We got to talking about why he extended the incision, and that is, to have access to remove all the scar tissue that had limited my bending at the hip to 5°.

A good hour of cutting away chunk after chunk before he could even locate my femur and hip socket. I won’t go into the gory details again.

No one can predict if my numbness will go away. I can sort of feel two toes, but nothing in the shin or thigh or knee. Except pain. So it’s numb to the touch, but pain from the inside. 

But the new hip actually feels fine. And I’m beyond 5° already.

My physical therapy is going well. Walking with a walker, and lots of exercising the leg and hip muscles. Muscles removed  might grow back, slowly, and that would be great.

 He could not give me height because the femur is so fragile, I didn’t get a full size replacement shaft that goes in the femur center. So l have a shorter right leg. Not a big deal.

 Pathology reports are back, and look good. Pathologist did not find any active tumors in the bones that were removed. Yay #2!

I’ve been led to believe my swollen hip and leg since 2020, was due to radiation destroying the lymph nodes, and lymphedema setting in. 

The new theory from my surgeon is that radiation treatments caused so much scar those to form in my hip, that it prevented circulation of lymphatic fluid, and hence, swelling.  I say that because my foot and calf have not swelled up after surgery.  My foot is actually normal size. And I’ve used NO compression sleeves or pumps for 5 weeks. 

So… there might be a really good outcome after my surgical site swelling goes down. And that is, my lymphedema could be significantly improved. We’ll see.

Key is to exercise and hopefully regrow the capsule of connective tissue surrounding my hip to give it stability, and to regrow muscles before scar tissue forms again.   

That’s all the news from Lake Wobegon. Thanks for the flowers, cards, messages and fun gifts, dear friends. Much love back to you.

AM