5 Month and 9 Month Hip Updates

I haven't mentioned my hips in a while as other things have taken precedence lately. But here we go:

I am back to normal, or as normal as I will get with scoped hips. I will not use the treadmill, I think it is too hard on them and I really want to keep "these" hips for as long as possible.
I am getting more aches and pains now than I did before the knee thing (BTKT) began, so I totally attribute it to compensation. Previously, I had almost no achiness. Now I occasionally get achiness, right more than left (right was scoped twice), my adductors still get spasmy occasionally, more now than BTKT. I also now have a alot of clunking and clicking in both, I think left more than right. It is painless but loud. I have gotten into he habit of "cracking" my back, so I use various techniques, adopted from what I would use in the clinic. I always say that whatever needs to crack will crack with a manipulation, so at time, I will be focusing on my low back/ SI joint and will get a nice crack in a hip. I still hold onto the theory that it is scar tissue, and I don't worry one drop about it because it is painless, there is no FAI in either hip anymore so I won't tear my labrum again, plus, a good chunk of labrum was debrided so even less likely to tear (bc it is gone), and it is important to stay positive.

My IT bands get tight and tender sometimes, but I think they always were, even before the hip shit started. My "invisible bruise" on the right is still there, believe it or not. It does not interfere with my life anymore and the box of lidocaine patches sits on my desk, untouched. The area does consistently get smaller but the pain level is about the same, just in a smaller area.

I can push my stroller with no hip pain, I spin with no hip pain, I work with no hip pain, what more can I ask for :-)
A big part of healing, and healing well, is staying positive, focusing your energies and returning to life and moving past this messy chapter, and always remembering, things could always be worse!

Landsickness

No, I am not being facetious. I have friggin' land sickness. I have been off of the boat since Monday morning yet my body feels like I am rocking. Clearly, it is all in head, or brain, or ears...or something! I have discovered these acupressure sea bands that seem to be helping, but I have to always wear long sleeves to cover them up for fear of looking like a bigger lunatic than I already am!

The cruise was great, rock climbing was incredible. It was definitely a personal achievement, not bc I need to climb walls to feel accomplished, but my hip can handle it, which makes me feel awesome! Kudos to P and Dr. Kelly for making it happen!

At this point, things are great. I can feel like there is 'something' in my hips, the left one (6 months out) feels more 'confident' when I walk, run, ride....The right still has occasional adductor issues. Time will heal!

I am in limbo with PT! The day I left for the cruise was the same day as I had the horrible capsule issues after scope #2 (7 weeks, 5 days). That day, the joint capsule started tightening. Shit, I thought, its happening again. But I tried to stretch it as often and discreetly as possible (in the airport and on the plane) and warded off an attack by my angry joint capsule. I did take Darvocet that day, just to be sure I wouldn't have issues. I didn't take any again bc I was on vacation, without the kids, so drinking was a must :-) I even went off of my antibiotics for the weekend (I know, me being smart again).

I saw P on Wed., we focused mostly on joint mobs for the capsule, we are definitely being preventative on this. I have no appointments set up for the future right now. We will play it by ear. I have not been on my bike since returning due to my dizziness issue, which sucks, although I think it is better than nausea bc I can function for the most part, and I am not throwing up (knock on wood). If by Sat. I still feel dizzy, I will ride anyway. My goal for 2008 is not to see doctors...dizziness included!

When I first began my 'hipscope research', there were so few success stories. I am proud to be a success story x 2!
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Stay tuned.....The Cost of Hip Arthorscopy....coming the next time I post!

Making Good Decisions....as Always

I went ice skating today. I went ice skating in lieu of going to the doctor for my throat/ ear/ sinuses and cough. The premise was that we would call a friend tonight to call in a Rx for me but...he is on vacation. So I am in bed, prior to 9PM, having just taken cough medicine, which totally wipes me out (at least it doesn't make me puke), and freaking out since my nanny is now officially on vacation.

I woke up this morning and became super mom/ housewife, once again. 2 loads of laundry, dishes, cooking and cleaning up. For those of you who know me, I can be a bit of a diva at times, so this no nanny business is freaking me out. To cover my ass(ets), I have one person babysitting only, and one person cleaning only. So tomorrow, I will actually have a 'staff' in my home so I can comfortably go to work and know things will (hopefully) get done and the kids will be ok. But just to make sure, I got the house ready today so that day #1 would not be too overwhelming, hence the laundry and cleaning. J said he has never seen me so domestic!

