Same Old

So nothing tremendously exciting has been happening on the hip front lately.  I have had a fairly decent previous three weeks of relatively tolerable pain levels.  Which is extremely welcomed.  In fact, any reduction in pain is extremely welcomed!  The weekend has been tougher with increasing nerve pain (LFCN has decided to freak out bilaterally these past few days), but I am managing the best I can.  I was able to rest a lot today--essentially I laid on the couch like a sloth for the entire afternoon and evening and I loved every second of it!

I only have 130 days left of school and the same number of days until I am able to get my next surgery.  I really have absolutely no idea how I am managing to get through with school feeling the way I do. But then when I think about it, I know, it's only through the strength that God gives me to get up out of bed every morning, get dressed, and go to the hospital/clinic and learn as much as I can by working with attendings, residents, nurses, technicians, and patients.  I want more than anything to become the best physician I can possible become and throwing myself into my school is how I am going to do this.  I will most certainly not allow my hips to stop me from continuing through medical school.  No way.  No how.  I AM finishing this last stretch and will do it regardless of how much I hurt.  I have become extremely good at suppressing my pain and feelings.  It is natural for one with constant pain to become depressed, down, and sad.  And I do experience all of these from time to time.  And despite my constant tiredness, I feel like I am handling this pretty darn good.  The Lord is testing me to see how strong I can be, and man, I never thought that doing medical school in this shape would have been possible. If you had told me during my undergrad that I would have to do medical school and have six hip surgeries during this time, and do the entirety of my clinical rotations having constant pain, I would have laughed at you thinking that it would not be possible.  But it IS possible.

"But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."  Matthew 19:26

So alas, I press on through school and life with so many different things for which to be thankful.  I could ramble on and on about how this and that hurts and how much things suck.  And yes, things suck sometimes, not gonna lie.  But I have to try and look at the bright side of things too: I am finishing up my school for something that I have always dreamed of doing, I am getting many interviews for my upcoming residency next year, I have found an amazing field of medicine in which I will be very happy practicing the rest of my professional life, I have an amazing family, and amazing friends (especially those certain hip gals who have texted me thousands of times....I'll forever cherish the shared experiences and conversations we have and will have in the future), and I have God who helps me through absolutely everything!!!

Surgery: Scheduled.

February 28th, 2014.

The date I get my left Periacetabular Osteotomy with first look arthroscopy.

Lets hope the hip is in good enough condition to have the PAO, if in surgery he feels it will not be good enough for the reconstruction, he'll close up and I'll see his colleague for a replacement a couple of weeks later.

I'm officially getting the left baby fixed:

Official countdown:  150 days.

The Lump

I believe I have herniated fat and or muscle through some fascia.  Last weekend I woke up on Sunday with a small, well defined lump on the lateral aspect of my hip.  I thought WOW it sure is swollen but didn't think much of it.  I iced more and thought it would resolve.  It remained stable until Thursday when I got home from the hospital it was huge. 

It is soft, well defined, and slightly tender.  I asked my residents if herniation was a possibility and it most certainly is a very likely possibility.  They told me to call my surgeon to notify him.  I think that I should let him know, but really, what is he going to do for me now?  He'll look at it and say, yes, you've herniated, maybe we will fix it during the surgery next year, collect his money, and move on his merry way.  And I'll end up with $25 co-pay and not any more information than I have now.  So, I didn't call. But I will be in contact with him if it changes in any way.  I would imagine strangulation of the tissue is a concern, so if it gets red, hot, bigger, I'll ABSOLUTELY call and get it taken care of ASAP.  Why must this dang hip remain so interesting?  I'm over it.

I was going to put up a picture of the lump, but I'll spare any posting of my butt online....it would be traumatizing for all involved.

159 days until school ends (and hopefully surgery day....will schedule it later on this month early next month).

Stomach Pangs

Ha!  I started a new rotation today. This new rotation is a great program to which I plan to apply for residency.  It was a good day, although hard to tell my first day how great of a program it is.  Stupid thing though, to leave the hospital I have to walk through the Children's Surgical Center.  I felt sick by the time I got to my car at the end of the day because in less than six months, I will be at this surgical center getting my hip fixed.  It's just weird to see the place where such a life changing surgery will take place.

Things I've Tried

There are several different things I have tried to help manage the pain since this all started.  I thought I'd make a list to see if I can't think of anything else I could be doing:

• Rest
• Medications (oral and topical)
• Ice
• Heat
• PT
• Chiropractor
• Massage Therapy
• TENS machine
• Acupuncture
• Steroid injections (I want one of these now but am not allowed....surgeon's orders)
• Surgery

Forgetting anything?


< 6 months now before I land me-self a full hip socket.

Off my feet for one week

Me being on vacation is glorious rest for my hips.  Seriously.  MUCH needed.  Although the drive home killed my back.  I realize that most of the pain is muscular, but this is unnecessary pain.  I had to use a portable heating package thing all day. I literally feel like everything hurts, even with my time off.  I can't imagine how crabby I'd be if I was doing rotations now.

Plus, I had decided that I needed to start strengthening core and upper body because I have to be able to hold myself up on crutches in six months and I'm so weak in the arms that it could cause problems (since I am prone to dislocations in the shoulders, clavicles, wrists).  I can't see how I could do 8 or so weeks on crutches without making my upper body miserable in my current state of strength.  Yesterday I tried with VERY light weights upper body exercises.  I will stress that I was taking it VERY easy.  Nonetheless, my shoulder hurt immediately after I finished, as did my darn hip.  So I haven't done anything and need to let things heal up.  I may email my previous PT to have him send me some upper body isometrics/stretching/etc.  I need to build up strength without hurting myself.

I also gathered up enough courage to call the surgeon's office to have a chat with his nurse about my medications.  I literally ration out my tramadol so I don't have to call back to have refills (they seemed very leery about giving me meds previously).  Now though, I can call once a month, leave a message, and she will call in tramadol and voltaren no questions asked until I can get surgery.  I should have asked about scheduling, but totally forgot because I was so elated about getting the medications so easily.  I will surely ask about scheduling next time I call...in one month.

In exactly six months I will hopefully have had my PAO.  Yay and eek.

Driving Ain't So Hot for Dem Hips

I could have told you that my hips would suck prior to me driving home, but THEY HURT.  I suppose 12 hours and 1,176 km later, this is what I should expect.  But, it had to be done, I had to get home.  I managed to stop twice for pee/gas/food breaks. I hobbled out of the car each time.  It was prolly a sight to behold.  But, I just sucked it up and drove on through.  Frankly, I'm not sure how I did it, but I did and I got to sleep in my own bed last night which was glorious!

I have a week long vacation this week.  Which will be full of residency applications, sleeping, resting, etc.  I have to return an outdated library book from my base hospital (which I didn't even realize I had until they emailed me a rather nasty email!).  I also have to do some paper work, organize some school papers, call the doctor, and I want to stain an old coffee table we have (I painted it bright blue to move away for med school and essentially ruined it and I want to make it look lovely again).

I have a lot planned and hope these hippies settle down cuz I hate feelin' like this.  I mean, really!!?? It is just a bit of instability.  My angles aren't even really severe and I'm hobbling around all day hurting.  It doesn't make sense how much it can hurt.  I realize that chronic pain becomes centrally sensitized, but dang!  I need better meds or reduce my activity (the former may be easier than the latter since I can't really tone down the school stuff).

~186 days until I get fixed.  woot woot. (which is also the same number of days left in school).