It hit a gawd awful 91 here today. Lucky for me work has ac unlike my house. If another texan tries to tell me how "nice" the weather is, they should look at the dont fish its too hot for trout as a this is not normal. 91 might be nice for texas. It SHOULD be in the upper 70s. And they need to realize the weather does not care where they are from and that there is still snow up high and pack for the hike accordingly and with supplies for if you get stuck overnight.

You really have me worried about having hip surgery next month. Like enough so that jerry is going to get his learner permit (at 60) because im worried about the driving. And I m worried about him driving what i turned my truck into and learning on it before i get the fuel injector replaced.

How are the pups, and you? Sorry about the tourist rant. Logger days festival, working at the only liquor store in town when there is a shortage of coors lite is way not fun. And it was just friday so im worried whats going to happen when the town runs out of everything but bud products again.

Rain? Here? Oy! We have had no damage though s here places on the country had slice pipes start to wash out. But not so many that the high way dept couldn't keep up with repairs.

But walking across the lawn, even though mowed, i have to wear rain boots cause it's squish squish splash splash thanks to our poorly drained soil. And it will be a while before mowing can happen, husband doesn't like to leave ruts in the lawn.

And that "keep up" with things. Ai yi yi! I can't. The wild blackberries, black raspberries, goldenrod, wild grapes and multiflora rose are growing back faster than i can whack them down. But my marigolds are rotting. Partially, I think, due to a bumper crop of slugs and snail



Here's a picture for you - i thought Ami was blowing coat but it was weird. Usually o can do a quick raking of the rug with a long handled brush and the hair comes up but wasn't happening. Just floating in the air. After a few days, dawned on me it's down from our comforter. Which is always on a duvet so i didn't notice any holes. I expected to find that either Archer had chewed a hole or Ami had left a 3 corner tear from his nails when jumping up. Nope. Comforter is old and one of the seams in the quilting had frayed in several places. Fixed now but I suspect it's on its way out. Sigh it was a very expensive comforter that we got marked way down on a return. Really not replaceable these days.

@lostmaniac If you've said, I don't remember what type of hip surgery you being blessed with but from what I've read they're all about the same after the fact. I'm at 6 weeks after surgery and pretty much on par. Total recovery should be in the 8 week range, less if you're younger, more if you're older.

For me... no walking for the first week. Standing on good leg wasn't a problem but couldn't put any weight on the bad leg <period>
Second and third week was walking with a walker, turn wrong and it HURT! but at least I was on MY feet.
I finally got in the Jeep this last week and drove into Terlingua (20 m) to get some food that I didn't have to cook. Working the brake was a little stiff and the leg ended up being sore ... give it time to heal and we'll be okay but I'm impatient.

Something I've heard from some of the others down here who've had hip or knee surgery, be prepared to lose weight! I lost almost 30 pounds (188 -> 165) For me it's a combination of food doesn't taste right (two weeks non-smoking in hospital. I haven't had a cig since Jun 3!) and trying to cook anything standing on one leg / holding onto a walker/crutch ... I don't have time for that!

The pain hasn't been bad but I hear various from others. I've always had a pretty high pain tolerance so extra strength Tylenol or Aleve worked well, other have to have a narcotic (and I was offered while in hospital) to dull the pain.

Well, it's got to be a government conspiracy! Why us it that you all up east who don't need the rain are getting so much of it and we haven't seen a drop??? Sorry you're getting so much and wish there were a way to spread it around.

I've got a bit of the same problem, my comforter - what I sleep on and throw over me when it gets cool - has been the victim of age and dog abuse. Seems as if someone has been chewing on the corners and the batting has been coming out.

Something called a core decompression of the femoral head i guess the bone is dying and this is supposed to prevent me needing a hip replacement. Basically its they cut out or drill out the dead bone and then bone graft it and hope it grows back. If it doesnt then its a full blown hip replacement. Im already on tramadol and gabapentin and meloxicam. I am very worried my do something to not think about pain, pain management isnt going to work. And i worry that i walk about 15 miles a day (mostly in circles behind the couch) because i cant stay still and well something tells me pacing is going to be out for awhile. Losing some weight wouldn't be bad. For my size my weight is fine but for my back being about 10 lbs underweight is better. Dunno about jerry cooking and stuff. Not to mention i might be ok with the 4 miles into town but he has no business going farhter then that and we are gonna go broke at the highway robbery prices that rainbow charges and the dollar general Basically only has canned and boxed food. I do wonder how many days a week we are gonna end up at the 1 good restaurant in town and how many days a week can i really eat mexican food.

Lucky for me the truck is an automatic... but the surgery is on my right hip so that could be a problem. Same with the standing on the left foot to be able to see backing up.

I guess im lucky mine dont have a thing for blankets and rugs. Spider has her sheet that she shreds and then i get her a new one. But we do have thr insides of pillows all over the cacti. Spider likes to attack them and do the death shake and then pillow stuffing goes everywhere. I guess its why they have 3 dollar walmart ned pillows instead of dog beds. Mine like to throw the blankets and pillows on the floor even the ones on the couch. Weird dogs.

How ya doin' Al? Between your hip and the heat, I worry about you when you haven't posted in a while. We're still getting rain almost every day and this week, possibly approaching 90⁰. Maybe the first this summer? Summers more than half over and doesn't really feel like we've even begun - but given what the rest of the planet is experiencing, I'm not gonna complain!

How's I doin'? Well, ma'am, I'm not really sure. The hip varies between agony and 'it hurts' and by now I should be moving around on it but the pain from the top of my thigh puts a stop to that ... I have an appt with the surgeon this Friday and we're going to have a talk then.

"approaching 90°" oh that'd be heavenly! We get down to the 70's overnight but then by 11:00 we're back up to pushing 100 again.

To sum it up succinctly, it's been a miserable early summer and I'm real ready for it to get over!

Im praying for clouds. I know it sounds funny but its been low 90s bere and where did monsoon season go. And yes its nothing compared to tx but even the cacti are dying.

So do you think the surgery failed?

Our monsoon season - for what it was - was very early, like in May. I'd like to see some more rain but not if it means an increase in the humidity.

I think the biggest problem with the hip is that I don't really know what I can and can't do and I've probably stressed it more than I should have. Overall it's improving - I don't normally hurt, so having something that takes time to heal is (at least mental) agony!

Welp. Glad you're alive and, week at least, partially, kicking. Just reread that this month is the hottest month in human history. I sure hope I'm not looking at the demise of humanity in my life time. I've thought for several years that were probably passed the tipping point. Now it's more than just a random thought and more a background sadness for my children and grandchildren. I always thought I would be too old to see the consequences, not so sure anymore. Hopefully, the human race is adaptable.

@amymeme Visit with the surgeon yesterday and another set of x-rays. Comparing this set with the ones from two weeks ago ... much better. The older set I could still see the 'crack' in the femur. The set this week the crack in the side shot was still visible (barely) but from the front it wasn't, so it is healing (he says!) "Whatever you're doing is good, so keep doing it!" I'm using one crutch most of the time now (down from two) and getting a cane in the mail Monday (would have gotten it Friday but our paths didn't cross right.) which will aggravate me but in time it'll be better than the crutch.

I have to keep my political views closely guarded. "There is no such thing as climate change, we've always had fluctuations." Nope, that isn't a point to ague, much less discuss ... so I just don't say anything. I have no kids but like you look around and wonder what this world is going to become and how soon. I don't like the looks of what I see and thankfully, I'll hopefully be gone before it becomes untenable.

So how goes the hip and pups and stuff?

Lostmaniac wrote:

So how goes the hip and pups and stuff?

The hip's doing pretty well. Using a cane when I go out for anything but not a lot in the house - all depends on how steady I feel. If I'd know it took a hip this long to heal I think I'd have gone for breaking something else - my skull maybe?? I really can't think of anything that shouldn't be healed at 15 weeks!

Pups - I'd have to look back but I think I kept telling Chuck that I really didn't want a puppy right now - until he said that this was going to be his last litter and I did want one of his dogs. Chuck picked Zeus up when I broke my hip and sent him on to Nancy and she's had Zeus for 13 weeks - more time than I've had him - and I'm comfortable with just Sky and Avalanche so I'm thinking it's time for a call telling her that I'm willing to let her have him as long as I get him if anything happens that she needs to get rid of any of her dogs. None of us are getting any younger ... in fact, I think she's a year or two older than I am.

Stuff - this last year I've really started feeling old. Okay, I know I'm as old as Methuselah, maybe a bit older, don't know but haven't felt old until this last year. Walking a half mile is a long walk (and I need to get out and walk for me and the dogs); housecleaning is a chore (okay, it is literally, but ...) and regrettably my house is beginning to look like that's my train of thought. Something that bugs the blazes out of me is to hear a group complaining that "There's no work down here!" but the refuse a $15/hour house work job. With me, if they do a half way decent job, it'd be 3-4 hours a week ... but "No, there's no place to work down here ..." <expletive deleted>

I forget, you said you were on crutches but I forget why? Wanna grouse a bit about crutches / walkers / canes ????

