Six Weeks Post Surgery

Went to the doctor today for my 6 weeks check up post surgery. Always an adventure, but a dr. friend who assumes responsibility for many of us foreigners took me and thus easy access to specialists, etc. I speak my limited Chinese to her and she uses a translation device to answer me. It took about 45 minutes and that includes waiting for the xrays to be processed. It took more time to drive to the hospital than to actually be in the hospital.

Although I could not understand the discussion about my hip (I will try to get a translation of the video my dr. friend took of the specialist waxing eloquent about my xray), the final opinion is that I am doing fine. They were astounded at how well I was walking around, and how much I am doing. They said I should be mostly in bed for 3 months. However, this is not what I was given to understand in the US and have been pretty discouraged about my continued pain and dependency on a walker, crutch, and cane. I can walk without pain with my walker,  but use of the cane particularly is still quite painful. I use the cane exclusively to teach, which started this week, just so the least amount of attention is drawn to me. I have no pain biking, but still need help getting onto the bike. I have not used any more Tylenol for many weeks now.

So I guess I just hang in there, and do as much walking as possible. I am going to try every morning to take the half hour it takes me to walk a long 2 block course to the vegetable vender and back. It is below 20 degrees Fahrenheit in the mornings and less than comfortable to walk and bike, but doable. I will try to write another post about the continued religious onslaughts but I must be circumspect.  Suffice it to say that continued pryers are appreciated.