We are hanging up our backpacks for a bit. Sad does not even begin to describe how I feel about that.
For a few years now I have had intermittent hip pain which Advil or Aleve usually helped with. But early this summer the pain was more frequent, then every single day, rapidly becoming worse. Hiking had become very difficult and painful, only possible recently with prescription NSAIDs and heavy reliance on trekking poles. X-rays showed severe osteoarthritis in my right hip. Total hip replacement surgery will be the cure.
For a few years now I have had intermittent hip pain which Advil or Aleve usually helped with. But early this summer the pain was more frequent, then every single day, rapidly becoming worse. Hiking had become very difficult and painful, only possible recently with prescription NSAIDs and heavy reliance on trekking poles. X-rays showed severe osteoarthritis in my right hip. Total hip replacement surgery will be the cure.
For any hiker facing this surgery, I highly recommend this book. You can see why the cover caught my eye. If I had any doubts about the surgeon telling me I would still be able to hike after surgery, this book put all that to rest.
Join me in 2021 when I will work my way back up to hiking. I am already compiling a file of easy, short, flat hikes to get me started as soon as I get the green light.
Since we are wrapping up the year a bit early, here is our annual slideshow of all of our hikes this year.
UPDATE: Surgery is done and I am back home. They said everything went well and that all the hiking I have done is going to be a huge bonus in recovery. Thank you all so much for your well wishes!
UPDATE 12/21: Starting to ride a stationary bike for 5 minutes a day and walking 1 mile a day with a cane. A local park plows the 1-mile loop around a pond which is perfect when there is snow on the ground but it has now forced me to update my annual balloon total for an unanticipated addition, balloon #65 of 2020.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Angela.
DeleteI have sure enjoyed your blog adventures and hiking photos, especially as my own hikes have almost ended due to ankle problems which resulted in much pain and leg braces. I wish you well in your recovery and thank you for all the hikes you've shared with me.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bill! I know all too well that feeling of not being able to do things anymore. Being active is supposed to be good for you but makes me wonder if we just wear ourselves out faster!
DeleteI always enjoy reading your blog and adventures. I hope you are able to get back out there soon. Best of luck with your surgery.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of your hiatus and wishing you a speedy recovery. Your videos are truly inspiring. Now whenever I see a mylar balloon on one of my rambles I make sure I pack it out with me! See you up and about soon I hope!
ReplyDeleteThanks! It makes my day to know I have inspired others to rid the woods of those horrid balloons!
DeleteI've been enjoying your blog posts for a few years and have discovered a lot of new places to hike, thanks to you. I hope you have a speedy recovery!
ReplyDeleteGood Luck! I enjoy seeing your posts. It gives us ideas for places to visit on our hiking journeys. I look forward to seeing them again.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you and Brodie & your family! I always enjoy your posts, I hope you get well and up and about again soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you and Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!
DeleteYour hikes help motivate me and the photos let me be out in the woods vicariously when I view them. I loved Shawnee and now I love Brodie. His photos show him to appear to be a wonderful hiking partner who really took to hiking. I was out of NJ (midwest) for 7 months and really missed the hills and streams and woods.
ReplyDeleteBill (no longer from Clifton)
Thanks, Bill (no longer from Clifton)! Brodie will never be Shawnee but for a Jersey City stray he has taken to hiking pretty well. I am sure he is going to miss hiking but he will be residing with the grandchildren for a while (he is a HUGE tripping hazard in this house) and I am sure they will keep him busy.
DeleteDaniela
Best of luck on your surgery and recovery. I always enjoy your posts and you have provided me with places to hike knowing they are dog friendly. Much appreciated! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and, who knows, maybe will meet on a trail someday.
ReplyDeleteLouise & Max
Thanks, Louise and Max! It's a small world so we probably will, someday... Happy Thanksgiving!
DeleteDaniela
So very sorry to hear this!! Wishing you a speedy recovery (Brodie won't let you sit around too long anyways) and maybe someday, after allll these years, we’ll actually run into you on a trail! —Dawn
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dawn! I can't believe we haven't run into each other in all this time. Maybe when I am back new and improved :)
DeleteDaniela
Hey Daniela -- like many others, I'm sorry to hear about this. I'll miss your weekly adventures, but it will be a small sacrifice waiting for you to heal if it means you will be back on the trails (better than ever) at some point! Hey -- maybe if your son, daughter-in-law and grandkids go on hikes, they can take some pictures once in a while...sort of "fill in for you" periodically. (And maybe they would even take Brodie along, because I think he may miss hiking more than you will!)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, hope the surgery goes well and we all hear from you soon. And thank you for the blog, as (like many others), you helped me discover new places to hike over the past several years...even here in South Jersey!
Jim
Thanks, Jim! I plan on doing my flat terrain rehab hikes in South Jersey so stay tuned!
DeleteDaniela
Hi Daniela -- exactly a month later (on 12/27), and I just saw your post about you hiking a little around your neighborhood (albeit with a cane)! That's SUCH great news...tells me that you are WELL on your way to recovery! I just went hiking today at Birch Grove Park (in Northfield, NJ), and was thinking about you...but alas, you probably won't get down to that one, as dogs are not allowed! (My wife won't want to hear that either, as we (well, _she_) just purchased a Papillon, which will be our first dog! (But not to worry, there are _plenty_ of other places to hike that allow dogs!)
