Happy Hip Anniversary - 2 years!

Today marks two years since I had my right hip scoped. I seriously can't believe it has been two years! It is still a bit funky, but I hope that it is of no concern. (will bring this up at my next appointment with my OS). I am really happy I had it done though. I have no more catching, groin pain, or buttock pain.

I wish that I could write up here that my hip is perfect and I am out running marathons and what not, but this is not the case. I really haven't had a chance yet to "try out" my right hip with any extensive physical activity since my left one is still recovering. I can't wait to get back active. It seems to have been so long since I could go for a run or do anything to really give me a good work out. But, it is coming in the future and this truly gives me hope.

So, all in all, I am happy that I had my right hip done. Happy enough to get my left side done too. I can already feel that my left side is going to be better than my right side after it is healed. Which is a good and bad thing I supposed.

My left hip is recovering nicely. Taking its grand old time, but nicely all in all :)

3 Months Post-Op

Today marks the three month mark since my left hip arthroscopy. How does time fly so quickly? Man alive! In any event, things are going alright on the recovery front. I do not have any of the pre-op pain (ie catchinhg, groin pain, deep achy pain) that I had before, but I am still not pain free in any sense of the word. It is still early in the recovery process though and shouldn't expect to be pain free for another 3 - 4 months (according to my surgeon).

I am not seeing my physiotherapist anymore since I have moved back to school. But one perk about going to medical school is the fact that there are doctors all around! I was in lab a couple of weeks ago and got talking to one of the doctors and he thought that he could help me regain some motion and reduce my pain levels with this certain technique that he learned. Let me back up for a second, at our school we have some very prominent Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Specialists that are highly respected nationwide. After speaking with one of them, the doctor got me in to see him within a matter of days; despite the fact he had a seven week waitlist. He treated me with a technique called Fascial Distortion. Oh my goodness, did this work well! I went from not being able to stand up straight because my muscles were so tight, to being able to fully extend for the first time in more than a year. It was quite impressive. The only down side is that it hurt so, so, so, so much! (apparently on the level of child birth according to my doctor). Despite the horrendous pain, swelling, and bruising that lasted about 2 - 3 weeks, my pain levels have significantly decreased and got more out of that one treatment with this technique than from all of my physiotherapy this summer combined.

I have just set up another appointment with my doctor since I need to have this done again; probably twice. My left hip is still limited in flexion and is still angry from the surgery, but it will get better, and if we can enhance the healing process by doing it again, then sign me up! Also, my right hip is apparently very limited in ROM as well. Funny how having my left side hurt so much can mask the fact that I can't barely put my right hip through a decent ROM! I still have almost no internal rotation and flexion is markedly decreased as well. The doc asked me if I could work out or do any physical activity with my right side being so seized up. But, I haven't been able to try it out doing phyiscal activity since I had it fixed in 2008 because right after my right side was fixed, the left side deteriorated. So, it looks like I am having this Fascial Distortion on my right side as well.

I look forward to my appointment with my doctor next week since things are really weird right now. My gait is all messed up because I haven't been able to extend for more than a year and then I suddenly can extend all of the way, I feel awkward while walking. My rectus femoris muscles are so tight that I think they may be restricting my ability to walk normal. Having this awkward gait is making my pelvis rotate toward my left side with each step so every time I put weight on my right side I have a sharp pain in my back. So right now the main culprit of my pain is my back. Hopefully he will be able to address this next week as well.

I am excited that I am recovering, albeit slowly. It is great to have another doctor who really knows his stuff re: musculoskeletal medicine, and really cares about how I feel! My surgeon is just so busy and, yes, he is a surgeon so his main focus is performing the surgery and then, understandably so, has very little interest in the recovery of the patient. So as of now, I have a great surgeon and a great rehab doctor that is better than any physiotherapist I have come in contact with. I do want to make it clear that I don't think physiotherapists are poor at all, in fact, they are wonderful professionals who know a lot and realy do help a lot of people. Just the ones I have had/come in contact with, have not been as good as my current doctor.

Ouchie

Today was a very interesting day on the hip front. At school the fellows were giving out free treatments and I decided that I could go. It wouldn't hurt and it would probably make me and my hip feel better. Well, it may or may not have been a good idea.

At my medical school there are some doctors who specialize in musculoskeletal medicine (physical medicine and rehabilitation to be exact). Well, I saw somebody who is training under the doctors here and apparently I am still so sore because all my muscles and fascia are warped into weird positions and cause me pain. I had my treatment today and the fellow used a new fascial technique that, well, to say the least, hurt A LOT. To be quite honest, it might have been the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. Although this might bruise and cause severe discomfort now, it should reset my fascial pattern (which is screwed up all the way to the hip joint itself). Sigh, so I am REALLY, REALLY sore now.

The thing that was bad about the treatment, besides it hurting so much, was that it really didn't make a difference because the fellow couldn't "get in there" enough to release the fascia, and, we were in a wide open setting and he didn't feel comfortable a) uncovering the butt, groin region and b) making me cry or yelp because of the pain.

Apparently this, if done correctly, hurts like the dickens, but should reset everything so as to help me recovery very quickly (after I have recovered from the treatment itself). This is a new an up-and-coming technique that they are trying out here at my medical school.

Although I didn't get any benefits (ie increased ROM), the fellow is going to talk to the doctors (two of them here do this treatment) and will see if they can fit me into their schedule. There is at least a month's wait list to see these doctors, but, seeing as I work in lab with these doctors on a regular basis, they would work me in. So, I wait in limbo for yet another doctors appointment. Hopefully this will give me relief after some pain....but then, maybe I am being masochistic and just seeking pain without potential benefits.

8 Weeks Post Op

I seriously can't believe that it has been eight weeks, two whole months, since my surgery. It seems like just yesterday I was being wheeled into the operating room getting ready to have my last hip fixed.

Things are still rather sore but manageable. I will be happy when this recovery is all over with and I can start increasing my activity levels to a normal level again. I wonder if I will be ble to run again? I love, love, love running! Before I do any impact activity I will ask my surgeon. I have an appointment at the 6 month mark just to check in with him to see how things ended up.

At this point, I hope I am happy I did the surgery as it is too early to tell if it hasn't made me worse than before. But the groin pain is gone and the locking is gone (I think, but I can't really tell since I can't extend all the way yet).

