Friday, November 4, 2011 -- 5 Months 1 Day

So I hit the 5 month mark! yay. I saw Dr. Mills on Tuesday for another follow-up since my last appointment in Sept when I was having all of that pain. I have been feeling a bit better, not great, but better than I was. Mom and I went up the night before and stayed in a hotel since my appointment was 10am. We got to the hospital just about 10 and went to get my xrays, then I went to request a cd/dvd of ALL my xrays, then back to Ortho waiting room. We waited there a few minutes then sat in the 'second' waiting room for about 10 minutes and Erin called me into a room. She asked how I was doing since my last appointment so I explained what was going on. She opened my xrays and said the bones were healing well. The spot where the screws are is completely healed, but there are other spots that have some more healing to do. She then pointed out my huge stress fracture that finally appeared!!! Which is good in a sense, and bad in a sense. So, just more rest and vitamins to help my bone heal. I can't start PT yet because the exercises they will give me will just hurt me more. Erin also checked my strength and it was terribly weak. I told her it was but she was surprised how weak I am. That's not good. But the bridging between the cut bones is getting better.

Dr. Millis came in shortly after and did range of motion also...things look good, except for the screws pinching me a bit. Screws can come out as the bone is healed in those areas. He also had a professor from Germany looking over his shoulder so he had him feel my screw heads through my skin and was telling him some of the procedure. Millis recommended some contraption to help my bone grow...it sends some kind of electric current into my bone to help it grow. I said no thanks...I'll stick to my calcium and vitamins. Other than that, I look good and my screw removal is booked!! November 30th with an MRI the day before...then rest a few days after and I'm good to go!! He suggested the MRI next year but I told him I'd like to get it done this year while I'm still in one deductible. Easy as pie!

Check out my newest xrays

Sunday, October 9, 2011 - 4 months 6 days PICTURES

RPAO 9 months post - DONE

RPAO

Add caption

  LPAO - 4 months post. Awaiting hardware removal

Both

Both, hard to see

Sunday, October 9, 2011 - 4 months 6 days

Yeah...so I've been terrible updating this time around and I apologize to anyone that is actually still trying to follow my progress...or in this case, lack of progress.

So, lets see. My last post op was September 13. I was dying to go see Dr. Millis because I had a terrible pain that had started about two weeks earlier. It was my inner thigh/groin area and moving towards my butt, upper hamstring. My xray didn't show anything out of the blue, but that doesn't necessarily mean a stress fracture is out of the question. Dr. M is pretty sure that's what I had/have, along with much much more healing to do and my muscle rubbing over the unhealed area causing some pain/clicking. Here I am, almost a month passed that appointment and I don't feel as though anything has changed! I sleep terrible (basically only on my stomach since laying on either side are sore to my leg/hip). The most frustrating part of this is that it doesn't seem like there's any issue with my HIP! It feels like it's my butt/groin area. When I sit in a chair, I feel pain in my upperhamstring/lower butt if that makes any sense...and I still don't feel like I have an inner thigh muscle...I think he just completely removed that! haha. Apparently an MRI would be too difficult to read right now considering all of the poking and prodding that has been done in my joint he said it would look like a mess basically and not really show too much.

So...I've been using 1 crutch to help take some weight off of my hip and I'm drinking my milk in hopes to get this bone growing! My left hip had OA and he did a lot more construction in the joint, so the gap that needs to heal is MUCH MUCH larger than my RPAO...which is unfortunate, but if it's temporary pain for a pain free future....what's another few months. Ugh. I will say that 2011 can be completely whipped out of my life. It has been such a draining year...sure I've been in pretty good spirits, and I've done a lot of things considering...but it's just emotionally, mentally and physically draining, it's just horrible.

My next post-op is Oct 18, he said I could probably schedule my screw removal at this appointment - HOLLA! This made me really happy. Maybe the screws are causing an issue too. There are 5 this time. yuck..and not a little tiny one, all 5-6" ones. I want to get this done before the end of the year so 1) I'm DONE and 2) I won't have to hit another deductible! Let's hope my bones are healed much more this time!

