3.5 months - one step forward, two steps back...

So a couple weeks ago I was able to meet up with two of ladies - hip chicks that I met online at Hip Chicks website. They both had the same surgery and the same surgeon. Tessa - awesome lady with a wealth of knowledge who has helped support me from afar throughout this journey. I "met" Laurie during recovery and found out that she was a couple weeks ahead of me but had also been down to see Dr. Mayo and lived in Anchorage. Tessa came to AK for a visit with her husband and I was able to spend the weekend with her.

I took her out to our cabin and tried to give them a solid Alaska experience. The weather cooperated and I even left the crutches in the cabin most of the weekend!!!! I think I was bound and determined to NOT be walking around on mine while she was walking around not just post PAO but post neck surgery (she has had a number of surgeries in the past year and still has a couple more to go). She is a huge inspiration. We had a great time! I even had a killer cold that came and stole my voice.

My meet-up with Laurie was a happy accident/coincidence. We had our follow-up appointments 30 minutes apart and didn't know it until that morning. She was in and out before my appt started but stayed and sat with me in the waiting room! She has young kids too and hopefully we will be able to schedule more times to hang out in the near future.

I feel very lucky to have met them both! Not everyone understands the enormity of the hip issues and the toll it takes on you emotionally as well as physically. It is great to meet a couple people that truly understand and are great/genuine people on top of that.

I had another follow-up with Dr. P. He doesn't think my progress is typical - well I totally agree and have been saying that for weeks. He took more x-rays and said the bones look good (yay) and I should only be restricted by pain at this point. He did state he thinks I am having more pain than what is typical but that I am not out of the woods yet so he isn't TOO worried.

However, on the physical exam... he could elicit loud painful popping in my hip with passive extension and external rotation. :( He said the likely causes are either a ligament/tendon snapping over boney overgrowth or scar tissue or.... get this... my labrum. I was very upset. The labral tear is what caused my initial pain and started me on this hip journey. It was detached and repaired during my RPAO but he said that the success rate was only about 70-80% because of the blood supply and how they have to try and revive that for the repair (cutting the labrum and the bone to create a vascular bond for the anchors to adhere to for repair). The decision at the end of that appointment was to finish out 5-6 more weeks of PT and see if strengthening all my muscles helps reduce the popping and the pain. I left that appointment upset but also trying to be optimistic.

Well... the weather here is AK has decided it needed a say in my recovery. I posted last time about our crazy windstorm. Well we have had several more since then - most recently the middle of last week. So during Alaska Windstorm #3 (AKA Arctic Hurricane #3) I was trying to keep our trashcan from catapulting itself off the mountain. The Mr. had tied it up to a weighed down wheelbarrow but once empty - it decided to pull away and take flight. I found it at the end of our street. They are fairly spendy cans (I know - we had to replace one over the winter due to winds). So I grabbed the keys to the pick up truck and backed it down the street next to the can so I could lift it in and return it to our garage. As I was getting out of the truck (already a feat in an of itself with the hip) a gust of wind decided to rip down the street. Well it grabbed the truck door and slammed it into me on the back right side as I was turning. It threw me to the ground. I got up angry and wet and had to catch our trash can which was now 10 feet further down the road.

As I was driving I noticed a rather sharp pain that radiated down my entire leg. Then over the course of the day my whole pelvis ached and my hip appeared to be popping on more and more movements. I definitely had have an increase in pain over the last couple days and it is deep in the groin. I called Dr. P's office (he is out for a couple weeks) and they said I could come in to the walk-in if the pain gets too bad. I also emailed Dr. Mayo's office and they said it was unlikely that I did too much damage but to keep an eye on it.

So yesterday, I told my PT about the fall and we had already discussed the popping & pain. She had previously agreed that we could strengthen everything and hope that it was a ligament/tendon. However when I told her about the fall and reiterated the symptoms HAVE increased since the fall. She asked to do a physical exam and "check me out." She got the same painful popping and clicking and did a couple other things that didn't necessarily hurt but then she looked at me and said "girl, this isn't good, I definitely think this has something to do with your labrum." So she called Dr. P's office and they suggested I come in on Monday and see his PA-C (since he still out of town) but she told them no, that she wasn't sure what he could do. She said she recommended new imaging done and that I meet with Dr. P as soon as he comes back.

She said if I need it repaired than I need to do it right away so that I can combine recoveries and maximize insurance benefits for the year. I feel devastated now. I don't want to think about it but I knew the pain was familiar. I hate that I went through all this (PAO) and end up in the same pain. So it looks like I will be getting some more imaging next week - CAN I GET AN MRI WITH THESE SCREWS? Am I seriously looking at another surgery before I have really even started recovering from my last one???????

We'll see I guess.