Shae's list to get through school after surgery

So for today's post, Shae has decided to take matters into her own hands and has made kind of a "DO's and DO NOT DO THIS AFTER HIP SURGERY" list to help explain what her first week at school was like after having hip surgery.

She said overall that her first week wasn't too bad, but walking around from class to class and going from school from 7:20-2:20 and then getting in the car to go straight to therapy at 3:15 definitely took it's toll on her hip. She even had to cancel her 3rd session of rehab on Friday because she was in too much pain from the week.

Here is Shae's list of what to do and what not to do to get through school after surgery, and it is a list that she feels will help other hip patients who have to go to school too.

1) Don't wear Jeans-way too uncomfortable

2) Wear sneakers- helps you walk around school and gives you more support

3) Get an elevator key if you can so that you don't have to take the stairs to each class and so that you have access to the elevator to get to class 5 minutes before class ends and 5 minutes before it starts

4) Keep a crutch in the main office incase you need it if you are having a bad day

5) Keep Ice packs in the main office or wherever you can incase you are in pain and need to ice

6) Avoid large groups of people- without your hip brace people don't know that you have had surgery

7) Don't get in and out of your desk quickly

8) Don't sit for too long, try get up to walk around and move every 15 or 30 minutes

And the most important thing of all is to smile, laugh, be happy, and stay happy. You will have your good and bad days but if you try stay positive it'll help you get through the bad days.

How time flies

Today was the first day of the new school year and the start of Shae's sophomore year and Talya's senior year. It was amazing to see how time flies not only in regards to how fast my sisters are growing up but also in regards to Shae's recovery from hip surgery.

It was only 7 weeks ago that she had her 4 hour FAI hip surgery. She is now walking with no crutches, excelling incredibly well with physical therapy and getting better each and every day.

Then and Now:

First Day of School:

DJ fist pump???

Last night DJ 2 Shae went to DJ her first party since having hip surgery. She went with one of her crutches and did have a chair with her in case she needed to sit. Overall, she said it went really well and she had a great time. She couldn't dance and interact like she usually does when she DJs so she brought a good friend with her to help her get through the night. 

But she gave us a good giggle before she left last night when she told us that "they should just change my name to DJ fist pump, because with my hip surgery all I can do is fist pump!"

A Sweet Surprise

Yesterday my sisters and I went with my mom to go do some back to school shopping. We have to shop a little different this time because Shae has to wear comfortable clothes when she is at school. There is nothing worse then when you have to wear tight or uncomfortable clothes when you have had hip surgery only a few weeks ago. So, while walking in between the clothes we heard this little "hello" from someone behind us. As we turned around we saw 3 of our learn to swim students who we have known for years. They are great students, amazing kids, and phenomenal swimmers. We absolutely love and adore Andres, Marcos, Maria Rosa and of course Elvira.

Our very own Howard Head

One of the most difficult parts of leaving vail after surgery is trying to find a great physical therapist. It causes stress and worry when you first get home because Howard Head sports rehab center sets a very high standard that is sometimes very hard to live up to.

But, we have finally found an incredible physical therapist here in Miami and she is taking great care of Shae and doing an amazing job. Since starting with Linda, Linda has helped Shae get off crutches with absolutely NO limp, has got her muscles to constantly fire, and has made her get stronger each week.

Thank you so much Linda for taking such incredible care of Shae and for becoming an FAI pro.

Sunday Morning Scream?

On sunday morning I started to do Shae's range of motion, when I started to feel some stiffness in her hip. So, after doing the ROM, I decided to give her a massage. She generally gets a massage during the week but this past week was pretty hectic and so she never got her massage. 

It started off pretty well when I massaged the IT band, inner thigh and in between her scars. But when I got to her quad, she went through the roof. She was laughing, crying, and screaming all at the same time. It was pretty funny but she was definitely not comfortable even though she really needed the massage.  

Dinner with a Lifelong friend

On Thursday night we all went to dinner with a good friend of ours, Daniel, and his brother. We met Daniel when we were in Vail and have kept in touch ever since we left. He has also had both of his hips done with Dr. Philippon, and he was in town to see family and so we took a drive up to West Palm Beach to have dinner.

It was really a great and special evening and it was incredible to see how a negative thing such as hip surgery can turn into a positive, when you have made a life long friend.

Getting Ready for School

Since we got home from NC, Shae has been very busy with getting things ready for school. She is the school class president and has a ton of responsibilities to fulfill. Yesterday she went to school for a meeting and today she was at school early in the morning to help with freshman orientation. She is a very busy girl but I think it is good for her because it will keep her mind off of her hips.

Vacation outside of Vail!

