Surgery Details

A lot has happened since the last time I posted. I have surgery booked for the 7th of July at 10:00AM for femoral osteoplasty, acetabular osteoplasty, and labral repair. It is going to be an outpatient procedure where I will have to go back to a hotel room (since I have to be out of my apartment July 1st). Then we have to drive home which entails stopping every 1-2 hours so I can move around to prevent DVTs. Given that this drive normally takes 11 hours, this is going to really, really suck trying to get home. But, it must be done. In all reality, I am scared to death of the drive home; even more so than the actual surgery. I think I'll need all of the prayers I can get to get through that time. Thank goodness for narcotics!

We are still trying to iron out details about how/when I need to move since I have a week or so where I have to be out of my apartment and my surgery. I think that one of my friends will take me in, and I know that my boyfriend would take me in too.

I also found out that I will be NWB for two weeks, in TED hose for two weeks, then graduall

y transfer to WBAT for the next four weeks. All the while with no physiotherapy - all trying to prevent tearing of the repaired labrum. Furthermore, I am going to be wearing one of these lovely braces for six whole weeks:

Wow, that is gonna SUCK to wear all summer

ugh.

Here We Go Again

Well, it looks like I am able to get just a hip scope instead of a PAO or labral reconstruction. I am so thrilled that there was enough labrum left over from my first scope on the left side to have the local surgeon refix what labrum is left. It appeared on MRI that there was no labrum left, but upon seeing pictures from my previous surgery, this surgeon thinks that there is enough that he can fix it up.

It appears that I have done something to the anterior labrum (again) and the posterior labrum looks a bit chewed up on MRI as well. So, I assume that I will get both of them fixed during the scope. Also, I had an incomplete CAM osteochondroplasty, so that will be taken down and the surgeon said that he would like to take some of the acetabular bone off as well to be safe because I have such a propensity to tear that we want all possible impingements removed. Which is good for me since I do NOT want another surgery. So, of all the surgeries I will have had, this will be the most work done inside the hip. But, I am up for this since I can't possibly keep living like this. I have had sore hips fro 4 years now and my current hip state is the most painful pre-op that I have ever been. It really does suck; but there is hope that I can get it fixed! yay.

I get a surgery date either tomorrow or the next day and am stoked about getting it done. Weird to say how happy I am, but, I just want a chance to not be in pain. Before both my other surgeries I knew that my hip hurt and that it was annoying, I couldn't exercise and had to be careful what I did, but this hip now is on a different level. I understand that it is only the labrum that is messed up, but now that I have more tearing than I ever have and that I have never actually healed from my surgery a year or so ago, it really does hurt more than ever. I can't walk a step without thinking of it, I can't lie on my side unless I have two pillows between my knees, I can't sit for more than 10 minutes without readjusting because of the groin pain (which is difficult to deal with when I am sitting studying 12 hours or so each day). All in all, I am fed up and needing surgery. Which means I want surgery really badly.

Heck, this will be hip surgery number three in the last three years. Hopefully this is my last surgery for a very long time. I would assume that I'll need hip replacements when I am older, but hopefully that is a very long time from now.

So, I'll post when I get a date and start planning the logistics behind this operation. I think I'll have to order a T-shirt that says: Hip Chick on it (from that website!) God knows I am a hip chick :)

Regardless of What Happens...

I am almost fully convinced that a surgery in my near future. Yes, another surgery on my hip that refuses the behave. Honestly, all I have done all day was sit on my butt and study for my test tomorrow morning and I have a throbbing hip (which is manifested as a lovely groin pain). I found that sitting upright causes more pain than lying down, so I do most of my studying lying down.

I am now having more anxiety about my appointment on Monday; for what the arthrogram will show. It is hard to imagine that I am going to be a doctor in two years and I have this horrible fear of going to the doctor. I am afraid that this surgeon is going to say that I have to have a PAO or something of that nature. I mean, at this point, I know I would go through with it because I can't keep living like this. The quality of life is just not there. I can't bend over, sit for too long, stand for too long, walk for too long. I can't get to sleep without taking a muscle relaxant that will make me drowsy half the nights of the week. It is no way to live. That is for sure.

So, the waiting game continues until Monday. Until then, I get to try and forget about my appointment and consume myself with school which includes: board studying, otolarynology, dermatology, pathology. Oh the fun!!!

