7 Weeks Post Op

Not much to report, but today marks my 7 week mark since my LPAO.  I have not needed a single Norco for the pain since last weekend (just had one bad evening of pain).  I'm really itching to walk.  That may come on Monday when I see my surgeon for xrays and hopefully get the clear to bear weight and start weaning off of crutches.  I'm not gonna lie, I've tried standing with 50% when I brush my teeth and in the shower.  I would be hard pressed to find a single PAO patient who didn't "test their hip out" slightly ahead of schedule! 

I take Tylenol and the occasional Tramadol for pain relief.  But this is mostly due to my pain in my right (non-op) hip.  SO sick of hip pain. Speaking of pain, I have noticed that my pubic symphysis is extremely painful to palpate.  I accidentally leaned on the island in the kitchen today and nearly jumped out of my skin because it hurt so much.  Maybe I just irritated it somehow....it's just odd that it would come out of nowhere.  It kinda caught me off guard.

I got my surgeon's bill today. It was a lovely $18K.  The breakdown of procedures was as follows:

• Periacetabular osteotomy
• Open treatment of slipped femoral epiphysis; osteoplasty of femoral neck (Heyman type procedure)
• Arthroscopy of hip, surgical with debridement/shaving of articular cartilage (chondroplasty), abrasion arthroplasty and resection of labrum
• Bone graft; major/large

I hate hate hate insurance because of past experiences, I am so careful with these types of things because of traumatizing experiences after previous surgeries.  It makes me nervous just looking at the bill.  But it all looks like it has been billed properly and I have to pay just over $1000 for the surgery itself.  I am still waiting on the anesthesia and hospital fees.  I know that I will hit my $5000 OOP and $200 deductible.  I just would love for it to go smoothly without any hassle or hiccups.  For insurance purposes, I hope to get my right hip PAO'd before August 1st as it would be covered under my current insurance and essentially be no additional charge.  I could definitely handle the copays and that is it.

Sleeping is still sucky.  I got some melatonin and tried that last night and it seemed to work.  It's hard to be fully confident in this supplement as it is usually used for circadian rhythm disturbances.  But, it worked, and I fell asleep last night very quickly.  I was extremely tired though since I had been out and about yesterday.  I convinced my Mum to go to Applebee's for their $6 burger Wednesday.  YUMMY.  And then we went to The Dollar Store and then to Walmart.  I crutched all over each of these stores.  It wasn't exactly fun, but it also wasn't terrible.  What irked me was that I have a handicap parking pass for an entire year and at each of these stores there was not one single open handicap parking space available.  Which, whatever, it's busy because of Easter weekend approaching, but when they don't have a handicap parking pass displayed makes me think that they just parked there because it was close and don't actually have difficulty getting into the store.  So, I STILL haven't used my handicap parking pass to date since I a) always forget it or b) all the spots are occupied.  First world problems...I know.

6 Weeks Post Op

I feel like these weekly updates are coming rather quickly.  I feel like I just wrote my 5 week update and now it's already 6 weeks!  Dude. Whoa.  So things have basically stalled as far as healing goes.  The next step is beginning to weight bear and learning how to walk again.  But none of this can happen until I see my surgeon in a week and two days.  So, I just go around on crutches feeling as if I should be able to put weight on my operated side.  It is VERY hard to not test it out with just a few steps.  One of my friends in my surgeon's PA and I distinctly remember her telling me about the stupid girls who walk on their hip before cleared by my surgeon and how stupid that is....I remember agreeing with her, but now that I am feeling as if I can walk, I could see how people test their hip out prematurely.  The only thing that I have been doing all week that is pushing the limits is standing equally on two feet while doing things like brushing my hair and brushing my teeth.  Shhhh....but it doesn't hurt to put weight on it :) 

I am not taking any Norco anymore.  But do take the max dose of Tylenol during the day and the random Tramadol interspersed.  This is mostly for my right hip and not my operated hip.  I'm really happy with this not needing heavy narcotics anymore.  I need my right hip fixed so badly because it hurts so much.  I knew this would happen as it was sore just from compensating a little more with the left being the most painful hip.  But now that the right is the sole weight bearing side, it is extremely angry.  The timing of my next PAO will be discussed during my next appointment and hopefully we can schedule surgery for the end of the summer (end of July) as my residency needs to know when I am going to need surgery so we can plan accordingly. I do feel bad about needing to have special considerations in the scheduling.  I feel like it's the story of my life: the one that needs to have things rearranged all of the time because of my surgeries.  It makes me really happy that after this next PAO and then the subsequent screw removal, that I could potentially be done with needing special scheduling considerations and done with major surgeries for a few years.  My hips and surgery and doctor's appointments have been thought and time consuming for so many years, that I'll have to take up a hobby or something to fill all of this time and energy that I have put into my health for the last 8 years.