All I can say is that I am happy that I only have two hips! ha.

Slowly, Slowly, Slowly...

I am quite impatient and wish that one day I could wake up and say, "hey, I feel better." But, alas, this is not the case. Things don't ever seem to get better from day to day, but when I look back at where I was two weeks ago, I suppose things actually are better. I am much better when I don't do a heck of a lot.

I try to do my physiotherapy exercises every other day (which is about as much as my body can handle.) It is really nice since my school has a wonderful gym. My physiotherapist from home has set me up with a tonne of strengthening and ROM exercises. Both she and I are pretty confident that I can go through and progress through the rehab on my own since I have a couple of advantages: a) I have done this before on the other side and know what I was doing b) I am in medical school and I have many doctors / fellow students with whom I can ask questions should the need arise. I will go see a physiotherapist if I find that I am not improving as I would like, but for now it is well.

At the gym I do various exercises and things. I can do about 10 minutes on the eliptical which is a feat in and of itself. (I can only go forward though, since the backward motion is too taxing on my still very weak quadriceps). I do lots on the exercise balls: bouncing up and down to loosen the hip capsule, one legged squats rolling the ball under the operated knee, and much more. It feels really good when I do it, but the next day things get quite sore. Mostly just the actual joint itself. I still am unable to walk without a limp because I can still not extend properly. Mind you, it is SLOWLY getting better than it was, it is still noticeable in my gait.

So all in all, no real major progressions, but small improvements in ROM and strength. The things that bother me is that I require so much more sleep than last year during school. I suppose this is my body's way of letting me know that I have to take it easy! As well, the fact that my other hip is more sore when I walk on it than my most recently operated hip makes me a bit uneasy (since this is what happened post op after my first scope....I am guessing it is just my paranoia setting in!)

Until next update,
Me

Returning to School = Unhappy Hips

I have officially returned to classes for two days now and wow, my mind is ready to go but my body isn't. I don't have a choice but to increase my activity. I have 26 stairs just to get to my bedroom in my apartment. Also, all of my food is on the lower shelves in the kitchen which requires me to bend over to get my food out. It certainly is the little things that hurt that make my life difficult at the moment.

I find that the worst time of day, besides at night before bed, right after my morning lectures. I sit in a lecture hall for four hours straight. When I go to get up and grab some lunch I can barely walk across the street to my apartment. But, I go slowly and can make it there in time to eat, take some Ibuprofen and Tylenol and then go back to class for a couple of hours more of lecture. All the sitting is killing me. But, I suppose I am managing the best I can.

Funny thing is that my other hip is actually more sore than my most recently operated hip. I think it is from bending whilst standing on my right leg that has it irritated. I know this hip isn't 100% so it doesn't surprise me that it is protesting a bit. I guess no, or very minimal, bending over for me for the next. Hopefully it calms down because having two sore hips really sucks!

So I have gone backwards a bit, but I expected this. I am sure that it will get better as I get stronger.

Phone Frustration

Well, I was supposed to set up an appointment to see my OS during my Christmas break and I am having a terrible time getting a hold of the secretary. I called yesterday and had to call back this morning because she didn't know when he was taking his holidays. So I called back today and she was too busy so she called me back later. I was waiting my my phone but then my phone line went cooky and I couldn't answer it, so I have to call back on Monday, but I am traveling 11 hours in the car to get back to school. So I can't call Monday either. To makes things worse, it looks like I will have my appointment on Jan. 4th, so that means that I will be missing two days of school. This really sucks because it puts me behind the eight ball to start off the semester, but I guess it is worth it to get the final closure on the hip situation.

6 weeks Post-Op

Hey, hey. I am now 6 weeks post-op. Although things are going slowly, they are going forward, this is a good thing. I am still extremely stiff. I don't necessarily hurt too badly, but I am so stiff that anything I do takes more effort than it should. Thus I get more tired than I used to before surgery.

I have about 90 degrees of flexion and moderate external rotation, aDduction, and aBduction, but still almost zero degrees of internal rotation. My muscles are feeling stronger and less sore all of the time. But as my muscles relax, the joint itself isn't relaxing very well. I do all the things that I am supposed to do, but it doesn't seem to make any difference, I still can't extend or straighten up. Kind of frustrating.

As far as the incisions go, they are doing well. The one that I was worried about having a suture in it actually has an abscess under the skin. Sometimes people get this from the subcutaneous stitches. The doctor said that if it was a stitch, it probably would be red and inflamed, so it most likely isn't a stitch. But there is no real way to tell. But both the surgeon's fellow and the nurse didn't seem like it was a very big deal at all.

Yesterday I had my follow-up as well. I saw my surgeon's fellow prior to seeing my surgeon. The fellow was great, he was definitely from Australia! Man, I love the accents! :) But he was thorough and explained the radiographs, the pictures from within the joint, and looked at my incisions. He even printed out a copy of the operative report for me to read later. (this absolutely thrilled me). I saw my surgeon for about three to five minutes. He re-explained the pictures and then told me that I should make an appointment just to check up with him on my Christmas break. So I don't see the surgeon until I am about 6 months post-op. Hopefully things are as great as they will be and I'll run into and out of the office for good. I think that I have been about 15 times to the surgeon for both the right and left hips.

I was also explained that I didn't necessarily have a labral tear (although the operative reports it as a tear) but rather a frayed labrum. I also had chondral delamination at the base of the fraying. Which also was taken away. This is slightly concerning since I am only 25 and have cartilage damage. But it is gone and hopefully for good. The cam-impingement was substantial and necessitated that they use additional approaches to cut and shave the extra bone. This explains the bruising in the anterior and most lateral portal - since they had to exchange the bone shaver and the scope back and forth to remove all of the bone.

