Quick little report of positivity.

This is the non-actually-waving cat family that came home with us and is currently staring out my front window.

My husband and I took a cab into the city and found ourselves with 3 hours of unanticipated free time between events in Chinatown — not enough time to really go to another neighborhood and find something to do but too much time to hang out in a tea house sipping bubble tea (almond milk with tapioca, my fave).

We decided to wander the streets, searching for glasses and waving cats. I was on crutches and since this was my first time to really walk around on the crutches for any long period of time, I was worried my right hip would start to really hurt or give out on me.

Whoa was I wrong! My right hip held up like a champ!! Pretty much no pain, and really no pain within the joint (a bit of muscle pain but that was just from my hip actually working). My right hip felt stable and I realized that I could not remember the last time my right hip did not hurt or ache after walking more than a block or two (probably years). Here was evidence that my reconfigured hip is really working!

My left hip, however, was a different story. The joint ached and felt weak and unstable, just as it always had. The more I walked, the worse the pain and instability. It was a significant and noticeable difference between the hip that was operated on and my left ‘virgin’ hip. It’s just as bad as before my right hip was operated on, possibly worse because the pain in my left hip started faster than before. In any event, I am really excited at the prospect of someday soon having 2 hips that feel good enough that I can wander hours through Chinatown, pain free.

Here are a few candid shots from the yummy dinner with my husband’s wonderful family!