My neighbor left me a trashy magazine at my door today. We had been discussing the Brittany Spear's sister pregnancy thing and she mentioned that she had bought OK magazine bc it featured a story on it. I read the story (nothing out of the ordinary for a teenage pregnancy) and then read my 2008 horoscope, honestly, this was my horoscope:
Health: Last year exacerbated health issues for many Cancers, mainly due to stress and demanding work schedules. This year, your health improves, and you should have more of that cherished nesting time. Add variety to your workouts.....
I wish I knew this a year ago and I would have been prepared! 2007 brought more doctor's visits, diagnostic tests, radiation exposure and surgeries than many people experience in a year.
I think I am not going to PT on Monday, and will soon take on the official 'dropout' status.I had better keep my mouth closed though. After my second surgery,P and I had discussed 'dropping out' at 6 weeks since I was doing so well but then I had the joint capsule/ psychotic psoas issue, as well as the whole 'revision BS'.
SHIT! I had though that it was 6 weeks out when that happened, and I was free and clear. Seems like it was closer to the 2 month mark......(color draining from my face) that whole episode and the next few days were awful, especially the next morning. But I will keep a positive attitude and keep plugging along.
On a more negative note, I am still soooo sick. I am definitely going to the doctor on Monday, there is no question that I have a raging sinus infection and NEED antibiotics. It is sad that I have an entire arsenal of narcotics here, I could easily maintain a healthy drug habit with all of my pills, but I lack a simple Z-pack!!!
Showing posts with label femoroacetabular impingement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label femoroacetabular impingement. Show all posts
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
My 1 Year Anniversary
Today marks the 1 year anniversary of when my hip saga began. For anyone just beginning their journey, I can assure you that in the hands of the right surgeon, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I am going to do a flashback to November 28, 2006.
Shit, my hip hurts. It hurts when I drive, and especially when I push the kids in the double stroller. It is a really annoying pain. It feels like something is in my joint. My friend/ PT is coming into work around 3, I will ask her to work on it and hopefully get some relief. She showed up and I told her I was dying of pain, she did a painful release on my iliacus/psoas, I felt better immediately, but in the car on my way home, things got bad again.
I went into work the next day, again, in agony. First I had one therapist stretch my hip flexors and ITB, thinking this may help. Then I had another one check it out. She said there is definitely some kind of impingement. Then I asked P for help. He was really busy so I waited until he was done seeing patients. What makes the day so memorable is that it was Jk's 1st birthday, and I was having a small dinner party, and lacking a few key ingredients. I used P's full schedule to run to the supermarket near my office but didn't find what I was looking for (which I now don't even remember what it was). P did all kinds of releases, ART, mulligan mobs...It felt good...until I was in my car again. Shit. What is this????
I got home, L had ballet and there was no food for my party! I ended up ordering pizza, Jk didn't know the difference! After we had cleaned up and the kids were in bed, I hit the computer. I had a feeling I had a labral tear, and the word impingement reverberated through my head. I think I first looked for a surgeon, before I did anything else, that is me, always thinking ahead! I was trying to remember when I had seen a hipscope, and who did them, and no one was popping into my head. At the time, there was a hipscope patient in my office and she was a wealth of information, but I wasn't willing to see her surgeon (he was in NJ), I knew it had to be someone at HSS. So I looked and searched, and researched labral tears, FAI.....Not just that night, but every night after that for weeks. After a week or 2, I decided this wasn't getting and made an appointment with Dr.Kelly. I was between him and another surgeon. I had emailed a professor of mine about this and he had recommended against the other surgeon for personal reasons. So Dr.Kelly it was. If things didn't go well, then I would pursue other options, it was just a consult, right. Hopefully he would order an MRI and get to the bottom of this. The rest is history....but in a nutshell...
3/5/07 R hip arthroscopy, Pincer impingement, labral tear debridement, synovectomy
7/2/07 L hip arthroscopy, Cam and Pincer impingement, labral tear debridement, synovectomy
11/12/07 R hip revision arthroscopy, Cam impingement, removal of scar tissue, synovectomy, upon examination, found to have beautiful psoas
11/28/07 Riding high on life (bc everything else makes me sick) and enjoying a painfree lifestyle, looking forward to ditching my single crutch very very soon! :-)
Shit, my hip hurts. It hurts when I drive, and especially when I push the kids in the double stroller. It is a really annoying pain. It feels like something is in my joint. My friend/ PT is coming into work around 3, I will ask her to work on it and hopefully get some relief. She showed up and I told her I was dying of pain, she did a painful release on my iliacus/psoas, I felt better immediately, but in the car on my way home, things got bad again.
I went into work the next day, again, in agony. First I had one therapist stretch my hip flexors and ITB, thinking this may help. Then I had another one check it out. She said there is definitely some kind of impingement. Then I asked P for help. He was really busy so I waited until he was done seeing patients. What makes the day so memorable is that it was Jk's 1st birthday, and I was having a small dinner party, and lacking a few key ingredients. I used P's full schedule to run to the supermarket near my office but didn't find what I was looking for (which I now don't even remember what it was). P did all kinds of releases, ART, mulligan mobs...It felt good...until I was in my car again. Shit. What is this????
