It’s day 19, post total hip replacement (THR) surgery and I believe the darkest days of the recovery process are behind me. To be fair when I refer to the dark periods, I’m not referring to physical pain. The toughest part of this process has been the side effects of not being able to care for myself, move freely about and being stuck in the house. In fact, on a scale of 1 to 10 post op hip pain has never been more than 2 or 3 for me. I weened myself off all pain medication by the middle of week 2 , not a fan of oxycodone (made me want to cry seeing how beautiful rain drops look on flower petals). I’ve graduated from home PT care and am raring to start outside PT next week. For now daily flexibility exercises and walking with a cane (PT mandate) are some of my many restrictions. I feel like a racehorse tethered to the barn at times but I understand the process of easy does it. It’s interesting to witness the world from a walkers perspective, but interesting doesn’t compare to the feeling of active fluid movement. My goal is to be back in the short term golfing, swimming, biking and long term running shorter distances 5 to 10 k. … I hope you are enjoying your summer …. PS. I named my new hip Shakira…because it promises to be pain free … and as the Shakira song goes “The hips don’t lie “. Don