I'm definitely getting better

Improvement is definitely evident.

How does one know?

I am soooooooooooo frustrated with the physical limitations being imposed on me.

I just so want to be able to hop in the car and go for groceries, or run errands, or meet a friend for breakfast ... it seems like forever since I've been able to do that.

And it's only been three plus weeks!

Unbelievable really.

The physiotherapist will tell me when I can graduate from the walker to a cane.  And for safety's sake I get that.

I can walk around the house using furniture to support me, but I definitely still need substantial assistance.

And it seems that I can easily walk sideways -- it's the forward motion that is difficult to execute.  I guess that's the consequence of having had the anterior approach -- the muscles in the front of my leg are what have more healing to do.

So I'll just keep on trucking, as the saying goes.

I've managed to sleep on my right side now, but can only tolerate that for just under two hours at a time because my right hip is still "bad."  But at least it gives me temporary relief from sleeping on my back.

I also quit taking the pain killers on Tuesday (took the last one Monday night).  And I'm feeling much better for having stopped them.  I'm taking the occasional XS Tylenol now, but that's it.

My weight loss effort is right back in place too, without my doing anything in particular in that regard.  I'm assuming that it is because I'm burning mucho calories using the walker.  It really does take a lot out of me.  It's exhausting really.  I suppose I'd burn more if I were not using the walker, given the effort it takes to walk at this point in the recovery.

My physiotherapist told me the other day that all those people who claimed to have had no problem after their hip replacements -- that they were up and about right away, doing everything they wanted to do in no time -- they had forgotten what the first six to eight weeks were like.  Because the first six to eight weeks are hell!

Hell is putting it mildly.  It is damned hard work.  And my muscles were readied for this by all the work I did on the stationary bicycle in the six months leading up to the surgery.  I'm one of the luckier ones.  If it weren't for the fact that I have fibromyalgia, there's no telling how far along I might be in the recovery process.

Damned fibro anyway!