[Tru_in_Blu]

It has been exactly 1 month since I was discharged from the hospital following the procedure.

I had a 1-month follow-up today at the doctor's office.

I was asked to fill out an questionnaire regarding my opinions on my overall health, procedure specific health, and mental health. I was then taken to have some X-rays taken. Two pictures were taken: one straight on as I lay on a table and another from the side as I lay on my side.

The PA that I saw showed me copies of the X-rays and said everything looked great. Alignment was excellent and everything was in its proper place (although he used more doctor-speak language than I can remember to explain).

Incision looked excellent and was actually flaking off some of the surgical tape they used. He said cocoa butter would help that.

I had finished the oxycodone that I was originally given, and later got a script for Vicodin which I tolerate better. The oxy gives me weird dreams. For a few days now I had been trying to wean myself off the Vicodin and just use the acetaminophen. I was trying to gauge how much pain and where it was the last couple of days by not taking anything. That led me to discover that I still had some pain in my quad as well as along the upper buttock area. Also, my knees were very sore.

It was recommended that I continue on the pain meds taking each of the Vicodin and acetaminophen 3X daily spaced out. (Vicodin is 5 mg of Hydrocodone and 325 mg of acetaminophen.) Don't want to exceed 3k mg of acetaminophen in a day. So I will try that for a while. Obviously, with a goal of being able to drive a vehicle, the Vicodin has to be eliminated. Although I don't have enough strength in the leg to be able to lift it to the brake pedal yet, I need to continue to do the exercises that will help me to do that.

I will not need to go to outpatient physical therapy, but just continue to work on the exercises I've been given. I also no longer need to wear the dreaded T.E.D. compression stockings. While I still have some swelling on the operative leg, it is within reason and will continue to subside slowly.

I need to continue taking a drug called Gabapentin which helps the damaged nerve that was disrupted during the surgery. My entire outer thigh is numb to the touch, much like if I had a major shot of novocaine there. It will also help with "restless leg" syndrome.

I need to practice stairs, not just the one-at-a-time procedure that I do now. I only need to negotiate 2 steps to get from my garage into my house, and I haven't done that all that often anyway. So that will be a bit of a challenge.

I mentioned that on occasion that as I'm walking, I feel a "clunking" sensation in the hip. He said that was normal and things over the next 2-3 weeks would start firming up. In fact, he stated that within that 2 or 3 week period that I'd get to a point where I'd feel like I had "turned the corner" and things would start feeling a whole lot better.

I have follow-up appointments scheduled at 1 and 3 months.

Bonus for today's visit was that I was able to get injections in both knees to help alleviate the pain. Normally I wait until early April which is just prior to our HS softball season to get that done. Good news is that it's done for now; bad news is I'll have to see how long it remains effective.