Most people would think that having spent 2 months in Vail is without a doubt a vacation. However, when you have two family members coming out of surgery and permanently on crutches, it kind of takes the fun out of vacation. So, although we have had great times in Vail, we all still felt like we needed another vacation before going back to school. And so, we took a road trip up to North Carolina to visit family. It was absolutely amazing, NC is beautiful and the drive was most definitely entertaining. Shae and I sat in the middle seat and unfortunately had to stick Talya in the back seat by herself because Shae and I needed the leg room for our hips and my knees.

My grandparents live on a beautiful lake in NC and we spent the entire weekend going out on the boat, skiing, tubing, jetsking, knee boarding, and wake boarding. And boy Shae was INCREDIBLE! Just kidding, Shae and I skipped out on the intense water activities and worked on our tan instead. Shae didn't do much rehab but my mom and I did her range of motion and she did pool therapy majority of the weekend to keep her hip loose.

Talya learned how to ski and wake board. Our cousins Michael & Michelle are phenominal at wake boarding and skiing and they were great at teaching Talya.



Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Gifts from a special someone

The other day, we received a HUGE package from a very special friend of ours. We knew he was sending us something but we had no idea what it was let alone how big the box was going to be. Phil, is a very good friend of ours who we met in Vail this summer, he too has had hip and knee surgery. We all hit it off and it has been a perfect friendship from the start. He is a really great guy and an amazing friend, and he most definitely spoiled us with this amazing package of yummy cookies, healthy foods, and tons of videos. Thanks again Phil, you are the best and we love you!

We are Family, I got my cousins with me!

Two weekends ago, we had a really fun weekend. My Uncle Andre and my cousins Remy and Guy came into town from Canada. We spent the weekend by the pool and on the boat. It was a beautiful sunday on the boat but it was incredibly hot, so most of the day was spent in the water.






Another great part of this weekend was that our best friend Dameon came to visit. He was home after being in Iraq for several months, he is in the Navy and we have been friends since we were little. We alway have a great time with him and we have missed him so much.






Shae struggled a little with walking around the boat and going up and down the stairs, and she was in some pain afterwards because when you are on the boat you don't realize it but you are constantly trying to stabalize when the boat moves and that engages the hip and legs. She was a trooper but the most comfortable position for her was to be in the water with her aquajogger.

Update!

Woops, I have fallen a little behind with my blogging. But we got home from Vail and it seems as though time has just flown by and we are now faced with a week until school officially starts up again.


Since I last blogged, we have been doing consistent rehab with Shae, and she has officially graduated from using crutches. Aside from using them once or twice when going out with friends, she now walks around the house freely and has no limp! And as of yesterday she has progressed to some difficult exercises such as double leg bridging and 1/3 mini squats.

On Wednesday she did complain of a slight pinch when she was walking but we called Howard Head and spoke to Lindsay and she said that we should do more of the Thomas stretch to help stretch her hip flexor, and to work on getting her knee into her chest by doing a certain active release movement. We did it during therapy and it worked. Shae said she felt the difference and she also noticed that if she walks without engaging her glut then she will occasionally feel the pinch. She also said that when she would do cat and camel and the quad rocking, the pinch went away. Overall, Shae is doing great and making great strides.

Childhood Friends

Shae got a visit from her long time friend, Shira. The two of them have been friends for years, and first met when they were on the same swim team when they were 8 years old. They are now both 15 and are still really great friends.

Then:



Now:

Sutures Removed

Today, Shae finally got her sutures removed. She was excited the entire morning, and couldn't wait to get them out. We went to see our Miami Orthopedic Doctor, Dr. Gorin, and he took out her sutures. Dr. Gorin has been so good to us and has helped us with all of our family injuries and has taken great care of us.

Now that the stiches are out, Shae can soon start applying tissue oil and/or ScarGuard MD to her incission area. The scarguard is like a clear nail polish that you paint over the incission area and it keeps the scar from staying flat so that it doesn't rise or discolor. It works incredibly well.


Dr. Gorin and Shae


Removing the Stiches with these Tools




Before and After:

21 Days later and she Survived!

Day 21 after surgery is seriously the world's greatest day. Shae is officially done with her CPM, foot pumps, anti-rotational straps, brace, and she can get her stiches removed today. She also is getting closer and closer to coming off of her crutches and today she walked small distances around the house with only one crutch. We have to take it slow so that she doesn't develop a limp.


But She did it, and she survived 3 weeks with foot pumps, anti-rotational straps and boots, the CPM, brace, and crutches.

Therapy with Tropical Storm Bonnie

Sunday morning Shae woke up and did her circumduction and range of motion, and then got mad at me when I made her get in the pool to do pool therapy. Shae had only wanted to go to the mall to try get the new iPhone, but there was a huge storm coming and I knew that if she didn't do her pool therapy in the morning then she wasn't going to get it done today.

It is hard though when it comes to rehab because it feels like it is endless and that all you ever do is physical therapy. And when you are young and have had surgery during summer vacation, you have some days where you are just frustrated that you can't just get up and go out and instead have to do physical therapy 6-7 times during the week. But, with time and patience Shae will be back to normal and will feel even better then before, now that she has a fixed and healthy hip.