DeleteSo, if you come to South Jersey (like you said you would be doing your "flat terrain rehab hikes" in), allow me to introduce you to a couple of excellent places:
(1) Egg Harbor Township Nature Reserve (a former quarry, which now features a nice lake in a "pit" with one loop trail directly around the lake and another loop trail from "higher" above.
(2) Freedom Park (in Medford Lakes): Featuring "Freedom Barks", the largest dog park in South Jersey!! Also, nearby Medford Park, with a beautiful pond of its own along with a paved trail and a 1.1-mile nature trail.
Keep recovering, and I cannot wait to see what your first "post-surgery" adventures will be!
Jim
Thanks for the recommendations! Yes, definitely well on my way to recovery. In the moment it doesn't seem so much like it but when I look at how far I have come in just under 4 weeks, it is pretty amazing. I can drive again (two weeks earlier than the surgeon first told me), the everyday tasks that you take for granted that had become very difficult are becoming much easier now, I am walking 1.25 miles almost every day taking a step here and there without the cane, along with 15 minutes on the stationary bike twice a day. Brodie is still at my son's house. I saw him Christmas Day for the first time and he is having a blast there with the grandkids but as I was getting ready to leave he ran to the door waiting to go with me. I am not in a place to have him back just yet. With his separation anxiety he has to go everywhere with me so I need to be a little more steady on my feet first. He'll need to stay there a bit longer. But good to know he has not forgotten where he lives!
DeleteGood luck.Wishing you a speedy recovery.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby going through same thing, we will look into buying the book!
Take care!
Nanette
Thanks, Nanette, and all the best for your husband and his surgery. I can't believe how many of us there are in this new hip club!
DeleteHi Daniela. I was so surprised to hear of your upcoming surgery. You have hiked all over with your dogs. I have an 11 year old rescued Dalmatian that loves to go on hikes. Mostly I hike in NJ and before pandemic almost every weekend in NY. (Harriman or Minnewaska State Park) She is slowing down and I have to select hikes that don't have many rock scrambles or really steep climbs. Best of luck on your surgery and a speedy recovery. Christine Eberle and Abby
ReplyDeleteThanks, Christine! Having been that route with Shawnee, my advice would be to seek out mountain bike trails. They tend to be less strenuous (and less crowded) and there are never any scrambles. Those trails are still a way in my future, though. I think it will be rail trails for me at first.
DeleteDaniela
Heal up quickly! We'll keep two eyes out for balloons while you are laid up.
ReplyDeleteMike, South Jersey Trails
Thanks, Mike! I knew I could count on you. And I will be deferring to your vast collection of South Jersey hikes for rehab! Just as soon as the doctor says... GO!
DeleteI look forward to your blog every week, this was not a post I was expecting. I'm amazed that you were able to continue to do 9 and 10 mile hikes. Best of luck for a full recovery. Just one more reason why this year can't end soon enough. Hope to see you back on the trails in 2021.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ken! I am amazed I was able to do it, too. With my surgeon's blessing and a strong NSAID Rx, it was barely possible. I had to stop the NSAIDs last Tuesday because you can't take them within a week before surgery and I can barely make it from one room to another with a cane now. It was KILLING me not to be able to hike today. The gorgeous weather! ARRRRGHHHHH! Well, just a few more days and I'll be on the slow upswing.
DeleteI agree with Ken. K, it's amazing that you were able to do these long hikes! Best of luck and I hope you have a speedy recovery!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mike! Mind over matter maybe? I don't know how I pulled that off either!
DeleteBest of luck through recovery and rehab. Trusting 2021 will be pain free after the healing is done. Thank-you for the blog work you have done as I have been following you for years and have enjoyed your posts.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I'll continue to bring back trash from my runs and think of you with each ballon I find :-)
Best,
Les (beer cap trail keeper)
Thanks, Les! Are you referring to the Bottle Cap Trail in Harriman? That is an awesome trail, one of my favorite ones in Harriman.
DeleteActually one you stumbled on over in Sparta a few years back that ended up in a short road walk back to the power cut. Stay well! -Les
DeleteAh ha, found it! Identical markers to the one in Harriman, LOL. Had completely forgotten about that one.
DeleteHope you have a quick recovery and are out hiking again soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anne-Marie. It's been a week now since surgery and getting around better every day.
DeleteWe'll have to double our efforts to get out on the trails for you! Get well soon.
ReplyDeleteYes, please do hike for me! I was able to get out and walk half a mile around my neighborhood with a cane yesterday and then this darned snow. A setback just when I was making such good progress.
DeleteI love following along with your hikes and am wishing you a speedy recovery!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rachel!
DeleteSpeedy recovery and I look forward to more adventures in the woods once your bionic hip is fully functional!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeff! I am up to 2 miles of walking without a cane now so I think it's about time to start working in some short, easy hikes.
DeleteI'm so glad your recovery is going well. When I had my knee surgery and they told me I had grade 3 arthritis already, I got so depressed! But I've been doing my PT, and my PT says with strengthening, I should be able to hike without pain. I'm hoping to retire early and hike tons, before my body completely gives out!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I was never given a grade, all I saw on x-ray diagnosis was "severe osteoarthritis". Makes me wonder how I was even hiking at all. I hear knees are so much harder to recover from than hips but dangling pain-free hiking in front of us is all the motivation we need for either one, right?
Delete