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Friday, October 28, 2011

Surgery Date

Today I got an email from Dr. P's surgery scheduler with a surgery date for Jan. 5th. I am freakishly excited to finally get a date. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. So the plan is that I have an appointment on Jan. 4th for pre-op evaluation, some imaging, and a meeting with Dr. P and then the next day is the big day. The first day of my repaired hip and the first day towards working for a pain-free (or at least functional hip). It makes my stomach flip that I have to wait 8.5 weeks, that is only a little over 2 months of living with my hip before I get fixed. Woot, Woot!

I had my steroid injection yesterday. I feel pretty crappy today. Kinda like the post-op pain which isn't fun but I'll deal with it and hopefully feel better in a day or two. I am thankful that it is the weekend though! :)

All in all, I am thrilled to get fixed in 8.5 weeks! yayaya.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Injection #5 (and that's it forever!)

Today I had my final injection into my hip....like forever! lol (I certainly hope this is the case). I had it done by one of the radiologists with whom I had worked during my Radiology rotation. Very awkward. Not to mention some of my fellow medical students came in the room too. They politely asked if they could stay and I had no problem with them being there since tonnes of people have seen my hip/butt over the last five years.

The injection was rather rough (as I had expected since A) it isn't fun getting the joint poked and B) I've seen how the radiologist works....roughly to say the least) But, after he injected the steroid and the anesthetic I got 7 glorious hours of relief. I could flex past 90* and internally rotate. I could hop on one foot and walk without a limp. It was great. I threatened the doctor that I would go do some kick-boxing.

The hip is slowly getting more sore now. Which is to be expected. I just hope I don't have a steroid flare. Also, I found out that I have a hyperemic hip! I haven't heard of hyperemic joints before so I need to do some research on it. But he had a difficult time getting into the joint space since he kept placing the needle vascularly (and I had a tonne of vessels around the hip....many more than normal).

Yesterday I was able to see yet another ortho surgeon so that he could write me a script for this stupid steroid injection. He was so nice. I really liked him. And, he paid my co-pay for me! Imagine that! Usually the doctors don't do that type of thing. I'll promise to pay it forward when I am the doctor treating a medical student. Also, he gave me Tramadol for the pain. I have yet to take one since I want to see how the injection relief (if any) goes.

Fingers crossed I can walk tomorrow! (since I can feel my hip pain increasing exponentially each passing hour).

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

I Wish Upon A Star

If I had one wish right now, I wish that I could pack my bags up and head to Vail to get my hip fixed. I am truly ready to get it fixed so that I don't have to deal with the pain. See, life doesn't stop but my hip wants me to stop. I throb all day long, and every step I take I hurt. It is exhausting.

I am still waiting for a surgery date. I placed a well-though-out email to Dr. P's surgical coordinator the other day and am giving some time to hear back. It was basically begging for surgery prior to Christmas.

Last night was not a good night because I thought that I could get away from taking both my muscle relaxant and my narcotic. I was sick of taking pain meds....bad idea...I woke up once from a muscle spasm in my hip (at least that is what I chalked it up to) and then I had a nightmare about my hip surgery. Needless to say....I just took a tylenol#3 and am headed off to bed now. Here's hoping to a restful nights sleep.

Let's keep praying about getting a surgery date in the near future (that is before Christmas)!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Plan of Attack

So I am definitely going ahead with surgery as soon as I can get a date with Dr. P. Seriously, it is so hard to get a surgery date in such a short period of time since he typically books up 6 months in advance...and I am trying to get in prior to Christmas. Ha, sounds almost impossible. But, in all fairness, it was not my idea to get in sooner than the several months, but rather his surgery scheduler!

My school is being very cooperative as well as the hospital at which I am currently working. They are all going to work with me and reschedule things as soon as I get a surgery date. Now, this is my plan...get a surgery date ASAP. She is currently checking into early November.

As of now, my plan of attack is to get all of the information into the surgery scheduler this week so that she has all of the paperwork necessary for the appeal with my insurance company denies my pre-authorization for the surgery. As well, I am going to further explain my scheduling issue with my school and hospital and basically beg for a date (in a nice way though!) Then I plan on emailing her twice a week to ensure that I have not missed out on a potential cancellation. Maybe if I keep reminding her who I am and that I seriously want a surgery date since my medical school graduation depends on me being able to schedule the surgery prior to Christmas, perhaps she'll be able to swing something. She had mentioned this to me and it was not my original idea, but I am going to try to make it work.