So as it stands things are healing well. I am tired of having a stiff hip that doesn't seem to be healing very quickly. It is so weird that I don't have any doctor's appointments until December or January now (I still have to schedule my follow up with my surgeon). I always have something planned! Xrays, arthrograms, specialist appointments, etc. This may very well be the final stretch to a life that is not ruled by my hips. I have the hope of someday having a day that I do not have to think about my hips. To be honest, there has not been a day since June of 2007 that I have not thought of my hips. I can't even imagine what it is like to not think about my hips while I move, walk, stand, or sit. I assume that I will start thinking less and less of my hips so the transition to a 'normal' life will be gradual. Very scary thought (in a weird way). I don't know how to put it, but in a way, it is like a chapter in my life is coming to a close. For the last three years I had to deal with hip pain, doctor appointment after doctor appointment, imaging test after imaging test, surgery, recovery, more appointments, surgery, recovery. This will come to a close and there will be a time that I don't need to have so many health things going on. It will be great, but that learning as a patient will be lost. Having said this though, I think that being a patient for two surgeries within 2 years of each other is enough patient learning for a while. Let's hope that the hips hold up for the rest of my life! (or at least for many more decades).

Getting Busier

Well, it appears as if I have missed my five week update. I did take some pictures, but I didn't have time to post them up. Ah well, I suppose a 6 week update in the next couple of days will suffice.

As far as the hip is feeling, it is slowly getting better. Each day I wake up feeling great. I can walk without a limp if I don't take full steps. But as the day progresses it gets more painful and then I can't extend backwards at all and I limp. My goal was to go to my surgeon without limping, but this is not going to happen unless I suddenly wake up tomorrow without a tight anterior hip capsule. (Which is highly unlikely).

So tomorrow I go see my surgeon for my six week follow-up. I get radiographs done a half hour before my scheduled appointment. I really can't wait to see my radiographs and arthroscopy pictures from inside my hip. Also, I am going to see what he thinks about my one incision. It just doesn't feel right to me. Having the slight troubles with the sutures for the past couple of weeks, I am concerned that I have a stitch inside. But this might simply be my paranoia setting in. I bet that he says that it is just scar tissue. But, nevertheless, I have to ask him just to be sure.

Another exciting thing about tomorrow is that my brother is coming home and going to drive to my appointment with me. I have to drive out of town to the large teaching hospital for the area and it will be great to travel with my brother. I don't get to see him much and he has come home to spend some time with me before I head off to school next week. Given that having an appointment out of town takes the entire day to drive there, have the appointment, and then drive home; it will be great to have sibling company!

The Last Suture (hopefully)

Today I noticed that one of my incisions had a bluish hue to it and thought, "Hey, my stitches were blue!" So I decided to numb it up with an ice cube and then I put a pin into one side of the incision and pulled out about 1.5 cm of blue, nylon suture material! 5 weeks after the surgery I shouldn't be pulling out suture material. I will definitely have my surgeon take a good look at all of the incisions to make sure that there is not any more underneath the skin. I wouldn't be surprised if one incision still has some in it since it is very hard under the skin; although I suppose this could be scar tissue.

Decent Day

Today was a decent day, ALL day. I think that this is the first full day that I have not significantly deteriorated after dinner. It was great to fell decent in the evening. Although this was helped with a bit of acetaminophen, but still, it is a step forward. Another first today as well, for a couple of minutes I actually forgot that I had surgery! It only lasted briefly since I thought I could go up the two steps out of the living room with a bounce in my step. Alas, my hip is not ready for bouncing of any kind; and he told me as soon as I did it.

So, as it stands now, the things that I need to work on is my hip extension (hip capsule still stiff as anything), quadriceps strength (still significantly atrophied), and ROM in all directions.

Comparing this to my last scope, I was off crutches now and walking with a slight lurch to the affected side due to the gluteal muscles all being cut (ha, I checked my old blog). But, I did not have this anterior tightness that would not go away. One thing that struck me about my notes from last surgery, is that I already thought that my left hip had a tear! In fact, I noted the same groin pain and catching only two weeks after my first scope on the right side. Amazing how much has changed with my hips since then....healed up on hip and got the other done. Oh how sweet it will be when my hips are fixed and I can live like a normal 25 year-old without hip pain? And be active? I haven't been active at all since 2007. I can't wait!!!

Ciao!

P.S. I certainly hope this offsets some of the negativity from my previous post!

Sometimes I Think I'm Better

Today I woke up feeling pretty good. My hip felt looser and was really in a great mood. Then I decided to go for a little walk (200m one way and 200m back). At the time I thought that it would be a good thing to see if I could do it, but about 2 hours later, I was so tired and sore I went to bed. I have laid in bed for the last 5 hours and now I plan on going to bed for the night. Boo to bad and sore hips. I have a looong way to come in three weeks before I start school up again.

Sigh.

1 Month Post-Op

Today marks the four weeks mark since I had my left hip scoped. Wow have things come a long way in four short weeks. I can now walk without crutches, do stairs one at a time (when I am not too tired), drive, kick my legs in the pool, shower without help, get dressed alone (excluding socks and running shoes), and basically function on my own. Sometimes I need help with carrying things because I am still struggling to carry my own body weight, and any added weight is not reasonable to place on the hip at the moment. All in all, I am done with the worst and am trying to stay as positive as possible.

On the less than optimal side, my anterior hip capsule is extremely angry, so much so that I can't extend at all. I can get to neutral after allowing five minutes or so of slow stretching. I practice lying on my stomach for several minutes to stretch it out. It works, but the darn thing hurts so much. More of an annoying, make-your-stomach-ache-get-an-ulcer pain that hurts even with breathing. My physiotherapist stretched the hip capsule out and gave me acupuncture to try and release the anterior hip. Not only is the hip capsule angry, but my entire leg is weak and I am guarding my hip so the hip flexors are constantly contracting. If we can get this resolved, then my walking will improve leaps and bounds!

Today I got on the stationary bike at the physiotherapist's office. I have an extreme amount of atrophy of my quads and, after three minutes with no resistance, my leg was burning and then had to stop since I couldn't feel the leg anymore from being so fatigued. Imagine, 3 MINUTES and that was it! Wow I have a long way to come yet. But the acupuncture and facial release really loosened things up for a couple of hours before it went back to being tight, which means that I walk with this funny-looking with an odd swing of the pelvis and bend of the knee on the affected side. I have two weeks to get this sorted before I see my OS again. I really don't want to go back with a bad gait! I wanna show him how well I have been doing. At least there is something to work for. Short term goals are good.

As of now, I wake up in the morning with very little pain and the hip is the most mobile it is all day. As the day progresses the hip gets more and more tired, more stiff, and more painful. By the end of the day I throb, take acetaminophen, ice, and veg like a slug on the couch. Hopefully I'll start feeling a lot better soon as I only have three weeks until I jump back into full blown school with a crazy schedule. This thought kind of makes me nervous because there is no way I will return to my full schedule being fully functional at the rate I am recovering. eek!

Update

I am sitting, rather rocking on my exercise ball on the computer trying to loosen up my hip before I do my exercises and I thought that this would be a good time to update the blog. Nothing much is really new on the hip front. Today I may actually walk with less of a limp than the past couple of days. I really don't hurt too much when I walk, just that I can't extend gives me an awkward gait.

Three of the four incisions are healing up nicely. They are just red now, but not inflamed at all and are feeling much better overall. My one incision in the front is not really red, but it is pulled funny on one side; quite taut actually. There is a lump the size of a pea that is painful to touch. I am hoping this is just scar tissue or something and not a stitch stuck underneath the skin. I guess I'll wait and see how it heals up. I see my OS in two weeks (from tomorrow), so I will see what he says about it then, if it is even there. I can't wait for my follow-up as I'll get to see and have explained all my Xrays that they took, before and after the surgery, and I get to see colour pictures from inside my hip that they took with the scope. Pretty neat!

Yesterday I managed to do one normal activity. I went to church in the morning. Oh it was great to go and worship, but my goodness it really took a lot of energy. Sitting then standing., sitting then standing, repeat. I was standing and singing when the thought crossed my mind....all of these people aren't thinking anything of standing up and then there is me, trying to balance out my weight on both my good and bad sides so as not to hurt the bad side while not letting the good side get too tired. Difficult work, but worth it. When I came home I slept all afternoon.

Fast forward to today, I can now go up and down stairs with one foot on each step, no two-footing it on each step for me today. Going down is easier than going up, but I can manage both ways. I will be sure to not do too many stairs since I have a tendency to, one I can do something, over-do it and then make myself all sore and go backwards. But simple things like this really make a difference.

Enough procrastinating, I will now go and to my exercises. :)

Walking, Waiting, Wanting.

Walking.

I have not touched crutches for two days now! I am really tired because walking takes so much work, but I feel great to not have to use them. Although I can do without crutches, I still don't walk properly. I can't fully extend my left leg (due to tight anterior hip capsule.) I can't remember having the anterior hip so unhappy for my other side. I am doing all I can to stretch it out (ie lie on my stomach and relax the hip and surrounding musculature, lie on my back and relax.) These exercises must work eventually because some hip extension would be appreciated in the very near future.

Waiting.

I feel like I am waiting around, putting in my time for recovery so that I can get on with my life. Essentially, I am waiting around to get better. Not the most exciting way to spend my last summer vacation, but necessary none-the-less.

Wanting.

I am currently wanting to do much more than I am physically capable of doing. I want to go shopping for some cute outfits, I want to go for a walk, I want to work out, etc., etc., etc. But I am not able. I want to not hurt.

Despite this walking, waiting, and wanting, things are progressing well. Just wish this entire process would be slightly more speedy. Sigh.

SUTURES OUT!!!!!!!! Yayayayay!

So I am totally thrilled that I got my stitches out today. It ends up that they were not dissolvable at all, they were totally, through and through nylon. As my family doctor put it, "my butt these are dissolvable you poor thing."

Getting them out was not fun at all. All of the knots were under the skin and he had to dig them out then slice them out with a scalpel. For some of them he had to cut the skin. Normally I tolerate pain quite well, but taking out two of them really made me tense. So apparently each of them are infected under the skin and he said that if I had waited longer I would have formed cysts. Wonderful. I just hope that he got out all of the nylon suture material because he seemed to be haphazardly hacking away at the sutures. Some of the incisions yielded great amounts of material and others were just the knots tied. I can't tell if there is any left inside since they are so sore to touch. Also, they have hard lumps under each of the incisions. One of them is kind of concerning since it is a large ball and tender to touch. I certainly hope this goes away quickly.

After having my family doctor get out, hopefully, all of the stitches I have been quite sore. Even my frozen pea bags hurt simply placing them on the incision sites. But I have managed all day without crutches! Perhaps I should have used them after dinner, but I really don't want to have to go back to using them if I can help it. I had to take some acetaminophen before bed this evening since the incisions started to give me stabbing pains. I am sure in a couple of days that it will be better.

One thing is certain, in my next appointment with my surgeon, I am going to tell him how the sutures were not dissolvable. See, I was kind of paranoid about not knowing what kind of stitches I was getting because after my first scope, three of my incisions had nylon sutures that had to be removed, then the larger incision had a stabilizing stitch and steri-strips. I had called the surgeon's office and spoke with his secretary and she said that I had stitches underneath (that is what his protocol is) and it ended up that I just had the steri-strips and I started to rip open my incision, mind you not too much though because I figured out that those where holding the skin together really quickly. In order to avoid this confusion I made sure that we knew what kind of stitches I had. My Mum asked my surgeon two times after the surgery to make sure that they were dissolvable and that I didn't need to make an appointment with my family doctor to get them removed. Twice! And it still got messed up! This is kind of scary to think that we double checked and it still turned out the way it did.

I have pictures of my hip after the sutures were removed, but I don't think I'll post them. I don't want my blog to start being filled up with pictures of my hip and butt all over. This is probably the last thing somebody wants to look at!

3 Weeks Post-Op

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Today marks the three week mark. And the recovery continues...slooooooowly. Yesterday I got the go-ahead to walk around without crutches as tolerated. I almost made it all day today. Mind you, I was just lying around the house but the general things around the house I could do while gimping around. Hip extension has become my nemesis. But I have been lying more so as to stretch the anterior hip capsule in hopes of alleviating the tightness and to help with walking.

I still have my stitches and called my family doctor to make an appointment to get them removed. They are quite annoying and I know that they will heal quickly once the 'dissolvable' stitches are removed. I was quite surprised as to how quickly I could get an appointment with my family doctor! Usually it takes a couple of days, but the receptionist said that three weeks is a bit long to have stitches in and that they must be quite uncomfortable and made an appointment for tomorrow at whatever time I wished. It is nice to catch a break in the scheduling of appointments (since I have been canceled upon and shafted more than once in my hip journey.) So tomorrow....OUT THEY COME!