So after my cleaning streak, we went ice skating. I was pretty scared, I should not be ice skating at 6 weeks...I should probably not be ice skating even at 12 weeks! But I did. If I was my patient, I would absolutely have put a stop to the ice skating. My hip friend Amy is a professional ice skater, and was not allowed back on the ice after a scope for JUST a labral tear for 8 weeks, and she clearly knew how to skate...well! But L really wanted to go, and I really wanted to take her. Luckily, she was not too keen on ice skating, so we only made it one lap, it took about 20 minutes! I should have followed her off the ice and called it a day, but no, I decided to try a few laps. Interestingly, I could only do a single leg skate. My right leg just wouldn't work. I guess it was sending me a message.

When I came off of the ice, my ITB and TFL really hurt. But the joint is good, painfree and intact! We had a great time the rest of the day as my kids always seem to be up for an adventure.

We were at an indoor amusement/ attraction center, and they had some indoor kiddie rides. They were on the wild side, but my kids never say no to adventure. One ride took you straight up and dropped you down little by little in jolts, looked scary as hell. L tried it with a friend, L loved it but the friend freaked out. L wanted to go again, and Jk wanted to join her. Jk is 2....I said absolutely not. But he insisted and threw a tantrum, and the ride operator assured me it was safe for him and would stop it if he freaked out...so I let him go. The kid loved it. I had to turn away and not watch bc he was wiggling around in his seat and had his hands in the air....but he had a great time!
He also rode the kiddie version of 'teacups', each time it turned, he was flung into the side of his cup, he realized that if he didn't hold on to the handlebar, he would be flung harder and faster, so he let go. Again,I almost had a heart attack, but he was having the time of his life.

Now they are both sleeping very soundly, and I am ready to join them, as I figure out how to juggle my schedule tomorrow and see all my patients, see my kids and get to the doctor!!!

Toys Toys Everywhere

Prior to my last surgery, this would have meant me picking up all the toys with multiple trips between the kids' bedrooms and the living room trying to sort everything out, followed by severe pain in my hip from the repeated bending and standing. Yesterday proved to be slightly different. We had our company for lunch, which totalled 5 kids under 4. After 6 hours in my house, it appeared that a hurricane had hit. Once the guests left, I was left to rearrange the entire toy collection on my own. I was nervous knowing what this had been like in the past, but couldn't bear to see my living room look like Toys R Us had thrown up in it. So after 1 1/2 hours, the toys were picked up and I could once again see the floor. But...I began having soreness in my hip. It was definitely abusive on my poor hip, who less than 4 weeks ago had a large hunk of bone shaved off, but my sanity called for a clean house. I had soreness for a few hours the rest of the night but I am happy to report that I woke up today with no problems. Whoohooo!! This really really worked, how amazing!!! I am fixed! I go back to work tomorrow!!!

Slowly Returning to Normal

I am slowly returning to my life as it was pre-scope, minus the pain, minus the 'am I crazy' thoughts! Today I also returned to acupuncture. As skeptical as I was, I think it was great. I had so much energy afterwards and my Crohn's issues got better. Today was no exception. I was speaking to the acupuncturist about my results.....and he checked my pulse bc that is what they do. So he said 'are you sick?', I am, I have had a cold and ear and sinus pain for a while, but have been trying to put off going to my doctor since I really don't like her anymore, after the 'stitches incident' after my second scope. So he keeps feeling my pulse, 'are you coughing anything up? do you have head pain? ear pain?', wow, is he a mind reader? I said I am sick and probably need an antibiotic, he said no, it is viral (okay???) bc my pulse is very slow and weak, my body is fighting something. Weird. He sent me home with some herbs in pill form bc there is no way I would make a tea out of dirt and drink it! I have no clue what I just took, one says take 8 pills 3 times/ day and one says take 3-4 pills 3 times/day. I hope this works. I I don't ever blog again you will know never to take strange, unknown herbs!

I have been sticking with one crutch outside, except today, I had to go to Toys R Us. Jk's b-day is Thursday and chanukah is next week. I didn't think I would be able to maneuver the shopping cart and my crutch so I left it in the car and used the cart as support. Note to self and others: carts are not intended to be substitutes for crutches. I was exhausted, really exhausted when I left, I mean, close to dead (this was before I took the herbs). I went to pick up L at school and contemplated using 2 crutches but really really didn't want to. So now my Trendelenburg is worse but I have a feeling it will be fine in the morning. Still no real pain!! Hooray!