I got home, L had ballet and there was no food for my party! I ended up ordering pizza, Jk didn't know the difference! After we had cleaned up and the kids were in bed, I hit the computer. I had a feeling I had a labral tear, and the word impingement reverberated through my head. I think I first looked for a surgeon, before I did anything else, that is me, always thinking ahead! I was trying to remember when I had seen a hipscope, and who did them, and no one was popping into my head. At the time, there was a hipscope patient in my office and she was a wealth of information, but I wasn't willing to see her surgeon (he was in NJ), I knew it had to be someone at HSS. So I looked and searched, and researched labral tears, FAI.....Not just that night, but every night after that for weeks. After a week or 2, I decided this wasn't getting and made an appointment with Dr.Kelly. I was between him and another surgeon. I had emailed a professor of mine about this and he had recommended against the other surgeon for personal reasons. So Dr.Kelly it was. If things didn't go well, then I would pursue other options, it was just a consult, right. Hopefully he would order an MRI and get to the bottom of this. The rest is history....but in a nutshell...
3/5/07 R hip arthroscopy, Pincer impingement, labral tear debridement, synovectomy
7/2/07 L hip arthroscopy, Cam and Pincer impingement, labral tear debridement, synovectomy
11/12/07 R hip revision arthroscopy, Cam impingement, removal of scar tissue, synovectomy, upon examination, found to have beautiful psoas
11/28/07 Riding high on life (bc everything else makes me sick) and enjoying a painfree lifestyle, looking forward to ditching my single crutch very very soon! :-)
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
9 Day Revision Post-Op Appointment
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
The Beauty of huge Needles in Small Spaces
Yes, I had my injection today (#3 for me, I think I can start doing them myself). I had a different radiologist today than the previous times, apparently, I was supposed to have him every time, but someone (hmm, who can that be) screwed it up.
What was different this time was the doctor brought my hip through some ROM pre-injection, documented my pain levels with certain motions (hyperflexion, flexion with IR, flexion with ER), then injected, and then ranged the hip again. I went from a 7/10, 10/10, 0/10 to a 0/10 for all motions. So I got up and was pain free.
There were 3 or 4 good hours, the injection was around 10:30, 11:00, by 3:30, the anesthetic wore off and the joint felt irritated. In the past, I have had a huge flare up the night of the injection, but the radiologist told me things may be different because the hip has been operated on. He also said, before he started, that it may be a little bit more difficult and uncomfortable to inject because of scar tissue, but once he was in the joint space, he told me he felt no resistance.
So far, my pain has returned, slightly increased than pre-injection levels, I am waiting for the flare up but it doesn't seem to be happening.
In terms of the right side, it has been better since P mob'd it on Monday, s I am writing this, it just tightened up nightmarishly, I am typing on my stomach, with my body pillow folded in half under my thigh near my knee to get some hip extension and stress the anerior capsule.
Tomorrow I see Dr. Kelly. When I was in today, I was given my entire chart, photocopied. Interestingly, my first X-ray of the right hip showed a synovial herniation pit in the head neck junction, and the MRI's (both of the right) showed mild cam impingement (on a side note, the left MRI showed no cam impingement but it was found on visual inspection with the arthroscope). Clearly, this is a huge issue and I somehow have to bring it up delicately, but firmly. Any ideas?????
What was different this time was the doctor brought my hip through some ROM pre-injection, documented my pain levels with certain motions (hyperflexion, flexion with IR, flexion with ER), then injected, and then ranged the hip again. I went from a 7/10, 10/10, 0/10 to a 0/10 for all motions. So I got up and was pain free.
There were 3 or 4 good hours, the injection was around 10:30, 11:00, by 3:30, the anesthetic wore off and the joint felt irritated. In the past, I have had a huge flare up the night of the injection, but the radiologist told me things may be different because the hip has been operated on. He also said, before he started, that it may be a little bit more difficult and uncomfortable to inject because of scar tissue, but once he was in the joint space, he told me he felt no resistance.
So far, my pain has returned, slightly increased than pre-injection levels, I am waiting for the flare up but it doesn't seem to be happening.
In terms of the right side, it has been better since P mob'd it on Monday, s I am writing this, it just tightened up nightmarishly, I am typing on my stomach, with my body pillow folded in half under my thigh near my knee to get some hip extension and stress the anerior capsule.
Tomorrow I see Dr. Kelly. When I was in today, I was given my entire chart, photocopied. Interestingly, my first X-ray of the right hip showed a synovial herniation pit in the head neck junction, and the MRI's (both of the right) showed mild cam impingement (on a side note, the left MRI showed no cam impingement but it was found on visual inspection with the arthroscope). Clearly, this is a huge issue and I somehow have to bring it up delicately, but firmly. Any ideas?????
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