Here is what the hip looks like at the moment. I will post pictures once the sutures are removed.

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Baby Steps

Today I took my first couple of steps without a crutch without a massive lurch! Yay for good day! Finally my swelling has gone down slightly (enough for me to notice that I am less swollen.) Today I also managed to stand in the swimming pool a wee bit to cool down - nice a warm weather here :) Also, I just got out of our hot tub. Oh it was great on the muscles and ol' joints to get all nice and warm. Warm to the bone, literally. It relaxed everything and am happy I soaked there for a while. But I probably won't go in for a while yet, since getting in and out took two people so as I didn't fall off the edge as is inched my way into/out of the water.

There is a great firework show down near the river tonight. Famous; the largest in the continent and it is always a great show. But, I can't go. I remember a few years back all my friends wanted to go, but I couldn't because I couldn't walk far enough because my right hip would hurt me. How far have I come from that?! Now, I sit at home on the exact day rehabilitating my hip surgery on my left hip. It really is funny how small events like this mean things when I have been suffering with hip pain for so long. Oh how I long to not have hip pain. Ha, I sound like an old lady and I am only in my twenties!

Anyway, off to watch a movie on my computer :)

Until next time,

Me

Ouch Charlie! Ouch!

Today marks the second day of going backwards in my recovery. This is not the desirable method of healing, but inevitable none-the-less when dealing with the hips.

I think it all started Wednesday at physiotherapy. We started to move the hip more and use more muscles. Although it hurt while I was doing these exercises, and while the physiotherapist was moving my hip through its range of motion, it was not excrutiatingly painful. I could handle it. And plus, it felt so good to start moving and feels like I was moving forward in my recovery. Also on Wednesday I got into the pool. I just stood there but definitely put the hip through the maximal range of motion that it would allow. I was tired that evening, but nothing that I could not handle. Then I woke up Thursday morning to a puffed up hip and knee. My hip (well, it is better described as butt since it is so posterior-lateral) was all swollen; it felt like a balloon was put inside! And my knee....(the picture is from my favourite Youtube video showing how my hip feels - ouch! goodness, I could not even straighten it.

To add insult to injury, we hosted a graduation party last evening, and I helped prepare (as best I could). This resulted in moving around much more than I should have considering I was all swollen. Thank goodness I did not have a physiotherapy session yesterday!

Today was a bit better. I could straighten my knee, but my hip is just as swollen as it was yesterday. I had a physiotherapy session today, but I was so swollen and sore that she could not even touch the hip. She did some release/massage on my quadriceps, but everything was so sore/swollen that we could not do much. I did have an inferential treatment to reduce the pain levels (which works wonders, I might add!) I was told to take it easy all day, no exercises or anything. I decided to go back onto two crutches to relieve the pressure on the hip. This is quite difficult to do since I know that I can put almost full weight on my operated side, but I really want this to calm down so that I can start increasing my range of motion and strength. Kind of disheartening.

I help lift my spirits I decided that I should float in the pool today. It was such lovely weather that I thought I should go and catch some rays (and get some vitamin D in the process.) I laid outside all afternoon. I would float in the water (getting on it was kind of difficult but my Mum helped me; bless her soul - she has been a godsend during the last couple of weeks), then I would stand in the shallow end just to cool off, then repeat. By the end I felt comfortable enough to go on some noodles and float in the deepend. It was so refreshing and it felt sensational on my hip. Since gravity was eliminated, there was less pressure on the hip. The cool water also was very soothing on my incisions. Hopefully this water will help them fall out more quickly. Being outside all afternoon was just what I needed; it actually felt like a summer vacation (since my summer vacation thus far has not felt like a vacation in the least.)

All in all the hip is kind of rotten and irked me that I am not moving forward. But I know that this will pass (sooner rather than later). I will be saying some prayers tonight that this balloon in my hip disappears and my pain decreases. One good thing though, I have managed to attain a golden-brown tan today :)

Until next time,

Me

(P.S. the shows one of my favourite YouTube videos capturing how my hip feels...ouch!) :)

2 Weeks Post-Op

Greetings! Today marks the two week mark that I have lived without a bumpy femoral head and a labral tear in either hip for a VERY long time :) I do miss that extra bone....NOT!

I can't believe how far I have come in two weeks. I feel a bit better every day. Very slight increases in strength and motion are what keeps this terribly long recovery bearable. The baby steps certainly count!

I am still on crutches, but I can put more weight onto the operated side. I can take a couple of lurching steps, but have been instructed that I must not walk with a limp (both by the physiotherapist at the hospital and my own physiotherapist.) It is so easy to develop a motor pattern for a limp which makes it extremely difficult to fix. I can walk around the house with one crutch, but by the end of the day I am back on two, touch toe weight bearing, and quite sore.

Being sore at the end of the day is expected but I have now refused to take any pain medication whatsoever. I HATE the doped up feeling, the constipation, and the inability to do any mental activity. I was going insane. So, each night I go lie in my recliner throbbing. I probably should take some pain killers, but I just don't want to do it. I'd rather hurt! (this is a never-ending battle with my parents.)

Today I had my third physiotherapy session. She said that I am progressing well; especially where I started a week ago. My quads and hamstrings are so darn tight. I tell them to relax, but they must be high strung or something because they are dead set on being tight. Stupid muscles!

At physiotherapy I also received more exercises to do. As well, I got the clear to do work in the pool. Yay, I can cool down, get a tan, and do exercises all at the same time! I am pumped. I decided to do some ROM with my hip in the pool today. Man, I can't imagine how much work was done since that hip is sooooo stiff! Aw well, I'll get it loosened up quick enough. During my session with the physiotherapist, I had my quadriceps stimulated again. She kept saying how little my leg was. Although I am naturally thin, one shouldn't be able to feel the femur though the muscles, nor (almost) all the way around the tibia. This kind of grosses me out, but we are trying to electrically stimulate my muscles each time I go to prevent further atrophy before I can start consistently weight bear, and build up some strength. Until then, I live with a "little leg."

