Post Op Day 3

Today was David's first really big therapy session. He and I walked down (he was in the wheelchair) to physical therapy for a two hour session. He started by having his leg length checked, seems with the new hip on the left side and the right side still in bad shape that the right side is 1/2 inch shorter now. They have placed a wedge in his shoes for now but with have an insert made for him to move from shoe to shoe when he's home. Then he walked with only 50 lbs of pressure on the left leg using the parallel bars. The therapist, Nancy, was pleased that he was able to make two trips up and back on the bars before he got to tired to do anymore. Then it was over to the table for exercises to strengthen the leg muscles. They are trying to strengthen the left leg and maintain some of the strength in the right leg. There is not much range of motion in the right leg but with these exercises now he should fly through the next surgery and therapy. As expected it was very slow going and very painful, he was thanking God for the pain medication he was given right before he went downstairs to therapy. He worked hard and the sweat on his brow and wet head were good indications of his efforts. He is pushing some as he wants to be back up and walking as quickly as he can but he says he will not push it too far as he does not want to mess anything up. One really good thing he did today was to get himself out of bed and back into bed without any help at all. This is a major accomplishment as he cannot bend at the waist more than 90 degrees and he cannot bend his left leg at all as he gets in and out of bed. He can only use the right leg to help push himself forward or backward and then he can't lift his legs together without a lot of strain. Once he gets mostly on the bed, I can help with the lifting of the legs but it is dead weight and amazing how heavy they are. Then to scoot up toward the top of the bed is a chore too, he is gaining so much upper body strength.

We got to walk around the hospital again today and he loved feeling the sunshine on his face. Then we went to the little store in the basement and got him some snacks. He says there is just not enough food on his trays...LOL! Well that's about it for now, more tomorrow if anything exciting happens. Please check out the photos of him on my profile, thought you might like to see how he looks and the kids want to see their dad, this is the best way to communicate that.