I made it to my 6-week anniversary this week and that is when all my restrictions were lifted-yay! This means the implant should be set in my bone (secure) and I can play with my yoga poses, and get into the hot springs and pool again.

I discovered I can sit in my meditation pose again, which was really cool! Here I am in my spot in front of the gas stove. This is where I have my morning coffee and meditate. Theo is happy to have me back at his level again, mostly so I can pet him.

I continued to work on strengthening my gluteus medius muscle to help me walk without a limp and do stairs. The PT’s gave me more ideas, I tried them all, probably shouldn’t have. Set myself back again, but not as far this week as last week. Now, I’m backing off again and accepting where I am. I can only do so much before my hip muscles fatigue and then it goes straight into the side of my leg and knee, and it hurts. There are some things I just can’t do, like stand on my leg for very long (though this is getting better) or climb stairs.

I think I had this picture in my mind that at 6 weeks I’d be able to walk without a limp or pain. And I can’t. And I’m bummed and frustrated. But, I also realize this is not unusual and I’m being impatient and unreasonable.

I did just walk around the block with out a cane, though! Granted it was slow and the limp was pretty bad, but I did it and it didn’t hurt as badly as it has before. I just need to keep at it, slowly and gently. Why is that so hard?

I did have Scott take another video of me walking, as promised last week. I can’t load videos directly into the blog, so I’ve loaded them on my Google Photos site in an album titled Rhonda’s Hip Adventure Videos. I put all of them in from the beginning, in order. If you are wondering which one you are looking at, click on the little “i” in the circle (for information) and it will tell you. Here’s the link: Rhonda’s Hip Adventure Videos.

Looking back on the week, I’d say it was about accepting where I am without judging where I think I should be (see my entry on that in Enlightening Practices). That doesn’t mean I don’t keep focused on my dream of walking pain-free without a limp. It means I hold that intention, I do the exercises I can to the point of the muscles fatiguing, keep walking and trying new things, and let go of when and how the outcome happens. Well, that’s the idea anyhow… The execution comes in fits and starts–I have a fit, then I start over! But I’m getting there.

Next week I see my surgeon again for the first time since I was in the hospital and I have my last two PT sessions. So, tune in next week and I’ll let you know how it goes…