Weird Photos

I never thought I'd take

So… a couple of weeks ago, I had a new hip installed. During my recovery I’ve been entertaining myself by drawing photos of incisions and operating tables and hardware… I’ll spare you. The images are a bit gory - they fastened up my rather long incision with 29 shiny staples - all very Dr. Frankenstein but probably TMI for sharing here.

The good news is I now have two matching hips that are able to carry my weight WITHOUT PAIN!! Which is great.

However, four years of hobbling around and favouring the second hip (COVID pushed me back to the rear of the surgical lineup for hop #2) resulted in my body adjusting and adapting to take the weight off the unstable and increasingly painful joint.

The result was a 2.5 inch leg-length difference!! At least, that’s what I thought initially when I stood on my new surgical leg and the other foot floated up off the ground. A panicked sprint (well, measured hobble on crutches) back to the surgeon’s office and the doc said, “Yes, well - I can see why you think one leg is shorter than the other.”

Turns out, the legs are identical in length but my pelvis, spine, and the large muscles of the other leg had all adapted, twisted, and moved around to protect me from the pain of bearing weight on the worn out hip. The difference in length is real, yes - but it’s a functional leg length difference and not an actual leg length difference.

To document progress (I need to stay motivated while I do endless leg exercises) we have been taking photos and already, after not quite three weeks, I have evened out by almost 3/4 of an inch! This is remarkable to me - how quickly and efficiently the body is recalibrating. I’m in for several months of physio to fully sort this out, but meanwhile, I have a whole folder on my phone called ‘Leg Length Photos.’

And, yes - this is a quick update for a VERY eventful past few weeks, but one of the other side effects of my new twisty/untwisting body is that I can’t sit for more than a few minutes at a time. Yes, that is slowly, slowly staring to improve, but my time spent on my backside in front of the computer has been limited, to say the least.

Halfway through week three, though, and it feels as though there is light at the end of the tunnel and that I will soon be back at the keyboard for longer than nanoseconds at a time.

See you soon!