Inflammation, Shiminflammation, I Hate Inflammation

I am not sure what is happening with my body.  On Friday evening my lower cervical/upper thoracic region of my neck became sore so that I couldn't turn my head.  This occurred over a period of minutes.  I thought, ugh, and nothing more of it. I went to bed and didn't sleep very well because of the pain in my neck.  Yesterday was a complete washout as I couldn't move my head at all because of my stiff neck.  I went to PT and he said that it was so inflamed and swollen that he didn't want to mess with it, and decided to do a simple adjustment and we will work more on it this upcoming week.

Today is a bit better considering I can move my neck slightly.  Although I noticed some other strange things.  I may call my surgeon's PA tomorrow and just run it past them since my hip got all hot today and swollen most concentrated around my graft site.  Plus, I have a tooth that bothers me only sometimes and it now hurts to bite down.  This whole inflammation deal is not cool.  It seems to me that this is a flare of some sort.  I'm not sure how to describe it.  Odd.  I didn't have any fever but I was extremely cold on Saturday that I had to use heating pads to make my feet thaw.  Saturday was a washout, I lied on the couch, not moving.  Although I did drag myself to PT midday.  All of this doesn't add up to much.  And maybe it is a coincidence that all of this happened at once, but I haven't a clue how to put it together.  I've been checked for RA, HLA-B27 and come back negative.  It seems systemic to me having several body parts flare up like this.  So this is the paranoid side of me.  Maybe it's just par for the course at this point in the recovery process:  using crutches for several weeks, adding external rotation exercises into my regimen.  And I'd rather not call the PA, but I think I may, just to ease my mind.  In the mean time, I've started taking 440mg of naprosyn BID to help calm the inflammation.

My hip joint on the right feels great. I have wonderful ROM that is pain free in all directions.  Far better than my left hip.  This makes me ecstatic and worried all at the same time.  So happy because my right hip feels the best it has in years and I really believe it will stand up for a while now.  But unhappy because having my right hip feel like this really makes me notice that my left hip is still not perfect.  Perhaps time will be my friend and that is all I need to be able to get my hip to a place where it will be good for my future education and residency.  I certainly hope so!  It's just still hurting and the lateral ITB flicking, bursitis, and psoas issues are the majority of my concern, although all motions gives me a pinch at the end point (which is not there on the right).  I know, I know, the left has had four surgeries and the right has had only two, but still, the fact that it still hurts is concerning.  I betcha it will calm down once I'm more weight bearing on my right side, although I do wonder what my surgeon is going to say when I see him next (Dec. 10th)....his last words regarding my left hip were: "...the pain is unacceptable...we will inject during the right surgery and go from there."

On a more positive note, my Mum is teaching me how to crochet.  I learned the single stitch today and am making a bright yellow scarf for my grandmother for Christmas.  It is a lot easier to learn and faster to do than knitting.  I love learning new things and will force myself to finish this project as I tend to start many things and never finish them.

Black Clouds

Honestly, if something can go wrong with the hip, I am pretty sure I can make it happen.  I mean, maybe not everything has gone wrong but this sure has been a long haul.  And it keeps going, and going, and going.  My Grampa today said that it is as if I walk around with one heck of a dark cloud regarding these hips.  Thanks Grampa, thanks.

My hamstring attachment hurts a lot.  I mean, as if recovering from the fourth surgery on the left side isn't enough, I get to deal with this too.  And leftie has to become the good and strong guy in less than 7 weeks.  He, right now, is NOT strong enough or happy enough to do his upcoming job.  I know 7 weeks is a long time and he'll settle down, just doesn't make this any better at the current time.

Yesterday in PT I cried when he palpated the hamstring and figures that it is partially torn.  It take a lot for me to cry because of the pain.  I think it is because it is so acute that it hurts so badly.  I have been icing like crazy, we KT'd up my hammy and will retape tomorrow differently since it is still sore.  Apart from adding on ultrasound, I suppose time is my buddy at this point.

Today I needed  head to the mall to get something for my hair for the upcoming wedding in which I am standing.  It was fun looking at all the sparkly hair pieces and earrings.  And I got some super sparkly earrings and hair piece.  I am thrilled to wear them (although not thrilled with their price $$).  I could make it to the store but had to stop and sit on a bench in the middle of the mall because I couldn't make it to the car and then had to push the buggy out to the car.  I thought I was stronger and better than this, but then I remembered that my Mum and I had just gone to the library to figure out their less-than-ideal-for-the-technologically-challenged system where we stood, err, hung on the counter, for 15-20 minutes.  This was too much for me and my hips.  The pain in both sides reminded exactly of how I felt every single day whilst on rotations in the clinics and hospitals.  Something that is just not healthy to do an something that I never want to do if I don't have to.

To end on a more positive note, I FINALLY slept last night.  I praise the Lord for this, as I really felt like I was going to go off the deep end if I didn't get a decent night's sleep.  Now I am going to drink some relaxing tea before I drug up and then go to bed in a couple of hours.  Oh the joys post op from hip surgery with a pending surgery on the horizon.

50/50

It's like my golden birthday (as a fellow hipster called it), but in the countdown, countup world of hip surgeries....well, I suppose "yesterday" was, since I am writing this post at nearly 1AM.  But still, point stands, I am (or was) 50 days post op from my left hip surgery and 50 days pre op for my right hip surgery.  I am super excited that the left hip is most likely fixed, knock on wood, and that my right one is completely coming up quickly.

I have had a bit of a set back yesterday and today as I was doing one of my exercises called the 'dead lift' (? I think ?  ...my binder is downstairs and I am NOT getting out of bed to go and check the actual name), but I was doing it yesterday and I usually get a good snap out of, what I hope is the psoas, but it was way huge compared to normal.  And it HURT...a lot.  So much so that it made me jump backwards on my left hip.  He didn't like that so much, and in the process managed to irritate the hammie in its attachment to the ischial tuberosity.  So now I have a lovely pain in the groin and a pain in the butt every time I walk and even at rest.  I am sure it will go away in a few days, but it doesn't make it feel any better now.  Currently I am lying on ice and have ice on the anterior aspect of my hip hoping that it will alleviate the inflammation.  I've put Voltaren cream on my hip/butt for the last couple of days too hoping to settle things down.  Just a minor bump in the road towards good hips.

So, Happy 50/50 Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And don't mind my atrocious grammar on this post. ;)