Blessings - Laura Story

So going through health issues and surgery after surgery, year after year, it can be difficult to live with a healthy positive attitude. I don't know how many people who have hip problems actually read this, but I thought that for any of you fellow hip patients out there, or anybody for that matter, who is in need of an extra boost of wholesome goodness and inspiration, you should watch this video.

Good things come out of every experience no matter how hard they seem. Keep on keeping on! You all are in my prayers! xx

Look Ma, No Crutches!!

Today marked the first day I didn't even touch a crutch! woot, woot!




I made it all day without using even one! I have a lovely Trendelenburg lurch, but I think this stems from my inability to extend my hip at all. I hope that physiotherapy can fix this.


I also drove down the street to visit my grandparents. It was just fine driving too.





Also, last night was my first night in a week that I actually got a decent night's sleep too

Incisions

4 Days Post-Op

1 Week Post-Op

2 Weeks Post-Op

(the day I got my stitches out)

4 Weeks Post-Op

Overall the incisions are healing great! I am really pleased with them. They are bigger than my previous scope sites and the sutures where not placed as tightly as previously so my scars are going to be bigger, but that just means that they are going to show more; gotta <3 your battle wounds :)

Today both my brothers were home and I went to the pool with them. It was great fun! Although I couldn't go into the pool, I stood on the steps and got all cooled off. It was inevitable that I was going to be splashed by my two younger brothers. We joked that I was going to be squeaking like the Tin-man when I go back for my follow-up because I will have rusted up. LOL

4 Weeks Post Op

Today marks the one month post-op date. Wohoo! Actually, I can hardly believe that it has been a month. It seems to have gone by so quickly, yet, at the same time, so slowly. I am fairly impatient now but things seem to be improving. Slowly but surely.

I can now walk unaided for about half a day but then I have to resort to using one crutch. My gait is by no means normal looking at all (I have posted a video of my walking to document my increasing ability to walk more an more normal). The hip sometimes catches and when I sit down (most of the time) I feel it clunk down and crack which, in turn, alleviates some of the pain. Very odd, but I am assuming that it is just the hip healing away. Although I will run this by my OS when I see him in a couple of weeks. I can do almost everything myself, except for putting on underwear and shorts because I can't bend that far in the brace. I still have trouble sleeping but after a couple nights of bad sleeping I end up getting a good one in that will last me a few days. I think it is a matter of being able to relax. I have groin pain still and am severely guarding the hip which makes it difficult to sleep. I don't take any pain meds anymore, just my prescribed Ibuprofen.

Overall, I am far behind my previous recoveries, but this was a repair and not a debridement, and I was much longer on crutches. I think that having the revision really makes the recovery longer as well. I have my fingers crossed that this is all worth it!

I really have to stop thinking about the worst though; it is making me stressed. Yesterday I stumbled across a blog about a lady who had a labral repair and the OS found that her labrum could not be repaired and he just took part of her IT band and rebuilt it right then and there. Gosh, I wish I could have had her surgeon doing my surgery! Then I would for sure be out of the woods for further surgery. Don't get me wrong, I really trust my OS and really think he knows his stuff but he doesn't know how to do the reconstruction and he wasn't going to make me his first. So, I live on the fence until I have my appointment with him on August 16th.

Anywho, another week down and several more to go. I start up working on Sept. 12th, which gives me plenty of time to get doing physiotherapy (once cleared from my OS) and have the hip settle down enough to function on my feet all day.

Walkered-it-up Today :)

My grandparents live about 7 doors down from my parents house so I decided to take a 'walk' and I used the walker I borrowed and took it all the way down the street. Although only 7 doors down, it felt great to walk outside. I could walk better with the walker than using the one crutch; it didn't hurt my back at all and I could feel the hip capsule stretch. Overall, I was pleased. :)

It probably looked ridiculous: a young chick hobbling down the street using a walker in a hip brace. But I don't care, it worked and felt great!

Scope Pictures

I totally forgot to post some pictures that my surgeon took whilst inside my hip. He took three pages of them and gave them to me. Pretty amazing! Last time I had to ask for copies and they just photocopied the, this time I've got them in full colour and the originals!!

I really don't know exactly what the pictures show, but I'll definitely get an explanation at my next appointment.

Not sure the details of these pictures.

The bottom two pictures show the 2 anchors he could get in,

and in between the anchors is the mush of a labrum (?)

I think the top row show the bone that was wrongly r

emoved by my previous surgeon

Bone removal in the second row (?)

Had a Bad Day

I am proud to say that I have not gone into self-pitty mode once since I have had my surgery. Yes, thre have been times that I feel like crying but a pitty-party does nobody good. I preface this post by mentioning this because I am afraid that this post might sound a bit more negative than I had originally anticipated.

Today is the first day back for my fellow medical student friends. I wish that I could be wearing my short white coat and following around doctors and learning medicine. Instead, I am lying on the couch with heating pad on my back to control my back spasms, frozen peas on my hip, all the while wearing a bulky hip brace. Pretty ideal...not! I don't know why this is so hard for me today. I've been dealing with hip issues for going on 6 years now, you would think that I'd be used to sitting out on things; it never gets easier.

Last night I slept horribly and flipped and flopped in the recliner chair so decided to flip and flop in my bed half way through the night. Neither place was conducive to sleeping. I really can't believe how much pain I am in still (being almost a month post op) plus my walking off of crutches doesn't seem to be improving. Hopefully it will get better very quickly. I haven't taken any oxycodone in two days but this evening before bed I will have to take some because it is a bit much.

To add on top of things, the support group Hip Chicks has gone to a pay-only access which means that I have to pay a fee to be a part of the group. I really loved the support I attained there, but I am not in a position to pay for 'extras' and the website group would be an 'extra' so, I have lost those connections. I suppose I could pay for it, but I am so in debt from school that I vowed to not spend any money on 'extra' things that I don't really need. I suppose if I find myself in a hip predicament in the future and need some support and some questions answered, I may rethink things, but for now, that is not the case. I did believe that I could still read the website and just not post but it seems like to even browse the website I have to pay. :(

I hope that I am on track to healing, it just seems so slow at the moment and I hurt right now. I totally wish that I didn't have to deal with all of this pain. I can't imagine others with more major surgeries. Phew. I know my hip was in kinda bad shape, but I only had a hip scope and I still feel crappy. I generally think that I have a high pain tolerance (being a former national athlete I know how to deal with pain) but man, this stinks. My heart goes out to those with major, major hip surgeries!

Hopefully I'll be less blue tomorrow, again, I apologize for the depressing nature of the post, but I needed to vent some. Thanks!