2011?

Talking to various doctors, scheduling appointments, etc. seems to be a verrrry slow process. After several weeks, I finally spoke to the surgery scheduler for Dr. Philippon. I tentatively scheduled surgery to reconstruct my left hip/labrum for the end of January 2011. Also tentatively scheduled surgery to fix my right hip for March 2011. Yipes that is far away!

I haven't even spoken to Dr. Safran yet to get his opinion on the idea of reconstruction of my labrum or to hear the results of the mri i had almost 2 weeks ago (frustrating!). I'm also still waiting to go talk to Dr. Sampson about what he'd do. I'm hoping waitlists will work in my favor here...

The reading I've been doing suggests that having your labrum removed (rathe than repaired/reattached) leads to generally less successful results and apparently causes micro-instability and more rapid wear and degeration of the hip cartilidge. I think its unavoidable in some cases (mine apparently), and only a few surgeons will actually do a reconstruction of the labrum from other sources (if they cannot repair it using the tissue that is there). There is no way for me to know if my looseness and instability is a result of a loose joint capsule alone or if its the result of having 1/3 of my labrum missing - other than to pick one surgery and go with it. If I'm going to have another surgery on that hip anyways, it seems like a good idea to have it be the most thorough as possible? On the other hand, its tempting to just tighten the joint capsule and see if that is enough... since i could have that surgery asap and the recovery would likely be less. I guess there is no way to know what the result will be with either surgery. I just have to take my chances. Not so into that. Either way, a successful result is not guaranteed, and a perfect result is apparently unlikely. I am not seeing very awesome odds with the studies I'm reading. Basically, its considered a success if the patient is better than before the surgery... the dream of having pain free hips may be just that - a dream.

After getting the 2011 appointments set up, I started to reorganize my next several months in my head ... Wonder if I could get back to riding my bike, once my collarbone is sturdy enough (I am seeing progress finally!!!! and am out of the sling most of the day as of this weekend), and just ride and swim as pain allows for the next several months. I miss riding in the sun, coming home exhausted, being fit. Can I get back to enough of that over the next few months to make the wait bearable? I guess I just have to try and see. My collarbone is still not crutch-worthy yet, so I have some time to make these decisions.

I do still have pain in my left hip and in my right. As of today I have pain the the front of my left hip again - similar to what I had before the surgery. The pain levels alternate and migrate back and forth between hips. Burning, sharp pains, popping, aches, stiffness - seems to be in both hips. sometimes i struggle to get up from a sitting position. At the same time, I know I am doing a lot compared to some convalesing hip patients (much less than others!). I do go on hikes and walks. Sometimes I walk through the pains and stiffness, and sometimes I suffer the consequences. I went for a hike this weekend with a friend who does not generally hike (cyclist) and who is 8 months pregnant. I felt about about as i have for the past month or so, and I could barely keep up. So, I don't think my expectations are too high. But, maybe they are. Its been interesting not being able to ride my bike - since i can't compare the pain level in my left hip pre-and post-surgery. I was able to ride pretty hard and pretty far before surgery - but I had achiness, burning, stiffness, sometimes badly, sometimes not so badly. I don't know if I'm better off now or worse. I think its differnet, but its not good. I am almost 4 months out. How long should I expect to wait to get back to living my life normally?

In the meantime, my primary doc is checking to see if I have some underlying issue thats making my joints loose and making my collarbone take forevs to heal. I am guessing they are just two totally separate events, and that the loose hip is simply due to a surgical issue, but I think its better to turn over that stone - for peace of mind.

Not the most thrilling post, but there you have it :)
ciao,
v