Post-Arthrogram

Well, I had to take some meds last night to get to sleep. I kind of tossed and turned all night due to the fact that every time I moved/flipped in bed I got a stabbing pain in the hip. But I woke up this morning and all I have is some muscle tightness and some pain inside the joint. Nothing that I need to take meds for, but definitely more than normal. All my ROM is back to the way it was prior to the injection. Oh well.

It was nice though, the pain doctor used one of my incision sites as a guide to get into the hip, and because of all the scar tissue getting the needle in didn't hurt as much as it could have. One plus about having already had surgery there! lol

So, I limp around today, but I suspect that it should go away in a day or two.

Now the waiting until Monday to get the results.

ARTHROGRAM #3 DONE!

Wahoo! I survived yet another freakin' arthrogram. I liken an arthrogram to being slapped in the face - no matter how many times you have one they still aren't fun. Really.

One good thing is that the anesthetic that was injected into the hip allowed me to flex my hip, internally rotate and all that jazz without any flinching of pain. No pain! I can flex past 90* for the first time in about a year. It is still all numbed up so there is no real pain. Just where the needle was placed is it sore. This makes me limp around and look like I can't walk but I CAN ACTUALLY MOVE MY HIP! That is very diagnostic that something is happening inside the hip.

Now the waiting starts. One week today I will have an idea on where I stand as far as what surgerical route we are going to take. Kind of worried that this is not just going to be a simple fix, but whatever will be will be, right?

So now I get to study on my bed all night eating Tylenol and icing my hip - should be fun!

Whoa. :S

Yesterday I went to see another orthopaedic surgeon about my hip pain that will not go away and I left almost in tears. Mind you, I held them back until I got to the car, but still, my worst fear came true. My hip is very inflamed, and, at the very least, I will need to have another scope to re-fix the labrum (if it is still there; more about that later) and take off more bone on the femoral head. At the worse it looks like a periacetabular osteotomy or a labral reconstructive surgery. Gulp.

So according to this surgeon, my surgeon back home has been using techiques that are about 5 years old and that there are better ways of going about doing things inside the hip now. According to the operative report, my surgeon removed the labrum by just cutting it out. Now they are able to refix it. Also, the femoral impingement is still a bit there and could be causing some residual impingement. To make matters even better, my hip sockets are mild/moderately retroverted which means that my hips will likely deteriorate in the future and need hip replacements if they aren't fixed.

From this point now, I am having another arthrogram to see how much labrum is left. If my surgeon didn't take out as much as he lead on in his operative report and there is some to fix, this surgeon may be able to fix it and help with my pain. Another thing I have to think about is getting a periacetabular osteotomy since it might be the only way to alleviate the pain and prevent deterioration. And the last optioin, if the labrum has been exised, is that I could get a labral reconstruction using a part of my IT band, which would bring the hip back to a stable structure and hopfully alleviate my pain. Best case scenario, I have to have exactly what I already had again.

Yesterday, I think I cried for three hours total trying to swallow all of these options. Although we can't know anything until the arthrogram results come back I have a horrible feeling in my gut that this could be something a not-medical-school-condusive-problem that may mess up my studies.

One thing that I am struggling with is that, maybe this doctor is just overreacting and too aggressive. What he said seems polar opposite to what my last surgeon and I feel like my head is spinning. I can't jump to any conclusions yet, but things seem to point to a real reason why my hip is still hurting which is VERY scary!

Afraid

So, I have found a orthopaedic surgeon here in town that does hip scopes and I have made an appointment to see him next week. I don't plan on getting anything done by him (because I think my original surgeon is great and he lives near me). But I have a pit in my stomach because I have this overwhelming feeling like something just isn't right. As this semester has progressed I am getting more and more groin pain. My ROM sucks and I am having to take more Ibuprofen during the day and sometimes muscle relaxants at night so I can sleep.

I am petrified that they are going to say that I have something wrong that needs surgery. I understand that something is wrong since I am 10 months post op and am declining again. I can about cry when I think about it. It is just so frustrating. I haven't the foggiest idea how I am going to do my medical school rotations without pain. Well, I won't not be in pain. I suppose I will have to suck it up. Unless something drastically changes in my healing process, I am very worried. If I do need surgery, I don't have time to fit it in. I suppose I could take my 2 months of vacation in one foul swoop (if need be)....but that would be using all of my vacation time for the next two years for surgery. Thinking about this is like jumping the gun. I really don't know if I need surgery or not yet. For all I know it could just be inflamed. Right? I am just so scared to get another operation on my hips!

I know that many people have had more than what I am dealing with, but it is still petrifying to know that something is wrong. I hate this!