bye-bye cane

I am 'almost' there...........cane and pain free. It was the first time I was walking around the kitchen getting dinner on the table and I realized that I had not picked up the cane. My gait was sort of normal! Usually, I walk like I am lopsided or have to take one serious dump. I can't believe I am tasting my freedom....freedom from walking funny, freedom from restrictions on what I can do and freedom from the stabbing pain I felt with every step I took. A day didn't go by for the past 2-3 years that I wasn't aware of my disability with every movement. I couldn't lie still at night or sit in a chair for more than 5 minutes without re-arranging myself and then eventually having to get up and move around only to have the pain stay there. It was like a ball of elastic bands being pulled in every direction with a few pins stuck inside that would jab me when I put my weight on it. It would ache...sometimes so much so that I would cry (even with meds) and sometimes it was that dull ache that never subsided. It's as though I am living a dream now....something I never thought possible for myself. I was relegated to practically living a sedentary lifestyle...unable to keep up with my kids or my well-being.

For anyone on the fence about have a total hip..........don't wait. Get the best surgeon and get it done NOW before BHO takes over your medical affairs. My timing couldn't have been better............but I worry that the day will come (as in Canada) that many surgeries such as mine will make sufferers wait many months or even years to have theirs done. I read a book called "Getting Hip" in which a Canadian woman in her 40's had to come to New Jersey to have her hip replaced in a timely fashion. Good 'ol universal healthcare up there in Canada. God I hope this reform does not take place here.