Surgery scheduled august 18 2009 Dr Poole Boise, ID

Still a few weeks to go, but I thought I would get myself set up here. Been spending way too many late nites exploring this site- it is great. I am feeling apprehensive about the surgery- resurfacing on the left hip. I am 44 years old and female. Some days I think I can handle this pain and then I take a step and actually cry out loud with pain and feel very glad August 18 is right around the corner. It’s been a long road since December when things with my hip really went wrong. I have had years of issues with it. I was a serious student of ballet for many years and have been practicing yoga for nearly 30 years. I honestly never thought it would come to this… but what can you do. The right hip has issues as well, not quite as severe, and there is some hope that once the left hip is resurfaced the right hip will settle down a bit. OK- I will post again when it is closer to surgery! Lyn

5 days til surgery

Big day yesterday as had pre surgery tests (no big deal) hip class (more reassuring than helpful as I have done such extensive research, but getting to talk to the PT and OT I will be working with was really great) and a meeting with my surgeon- our first since our initial meeting nearly 5 months ago- when I had 20 minutes of his time- was told I was a candidate for resurfacing and was not prepared at all with the millions of questions that would form over the next months while I waited for my surgery date (yes, it took 5 months to get one- I am a New Yorker living in Idaho- only two surgeons doing the procedure in Boise and evidently a long waiting list). I am 44, female, have a long history of serious ballet study, yoga for 30 years, figure skating, and admit I was a bit reckless with my body with respect to eating disorders and care in my earlier adult years…all of which results in being here today. My arthritis as it shows up on the xrays is only moderate- far more advanced than it should be for my age- but not severe- yet. I have floating chondral and non chondral bodies- one that is quite large and is lodged in a place where it is likely causing some extra special pain~ My MR Arthrogram did not indicate a labral tear, not that this means anything as they often don’t show up, but my surgeon somewhat surprised me yesterday with his reply when I asked, with some doubt as we looked at a new xray, “Is my arthritis really so bad that it requires this resurfacing- and if not- why do I have all this friggin pain?” He said, “I strongly suspect you have a labral tear in addition to bone spurs in addition to cysts in addition to the arthritis that is evident.” “Labral tear” sent me lurching into a mental backslide. I have done the research, I know the odds of the scope surgery- esp when there is significant arthritis present- which it is in my case, I don’t want to give away another year of my life to pain only to end up back on the waiting list for a resurfacing…but I also don’t want to lose a hunk of my hip joint if I don’t have to… So big restless nite followed by several hours on the forum here on surfacehippy and I am almost 100 percent back on track with confidence about my decision to do the resurfacing. I don’t think I am a viable candidate for trying scope surgery first, my surgeon says I am not and neither he nor the sports medicine guy I started out with have any confidence in the scope surgery and its success rates. I want my life back. I want to be able to walk more than a block w/o debilitating pain, I want to do yoga again, skate, hike, —- have sex- everything that has been taken away from me this past year. I have felt this coming for some time- even if i did not have a name for it. Started about 5 years ago with acupuncture and cranial sacral and massage and whatever i could find to try and “heal” the hips. Yes, I did have an event- a very intense hip opening yoga session in response to increased hip pain back in December 2008- December 23 to be exact- felt ok- went to bed- woke up with pain off the scale and completely unable to walk for a week- on crutches for another 2 weeks after that- and slowly the pain has become manageable— perhaps tore the labrum that nite- perhaps it is when some of the cartilage lodged between the bones found its new home- who knows… but I have been having recognizable hip issues since my early 20’s. So, my job now is to stop second guessing myself. I have done hundreds of hours of reading and research- reaching out to those who have had the surgery- read all the negatives on trying the scope to “repair” the labrum… and I have made my decision… but I am going to keep coming back to surface hippy every day until my surgery on the 18th to keep my mental state strong.

9 1/2 hours til blast off

Though I have to leave my house in 5 hours as i have a 2 1/2 hour drive down the mtn to get to the hospital. I am scared but ready – had so much to do today and now have to spend my evening catching up with work so probably won’t get any sleep not that I would have anyway – but I would much rather be in bed watching tv and relaxing than writing. OK – well- not a lot to say except the day before surgery is filled with anxiety – even if you are 100 percent ready for the surgery as I am. I will talk to you on the other side- the side w/o pain!

2 days til 3 weeks post op

first post since the nite before surgery. The past three weeks have been….ok. The first week is hell, I am not going to lie; at least it was for me. A migrane that came right after surgery and lasted a week and a half along with constant nausea and vomiting. But you pull thru, you know, you do what you gotta do. I have the added complication of a broken left collarbone that won’t heal -had a pin in it for 3 months prior to LBHR- taken out a week before my hip surgery and it went right back to a non union. Gonna have to go get it plated in a few weeks- so I don’t have the use of my left arm as it hurts. still i was able to manage. was on canes (2) within a few days of coming home and am now walking well over 1/2 mile a day with just one cane. There is aching- pretty much all the time- but not horrible- my collarbone actually hurts worse. The incision is sore but healing, and sitting is not something I anticipate- it hurts. I am bored and frustrated after a year of pain and now this- can’t wait to see the doc on Wednesday- hopefully get the ok to drive and go to the hot springs to do water therapy. the best part is that for the year leading up to this-I could not walk 1/2 miles- not even on a good day- and now i can. it is gonna be work to get back to me- and some days i want to scream- and i am sure after the second collarbone surgery, which will set me back again I will be screaming. but it is doable and if you are in pain a suggest you just do it – stop waiting – get your life back.

3 week post op visit yesterday

And I could not be happier. Got the ok to drive, was told I can start to do stretches as long as it is not toe in- turn in kind of movements- I can begin water exercises and got a script for PT. And I can do some snow shoeing this winter (I live in N Idaho and we get snow 8 months out of the year- so walking will soon be out and snow shoeing in!) I am going back in two months to talk about getting the other hip done before the end of the year (for insurance reasons). It has been acting up- not as bad as the one I had done by any means, but since it was found I had a large chunck of cartilage missing from my ball joint during surgery- it is suspected the same issue exists for the other. I have to get a second surgery on my broken collar bone in a few weeks- it broke 4 months ago and despite being pinned remains a non union. This has certainly complicated my whole hip recovery- but not enough to make me have anything negative to say about the hip resurfacing. Dr Poole in Boise ID, is the tops, and he has given me my life back by resurfacing this hip. Anyone who is hemming and hawing about having this done- who is in pain- just do it!

one month post op today!

and to celebrate – I was able to step into my pants with no support or help from a grabber or a friend for the first time in 10 months! this is huge!