It makes my stomach tighten to think that I could get surgery in a matter of several weeks! Getting rid of this immensely sore hip and be on my way to recovery is just totally, and utterly exciting!!!!!

There must be many prayers that somebody cancels or she adds me onto the schedule :)

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Gulp

So I spoke with one of Dr. P's fellows the other day and he said that having a graft from my IT made into a new labrum is my only option at this point. So, I definitely need surgery. He also said that the longer I wait to get the surgery the greater chances of developing arthritis and the greater chance I'd need microfracture (although needing microfracture is a definite possibility at the moment since it appears that some cartilage was removed in prior surgeries).

I am now debating on whether I should take time off from school and get my hip all fixed up. I seriously don't know how I could do 13-14 hour days on my feet at the moment. I can barely get thru 8 hour days. :( I think that I might just schedule surgery for as soon as I can and then see how my school can accommodate me. There is no need to struggle through life.

When I talk to anybody about this everybody tells me that I should get my hip fixed and then school will work out. If I have to take a year off it may be the best thing that could happen to me. In theory it sounds good but to actually go ahead and do it, and when it is happening to you, it is a major decision.

I kinda had a meltdown on Friday/Saturday about the whole deal. I even cried at PT yesterday. I just don't know what to do and what to think. I am so good at not complaining about my hip and when somebody says that you need surgery sooner rather than later and it really doesn't fit into life how the heck am I supposed to react?

I hope my school can accommodate me and perhaps give me a month of some sort of journal reviewing or research. But I haven't ever heard of anybody doing it before. I know that I can't be a doctor if I can't be on my feet. The thing that worries me is that I'll be in so much pain during a busy rotation that I'll be miserable and hate it when, if I had a decent hip, I would love it and want to do that particular type of medicine for the rest of my career. It really scares me. And I don't know how things are going to shake down.

At the moment, I am trying to gather all of my PT notes on my left hip, organize a steroid injection to submit to the doctor's office so that they can send it into my insurance company to get approval for the surgery. Why do things have to happen so quickly? I think that I always knew that I'd need surgery and figured I might not be able to do my rotations, but it doesn't make this situation any easier at the moment.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Clavicle My Butt

So last night I was getting up off the couch and all of a sudden I couldn't move my arm. I am pretty sure that I dislocated my clavicle or something since my entire collar bone is so sore that it hurts to palpate on both proximal and distal ends. Freaky! I know my shoulders are very, very loose, but man, I hate this additional pain. I have done this before, but it is making both my upper and lower body feel miserable. I feel like I ache all over.

I swear I have to be hypermobile or something. When I pay attention to my joints and their ROM they area all able to hyperextend and are significantly 'loose' (except for my hips which have such decreased ROM from my problems that they don't count). Heck, I can hold my hands together and voluntarily dislocate my shoulders and elbows so that I bring my hands around from the back to the front without letting go of my hands. I don't think that that is normal. Perhaps it is the same reason I dislocated my clavicle? Ugh.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

MY Head is spinnnnnnning :S

So Dr. P's office got back to me today and they said that due to my situation they would consider adding me on to the operating schedule some time after Thanksgiving. Which leaves me trying to make this work with my school and insurance.

If I am to make this happen I need to:
  • Get steroid injection into hip
  • Get all PT notes
  • Get all PMNR notes
  • Organize my school
  • Get insurance organized
  • Get my Mum's work to approve her leaving to come to Vail with me
  • Book flights, hotel, car, etc. to survive in Vail for a week
Eeek. I feel like this actually might happen waaaaaaay sooner than I had anticipated (ie July 2012) Which will make my life so much easier so that I don't have to be in constant pain 24/7.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming

Which is what I have to tell myself every day.....just keep swimming. Or rather, just keep limping. I am on my feet for 8 - 10 hours a day and I am just barely making it through. I sit when I can and take the elevator instead of stairs to get to the different floors of the hospital but still, by the end of the day, I hurt.

Last night in bed I was almost crying. I wonder how long I can do this. It is seriously taking some digging deep to keep on a-truckin' Phew. But, I will do my very best to get through to the summer before I get my surgery (unless the surgeon doesn't think that I should be living on my hip until then....which I highly doubt, but part of me wants him to say it since that means that I might not have to live with this chronic pain for such a long time).

5 years + I've been dealing with this and can't wait to get the reconstruction and move on with life. I sent my 15 pages to Dr. P's office today and am still waiting for the surgical coordinator to get back to me with answers regarding the urgency of my case, injection details, PT details, etc.