Glad to hear you're improving, Al but sorry it's taking so long. I'm still resisting household help but hubby is getting more and more adamant as I'm not keeping up with it and it shows. We have a ton of Airbnbs here and helping has become big business. And expensive. If available. Something like 25 an hour. Real shortage of labor here - restaurants curtains hours and they have no help. Husband has problems with vertigo and hip pain along with intermittent gout so he is not up to a lot of heavy cleaning. And this summer has been miserable between my knee and the stenosis in my back. What's good for the knee (rest) is not good for the stenosis (which needs activity, sitting aggravates it big time.) And then my mouth is still a problem - can't quite get that infection in the bone to be gone. Besides the expense and the availability, I'm just not a fan of the intrusion into privacy that a housecleaner entails. But, maybe heading that way.

I am facing facts and getting an appt with orthopedist about my knee. Possibly have a Baker's cyst behind the knee, yesterday looked to be swelling below the knee front, medial and there was some heat. I can't take ibuprofen and such so normally i might take one or 2 doses of prednisone to calm both my stenosis and the knee but with this infection in my mouth, I don't dare. I knew upfront the periapical lesson was large and wouldn't see improvement for at least 6 months and complete healing up to 2 years but i was hopeful the active infection would abate. She's gonna see me the end of the month to see if the latest round of antibiotic helped but we may be looking at surgical clean out of the lesion at this point. So not very happy on that front. Getting old definitely ain't for sissies

Gonna be a conundrum here if I need anything extensive done on the knee - we heat with wood and hubby thinks he has a hernia forming. He's trying to live with it but it's becoming symptomatic for brief moments. Will be very interesting if we're both hobbled at the same time.

Are you happy or not so much with Zeus getting a new home? I know he was a handful and rather disrupted your routine.

I had something they call a core decompression. My understanding is that they removed most of my femur head, all the dead bone then packed it with bone graft material and bone marrow they harvested from my hip. I was on 0 weight bearing for a month and have been able to put weight on it now for 8 days. I think the crutches gave me a permanent scar on my palm. They want me to use a cane but i cant find one that isnt old person girly or has a sword inside without spending alot so i just limp along. Seems like as long as i dont try and pivot on that hip mostly im ok just a little sore with some crazy muscle pain at night. And i feel old. And i find that funny because with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis i have been having to tell people im not old and its not just an old person disease since i was 6.

I pay my housecleaner $20 an hour and she comes for about 4 hours on sunday. Took 18 months to find her. Its the same here where the str takeover left no housing for workers so almost everyone here either already has 3 jobs or is retired. Im working with someone on a business plan for a yoga studio that has cbd products (him and his wife) and a sandwich shop (my project) and can the 3 of us realistically run that if we cant find help. Now as far as fixing my house goes.... im going to learn how to brickwebb a wall by watching it done on the floor infront of the wood stove and the videos on the old mill brick website. Im going to have major carpentry work in the spring because im not broke but im not a rich texan that can afford to drop 40k into fixing everything at one time so getting help with that is impossible. I guess thats why i just fixed a broken window today with superglue. Called the only window place that will come out and they will only come out for 4 windows min and i can afford to do them 1 at a time.

Sad about zues. I would have taken him if you stuck him on a plane to colorado.

Anyway its good your healing. I was told it would be 6 months to a year before im back to 100% and maybe longer if i dont lose the weight i gained siting around.

@amymeme i had a suspected bakers cyst. I hope thats all it is. Mine turned out to be a schwannoma.

@lostmaniac this is what I finally got https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JN76QHF?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 there were several cheaper but this one looked better as far as the ability to set it to length.

@amymeme Zeus is still a foster home situation. In theory I can still bring him home but the woman who has him has been insistent that she is the better home. He did help with the chaos level but then he was a puppy ... I'd like a bigger dog, but I'd really want to be able to have one after one or both of these two pass on.

@lostmaniac have you considered walking/trekking poles instead? My PT back on 2013 prescribed them to help me strengthen my core - i found them to be a very cool, athletic alternative to a cane. I got them rather cheap at Walmart. Something like this:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-Aluminum-Adustable-Quick-Lock-Trekking-Pole-with-EVA-Grip-1-PACK/832599813?athbdg=L1600&from=/search

Yeah i have 2 that cost me the battery use made of peeled aspen. Home made ones are trendy here, but the metal ones are everywhere considering we are a continental divide trail town. And really we have a phone at the trailhead that calls someone specific and they will send a vehicle to pick you up at the trail head and they will take you back up. The metal ones are like 50 cents at the thrift store. I just find they dont work really well inside stores and stuff. I have both a walker and a crutch in the truck if i really need them.

And then there is the what is it issue. It sounds stupid but really i cant tell if im having spine issues from the crutches, an arthritis flare combined with muscle atrophy for being off my leg for 25 days, or the surgery. I had terrible tendon wrist snd elbow pain from the crutches and thats finally gone. Now it seems to be kinda just sore. Sometimes my femur has bone pain and it hurts to touch the 2 surgical sites. But this above and below the knee and the knee on the surgery side throb at night.

