Thursday, July 26, 2007

Uncertainty

I have had a day of indecisiveness!! If I had had time, I would have posted my question to all of you and maybe had some help, but I ended up coming to my own decision. So...what the heck am I talking about???
As you know, my right hip has been pretty bad, it is at the point I was before surgery, sex hurts too, so when I am ready to actually go to sleep at night, I am in so much pain, it is hard for me to fall asleep. I really don't know what to do, I was afraid that if I called Dr. Kelly, he would blow me off, tell me it is compensation, and leave me even more annoyed and frustrated, which I cannot handle now. But I was getting so frustrated with the pain as well...I didn't know what to do. My friend Amy, who has been through a lot of hip shit told me to call him, she didn't understand why I wouldn't, P, my PT said not to bc he knew I would be pissed. So after much deliberation....I called!

My message went like this: Please tell Dr. Kelly that I am having a lot of issues with my right hip, and it is not from compensation!

He called me about 4 hours later, in the past, I have waited 4 days for a call back! I am highly impressed!
I explained that I am having a ton of pain in the right, very much like I had pre-op, pain in the joint, non-palpable. He said it could be the muscles acting up, maybe we should inject the psoas...I repeated that the muscles are fine, my PT worked on them ART'd them...they are not the issue. He said it could be synovitis, the joint is inflammed from the added stress. I reminded him of the twisting episode, and how I am not sure what to think of it, especially since I went on crutches 3 days later, and I really don't know what to do, thats why I called! He said I could get the joint injected if I wanted to. Again, I don't know what I want! So he read the chart over for a few minutes, he said he is confident that I did not re-tear the labrum, this is why he likes to debride, bc there is nothing left to tear. Sometimes, the mechanics of the joint change, causing the muscles to act up. I could get an MRI if I want, but sometimes it is hard to read in the area of the old tear, so it may show nothing. Ok, I really didn't know what to do. He said continue working on it in PT, have somene work on it, modalities of my choice.... still looking through my chart...ok, get an MRI, then we can decide on the injection!!

So, now I am glad I called, at least it is all out in the open, not just on my blog! So, he thinks it is synovitis, I think his first thought is the psoas, possible tendonitis, but the joint hurt first, the psoas does occassionally flare, but it is in response to the joint flaring. So now I am nervous. First of all, my last MRI was awful, I almost panicked. I had a really bad cold and was really congested, also had a cough. Midway through, I needed to cough, alot, but I was afraid to move. But I really had to, I pressed my button, I informed the technician of my needs, he said I could under so circumstances get up bc the machine takes a picture of the hip angles in the beginning and uses them to compare all the images. So I stayed there, and began having a coughing fit, then all this gunk got stuck in my throat and I felt like I couldn't breathe, it was such an awful feeling. I have had awful flashbacks of it, and have been petrified to have to ever have another MRI, I never thought I would! Then comes the issue, what if he finds something bad? I don't want more surgery? Or, what if he finds nothing? Where does that leave me? Crazy????

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Susie - you're not crazy, you're worried for perfectly good reasons. Of course, worrying can make you *feel* crazy, though!
Actually I think you're doing the right thing -- just take this one step at a time, so you won't get flooded... and of course those self-pampering breaks always seem to help!
oo
KT

Susie said...

Thanks KT!
I hope I am not! I also hope I am wrong about this. Regardless of whether I am right or wrong, I have a feeling the MRI will be inconclusive because of the prior work done on the labrum. Which will leave me witht he option of an injection...cortisone, YAY!! You know about my love affair with cortisone!
Thank you so much for your words!
Susie