2 week post-op appointment

Sorry, no photos.  I saw my surgeon on Friday March 4th to get my sutures out, have an x-ray, and to talk to the doc.  The sutures were a little stubborn and had to be wiggled a little before pulling them out.  I was picturing grilled chicken on a skewer, with the sutures being the skewer, but no meat getting stuck to the suture.  It felt good, but a little painful here and there.  It was the most glamorous part of the surgeon's assistant's job.  When she wasn't setting up appointments and answering thousands of questions from prospective patients, doing insurance pre-authorizations, transferring lab results to the hospital, and all that other lovely office stuff, she was busy looking at people's butts and removing their sutures. 

I got an x-ray, which the surgeon will put a protractor on and measure the angle of the acetabular cup with relationship to the pelvis (I think).  The goal is 40 degrees.  There appears to be some debate in the hip resurfacing community about the steep angles (ie 50 and 55 degrees) causing higher wear and thus elevated metals ions (Cr, and Co) in the blood.  Then there's a lot of debate simply around elevated Cr and Co in the blood.  I could go on, but I won't.

Then I chatted with the surgeon.  I had about 25 questions for him which I wrote down while riding the train to Seattle.  It was a good visit and I sort of thought maybe I should become an orthopaedic surgeon.  He mentioned some of his research on different types of bearing materials for resurfacing.  Give me another 15 years and maybe I'd be there.  Doubtful, oh well, I think that ship has sailed.

I took the train up to Seattle and back in the same day.  When I got back into to Eugene at about 8:45 pm, my wife and a friend were waiting at the station.  Right next door to the station is the Jackaloupe Lounge, a well known Eugene establishment.  It was nice to have a beer before heading home and going to bed.  It was a great feeling to be nearly 2 weeks post op.  The wound has healed well, not much pain, and my surgeon indicated that I was right on schedule with recovery.  I was so stoked that I figured I could drink a whole pitcher of HUB IPA.  Not such a good idea when you're not in shape.

The next day I began a metal and wood working project.  I decided I was getting close to using a cane and wanted to do away with the crutches, so I built a cane.  I'm close to being finished with it and when done, I'll post a photo.

Also, today, I went back to work.  Walked around the office with one crutch and sounded like a peg leg pirate coming the corner.  It was a pretty easy when you're sitting at a desk most of the day.