Sleep continues to be an issue.  I can sleep on my tummy all night now and can lie on my non-op side for a couple of minutes with a pillow between my legs.  Both of these things happened this week.  So that rocks!  Even with these new found positions, I am sleeping terribly.  I think that mostly it is because of my lack of schedule and activity.  I'm not expelling a lot of energy so, naturally, I'm up until one or two in the morning and don't sleep in much either.  Thank goodness for Benadryl and muscle relaxants!  I expect that the sleeping will become better once I being to walk without my crutches and increase my home exercises in a few weeks.  Oh how I look forward to ditching the crutches!!!!!!!! :)

Pre Op Day 52 & Pre Op Day 48

Sleeping is horrible.  Literally horrible.  I tend to lie there awake and then when I finally do fall asleep, I wake up every time I move.  This is partially due to my left but mostly due to my right, it is probably a good idea to continue to take my pain meds despite not wanting to keep taking them.  I am utterly exhausted.  My hamstring attachment and psoas are no better than they were on Saturday and it's really aggravating.  I am sure they will settle down, but it is so uncool as my right is so sore.

Walking has been pretty good.  The latest muscle strains make the left hurt to weight bear, but nothing that I can't handle.  And overall the joint feels good.  I have some groin pinching upon full extension still, but otherwise the left is managing.  My right is quite aggravated and feel that it won't get any better until Dr. P fixes the joint.

Today was the first time I didn't use a shower chair!  I was thoroughly proud of myself.  I even shaved my legs. Shaving the left leg is easier in that I can bend forward but...standing on the right leg for that long made the joint throbbing increase in intensity for an hour or so after the shower.  I'll have to focus on the positive aspect that I don't have to contort myself to shave the left leg as before I had to do so in order to prevent myself from getting hairy manly legs because the joint wouldn't move very much at all (the left hip was so tight that Dr. P said it was the tightest hip he's ever felt...I remember thinking...no kidding! It HURTS!)  I digress.

I am trucking along these days doing waaay more home PT exercises than I can handle.  I am wondering if I am doing too much?  I am going to speak with my PT today as we may be able to tailor the program to cut back on the number of things I do each day to reduce my pain levels.  We will see later on today.

4 Weeks Post Op

I have missed a couple of days, I suppose that daily updates are unrealistic despite the fact that I basically stay home all day doing exercises.  But at one month I am happy with the improvements.  I am not nearly as bad as I was post op, although I still have some pain and a strangely similar pain to pre-op as far as end point feel goes with flexion.  When I practice my hip flexion exercises I dread them, they hurt.  They didn't always hurt which makes me worried about more scar tissue.

Otherwise my home exercises and PT are going well.  I am faithful and keep at my ROM exercises each day so as to maintain my current range.  I certainly notice a difference in my level of stiffness from the first and second sessions of my exercises.  I have a feeling I'll be doing ROM exercises for a very long time. I am currently 50% weight bearing and it feels pretty good.  I have a lot of inflamed soft tissue going on, but hopefully that settles soon.  My hip flexors are as angry as they come but we have been laying back on some of the those exercises that irritate the hip.  

I hate to sound pessimistic, but HOLY SMOKERS does my right side hurt.  It hurts just to weight bear these days.  I am throbbing right from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed.  This is exhausting.  And to add this on top of my paranoia that my left side is still forming scar tissue really makes for emotional times.  I was supposed to, initially, have my right side fixed in two weeks.  There is no way physically or mentally I would have been prepared to handle another surgery.  Maybe my body would have just barely held up, but emotionally, I would have been a mess.  Furthermore, not sleeping is really getting to me.  I can barely make it through the days without feeling an overwhelming urge to cry.  I go on several day periods of not being able to sleep before 3am and then get a day or two in before I go back to not sleeping.  This has got to be one of the worst feelings in the world:  insomnia.  I feel for those who suffer from this on a regular basis.  I haven't slept well in months, but to have this a chronic issue can be debilitating.  

My view 6 hours each day

16 Days Post Op

I forgot to post yesterday, so this is the post for July 2nd.  I am attempting to log each day to keep a running tab on things.

I am feeling pretty good hip wise.  A bit of muscular soreness on the left and the usual pain on the right.  Nothing new on that front.  I am though, having quite the difficulty sleeping.  Last night I was up until 3AM simply lying there.  It is problematic since I am confined to sleeping on my back and I don't normally do this.  When I used the CPM for my previous surgeries it rocked me to sleep....this time, very different.  I dread getting into that thing.  I dread it A LOT.  It's just not natural having your leg bent and rebent all night long.  And I haven't mentioned this yet, but the calf pumps are HORRIBLE as well.  Slightly bitter about all of these machines lately.  I swear the surgeon has no idea what we go through to use all of these machines and keep up with all of these rehab exercises.  I truly think that Dr. P should have his hip scoped too.....get a taste of his own medicine.