My stitches are out, phew. They were really grossing me out already. My appointment went well, actually, this is probably the best appointment I have ever had. There was no talk, mention or suggestion of a future surgery! I think I turned a new page! Dr. Kelly was happy with my ROM so far, and even secretly pleased that I had been in bed for so long since it seemed to help the hip a lot. He showed me all of the scope pics, there were tons, I think more than my other 2 surgeries combined. Also the before and after x-rays. He had tons of pictures of my psoas, it looked beautiful! He said he was really nervous going in that the psoas was really going to be an issue and he had promised me he wouldn't cut it. "You were right" he said, and repeated it!! I explained that I hadn't meant to give him a hard time about it, but I truly believed from the bottom of my heart that the psoas was fine. I explained that it had always been tight and tender but hadn't changed in the whole interim of pre and post surgery and rehab. He even had a final shot of the psoas as he was coming out, just to make everyone happy!
He said there was a lot of scar tissue that he removed. The cartilage on the femoral head looked great, it was not perfect on the acetabulum but not too bad. It had been damaged slightly from the cam impingement. Now for the cam.....it was there. Duh, haven't I been having impingement for a while now! The CT-scan should have picked it up, they measured the alpha angle, I have to look up the report, I believe that an alpha angle under 50 is normal and mine was 34 (don't quote me on that). Well, it turns out that I had 'special cam impingement'. It was not typical, which is why it was initially missed, it was very subtle, but not mild, meaning, it sure as hell was there but difficult to see. Just my luck! So he shaved it down and gave me a normal looking femoral head which no longer impinges ! YAY!!
I explained about the nausea and he regretted not being able to get my beloved Dr.Jules for anesthesia, but at least being in bed and doing nothing has helped with the pain. He wants me to take it easy with rehab, go slow, especially in the beginning and not to overload the other leg. Right now, it is good, and has not lost anything!
So now it all falls in the hands of rehab! I think we can handle this!!! :-)
Oh, I forgot to ask for my op-report, I will call first thing Monday morning!
2 comments:
Sorry to hear you had a bad start to the day! Interesting findings though, how is one supposed to get a diagnosis if it doesn't show on scans? Would the surgeon routinely 'look' for impingement to rule it out when they perform a diagnostic scope? Just curious. May I ask what made it so hard to find? :-)
Jess- this is why it is so important to know how to find things on physical exam. This is part of why I have been pushing so hard the last 4 months, physically, I had impingement, I thought I was crazy bc it wasn't coming up on scans clearly. Surgeons should and I believe most do look for FAI during a scope, even if the scans only showed a labral tear. The issue arises when the surgeon is not well versed in FAI, or is versed, but not qualified to address it, then what?? My cam was not quite a bump on the head neck junction, like most people's, rather, it was sort of on the head, the femoral head looked very round to me on the picture and when he shaved it down, there seemed to be a more clear cut delineation to where the neck ended and the head started. I hope this makes sense, I wish I had a picture. I am going to try to see if I can get my CT pics uploaded somehow and maybe we can figure it out!!! I hope this doesn't make ppl feel hopeless, that a top surgeon had to go in twice, and look pretty damn hard to find the FAI, I think it was a unique and unlucky situation.
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