I'm so sorry you're going through all this, Emily. Knees and hips are so vital to life and they make their complaints known front and center. I finally made an appt with an orthopedist - see him a week from Monday. But we have a new wrinkle. I was on my feet all day Friday cooking. Leg was trash yesterday. And swollen. Mentioned to hubby the back upper part of my calf was really sore and wow, did that get a response. First command was drop my drawers and then full exam of leg and knee. He gets a certain look and becomes intensely focused when he's highly concerned. Then, out came a pen and a measuring tape. Sigh. My right calf and lower thigh measured larger then the left. So today, it's ultrasound to check for a blood clot. Apparently discriminating Baker's cyst and DVT is a known diagnostic challenge and DVT is life threatening. I got a primer on anticoagulants, possible 3 day hospital stay and my life changing for the next 3-6 months. Not a happy camper. Sigh. But - my money is still on a leaking Baker's cyst ( i also had pitting edema in the right leg only so not a salt thing.) Really hoping it's not a clot and need anticoagulants. I'm likely going to need a surgery to clean out that lesion in my maxilla and we have dermatology checks in October, she always biopsies at least one or two things. Most inconvenient.

@lostmaniac I've had pain both around the site of the operation and on my shin just south of my kneecap.  When I asked the Dr about that he said that "If a patient has pain in their lower leg then it's probably sympathetic with the pain at the hip."  (( Meaning that hip pain will often generate sympathetic pain in a lower leg ... ))  Make perfect sense to me - NOT!
However, if the pain at the surgical site goes away (Tylenol<??>) then the pain in the lower leg goes away as well, there has to be some logic to that ...

I've been moving around pretty well without the cane ... and then all "heck" breaks loose and the No Pain becomes pain at level 6-7-8 ... frustrating!!

I asked mine at the follow-up and basically got the same answer

I was in a car wreck several years ago that messed up my pelvis and right hip. If do too much stooping over, like weeding in the garden, my hips will kill me and that will radiate down my right leg into the knee. My chiropractor said the issues lower down the leg is caused by swelling in my hip that puts pressure on a nerve that runs down the leg. "Sympathy" pains don't make a lot of sense to me either, but swelling pushing on a nerve or a gate change from compensating for other things that ends up irritating joints further down definitely make logical sense.

That pain radiating into your hip from bending over makes me wonder if you damaged a disc in your lumbar spine in that accident. You're too young to have those issues - as is Emily. Hoping for both of you healing and long intervals of calm between flares.

I am a very happy camper today - no evidence of clot anywhere in my leg. Did find a small Baker's cyst and an effusion in my knee but after 2 days of either sitting on my butt or laying flat, I am mostly good to go. Though my knee did sort of feel disconnected when i first got out of bed - kind of like a marionette. We shall see what the day brings - I have to rake the fire off the bedroom carpet and then start removing furniture from the pool deck. Summer's over as far as the pool is concerned. Time to put it to bed.

@Amymeme since your last post is hanging around just north of this one I have to ask what did you mean with "rake the fire off the bedroom carpet" most of the time I can decipher the typos but this one has me completely lost ...

I'm glad that your exam didn't show anything other then the effusion (which sounds like a form of bursitis?)

I've been getting around without the cane/crutches most of the past two / three days. If I'm going out - like to get a meal - I tend to take the cane "just in case" and it's saved me a couple of times where I've started to "trip"<??> and used the cane to catch myself. There are times where the hip hurts more than I'd expect, granted that moving around on it is apt to cause pain if I turn / move in the "wrong" direction and other times "it just hurts." All in all though I can say it's getting better.

I'm glad I live in a low crime neighborhood. I have 5 boxes on my front porch that I need to bring in and distribute the contents to their respective cabinets. Two have been on the porch for the better part of the week ... as I said, glad I don't live in a crime ridden area. ( And yes, anyone driving by has a clear view of my porch, it's not like anything's hidden. )

@TwisterII I like your doctor's response to this "sympathetic pain" than I do mine. I've caught myself - my computer sets on a counter, there's a panel (the back of the cabinet under the counter) that I find myself with my knee against, not a lot of pressure but obviously enough to make it uncomfortable ... unrelated to the hip pain but at least I understand when the pain in my kneecap comes from.

@lostmaniac Lady, you are definitely way too young to be having those types of problems. You're half my age and it sounds like you're hurting worse than I am ... sorry I can't give you any good ways to stop the pain and misery.

@aljones FUR

Not bursitis - excess synovial fluid produced in response to mechanical irritation in the joint. Which could be cartilage fragments, torn meniscus, raggedy bone edges or other arthritic changes. I see Ortho on Monday. He'll probably x-ray, possibly order MRI or do arthroscopy. Or order physical therapy. Or send me to neuro because this is confounded by the stenosis acting up and various nerve issues in my butt and leg.