areas at the 6 hour mark, so that’s not great, but I’m happy to be productive again.
• Cycling!  I’ve been able to cycle on my Tri-bike.  Each day adding a little more.  I really need to not miss any days on this, but even though I get my therapy in each day, I’m still not riding as consistently as I should be. 
• Chores – I alluded to this in the open and am actually happy to be able to contribute to the operations of the house.  Not doing cartwheels and high-fiving happy, but pleased to lessen the load on my wife, who was happy to wait on me 24/7 for a few weeks and now is happy to not do that.  God bless her!
• My handicap parking pass!  I can’t walk long distances.  I can’t carry anything heavy (did once out of habit, hurt myself almost immediately).  To be honest, it actually hasn’t been that big of a deal to have the pass, other than at my office.  Most of the time we park in a normal spot.  Although it was nice at Costco.
• Physical Therapy – I’ve been doing the small motion things for the last three weeks, and it seems like I’m at the point that I’m going to start ramping it up, and that’s when things get tough!  This week we started some lateral movement, and they’ve been hitting me hard with the Graston Technique to reduce some of my scar tissue and chronic tendinitis in my IT band, quad, hamstring, glute, and groin.  My hip is a mess.  It’s not comfortable, but it’s also my favorite part of PT.  It’s a good pain, and I love it. (Hey, what a great time to let you know that you can get 15% off your purchases at lovethepain.com with my code IDIPHON at checkout).
• I went to the gym for the first time since the surgery, and I am now fully “that guy at the gym” who only does biceps curls.  I also threw in some shoulder work.  Just using 20lb dumbbells and some machines so as not to strain my core too much, but it was really nice to get back in there.  When your hips don't work, every day is upper body day!  
• Binge Watch Update:  Now that I'm back at work, the binge watching has been severely reduced, which honestly is very healthy.  I'm half way through Marco Polo, S2, stared Deadwood S2, started The Americans S3, and I'm pretty excited to start Mr. Robot as I've heard great thins.
• I'm back to enjoying the lake life (albeit slightly limited).  

Get your USA Flag Original Buff right here

• The weather is still nice, and I still can’t swim in any form or fashion.
• I feel pretty good throughout the day, right up until I don’t, and then it sucks.  It’s pretty easy to over­-do it, even when you’re not trying.  Most of the day I’ll be OK, and then it just starts to hurt.  More fatigue/discomfort really than pain.
• Putting on socks or tying shoes – don’t even bother.  Boat shoes or no shoes.  I almost cried when I put socks on by myself the other day.  In that moment, I forgot that I was injured.  I was reminded real quick.  I have developed a position to do both of these things, but it’s pretty dumb looking and not comfortable, so I’ll stick with the sock-less and lace-less route for a little while longer.  Baby Powder FTW!
• Full-fledged fat attack!  Between my wife’s birthday party and the Fourth of July, I’ve been on a massive fat attack.  The official count is 15lbs over the last 3 weeks.  I’m not burning any calories, and I’m consuming mass quantities, so none of this is surprising.  Plus, this is always the pattern I follow.  As my activity levels begin to increase, I will begin to clean up the diet and start working it off, but for the time being, it’s back in my fatter pants.
• All my teams lost in the Euro 2016.  The little guys did admirably though, so that was nice to see.

So that's it for now, I'm working on squatting, leg extensions, hip hinges, and still squeezing that butt cheek!  I'll be cleared for water activities soon and cannot wait to put myself in a tube and float on the lake!  Thanks for visiting, shop on Amazon by clicking on any of my links to support the site :)  Leave me a comment if you're a fellow "Hipster." I would strongly encourage getting yourself some of these Graston tools, as they will definitely help you in any form of recovery.