Hard-earned lessons are the ones that stick with us the most.

They are often born out of mistakes, failures, or stupidity. These lessons are typically difficult to learn and often require a lot of effort, time, and energy to understand and process. Hard-earned lessons can be an opportunity to learn or reset a course of action. I recently had one of those Homer Simpson “DOH!” moments.

As many know, I am recovering from right hip replacement surgery. As of this writing, I am five months post-surgery.

On the one hand, the recovery is steady. A couple of months ago, I could do only two lying-side lifts. Worse, despite an Incredible Hulk-like effort (with green eyes!), I lifted my right leg only an inch or two off the floor. The reason is obvious. Hip replacement surgery requires the surgeon to cut through or detach some muscles and tendons to reach the joint. In short, surgically induced trauma! In addition, four years of limping was the equivalent of four years of deconditioning. That is why my side lifts sucked two months ago.

Incredible Hulk figure to depict how I was feeling during my two lying side lifts.

Since then, my side lift has gotten a lot better. I can do two sets of 10 repetitions but not without some effort. That exercise and others have resulted in soreness the day after.

On the one hand, I am pleased with the progress. I am constantly improving. At the same time, I am not 100%. I thought that I would be teaching private lessons by May. That turned out to be wildly optimistic.

A recent episode drove home that I am not fully recovered.

I recently engaged in various moderate physical activities for three consecutive days. I did a 30-minute dumbbell workout (upper body only) on Friday night at the local gym. Treadmill warm up and cool down. No leg exercises until my hip is fully healed. I did do my hip exercises.

One exercise is the clock exercise. To do this exercise while balancing on my operated side is quite challenging.

If you are not able to view this video, go to here.

I then mowed the front and back yards on Saturday. Now, a note about mowing. You would be right to think, “Aw, come on, mowing is easy peasy.” If not for my hip, I would agree with you. However, at this point, my hip is often fatigued when I finish mowing. I often have to ice it down afterward. On the other hand, mowing is great rehab for my hip.

Then on Sunday, I found evidence that one of the neighbourhood critters had nibbled on one of the tomatoes on my tomato plants. I’m unsure if it was a rabbit, raccoon, or squirrel. We have lots of them in the neighbourhood. Anyway, my wife and I gathered all the container tomato plants and wrapped them in chicken wire.

We secured the base with leftover gardening bricks from the garage.

Me: “I’ll get the bricks from the garage and bring them out here. You set them up.”

I ruled out using the wheelbarrow as it would be too heavy for my current right hip condition. I elected to carry one in each hand. They are not heavy. I made multiple trips over the course of a half hour. Note that my hip was already achy before I did this brief half-hour project.

Guess what? After I was done, my right leg collapsed from sheer fatigue.

Whenever I stood up for the next hour or so, it would give out on me. There was no pain. I had to use a cane to steady myself.

Me: “Duh, this is from three straight days of physical activity.“

Hearing my Dad’s voice: “Son, you were dumber than dirt.“

I immediately iced my hip, took some Tylenol, and rested for two days. I recovered by Wednesday morning.

The lesson here? Schedule a recovery day every other day. DOH!

For one approaching 59, this is an important reminder. Slow and steady wins the race. I ain’t no spring chicken anymore!

All that said, I am progressing toward resuming teaching private lessons (my preferred approach). Just not there yet, particularly with pushing off my right foot. The push off ain’t quite there yet.

Video of the Week

Want 11 minutes of comedy? Watch this! I always watch this guy’s videos, and they’re all hilarious.

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