Sleepy

So last night was the first full night sleep I was able to manage in five days. Last week I noticed that I had to toss and turn to fall asleep since I couldn't get comfortable, but these last few nights have not been good. I have such a busy schedule that any sleep is like gold and not being able to fall asleep is terrible. Two nights ago I only managed to get five hours sleep since I throb so much, no position is comfortable. This did me in since I had stuff to do from 6AM until 8PM, with no stopping. Needless to say, last night I came home and was in so much pain that I ended up taking a muscle relaxant and headed off to bead.

It would have been nice to have some stronger meds last night, but I am a poor student and the only thing that I had that would make me drowsy were muscle relaxants. But they did the job and I managed to get 9 hours sleep! Wahoo! Now I am a bit better but still am in more pain than I was a month ago. I am not quite sure what to make of this. I think that it might be due to the fact that I am sitting around on my butt more studying for hours upon hours and maybe this is aggrevating it? I hope so. Just a couple of more weeks and I'll be on my way to recovery. These past couple of days have really solidified the fact that I need the surgery done.

Rant over.

Pre-Admission Date (temporary)

Today I got a call trying to discuss my pre-admission appointment. My surgeon is being really good about this and has set up that I don't have to go to the hospital he is at to get my pre-op stuff done. He is sending the blood work and lab requests to my parents who are going to fax it to the clinic here at school (since I am 11 hours away from my home). Then I can have the lab work sent to him. Also, the pre-admission office is going to set up a phone appointment instead of having to go in and see them. So I am having a phone call on May 19th around 3pm.

When I had my right hip scoped I didn't have to go to the Pre-Admission Clinic so I am wondering why I have to go now. I don't even know what they are going to ask me. Honestly they have all the consent and everything. Ah well, I guess I will find out.

Having this appointment scheduled really hit me hard; this is actually going to happen. Eeek! I am getting so nervous. On the flip side though, I now only have four short weeks before I don't have to live with this darn tear and impingement. That is exciting.

One Month to Go

I officially have one month to go. Since today is now May 2nd and I get surgery June 2nd. I can't believe that I only have to live with a labral tear and impingement 4 more weeks. I have had hip pain now for 3 years; from the onset of my right hip pain to the surgery for my left hip pain.

You know what is very coincidental? June 2nd, 2007 was the exact day that my initial hip symptoms started. Now June 2nd, 2010 marks the beginning of the end for my hip pain. (hopefully).

I never want to have to go through this type of hip pain again. Although not completely debilitating, meaning I could still mostly function, I couldn't (can't) do the things that a normal person my age should do. I can't go workout at the gym, I can't run, and now, I can't walk around the mall without having my lovely hip lock on me several times during the subsequent days. Another thing that I noticed is that I can no longer sleep on my left side. I have a lovely memory foam mattress that contours to my body, but this makes my actual hip sink in, and my knees don't, which causes slight internal rotation and I can't stand it for longer than a 5 minute length of time.

But....all of this will be gone once I get my hip all fixed up. I can't wait to get this over with so that I can heal and get on with my life. I think that the thing that I am most looking forward to is getting fit again. I used to be such an active person, and now the exercise I get is walking up and down my stairs at my apartment and walking across the street onto campus everyday.

So the countdown begins: 1 month :)

Reminder of Why I Need Surgery

I now remember why I am getting hip surgery in June. Yesterday was a terrible hip day. Normally, I am so busy that I can forget about my hip all together, but yesterday the pain was so bad that I could hardly sit still while I studied. If I sat upright my hip throbbed, if I shifted my weight to the left or to the right, it also hurt. I ended up lying on my stomach on my bed as I crammed in last minute information before my exam in the morning.

I can't think of anything that I could have done to aggrevate it and make it particularly painful yesterday. But this was a good reminder of why I am going through with surgery. I need this every so often, because sometimes I think that it might be easier & less scary to opt out of surgery (especially since I have already gone through this same thing once and I know what to expect in terms of recovery). Alas, I totally happy with the hope that someday I may have painless hips.

I also called to confirm that my surgeon did get the results and a CD copy of my MRI and arthrogram. And I am glad that they did so that I don't have to hound on the radiologist's office on sending out the results. I also made sure that I was just an outpatient case. Last time I was in and out in the same day, but during my last clinic appointment, the fellow, told me that I would be staying in the hospital overnight. I didn't think that the fellow was correct, but had to make sure that I wasn't going to actually be staying in overnight. Not that it will matter to me at that point (because I won't remember the majority of the first couple of days), but more for my parents' sake since we have to travel out of town to a major teaching hospital to get this done.

Well, enough of the rant.....off to bed......

Surgery/Report

Today I got my surgery day scheduled as well as the radiologist's report from my MRI/arthrogram.

Findings:

There is contrast undercutting the anterior superior portion of the labrum compatible with a labral tear. There is prominent osseous bump along the aspect of the femoral neck. The femoral alpha angle measures 60*. The hip joint demonstrates no severe cartilage deficit. There are no large intra-articular bodies. The surrounding hip tendons are within normal limits

Impression:

Anterior/superior labral tear. There is a prominent osseous bump along the ventral aspect of the femoral neck. The constellation of findings are compatible with CAM type impingement.

Also, I called my surgeon's office to see if they have got the report and CD copy of the MRI so that he can plan the surgery, but they had not. I will follow up in another week. Also, my surgeon's secretary got me a surgery date: June 2nd, 2010. I am very pleased with this date as it gives me a week and a day to myself after my last exam finishes and my surgery. I'll have to do something fun in between school and surgery. Maybe an amusement park?!

Confirmed

Today I got a call from the clinic saying that I have an antero-superior labral tear on my left side and a significant, ventrally located, osteophyte on the femoral head. Which is exactly what both the surgeon and I had thought. No surprises at all, but it does make me feel better to know that my symptoms do manifest themselves due to a morphological condition, rather than something that is unseen.

So, that is the last step besides getting an actual surgery date and going to the hospital to get it done. This is kind of scary and kind of exciting to know this could be the last of my hip troubles! After my left hip heals from this upcoming surgery, it will be the first time since 2007 that I haven't had at least one sore hip.

Arthrogram/MRI

Today (well, I guess yesterday now) I had my arthrogram/MRI done on my left hip. Thank goodness the radiologist was nice and gentle. After cleaning the area, he numbed it with some Lidocaine, and then injected the hip with iodinated contrast, lidocaine, and other MRI marking solutions to better able to see inside my hip joint. He was so nice and went well, explaining everything as he went.

This was a far cry from my last marcaine injection on my other hip. The radiologist then was extremely impatient and rough. He repeatedly hip my femoral head with the needle and I was sore for several days afterwards.

Alas it is done. I fretted over this for several days now and it went alright. I have been taking Ibuprofen (therapeutic dosage) and icing off and on all evening. I have been making sure to get up off my butt from studying every hour to move around so as to alleviate any unnecessary stiffness in the hip. All in all I am not in very much pain at all. The joint feels sluggish internally, but this should subside quickly.

One awesome thing is that I was able to have the radiologist's clinic send me a copy of the test when it gets read. Which is pretty neat that I am going to be able to see my own MRI! They said that I might even get the results tomorrow. Having said this, I am already sure of the results as this seems strikingly similar to the other hip; so much so, that I have already signed all the paperwork to get the surgery done in June.