Monthly Archives: August 2018

3 Months Left Hip; 11 Months Right Hip

I am at that magic 90-day mark when they say you are over the biggest hump of your hip healing. It’s WAY BETTER with this hip and I continue to be very grateful for this. My walk is back to normal, though I am still working on the stamina to go longer distances and to stand longer. Here’s the latest video of my walk (the last one):   Rhonda’s Hip Adventure Videos.

As you can see I no longer have a limp or stiff hip. Yay! I can do a mile pretty easily now and 2 miles once a week. I did learn this month that doing 2 miles three times in one week was a bad idea and I set myself back and had more pain and stiffness as a result. It’s taken a couple of weeks to get over that. I was just so excited to get back on all my familiar trails and favorite places… But there is nothing like pain to encourage you to return to your Goldilocks Zone!

My new routine includes swimming three times a week, walking a mile once a week and 2 once a week, plus short walks around the neighborhood more frequently. I also do Tai Chi and Qigong every morning for 30 minutes to wake up and warm up. I do yoga 3-4 times a week in the afternoons to stretch, keep up my core and upper body strength and work on my one-legged balance poses which strengthen my legs and improve my balance. 

I tend to move from one activity to another (sitting, standing, moving) at least every hour. This seems to keep me from having too much pain and stiffness by overdoing any one activity.  I can sit for 2+ hours if necessary (e.g. to watch a movie or performance). I do some stretches and flex muscles around the hips in my seat when I sit that long. 

I am down to taking 1-2 ibuprofen at night and one dropper of CBD oil for sleep. This is working well. 

I continue to have problems with bearing weight and really contracting the muscles in my right leg. At this point, I am solid in my plan to request the cable be removed at the end of October. I see my surgeon to discuss this on September 18th, so I’ll include the result of that conversation and some video footage of the problems I’m having with the cable in my next monthly update. 

Until then, I’m cruising along, staying in my Goldilocks Zone and listening to what my body tells me. It’s amazing how smart it is! You would think by now I’d be better at listening to it instead of what my head’s agenda is. But, the tricky thing is I still don’t know when I’m overdoing it until I’ve done it and then it’s too late! My advice to my fellow hipsters is take it easy and slowly build up your stamina and strength, even if it feels like you could keep going.

Silver Lake Trip

We just returned from a beautiful trip to Silver Lake, one of the lakes on the June Lake Loop off 395, near Mammoth, California. I used to ski at June Mountain when I was a kid, but had never been on the Lake Loop before. 

We went with our friends, Lisa and Terry (and their dog, Beauty). They planned the trip last winter and we decided to tag along once we knew my hip could handle it. They are easy to be with and experienced campers. They have a Mercedes van conversion which is very cool! We spent a whole afternoon eating and talking and drinking wine in this sweet spot in the aspens overlooking the lake.

Beauty, Lisa, Terry, Scott at our picnic table — Silver Lake Resort

View from our picnic table–not bad huh?

We stayed at the Silver Lake Resort and RV Park and had a great spot looking up at a waterfall.

On the second morning, they went on a hike to Parker Lake, about a 3-4 mile round trip hike. My “girls” said there was no way they were taking me that far! So I stayed back and took a short hike up Rush Creek which meanders through the Silver Lake Campground. It was beautiful and easy.

We stayed two nights and I got this cool, crazy shot of the sunset on the last night:

It was a very relaxing and pretty trip, even with the smoke from all the wildfires. I’m happy to report I was able to stay in my “Goldilocks Zone” and not overdo it like I did on the Graeagle trip! See, old gals can learn new ways of being…

First Camping Trip in Pearl since May, 2017

For my 52nd Birthday I decided what I most wanted to do was go camping in Pearl, our sweet teardrop! Here’s some pictures of her:

We bought Pearl in 2015. The first big trip we did with her was for my 50X50. This was an insane trip in retrospect! I wanted to see all 50 states by my 50th Birthday. And wouldn’t you know what was left? North Dakota, Minnesota and Kansas! So, we did a boomerang trip to Duluth, Minnesota for Fourth Fest. We went through North Dakota on the way over and Kansas on the way home. We also passed through Wyoming, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado and Utah! We traveled 5,500 miles through 12 states in 3 weeks! CRAZY! But we sure had the teardrop experience down by the time we got home…

Pearl is an awesome way to camp. She is super easy to deal with because she is basically just a bed with lovely maple cabinets for all your stuff and a kitchen galley in the back. We stay at RV Parks or campgrounds that have bathrooms and they usually give us a spot close by. She is set up and ready to go during season, so all we have to do is pack our clothes, bathroom stuff and food and we’re off! Scott found the most awesome shade structures that we use to protect against sun and rain. Pearl can actually fit under these if necessary.

Here’s Pearl at our camp spot for this trip in Blairsden/Graeagle, CA at the Dream Catcher RV Park, a sweet little campground near national forest, lakes, and great hiking trails:

The nice thing is it’s only an hour from our house! They had a nice, cool recreation room where I set up an office and yoga studio:

One of the things we notice about RV parks these days is most people don’t get out of their big trailers, so we get most of the facilities/amenities all to ourselves.

Our first day we explored Eureka-Plumas State Park and took a 1.5 mile walk around Madora Lake:

We drove to the beautiful Nakoma Resort and peaked into the restaurant at the Lodge:

We had an awesome Italian dinner at Cuccia’s in Graeagle overlooking a horse stable:

The last day, on our way home, we drove through the scenic Lakes Basin area and visited Sardine Lake, passed through Sierraville, and stopped in Truckee for a beer at the Fifty/Fifty Brewing Company. We enjoyed a nice, smoke-free sunset at home in our garden!

It was a great trip to end a wonderful Birthday week for me. This Birthday has been about celebrating that my Hip Adventure is (mostly) behind me and now I have a new behind! The camping trip reminded me that I am not yet that strong. I stood and walked too much and so I am sore, stiff, weak and tired today. But it was worth it! I’ll need to pace myself better for our next trip. I forget how much standing and walking is involved with outdoor life and how much I want to hike! But my girls are always good reminders of my limits and that I am still healing from two major surgeries in one year.

The other thing that was special about this week was all the calls, visits, meals, texts, emails, and cards from the people in my life. I felt very loved! This is my favorite thing about Birthdays! (Well, that and the cake 🙂

Here’s a photo of Scott’s dad-Jim, my mom-Anita, me, mom’s friend-Wanda, Scott, and Jim and Scott’s old neighbor-Kitty having dinner at Jim and Kitty’s place (5 Star, Premier Residences):

A photo of me celebrating my 52nd in one of my favorite places, our back yard: