The Last of the Hip

Until six weeks from now, when I go back to Dr. Mahomed for another check-in, this will be the last post about my hip. 

Working for a Living

I go back to work tomorrow, Monday, October 3. This past week, I did a few test drives and think I know what are my (current) limits.

• I can walk a maximum of 4 kilometres a day, a maximum of 2 kilometres at a time. So I can make it to work and back on foot. I'm up to pre-surgery speeds: 4.4 kph.
• I can sit through a one hour meeting no problem. If the meeting is longer than that, I have to get out of my chair.
• I think I can manage an eight-hour day. Three days this past week I did things that occupied me for several hours at a time (housekeeping chores; shopping; walking out doors). None of this effort made me collapse, so I should have the stamina to make it through a work day.

That Was Six Weeks of My Life - What Did I Accomplish?

In terms of the primary objective, healing, there were three distinct stages in the six weeks, demarcated by the surgery and the first and second visits to Toronto Rehab.

The first stage was the "baby bird" stage - the first three weeks after surgery - where sitting in a chair for an hour was a major accomplishment. I could and did walk significant distances out of doors (1.2 km to the doctor's office, for example, to get my staples pulled), but that was a bad idea. I was weak, unsteady, easily exhausted, plus dizzy and nauseated from the anemia brought on by the blood thinners I was shooting into my belly fat every morning.

The second stage was the "baby giraffe" stage, the two weeks between September 6 and September 23. I was off the blood thinners and, with the physio, getting stronger and more confident on my legs. This is where I got ambitious and overdid it, putting myself in unnecessary pain. 

The third stage was the "baby bear" stage, where I've been since my birthday. I feel pretty strong now, though I still walk with a wobble without my cane. I can stand for a long time no problem. I can prepare meals. I can vacuum. Hell, I even cleaned out the linen closet in the master bedroom yesterday.

But, my physio still feels like work. I can't climb stairs very well. 

Some days I feel like I'm improving. Some days I don't.

As for what else I accomplished, I feel it's important to talk about ...

Netflix

I had to amp my Internet usage to "unlimited" with Bell, and then logged hours (and hours) on Netflix. There were distinct categories in this accomplishment as well. A comprehensive list of what I watched would seriously test us all, I think, so here are a few of the highlights:

Watched for the first time and then watched all or some again because I liked it so much:

• Zootopia
• Schitt's Creek
• Galavant
• Very British Problems

Watched for the first time and understood what all the hype was about:

• Boyhood

Watched for the first time and wondered what all the hype was about:

• Interstellar
• House of Cards (Kevin Spacey version)
• Glee
• Madmen

Watched for the first time and felt like I hadn't wasted my time:

• Ken Burns' The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
• Andrew Roberts' Napoleon
• David Reynolds' WWII: 1941 and the Man of Steel
• Micheal Pollan's Cooked
• Jon Favreau's Chef
• Michael Moore's Where to Invade Next
• Barry Levinson's Rock the Kasbah
• Henry Selick's Coraline
• Hitchcock's Rear Window
• Raiders of the Lost Art (television series)

Watched for the first time and felt like I had wasted my time:

• The Beach
• Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
• The Wedding Crashers
• The White Helmets (shameless propaganda)
• The second and third films in the Hunger Games Trilogy
• Joy

Watched for the first time and wondered what it said about me that I watched the whole thing:

• Cocaine Cowboys
• Whitey: United States of America v James J. Bulger

Watched because it was mostly about food:

• Sugar Coated
• Food Matters
• Fed Up
• Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead
• Forks Over Knives

Started watching but couldn't bring myself to keep watching:

• Netflix original Marco Polo
• Detropia

Re-watched for good reason:

• The Usual Suspects
• American Hustle
• The Big Short
• Catch Me If You Can
• Deadpool
• Original Star Trek and Star Trek TNG episodes
• Community episodes

Re-watched for no good reason:

• Zoolander
• Inception
• Ocean's 12
• Ocean's 13

Other Things

Two other things I hoped to get done in what seemed at the outset like an almost limitless span of time were to

• research how to bring water metering to each of the units in our condo complex (so we each pay for our own water consumption)
• get competitive quotes for renovations to our master bedroom and stairs.

I got part of one of these done. We have a contractor coming in on Monday to talk about the work on the bedroom and stairs.

Too much Netflix.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen