Pre-op labwork

I know what you are thinking, what can she possibly blog about concerning pre-op labwork. If you are thinking that, I suggest you do a backsearch for my blog entry 'Incompetencies'. I received a packet in the mail with the Rx to get my pre-op labwork done. I have always done it at a local lab, no issue. This time, I will not be around the week before surgery as I have a continuing education course. I was nervous to have the bloodwork done Wed. or Thurs before surgery in case it was not done in time. So I emailed my OS's office manager to schedule it for me at the hospital, like she had told me to, if I so desired. Of course, after she asked me when I wanted, I never heard back, surprise. I emailed again a week later, didn't hear back. I figured I would just call the hospital and schedule it myself. Luckily, they called me to 'confirm' my appointment! Never a dull moment!!!

Staying Healthy

I have been noticing that the hip message boards have been concerned about weight gain after injury. I have decided to try to include healthy(ish) recipes when possible. I just span (spinned???) for 30 min, couldn't go longer bc of the 'sponginess'. I am usually really hungry after a ride, soI made a quick and healthy(ish) recipe. (many of my recipes are not exact so I will 'wing' the recipe)

French Fried Vegetables
2 bags frozen California style vegetables, defrosted
3 8.5oz cans cream style corn
1 small can French Fried onions (optional, less healthy version)

Combine vegetables and corn in a medium sized baking dish (I used my large, round corningware dish), top with french fried onions. Bake at 350' until golden brown.

enjoy!!!!

Inconsistencies

I have been a lax blogger this week, other than posting the pics of the kiddies. Truth be told, I have been lax with many things. Things got pretty bad in the Crohn's world, which leaves me feeling blah! I did not go for a walk with the kids once this whole week and neglected my beauty of a bike. I passed out every night once the kids were in bed. I had a terrible reaction to a drug, luckily I had leftover Zofran from scope #2 to get me through the day. I am still in the drug 'experimental' phase, it is a trial and error game coming up with the right combination. I have been so frustrated with all of this plus my awful reaction to the meds, I have decided to seek alternative treamtent and am trying acupuncture this week (thursday). My friends are in shock that I am being more 'open minded'. I am in no way expecting a cure (that is too far fetched for me) but maybe some symptom relief, stress relief, pain relief, and added energy??? I hope this is all a possibility.

Being that I sat on my ass for most of the week, my hip has been fabulous. I had so little pain and discomfort...until today. Why? after 5 days of doing nothing, I experienced that 'spongy' feeling in the joint, like something is there that shouldn't be there. I am now even more convinced my labrum is torn, even though my OS is 'confident' it is not. It has bothered me all day, that sponginess, even after an hour and a half nap, which has left me groggy and eager for more sleep!!!

I am fast approaching my 4 month left side anniversary. I think I am at 17 weeks now, which is the point at which things went seriously downhill for the right. Let's hope this will not be a repeat scenario and I can have a bilateral happy ending!!!!

L smiling

I stand corrected! I just received pictures from L's school trip...adorable!!

Family Portraits

I have to admit, I have not been taking as many pictures of the kids as I should because our cameras are broken. Yes, both of them. The better of the 2 was dropped, and is dead. The other one works but the screen is cracked, so I never know if I have the flash on, red eye, nighttime....so I do my best. I decided to post some of my favorites!!

L and Jk are 19 months apart. This is what a 3 day old baby and a 19 month old toddler look like! Note the disarray of my home in the background!

My home gym, put to good use!!!

Jk loves smiling for the camera, It is a challenge to get L to smile!

Finally, L smiling nicely!!

And not so nicely!!

The reason why I am not getting a cpm the third time around...

Insomniac

I have really been up since 3AM, it is now 11PM and I cannot go to sleep? Anxiety????? I think this happened last time once I scheduled. Do I need a shrink? Xanax? Sleeping pills?

Reflecting

I have been up since 3am. Out of shear boredom, I have been reflecting on the past few months of the soap opera that has become my life! Don't worry, I am still laughing. I laughed as I downed 7 pills this morning for Crohn's. I tried for one week to skip the steroids my gastro had wanted me to take, but the other meds alone were not enough. I laughed as my right hip ached in bed, as I did nothing. I laugh as I spin each night since I know all the possible damage I may be inflicting will soon be fixed. I laughed especially hard as I looked over my PT visits this morning, as I logged in to my office's server from home, to schedule my post-op PT eval, and decided to see how many times I have had PT. A whopping 60 visits.
I am not being sarcastic, I really laugh, you can't take things too seriously bc then you will really run into problems!! At least I had plenty of time for hair and make-up this morning!!!!

Surgery #3...scheduled

It is now written in stone (well, not really), my surgery will be Nov. 12, that is 3 weeks from Monday, really soon!

I guess they got the message after last night's email!! I received a call this morning from Dr. Kelly at 7:45. I was already exercising, no chance of waking me up at that time! He said based on everything (read older posts if you don't know what 'everything is), he feels confident that surgery will help. He will address the cam and will NOT release my psoas. He wants to release adhesions in the psoas and do a bursectomy, but, and I asked, more than once, this will not require him to release my psoas. He said that he can't in 'good conscious' release it. He even offered to give me the tool he uses to release the psoas to hold, so he has no access to it!!!
No CPM, no Gameready, Brace as needed, not a huge deal! I have to email his PA and remind her about my Percocet/ Zofran cocktail!! I requested the same anesthesiologist who did my first 2, and first case of the day if possible!

I think that covers everything. What am I going to do for 3 weeks? Oh, Spin!!!! I just finished another fabulous ride! It is amazing how much energy I have while on the bike and how I can spin through the pain, I always pay the next day but it is soooo worth it!!!

Still in Limbo

I have not heard back yet. This makes me incredibly pissed off, especially since I made it clear at our last conversation that I need a return phone call. I sent out another email last night since I have a tentative date for surgery, but nothing has been finalized, that date is 3 weeks from Monday (I know, shit). If I do not hear back by today, I may possibly lose it, again, for real, so if I never post again, it is because they do not provide Internet access in the psych ward!

My Butt hurts

I went for ride #2 yesterday afternoon. I didn't have a lot of pain after my first ride from the seat. Once I sat down for a second ride, the situation was slightly different. I feel totally bruised, I know this will go away as I become re-accustomed to the narrow, hard saddle!!
I need to get back into shape though. I have been pushing really really hard on the bike, and I think I am becoming hypoglycemic. I am totally fine while riding, the second I get off, disaster strikes. I am wobbly, dizzy and horribly nauseous. I have been told to eat protein+carbs before riding to avoid this little issue!

Yesterday my right hip was pretty painful following my first ride (it did not prevent me from riding more though!) We will see how today goes. Oh, I did not hear back from Dr. Kelly, shocker!

When P worked on me yesterday, my hip flexors were really really tight, especially on the right! But with some TLC, they loosened up! I am not surprised, cycling is all about those muscles!!
If all goes well, I will ride again tonight!!!

My First Ride

I still have it!!! I don't know what 'it' is, but I still have it! 2 babies and 2 hip surgeries later and I still have it! I definitely don't have the speed I used to have but hopefully with time, energy and chondroplasty, it will return!

I had my bike put together today!!! It is up and functional and awesome! I love it! 1 year later, but I got my bike! I am approaching the 1 year anniversary of my 'hip thing', just around the time I decided I needed a bike, but held off due to pain. My first ride was not that exciting, I used one of the DVD's that the guy who sold me the bike sent. It was a lame ride, but a good one for my first. Not too much resistance, no racing/ sprinting, which is what really gets my heart going. The thrill wasn't as great as I thought so tomorrow I may forgo the video and freeride with my ipod!

The left hip was a little sore in the beginning but once warmed up, it did great! The right was OK on seated flats, but any resistance or increased hip flexion was painful. I did complete the ride though, I knew I would, even if I had been in excruciating pain, I would have completed it, I have waited too long to have a bike to not ride!

I emailed Dr.Kelly tonight. Let's see when I hear back!! I need a finalized plan! I want to be the spinning maniac I once was and need his help!

I am lying in bed with an extremely sore right hip, I am paying for my ride! I will try to post an update in the morning on how I feel. I leave the house before 7 to get in my PT before I see patients!

Bike Status

My bike has arrived. It is sitting outside my front door, in the hallway! Can anyone HEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPP!!!!!!
I already called Vinny, my handyman, he is coming by later in the afternoon, I hope I can ride tonight!!!

Objectives Vs. Subjectives

I can't believe no one 'de-lurked'. I am very disappointed. I was going to go on a blogging strike until you did, but this is killing me.
I am going out of my mind. I have been having so many doubts about whether I am making the right decision or not with revision surgery. I think L sees that I am losing it. I went out tonight, to Target (needed milk, light bulbs and undershirts), as I was leaving, she said to me: "Mommy, be careful, don't step into cars, wait for the walking man and if a car comes, stop." How adorable is that, L is only 3!

So here is my dilemma. I went through this with my first surgery as well. I always have good days and bad days. On the good days, I wonder if I am going crazy. What would calm my fears was that I had an MRI which showed pathology, it disproved my theory that I was crazy (at least in this sense) . This time, I have inconclusive scans. But, there is the cam impingement. Do you see where I am going with this? Yes, straight into the psych ward!!!

My intra-articular injection got rid of all of my pain, the psoas injection helped with some of the pain but the joint injection was a million times better. I really don't want my psoas released, and Dr. Kelly knows that (maybe bc I repeated it like a million times!). But what if I am wrong? What if he is right? But none of my imaging revealed a problem with the psoas, but then again, it didn't reveal a problem with much of anything. But he has never touched, stretched or looked at my psoas, much of our discussions have been over the phone. So really he is going on all of my subjective complaints. It is scary. So that is why I have been freaking out.

On a different note, I ordered a spinning bike. I am so excited, it should arrive tomorrow. I used to be a maniac spinner, nothing in the world gives me the same high as spinning. I don't see any reason why I can't go back to spinning, I desperately need to exercise and this is perfect for me and my lifestyle since I don't have time to go to the gym! Hopefully by tomorrow night I will be able to go for my first ride!!

Lurkers....De-Lurk, please!!

I want to meet everyone who is reading my blog! I know there are plenty of you who are reading and simply lurking which is great, a big part of this is educational, and I hope you learn a lot. But I would love to meet you! Leave me a comment, introduce yourself, and why you find my blog interesting. Did you have surgery? Do you have FAI? Labral Tear? Problem with a hipscope? Trouble in PT? Undiagnosed hip pain?
I want to meet you!!!!!!

Always a Party at Casa de Susie

My psoas is a lot less sore today, it doesn't hurt unless I try to really abuse it, like lifting my leg onto the bed, or try a SLR, but it is still weak. The joint hurts, so where does that put me with this injection? What a mess.

To make things more interesting, I had doctor appt #3 today (warning- not hip related). My stomach has been funky the last few weeks, so after countless emails back and forth with my GI doc, he finally told me to come in and see him. After discussing what is going on and trying to piece everything together, he didn't think my last CT scan (in June) made sense based on his exam and my symptoms, so while I waited, he called the radiologist. He re-read the films and changed the diagnosis. So once again, different body part but same issue- everyone reads scans differently. Hopefully, the re-read will work to my benefit, he changed all my meds. It also helped that I was in the office and we were actually having a live conversation as opposed to back and forth over the Internet. So we will see what happens, of course the pharmacy was out of my meds!

The NOT Pre-op Appointment

Yep, you read it correctly. Here's the play by play.
I want to start off by saying this visit did go well, and I really like Dr. Kelly a lot, I hope I can portray it as such in the dialogue!
First, I saw him in the hall as he was going to see another patient while I was waiting, and he said "Hi Susie", so he def. knows who I am, but then again, I am huge pain in the ass!!!!
He came out after he saw that patient and asked me if I had had the injection, I said yesterday, he wanted to know how it had gone, I told him I really hurt and can't really flex my hip. He thought that might be a good thing because if the psoas was inflamed, it may be reacting to the injection. But he said we will talk more when I get a room.
I only waited 1 hour! He came in, checked the ROM, and strength of a SLR, I could not do it on the right. Then we talked. He said there are 4 possible reasons for a hipscope to fail: 1) residual impingement 2) psoas issues 3) retear of the labral repair 4) severe arthritis. I do not qualify for 3 and 4, so we are left with 1 and 2. He is pretty convinced it is psoas, I don't know how convinced I am. He did say it is definitely doable with a scope, I don't need an open procedure. I asked who does 'opens' here? He said he does with his partner, some other guys in NY, the guys in Switzerland and some in Boston. I told him I sent my stuff to Boston but he told me 'to stick with you'! I had no issue telling him I had gone for a second opinion.

He wants to wait 1 week and see what happens with the injection, he feels that if it is psoas, an injection may take care of it altogether (sound familiar). And, he added, I know you REALLY don't want me to release your psoas!
So I said, you want me to call you next week? Will you actually call me back? He laughed, and said they are trying to work on a better system. Maybe email would be better, but he doesn't always check his email, so I am going to email Ariana his PA, who will pass along the message. Keep your fingers crossed.
I asked if we could just take care of it and schedule surgery, I am sick of living like this, he said that after we see what happens with the injection, he can do it next week. Seriously, I said, what does your operating schedule look like? No, I am serious, I will do it whenever you want. No, come on, seriously, I didn't believe him. He said I have been on enough of a roller coaster ride, he will do it whenever I want!
So, now another week of unknown and then we will see. We did set a tentative date of November 12.

Ultrasound Guided Psoas Injection

If you ever have the choice between getting your hip joint injected or your psoas, go with the joint. It really hurt. It hurts now, alot, I am limping. At least I was smart enough to go get waxed last week since they inject slightly higher than when the joint is done.

In the past, my injections have taken 20 minutes start to finish, this was 1 hour. First, the radiologist had to find the correct place to inject. He injected the local and that was fine. Then the big needle came, it took him a fair amount of time to slowly guide it into the correct place, at one point he said he was going to angle it differently. This whole process really hurt, it was not sharp pain but a lot of pressure and a weird pain. He did hit one area that apparently was not numb, but it was for one quick second. (just walked away from computer to pop a Darvocet).

There was a long period of time that the needle was in me as he moved it around and injected various things, also, he added some more local anesthetic partway through.

Before injecting, he motion tested me to see what hurt and had me give a painscale number, so flexion, 7/10, flexion with IR and adduction, 10/10, ER with abduction, 0/10. He retested after the injection, I went to 5/10, 3/10, 0/10 respectively. But the whole hip HURT. I told him, he said the muscle is sore from the needle. Holy shit, is it ever.
I limped out of the hospital and came straight home, and am still limping now. This better get better soon, I am an unhappy camper, and now I think I have mixed results with this injection! Dr. Kelly will have to sort it out tomorrow!!!

I Almost Forgot

As I was writing earlier tonight,I kept thinking that there was something I wanted to tell you but I couldn't remember. As I lie in bed at 11:30, it just hit me.

Dr.Millis' office called me this morning. He reviewed my films and said I should stick with a scope with Dr. Kelly. So now, one less thing to worry about!

Snafu Number ?????

I thought everything was all set for this week, injection on Tuesday followed by OS appt Wed. Wrong. Friday afternoon I get a message from the radiologist who is doing the injection to make sure I really wanted to change my appt from this week to next week, bc he is pretty sure I want next week. NO! I want this week. What the hell is going on now? I thought this was actually going to go smoothly. Luckily, we touched base today and straightened this all out, so injection tomorrow and OS appt the next day.
I also spoke with my GI doc today, he would like me to come in as well this week, so I have 3 doctor's appts this week! I think that is my all time record!!

My left psoas is being a pain, it is so tight and snapping all over the place, P worked on it today, hopefully it will stop snapping, again, like it already has!
I will report back after the injection!

This Week

Before things get busy, I know this is a big week for a lot of people. So good luck with surgery to blog readers Amy, Rachel and Yona. If you are having surgery and are a blog reader, let me know, we will be thinking of you! Jess, good luck with your OS appt, it should be coming up, my father in law (hopefully NOT a blog reader) good luck with your surgery too, and I have my OS appt and injection (hopefully), will update on OS office snafu tomorrow with full and hopefully 'taken care of' story!!!
Keep us posted on your recoveries!!!!!

The Nanny Diaries

I have left you again, and I apologize. But I am back now, for good!! I have been dealing with a couple of things, Jewish holidays, nanny issues and a Crohn's flare up. The right hip has been a lot better than it was last weekend, ever since the pain peaked and I took a Darvocet, it has been better. I will explain the nanny situation and why I think it is related the my Crohn's flare up! Warning... this is not hip related but I need to vent!

3 weeks ago, we went to Miami, in the airport, my cel phone rang, it was my nanny's sister. She was calling to let me know that my nanny was in the hospital and she would be working for me all week. Anyone else would just be relieved to have a back up nanny, but I was so annoyed that she was coming, I needed some extra hours, J was going out of town so I needed her to be here very early so I could go to PT before work....I was pissed. To make matters worse, I actually needed her Friday night and all day Saturday, but the sister said she couldn't work those days. Oh, and she said she was in the hospital for back pain. On Mon., she said that my nanny thought she would be discharged on Wed., but could not work for me this weekend. I started getting suspicious, so I started asking questions. The sister said it may be her kidneys so tomorrow they will do a CT scan, hmmmm, why not today? I asked which hospital she was in, the sister wasn't too sure. Earlier, she had told me that she had an IV in her arm and they were giving her medicine that way, now she told me that she hadn't been able to go visit her in the hospital bc she was busy working for me and cooking for my nanny's husband. That was weird bc my nanny has her health insurance through one particular hospital, around the corner from her house. So I asked the sister why she didn't go there? She told me bc they don't have bathrooms in the rooms. This whole time, I had been trying to call her on her cel phone with no luck.

By now I was really suspicious and angry as well. On Wed., the sister told me she was running upstairs to another apartment to give them her number bc they were looking for a nanny, she walked into my apartment, on her cel phone, and this is the conversation as she walked past me: " Oh, your cel phone died....and you didn't have the charger, oh, and you didn't get a phone in your room bc it was $10/ day..oh, hold on, here is susie". Do you know what the first thing she said to me was.... why didn't you come visit me? Well, apparently no one knew where you were and your cel phone was dead. So she answered, you know I only go to the hospital around the corner here, and my cel phone dies. So I answered, but your sister said you were NOT there. She told me she went bc her back pain got out of hand and then when she was there her blood pressure dropped...nothing about her kidneys.

So by this point I am pretty sure she is lying to me, and I am ANGRY. I decided to do some detective work, just to back myself up, not that I would ever confront her, bc I am too scared! But just so that I would know. If she was lying to me, my goal would be for her to know that I know she is lying, but I wouldn't need to discuss it with her, I am too passive aggressive to deal with it, basically, I am scared of her bc she takes great care of my kids, runs my house and L and Jk adore her. I had J call the hospital to find out if she was a patient, NO. Then I went on their website bc I didn't like the story about the $10/day for phone. The website says 'all patients get a FREE phone in their room for local calls' BUSTED.
At this point, I was mega ANGRY, but I had no outlet, I told a friend who is a social worker that I needed serious anger management. The only way I could describe how I was feeling is that it was 'eating away at me inside'. My friends said they had never seen me so pissed off before. It kept getting worse. The sister had to leave early a few days, she kept feeding the kids chicken nuggets for lunch every day (they are my emergency only food). In reality, I may have overreacted, and should have been glad for the backup, but I felt so betrayed and she was an accessory to the crime.

