Oh my, this is exactly a description of my experience - after my second round of hip replacements 12 years ago " I know for me it was almost 2 yrs exactly for pain to be gone on my L hip which was replaced 8/7/21, and I can still do some things that make it hurt….like gardening and digging a hole with a shovel, pushing/pulling an object."
All of a sudden, one day almost 4 years later, it occurred to me that I was able to dig - maybe not post holes, but definitely removing large plants and even some shrubs, without thinking about it. And I could pull the big hauling wagon across uneven surfaces...

Now I am a decade older, my arthritis is worse almost everywhere, I can't lift hay bales or 50 pound sacks of salt anymore, but my hips are good as new - some days the only body parts that don't hurt.