Skip to main content

Posts

surprise... you're having your revision in 12 hours!

W ell... it’s been a whirlwind of a week.  I got a call Tuesday at supper time from my surgeons office asking if I would be available for my right hip revision surgery Wednesday morning. I was originally told I would likely wait a year for this surgery, so I said yes without hesitation. Luckily I had all the ‘equipment’ from my surgery last year, so I cleaned up my apartment, did some laundry and sat and hoped I was making the right decision to have the revision surger y. My surgeon came to see me twice in pre-op to chat about what he was planning to do. My MRI-arthrogram had shown a lot of adhesions, but he wasn’t 100% sure exactly what he was going to find in there. He explained that he would do everything he could for me but couldn’t guarantee that this would take away my pain or that the adhesions wouldn't form again. Obviously I was scared as hell, but I have been in so much pain over the past several months I had to take the chance. I knew I would be in excellent hands wi...
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

really too young to be feeling this old: 13 months post op

W ell... I have answers and a plan! I saw my surge on, Dr. Wong, on May 7th to review my MRI-arthrogram and come up with a plan for where we go from here. When he looked at my MRI he explained that my labrum looked great... that you could hardly even tell i t had ever been repaired ( if you've had a hip scope you can imagine the relief I felt when I h eard those words). He then explained and showed me that my hip has a lot of adhesions or scar tissue inside. Everyone is a bit perplexed as to why this happened because I followed the post op protocol exactly as I was told- my mom did leg circles (circumduction) on m e for 20 minutes a day for 3 months, I was on the upright bike 2 days after my surgery, walked lots, moved lots, took celebrex for 6 weeks to he lp prevent inflammation... you name it, I did it. .. but never once did I cheat and do more than I was supposed to before I was supposed to.   Dr. Wong explained that the con tinue d pain and sym ptoms I am having with decre...
Post a Comment
Read more

one year post op - it's my hipiversary!

O ne year post op.   It's been a while since I made a new post, so I do have several updates to share. I cannot believe it has been a year since I had arthroscopic hip surgery to fix my pincer FAI and repair my torn labrum in my right hip.  I was very fortunate that my surgeon was able to see me March 26, 2018, as I was really concerned about my right hip pain and becoming unable to work my full hours and full duties. I had x-rays and then saw my surgeon. He spent about 20 minutes with me assessing me, reviewing my imaging and answering my questions and trying to get to the bottom of the issues that I am having. Since I have still been having a significant amount of throbbing, deep groin pain with pinching while walking and limited range of motion, he decided to order an MRI arthrogram to see if something is going on inside my hip joint. He explained that he is happy with my strength, but that I need to continue to strengthen my glutes more. He wrote a letter to my insuran...
Post a Comment
Read more

10 months post op

I am struggling.   I am struggling, physically, mentally and emotionally. This is not the way that this recovery was supposed to go. 10 months ago I went into the OR to have an arthroscopic hip surgery on my right hip to shave bone off of my acetabulum and to fix a labral tear. By six months I should have been starting a return to running program... instead, I can barely make it through an 8 hour shift at work.  By 2 months post op on my right hip, I knew that something was horribly wrong with my left hip. It has continued to get worse and worse over the past 8 months. As you may have read in my previous post, I had an MRI in December and the surgeon believes that my left hip labrum is torn now. The pain that I feel in my left hip is worse than any pain I have ever felt in my right hip (both pre and post operatively). I honestly never imagined that I would need to go through the same surgery again on my left hip.  As the months have passed by my left hip continues ...
1 comment
Read more

femoral acetabular impingement: an invisible illness

I n April 2016 I was diagnosed with a condition called femoral acetabular impingement (FAI).  FAI is a condition where the hip socket (the acetabulum) and the femur abnormally rub against each other when bending or rotating the hip, which can cause sharp pain and pinching of the labrum. The labrum is a layer of soft tissue that lines the hip socket; sometimes it can be damaged or torn due to FAI. In FAI bone spurs develop around the femoral head (the ball part of the hip joint) and/or on the acetabulum (the socket part of the hip joint). There are 3 different types of FAI: CAM (when bone spurs form on the femoral head), pincer (when bone spurs form on the acetabulum) or you can have both types, called mixed FAI. The abnormal shape of the femoral head or acetabulum can lead to joint damage and pain. Some people have FAI and never experience pain or any type of symptoms and may never know that they have it. However, when symptoms and pain do develop, this often indicates that the...
1 comment
Read more

8 months post op

T his post brings some good news and some not so good news! I was able to get in touch with my surgeon's office this week after the holidays were over. The not so good news is that after looking at the MRI images, he believes my left hip labrum is torn. As I mentioned in my last post, my CT also revealed left hip acetabular retroversion and pincer FAI. So, the plan will be to continue with PT until my follow up with my surgeon in May. At that point we will see how my right hip is feeling and make some decisions about fixing up the left hip. I am happy with this plan, as I want to make sure my right hip is 100% recovered and feeling great before I would get my left hip fixed, as there would be a lot of demand on my right hip during the post op period for my left hip. It has been a long recovery for my right hip, so I really want to make sure it is strong and well healed before proceeding with surgery number two.  This brings me to the good news. Last Friday I had my right hip dr...
3 comments
Read more

7.5 months post op

A random time to write a post, but there are new updates I thought I would share! So I ended up having my CT scan November 24th. This was of both of my hips, to check out my left hip, which has been having pain and also to make sure my post surgery right hip joint is okay, since I have been having some lingering pain in that hip.  The results of the CT scan showed mild bilateral acetabular retroversion and pincer FAI (the pincer FAI has been corrected on right side, but not left). It also showed a very small intra-articular fragment on the right (post op) hip. These results left me a bit concerned, especially about my right hip. I already knew I had pincer FAI on the left side from x-ray, so this wasn't a shocker.  I ended up having my left hip MRI arthrogram this afternoon. I got a call three weeks ago for an appointment today, which I was thrilled about, as I expected to wait another couple of months. My mom and I drove 2 hours to a rural hospital where I had this don...
Post a Comment
Read more