The incisions are great. And will be greater when the stitches decide that they want to fall off. I would appreciate it if they would hurry up because they catch on everything. Heck, they cut the physiotherapist's hand this morning; drew blood! I even trimmed them yesterday; they still are evil, evil things. On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't curse the stitches, I might offend them and they could decide to stick around longer just to torture me. So, I love, LOVE, LOVE my stitches. Ha!

Anywho, my bed is calling my name. Here's hoping I can make it through the night without too much pain; the past couple of days have not been the least bit fun lying awake in bed, as tight as a board waiting for things to settle down.

Good night,

Until next time,

Me

P.S. My flexion is now 100*. Wahoo!!! :)

The Sleepy Days of Summer

Well, the past couple of days I have managed to (almost) sleep as much as I have been awake. And oh does it feel good to sleep.

After my day of feeling great and standing on the operated leg, and foolishly taking several steps on the leg, I got really sore. Go figure. But I had to go to physiotherapy anyway. And there, I over did it.

Honestly, I need to learn when enough is enough When I am at home I get great satisfaction with the little things, and then I go to physiotherapy I feel like I can do everything they tell me, and I do try my absolute hardest to do the exercises (I guess I am trying to foolishly trying to show off to make people think that I am not that bad after surgery). Needless to say, I was wiped out on Friday and Saturday from my one physiotherapy session. I have even had to increase my pain killer dosage at night, but have managed to remain off pain meds during the day :) Yay!

My hip itself isn't too bad. The incisions are looking great; the bruising is decreasing and the incisions have healed together nicely. I am thoroughly happy with the stitching as well. He did a wonderfully neat job with the sutures. I bet that the scars will be neat (not that I really care since I have earned my scars and would not mind if they showed....I earned those scars! Not everybody has the talent to grow extra bumps on their femoral heads and not everybody manages to tear the labrum....bilaterally to boot!) . The only incision that makes me a bit concerned is the most anterior one since it has developed a pea-sized ball beneath the stitch. It randomly gives me stabbing pains as well. If it doesn't get better in a week I'll make an appointment with my GP, just to be safe (plus this would give me a chance to get the operating report).

My muscles are still very tight. So much so that I can't make the full motion that walking would require; hence I am confined to using two crutches with toe-touch weight bearing until I can support my weight better. My knee is a bit swollen still, but not too painful. In replace of the knee pain I had, I have developed ankle pain. It feels like it is being pulled medially (and looks this way too) which makes the lateral ankle joint tender. Even if my quadriceps and hip flexors were strong enough to support my body weight, I don't think that my ankle would tolerate walking. Hopefully it is just from the traction and is going through its own, kooky healing phase.

I suppose I should ensure that I take things really easy, rest up, and listen to my body. This is hard for me to do because I just want to get better ASAP so that I can get on and enjoy some of my summer vacation with mobility. But....I have to remember to "respect the surgery" - thanks for that description...I love it :)

Until next time,

Me - the over-ambitious hip scope patient

Take it easy for goodness sake!

Being the smart nerd I am, I decided to test out my hip today just to see what I could do. It seemed smart at the time because I woke up feeling great. The hip flexors were far less painful than previous days, and I could go through the motions of walking on my crutches without much difficulty. So I thought, heck, can I stand on my leg? Much to my surprise, I COULD!!! Yup, a week and a day after my surgery I can already stand on my operated side. I thought that was pretty cool. I got all excited and then tried a few baby steps without my crutches supporting my weight. I did about 5 steps. It felt great. Not much pain either. Then I had to show off to my Mum when she got home from work.

In essence, I thought I could do this without consequence:

Afterwards I decided to rest all afternoon, and when I got up I was kind of stiff. Blah. But I couldn't rest for long because I was able to get help showering this afternoon (showering with help is definitely a humbling experience). After showering we went and visited my grandparents. Needless to say I was extremely sore this evening and had to take another oxycodone. Sigh, I should have known not to do all of this and get cocky, but hey, I could do it and I will get stronger. Just a little sign of what is to come. But for now, my body tells me I should take it easy, and I must listen to it and not do too much to stress it since I only have my summer vacation to get better before I jump back into my last didactic oriented school year ever.

Off to bed now whilst full of oxycodone. Oh thank goodness for pain killers.

(p.s. I suppose 'today' in my post technically refers to yesterday since it is after midnight)

One Week Post-Op

Today marks one week since I had my left hip arthroscopy with osteochondroplasty and labral debridement/repair. What a feat! And, today was my best day yet. I am so happy to know that I am not stuck in a fog of pain forever :) I only joke, because I actually know that it is not forever; no pain, no gain.

I had my first physiotherapy appointment today. She did an assessment (ie asked questions, read the physiotherapy referral from the surgeon, etc.), tested my ROM, did some myofascial release on my calf, and then I received an inferential treatment (which did wonders!). She is extremely thorough and I totally trust her. This makes recovering a lot better when you trust your physiotherapist. She is up to date in everything and very well-known in the area. Heck, she even is the personal physiotherapist of Olympic champions! (cool, eh?)

As far as my ROM, I have approximately 70* of flexion, 35* of aBduction, almost normal aDduction, and zero degrees of internal rotation (go figure, since I barely had any before the surgery). We didn't test extension since I was already lying down on the exam table and it would be too much work to help me off the table to test this rotation, and get me back on the table. Yeah, it is great needing somebody to lift your legs onto and off the table. Honestly, I tell my muscles to move my leg but the musculature is just too weak and cannot move my limb. I can't wait to build enough strength up to be able to lift my foot up. Going through this recovery process really puts things into perspective.

So, I have a bunch of exercises to do every day to ensure that I keep moving the hip and to get stronger. Some of the stuff I was given there is no way that I can do now, but we will build up. My hip flexors and quadriceps are still pretty tight and angry. But, I have to say, after my Inferential Treatment on my hip flexors, they actually are less painful. I think I might ask for this on my quadriceps (in particular that darn Vastus Lateralis) on Friday when I go back to physiotherapy. I will explain this treatment modality, but I believe this is worthy of a post on its own, and will not be today since the Oxycodone is starting to kick in.

Well, I have a lot I could write about since I did so much today. Let me remind you that when I write 'much' this is relative; meaning that it I have done more activity than simply crutching from my recliner to the bathroom and back. Nonetheless, I had a big day and I am zonked out.