As a gift to my hip, I had my groceries delivered today!!!

Thanksgiving Fun Cont.

Luckily we are home and have no stairs! I have minimal pain, could probably benefit from Tylenol but I have a huge aversion to anything that closely resembles a pill, or may possibly be medicinal. I didn't leave the house all day yesterday but took care of the kids crutchless. This involved breakfast, playing, lunch, naptime, snack. Luckily J did all the packing and loading of the car. We tried to minimize the stairs and stay on one level as much as possible. Stairs in and of themselves don't seem to be a problem, it was actually easier to them crutchless using a step through pattern as opposed to a step to pattern. But the hip really feels good. I have a little move I call my 'making sure I still have pain...or am I losing it', it was especially helpful post-injection 1 and 2 when the radiologist did not do a pre and post test. I stand on the affected leg and internally rotate the hip by turning my body away (out).If there is impingement, it pinches. It no longer pinches on the right, YAY!!!!! I am cured! I will have a 'brace throwing away event' soon. Interestingly, I held onto it after my first scope, something in the back of my head said to keep it. I still have the left brace too but I will toss it as well. Anyway, I wore it one day after this scope.

This morning we took the kids to a holiday cookie baking and magic show (the magician didn't show up though), it is at L's school so we walked. I walked with 2 crutches but left 1 in the stroller when we got there. Later we went out for pizza and I took one crutch. I get tired after a while, that's why in the house I was ok, I wasn't going very far in one stretch.

But it is so nice to be home, like any good Jewish family, there are always in-law issues, sibling issues and plenty of food! I have never eaten so much dessert before, hopefully my body needed all those extra calories to heal!

I return to PT tomorrow, I am not sure if I will go more than one time this week. Dr. Kelly wants me to take it slow, and it is Jk's birthday on Thursday, we are going to see Playhouse Disney Live! I will let P check my ROM and see what he thinks. Extension is going to be my biggest issue this time around I think, and I am developing some trochnateric bursitis, I think. I am still awfully bruised on the trochanter and medial to the incisions. It makes me wonder if they ever found the cushioning device that was 'missing' pre-op. L says my femur is very purple. Yes, she says femur. She is very into anatomy, and at 3, it i impressive, She knows the following bones: Scapula, clavicle, humerus, radius,ulna, phalanges, femur, patella, tibia, fibula, calcaneus. She loves medical dramas as well. We watch House, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Scrubs.

I have some cute pics, we have a new camera so I will try to get J to upload them for me!! I am in bed for my daily rest!

Post-op x 1

I remember waking up in the OR, at which point I think my surgery was over, but I don't really know for sure. Don't freak out, I didn't feel anything...my surgery was performed under spinal anesthesia with sedation (maybe not enough!!)
Actually, I wanted to watch the surgery,and my surgeon Ok'd it, but the anesthesiologist nixed the idea!! I'm happy now I didn't, it went quicker this way!
I woke up again in recovery, still pretty groggy, while a PT was putting my leg into a CPM machine. I fell back asleep! Then a nurse asked me if I was in pain, I said my incision hurt a little, I guess she interpreted that as yes, so she gave me morphine. This happened 2 more times, until I maxed out the morphine. This whole time I was supposed to be able to regain feeling and function in my legs but it wasn't happening. I was told that for an 8AM surgery, you should be able to go home by 12 or 1, I remember seeing all the other people who had gone into surgery around the same time as me go home, while I was still trying to wiggle my toes.
My surgeon had come over to me once immediately after he was done to tell me what he had found, a really large labral tear and bone spur on the acetabulum that caused the tear. He also told me that unfortunately, he had not been able to repair the tear, it was too "mangled" and had to be debrided.
Then I went back to sleep!!!! It took me a very long time to come out of the spinal anesthesia, I think the nurses were concerned because my surgeon came back to check on me a second time after he finished his next surgery, I still wasn't moving my legs too much. I did eventually regain control of my legs, at which point I had to eat something..note to self: bring a snack next time!!!
I went home around 5pm, after a nurse shift change so me not eating anything was overlooked and I was given vicodin!! I live 20 minutes from the hospital, and yelled at my husband the whole way home every time he hit a bump or pothole on the street!
Another lesson learned: I will set my alarm the first night and take pain meds every hour. I will never forget the amount of pain I was in the next morning, with 8 hours of no pain meds, I lunged for the bottle of vicodin!!!