The next week, my nanny came back and we went away on Wed., so she had no kids thurs or fri., but I wanted some things done around the house....to her defense, she came back to work with an awful cough, but I was still pissed and was acting like a diva, so I told her I needed her to do all this work for me. To which she answered "I don't need you to go away on vacation in order for me to clean your apartment, it can all be done next week when you are here, and anyway, I am really sick and have to go to the hospital". This pushed me over the edge, she was having 2 days off, had not shown up the week before, and was giving me attitude. We left it off by her saying' fine, if you want, don't pay me for these 2 days'. I should have yelled and screamed and gotten all of this off of my chest, but I didn't, again, the fear factor.

This whole time, J was upset about having to pay someone else to watch the kids over the weekend since she was supposed to do it to make up for all the days she had been off, so he decided to deduct $100 from her pay. I hadn't yet told him about our latest fight.

I was so scared to come home, I was crapping in my pants! On Monday, she came and said nothing. She asked me if I had paid her or if J had paid her, I said J, oh, bc there were $100 missing. Hmm, I'll speak to J about it, I just bought myself another day! Wed., she brought it up again, no escaping her this time, Ummmm, J deducted it bc we had to pay someone else for the weekend when you couldn't come. Oh. Shit, she was pissed, this was soooo not worth the $100, I am going to kill J.
On a side note, the reason I am left to deal with the shit is bc of a language barrier between J and the nanny, they do no communicate, ever!
I then ran out to the store. On most days, I let her go home early, I don't need her around, and she will stay late or come early if I need her to, it is a nice working compromise. I got home and she was sitting on the couch, I told her she could leave.
No, she said, this is how things will work from now on,. I will stay everyday until 5, regardless of whether you need me to or not, I will never work late for you, never come early for you, you have no regard for me and no consideration for me, I was sick, and this is disgraceful. She went on and on, I argued a little, she did most of the talking, I agreed to give her the $100.
Things ended well, everyone is happy, I am relieved, I got totally walked allover but at least I still have her. For me, it is priceless to have her, I walk out the door in the morning, I never call her to tell her what to do, where to take the kids, what to feed them.....she is in total control...of everything apparently!!

During my anger/ angst over what she would do minus the $100, my Crohn's kicked up. I don't know if I believed that stress can cause a flareup, I am now convinced.

3 month Update

It has been 3 months since my second hipscope, wow, time flies when you're having fun! The left hip is doing great, fabulous, awesome!!!! I am thrilled with the results. I have minimal groin pain when doing a lot of walking, and the only other time I really experience any pain is when doing plie's at work, still getting adductor pain on the way up. I think I can live with that!

P took measurements for me today, here are my ROM and strength test results:
ROM:
Right hip flexion: 110' with pain, 112' with severe pain
Left Hip flexion: 120'
External Rotation: R: 42' L: 35'
Internal Rotation: R: 36' L: 38'

Strength:
Seated Hip Flexion: R: 4+/5 L: 4+/5
Prone Hip Extension: R: 4/5 L: 4-/5
Sidelying Hip Abduction: R: 4/5 L:4/5
Seated Hip External Rotation: R: 4/5 L: 4-/5
Seated Hip Internal Rotation: R: 4/5 L: 4/5
Supine Straight Leg Raise: R: 3+/5 L: 3+/5

My PT exercises have not changed since the last time I listed them, I have added a new exercise, I do not have a name for it, I'm sure P does. I will describe it. I stand on the left leg, P places a cone directly in front of me, one to my right, and one behind and slightly to the left. The objective is to touch each cone with my foot, they are placed so I must reach for them, and the one behind me requires rotation and extension, very challenging. I am supposed to add sidelying straight leg raise in adduction but I keep forgetting!

My hope is that once my right leg is 'taken care of', it will do as well as the left! As it stands right now, I think the ROM is as good as it will be, but the strength can improve a bit!!