Currently, this is what my lovely hip looks like:

Showering = Painful but... Pain Killers = Relief

So today I woke up and I actually could say that I felt better than the previous day. This was the first time since having my hip done that I could say I actually did not hurt as much. This was really exciting.

I am home alone in the mornings, so I basically get put into the recliner by my Dad and don't move until my Mum gets home in the early afternoon. So basically I am growing roots in the chair. But it is really nice and comfortable, so I don't mind. My computer keeps me quite busy. I managed to not take a pain pill until late afternoon, so I had the morning on a clear mind. I used this time to watch an open-brain surgery for treatment of Moyamoya on the Internet. Absolutely amazing what those neurosurgeons can do! I watched them suture a blood vessel from the scalp onto actual brain matter with sutures that were 1/3 the diameter of a hair. AMAZING!

On the hip front, I can now go to the bathroom by myself. No help needed to get on or off the toilet. My Mum helped me shower today; which really got me hurting. But it was worth getting all cleaned up. My incisions are looking really nice. I try to take pictures each day for myself (yes, I am a freak and like to have a serial photographical staging of my healing). Maybe I'll post some of them soon.

As far as pain goes, I am totally free of deep groin pain. I can't tell if the hip locks because I can't put any weight on it. All I can get onto the left leg is slight toe touch. It is better than no weight, but not enough to make me happy. The incisions really don't give me much grief. The most posterior incision is the most bruised, although it does not hurt too badly. But the most anterior incision is extremely tender and inflamed. The darn thing still oozes. The anterior portal looks like it won't heal as neatly as the other sites, but such is life. I have yellow bruising that goes from my anterior incision all the way to my pubic bone. Being so bruised and sore in such a tender area makes me very thankful for being under general anesthesia while they performed the operation.

Although the incisions are doing really well, the musculature is starting to tense up. I have slight ability to extend the leg at the hip, and aBduct the hip. But, my hip flexor strength is 1 out of 4. Which is really almost non-existent (for the non-medical folk). This means that I cannot flex my hip or extend my knee at all. They are so sore that any pressure at all really hurts. I suppose the physiotherapist will sort this out quickly.

Speaking of physiotherapy, I get to see her tomorrow morning for an assessment. I really cannot wait to start getting this hip loosened up and starting to move. I am going to be seeing the same physiotherapist that I saw after my right hip scope. So we already know we can work together. She's very blunt and doesn't take any crap, so I am sure she'll want to do something about these hip flexors so as to increase my ability to ambulate. I really hope that she'll do some myofacial release because that technique does wonders on the fascia surrounding the trauma of the surgery. **fingers crossed**

Until next time,

Me

Things that I do when I am bored...

I am fascinated with this crazy website on which you can edit pictures and make them look cool. This is a picture of some flowers I took last week (prior to surgery) and I've changed the colouring, and added text and little art snips. It took a long time, but I like it. Plus it passes time :P

Sunshine = Amazing for Incisions

This Has To Be Worth It One Day

I am kind of down since I am still extremely sore and not enjoying the crutches at the moment. I know, I should get out of the "poor me" mode, but I have been doing almost nothing since I got the surgery done. Honestly, I went from putting in 15 hour days to doing nothing but sitting on my butt! Quite a drastic change. I am desperately wanting to start some reading that I had had planned for the summer, but I am still on oxycodone so I don't even have a clear enough head to retain anything. So, I do mindless things like downloading music, going on Facebook, and watching movies. I really need to get feeling a bit better so I don't have to take narcotics, so then I'll be able to do some of the reading I had planned over my summer break. I hate sitting around feeling like I am accomplishing/learning nothing.

Enough of the pity party, I'm gonna go back to downloading more music! At least my iPod will be awesome :)

Pictures

Before the operation....nice clean, scar-free hip:

All wrapped up when I came home:

Four small incisions:

Survived my 2nd Hip Arthroscopy

I have survived my second, and hopefully final, hip arthroscopy. I had my surgery on June 2nd and now, three days later, am well enough to type coherently. The surgery went smoothly, with all guidewires remaining intact. The surgeon removed 10% of the labrum on the left hip, and saved another 10% that was torn (I will check if this means he reattached it with anchors at my post-op appointment). The impinging bump on my femoral head was much larger than he had anticipated and it took quite a long time to shave off all the extra bone, but he managed to get all of the impinging bone and now I have a hip without a frayed labrum and no extra bone. Yahoo!

I was at the hospital at 6:30AM and got changed into a gown. They started an IV (which caused the nurses grief since I had high blood pressure - due to being nervous- and there was so much back flow from the IV port that it bled everywhere. Also, right before surgery, I had to fill out a 25 page questionnaire because my surgeon is doing a study on hip arthroscopy success. To make things more complicated, my school's clinic didn't send the blood work results to my surgeon, so I had to have blood tests and an AP pelvis and lateral hip and chest xray before I could go into surgery. Talk about having many things jammed right before surgery. It was hectic but it worked to keep my mind off of the fact that they were going to cut into my hip in a short while.

Right before I got taken to the OR one of the pre-op nurses showed me how to cut the disposable panties and obstetrics pad because, yes, I thought that it would be convenient to start my period the morning of my surgery. That had to be the worst time to start my period ever. They said that women my age often get their period the day of due to stress...apparently it happens all the time.

Well, after I was all padded up :P they took me to the OR. It was stressful crawling onto that OR table with the large diameter perineal post at my feet with traction boots sticking out of the bottom of the operating table. All I can say is thank goodness I was asleep when they slid me down the table, shoved the post between my legs, and strapped my feet into the boots! Again, one of the scrubbed people reminded everybody that I had on the disposable panties and they would be removed at a later time. Talk about everybody knowing it was your special time of the month! Ugh.

They put me to sleep very nicely this time. I got oxygen and a drug that made me feel drunk. Then they said that they were going to take care of me the entire time and then poof! I was in recovery.

