Not fully recovered and walking most of the time unassisted but carry my cane on longer jaunts. Interesting in that I was very self conscious of using my cane or even carrying it but people don't seem to notice if I have it or not.
It might be due to the style or lack of style of my cane. It's an old rugged looking family heirloom I talked my mom into giving me. Well really didn't have to talk her into it but need to calm her suspicious of why her avid runner son had interest in an old ragged looking cane. Then remembering when it was time to head back to California and asking my son how I should carry it back and his reply - "just carry it". What a joke I thought it was until the TSA man asked if I could make it through the security check without it, little did I know how this was a harbinger of the future of when I would really need it to get around.
My cane came to the USA from Europe when my great grandfather emigrated to America. Our roots are in Scotland, so it could be from their. In my mind it is from Scotland and I can see great grandfather trudging from glen to glen in search of a sturdy and straight tree branch from the crotch of a hardwood tree. No thought to it's appearance but just something practical to help support him as I'm using it now. I know very little about my relatives back in the old country, I like the ring of that - "old country" dramatic sounding isn't it, so I might write a book about them and not have to worry about the facts getting in the way of a good story because all my family is gone and so are the facts.
Lets get back to me - in case you weren't aware I injured my leg exercising at 9-23 park in Saigon in February. Unlike many I thought I could power through the injury but after a week of my exercising regime I had to give up as I was hardly able to use my leg, which as you might know makes walking a real challenge, especially on or along the street of Saigon.
Bound and determined to find some relief without tossing in the proverbial towel and heading back to medicare land and to be Obama Care for you youngsters. I visited expat doctor Padro at Family Medical Care and he was all that a GP should be. Referred me to some French orthopedic guy in the same group and as Dr. Pedro was all he should be the doctor was all he shouldn't be. While confirming all the stereotypes I knew of French and their behavior.
Though still with a firm grip on that towel, I decided to give acupuncture a try. Two weeks and about the same amount of dollars spent and very little relief so I tossed that towel as hard as I could and booked a flight back to the US of A on Cathay Pacific.
A new ortho guy and a course of physical therapy but with no results, then an MRI and the diagnoses is AVN (avascular necrosis) lack of blood flow to my hip joint. So go visit a another orthopedic surgeon for a second opinion, takes an ex-ray and says there really wasn't a need for the MRI it was very clear from the ex-ray it was AVN and my hip joint was a mess. The only fix option was to operate and replace the damaged hip a new one.
About three months ago I had the surgery, recovery for a couple days in the hospital after, then home with a walker which I used for a month or so, and all the time intensive physical therapy. I'm still doing the exercises the physical therapists prescribed combined with walking a good part of most days with very little pain.
We will see how good I really am doing as I'm off to Saigon soon and will be flying back from Bangkok in a few months or so. Much shorter than my annual trek but should amount to a few interesting stories.
Soon will be writing about Vietnam visa's and my quest for a better lodging option then my rented room in Saigon. If you have any thoughts about lodging options by the month, drop me a note or make comment on the blog, thanks.
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