So, after nagging Shae to do pool therapy and convincing her that we could all get a suntan, she finally got in the water and just my luck, after being in the water for about 15 minutes, it started to rain and she was not happy. The rain was cold and hard and it was not enjoyable to be in the water.

However, after finishing pool rehab, Shae finally got to go to the mall to get her phone and she got to enjoy the rest of her sunday because her therapy was all done for the day.






At the mall getting her new iPhone

Just a spoonful of sugar, makes the medicine go down

So today is Saturday and yesterday and today, Shae has been full with visitors. But today, Shae woke up, did her range of motion and circumduction with my mom and then she got in the pool for pool therapy. She did her usual aqua jogging, walking, circumduction, and kicking, and finished just in time before her friends arrived for a visit.

The best medicine for a patient is definitely sweets, and Shae's friends brought cupcakes and cookies to make the pain go away. She also got magazines, flowers and a balloon. Her friends Frankie, Sarah, Karina, and Eric came over to spend the afternoon with Shae. They hung out in her room and then of course made their way to the pool later in the day.




And yesterday, Shae's friend Madison came with a bunch of movies and she got to see Shae do physical therapy.

Ups and Downs

Shae had a rough day today while dealing with the pain and discomfort of weight shifting, walking in the pool, and increased physical therapy. She held it together pretty well but I could see that she was frustrated. I called Howard Head to talk to one of the physical therapists, to just double check that everything Shae was feeling is normal. They told me what to alter and overall they said that what Shae is experiencing is normal. The hip takes some time to heal and we just have to be patient.
With that said, I found this motivational story that my mom had given me a couple of years ago and I thought that it fit perfectly for Shae's recovery.


Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.

Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.

Learning to Walk Again

Shae is getting closer and closer to Day 21, when she is supposed to start coming off of crutches. So in order to prepare her and her hip for walking, we started to do weight shifting during her therapy sessions. She stands next to the therapy table and sets her feet apart and shifts her weight from one foot to the other. Then she does the same thing but now with one leg in front of the other. It doesn't feel very comfortable, and Shae complained of feeling tightness and pressure in her hip. But it does take some time and patience to get used to the new movement.

When you learn how to walk again when you are coming off the crutches, it is really important to engage the glut when you place your foot on the ground. I would always remind myself that every time my heel touched the ground, I had to have an engaged glut. This can sometimes make the pain go away or will at least make it easier to deal with, and it helps to support the hip.

Weight Shifting

The Little Engine that Can :)

Yesterday Shae and I did pool therapy together, and since Shae was 15 days out of surgery yesterday, that means that she was ready to start doing walking in the pool. She will slowly start to weight bear to get off of the crutches this thursday, and hopefully can start fully weight bearing by monday. So, in order to start preparing her hip for that, the rehab protocol says to start walking in the water.

However, it wasn't too much fun for Shae because she said she kept feeling a pinch in her hip. I remember feeling a pinch in my own hips when I had my surgeries, but Shae was complaining a lot and mostly in her hip flexor areas where she had the psoas release.

Today, my mom and I did Shae's range of motion and circumduction, and then we did her exercise routine. It consisted of hamstring curls, quad pulls, glut engagers, inner thigh isometrics, ab isometrics, quad rocking and cat/camel, and more. It is now 11:41 at night, and I asked Shae how she is feeling after today and yesterdays PT sessions. She said that yesterday she was okay but today she has been throbbing. A deep throb and a sharp pain that shoots down her leg.

It's hard when you get in pain after you have had a couple of good days. But it is important for her to remember that she is only 2 weeks out of having major hip surgery. There are going to be many good and bad days and the more that therapy increases, the more she is going to have to be strong to get through it. But pinches, sharp pains, and deep throbs are hard to ignore, and so resorting to the game ready ice machine is a must, in order to help with the pain after therapy.

So, with all of that said, it is important for Shae to remember that throughout her recovery, she is going to go up and down mountains, and she is going to have to get over those to get to the good pain free days. You can do it! Keep up the good work!

Friends For Life

Having FAI surgery with Philippon is definitely an experience of a lifetime. Not only because it is life altering, but because you meet some of the most amazing people. Shae has made some great friends during her recovery from surgery.

Here is Shae with another fellow hip patient. He was really cool and he loved Shae's crutches, and he was fascinated when he found out that she is a DJ.


Shae had surgery with this young lady, Kelsey. She came all the way from Alaska for her hip surgery.


Here is Shae with Daniel. He is also a hip patient, and we all had a lot of fun together, and we became really good friends with him since we were all in Vail for so long.


And here is a picture of all of us with Angela. Angela is a physical therapist from Brazil, and she was in Vail for 2 weeks in order to learn more about rehabing the hip after FAI surgery.