Spending time in the rain since hip replacements has been a completely different experience, and something I’m truly learning to enjoy and appreciate. Now I understand that even for people without arthritis spending time in the rain isn’t necessarily enjoyable but once you add arthritis into the equation it’s a whole other story.
Another men’s rugby game but this time it was threatening to thunderstorm but the games goes on… until lightning strikes.
The game was about 45 minutes or so from home so I drove! Man, it feels good to have that freedom back.
We brought chairs to sit on and watch but I ended up standing and walking around, up and down the side lines, the entire game. And while to some that may seem like nothing, to those of us with hip problems and arthritis it’s a miracle and a gift to be capable of walking and standing in the rain. With the rainy weather, in the past, I probably would have just stayed home, and if I didn’t I would have been chair bound (while on Aleve) under an umbrella cause it would have killed me to stand up or move.
I was blown away with how mobile I felt on this day. The tin man feeling of rusty hips was none existent.
And after all that time out in the rain I still drove home when the game was done. My legs were still capable of following the commands of my brain.
I am constantly astonished with my new capabilities. Before surgeries I had small windows of time that I didn’t feel pain, moments I forgot and didn’t notice my hips. Moments of distraction at least. (Mind you never ever when it was raining, or about to rain.)
Image from http://www.rashdesigns.com
Although looking back I don’t think I ever truly had any time without pain. There was always something. Something sticking, something clicking, something aching, the hips doing something or feeling something. I know I may have said this before but rainy days are when I first noticed and truly appreciated no longer having arthritis. I mean daily function is fabulous but it’s rain days where the improvement just strikes you as miraculous. The days I would have been forced to spend in bed or on the couch, they no longer exist. I would have previously been completely useless, and actually hindering to others. Like tin man in the rain with no oil.