The drugs really affect me. The anesthetic gives me the horrible shakes. I was dizzy for much of the first day. This surgery was much better than the first scope I had on my right hip. I have four small scope incision with (supposedly dissolvable) stitches. The scope sites were extremely well reinforced with bandages because they wouldn't stop squirting out blood/arthroscopy fluid at the hospital - yeah that was great getting up to go to the washroom and having fluid squirt out of my hip...not! Anywho, I got home fine and have basically slept the past three days. I can't take the full pain medication dosage that was prescribed because I it affects me too much. But I manage to keep it under control with oxycodone (short term and long term release), and Ibuprofen. I am also taking Celebrex and ASA. I hate being doped up all of the time! Today, I haven't taken any oxycodone during the day, I have managed with taking 2 extra strength acetaminophen tablets. I am throbbing considerably more, but I have a clear head; so it is worth it. I will resort to my oxycodone this evening.

Today my Mum helped me shower. It was almost a humiliating experience, having somebody literally holding me up in the shower, but it was totally worth it to have clean hair and body. Just have to get some help shaving the legs tomorrow....maybe even get my toe nails painted!! (I can't stand the look of plain toe nails.....waaaay to boring for me...lol!!)

I took off the dressings today as well. I will post pictures on a separate post since this post is getting a bit lengthy as it is. Warning that the pictures are graphic, so don't look if you don't want. I won't put them all up, but maybe just the cleaned up pictures. I can put up more if I decide or if somebody wants to see more.

The Last Hurrah

Yesterday I went to an amusement park to enjoy my last days of mobility before my hip surgery. It was an absolute blast! I had so much fun, despite limping back to the car after our day. It was totally worth the pain. Now I am more sore than 'normal' but I can't complain at all since my Mum insisted that I not go because it would make me sore!

I had a great weekend out of town visiting my brother, shopping, amusement park, etc. These things I would normally not do due to my hip hurting so much but considering I will hurt even more in less than 48 hours, I think it was worth it.

I am starting to get nervous now since tomorrow is the day I travel up to the town in which the hospital is located. I can't believe how quickly this surgery has crept up on me. It feels strange to be preparing to go into the operating room again. It feels just like yesterday I was getting ready to have my right hip operated on, now I am getting my left done. One and a half years ago, if somebody told me that I would need the same thing done on my other hip I think that I might have freaked out. But, I have had a great, albeit long, recovery from my first surgery and am totally willing to take the risk of having surgery to have a hope of a life without hip pain. So tomorrow is packing up some essentials for an overnight stay in a hotel, and making sure everything is clean enough around the house to make maneuvering as easy as possible when I get home from the hospital.

Getting Everything Together

I have now had everything all done and am getting prepared for surgery. I currently am looking to buy some cute sundresses so that I can look cute and not have anything extra tight on my hips. I have picked up some light-weight aluminum crutches, and will make some fabric coverings so as they don't chafe my underarms while I use them. I just want this to be over with because the longer it goes on, the more I think/worry about having surgery. And I can't keep on living the way I am currently living; in pain. So I am looking forwards to getting my hip fixed, but am terrified of the surgery. But such is life.

...now I am really enjoying my last days with mobility: shopping (today), amusement park tomorrow :), visiting family, etc. :):):)

Pre-Op Medical Stuff DONE

Yesterday I went for my electrocardiogram. It was extremely harmless and quick. This is the last thing that I needed to do before I can get my surgery. The big day is next week....actually in five days I will be out of town the day before the surgery. Since I have to travel and be at the hospital at 6:00AM, we have decided to go up the day before so that we don't have to wake up in the middle of the night to travel to the town in which the hospital is located.

So, as long as the blood tests and the electrocardiogram come back negative, I only have five full days to live with a sore, impinged, torn hip then I can work towards recovery.

Pre-Op Medical Tests (almost) Done

Two days ago I had a phone interview with the pre-admission clinic to get the details of what is going to happen on the surgery day (all of which I already knew since I have been through this before). And then today I had a pre-op physical and blood work done. The clinic here at school would not perform an EKG because people over 50 and those who medically need an EKG can get one. So now I have to call my surgeons office, ask if I really need an EKG (and if so why). I can always get this done when I am at home but this is putting it less than a week before the surgery. The secretary made it very clear that she wanted the stuff ASAP, but the EKG thing is not going to happen in this fashion. I guess I'll wait until Tuesday to see if I need to still get an EKG, why I need to get an EKG, and then actually book an EKG if the surgeon still insists on getting an EKG.

Too Soon eek!!!!!!

My surgery is coming up way to soon. I am getting nervous and I still have more than two weeks. eek.This upcoming week I have a phone interview with the pre-admission clinic and then I have a pre-op physical booked this week too. The next week I finally finish exams and move home, which gives me 5 days at home before going in. In which time I have totally jam packed my days full of stuff I need to get done.

I have been researching about the indications regarding when an electrocardiogram should be ordered pre-operatively, and I am now slightly concerned about why my surgeon has made a point of making sure that I get an ECG. According to some journal articles I read, it is not indicated (usually) unless you are older than I, or have a cardiac condition. Since I am 25 years old, I find it hard to believe that I would be indicated to have one done. Especially for an ambulatory day-surgery. I know that doctors should not order tests unless the results will change the treatment plan (at least that is what they teach us here), so I am a bit concerned that something might have happened during my last surgery to warrant an ECG prior to this surgery. Also, this could be my paranoia kicking in, and this could actually be just a change in protocol from the last time. Either way, I will be sure to ask my surgeon when I see him in 2.5 weeks for the big day.

It Is Coming....

I just got off the phone with my surgeon's secretary and got a few things cleared away...

Apparently the surgeon wants more Xrays of my hip before the surgery, so I have to go into the hospital the day before the surgery to get more Xrays. Since I am the first case of the day I have to be at the hospital for 6AM. I have to drive out of town to get this surgery done so I would have gone up the day before anyway; I suppose going up a bit earlier to get Xrays is not really a big deal. She then gave me the speal about what to do the day of the surgery (ie where to go for pre-admit, make sure to bring crutches....ha, I kind of have an idea since I have been through this before, but she gave me the shortened version since I already know what is going to happen).

This time my surgeon wants a full pre-op physical though. Last time I had my hip scoped all he did was want blood work in addition to the Xrays. Now he wants even more Xrays and an EKG. It seems like last time I was missing out on the full pre-op work-up. So I have to make an appointment here at the clinic at school to get all my lab tests done and have them faxed to my surgeon's office back home.

So the plans are in place.....it is coming....the beginning of the end of sore hips!

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 :)