That's about all really. I basically do everything (even if I shouldn't). My left leg feels MUCH weaker than I think it should at this point. I 'ran' across a parking lot the other day and my leg almost gave out because there's not strength to push myself off with. I'm not happy about this. That and the flexibility issue...indian style is non-existent on the left side which is SOO annoying. I love sitting like that and it just doesn't work! I hope after the screws come out I can move a little more..otherwise I'm going to force M to go back in there and re-do it! :-)

I'll be posting some incision pics soo...they are looking pretty great...considering!

Monday, September 12, 2011- 3+ Months

Wow...I'm a HUGE slacker. Sorry, I hope no one is actually keeping tabs on me because I've been sleeping the last...month and a half!! A lot has happened since my last update which I probably won't post right now...but will shortly.

I will say that I am going tomorrow for my third post-op appointment (moved up from next Tues the 20th) due to some MAJOR pain that developed a week ago. I would rather have another PAO than have this pain right now...will update after my appointment with more details.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011- Day 54

Wow....sorry for the huge delay on this blog. I'm at about 7 1/2 weeks and still chugging along...barely. I had to have a little break down yesterday, I'm just SO over this crap and ready to move on with my life. I'm comparing this surgery to my first one, I know I shouldn't, but I do. At this point I was doing SO well. No pain or anything. With this one, I have no inner thigh/leg strength yet (and that's the FIRST exercise I get after surgery), I can't sleep comfortably, I have pain in the joint when I sleep in certain positions, I was able to do almost a full indian style, and now I have a new pain running from the front of my hip to my knee cap and it's terrible. I usually get the feeling when I'm sitting in a chair and I cross my ankles underneath me. It feels as though a mini barbed wire is being pulled through my thigh, it's the worst. I also still have the pain in my butt (back of the socket really) where the bone hasn't fully healed. But I feel as though I just hit a stone wall, I feel like things aren't getting any better. I know 5 screws isn't helping the situation, but I don't understand why my muscles are taking so long to get better. I'm just sick of lugging this crutch around, not being able to walk properly....sleepless, restless nights and painful feelings. I hate it so much. I know I'm supposed to be strong and positive and blah blah blah but out of the 7 1/2 months we've had in 2011 I've been on crutches for about 5 of them so far......now you put a smile on your face.

In better news, fellow hipster Alana is getting he FINAL hardware removed on Friday! I'm so excited for her and so glad she will officially be on the road to a complete recovery and be able to put this all behind her. She has been my rock through all of this and I'm not sure how I could have been through this without her. :-)

So, anyway.....not much else going on. I'm still working kind of part time, although today I worked 9-4. It's just hard because I'm still in some pain, still on a crutch and unable to do a lot and I still get tired. UGH I hate all of this. That's all I can rant about now.

Friday, July 15, 2011- Day 43

6 WEEKS! = 1 and a half months! woohoooooooooooooooooo

Things are going well. Can't complain, and even if I did what good would that do? I took a few steps tonight without my crutch and it felt really good. I still have an achy feeling in my butt which is where the larger gap is where the bone has yet to fill in. Other than that I feel as though I'm getting stronger and a little more flexible, however slow it may be.

Unfortunately, there's not much else to say. I worked 4 days this week, about 20 hours. It's hard because there's not much I can do yet being as I'm on a crutch still. So a lot of time is spent at my desk which is hard to do.

Tomorrow is my work picnic so that will be a good time and then hopefully some festivities with our neighbors. Other than that, just keeping on! My fellow hipster that had her second PAO a week before my first one in January is getting her screws out in 2 weeks! So excited, she'll be done. She's still having some pain and soreness but it's all part of the healing. Her first PAO is almost a year post and the second is about 6 months post....so it's still very early.

I guess that's all to report.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011- Day 41

This is post #100 on day 41! Wow...almost at 6 weeks and I feel as though I'm doing much better. I've spent a lot of time in the pool this week and it has been helping a great deal to get the joint looser. Moving my leg out to the side is much more comfortable...nowhere near great, but I can move it about a foot or so. That's a big improvement. I can now sneeze without cringing. Sleeping is still tough. On my stomach is fine, but sleeping on my non-op side is kinda sore still in the front of my hip. Laying on the operated side is slightly more comfortable. I feel like the muscle is taking a long time to heal this time. My initial exercise where I had to move my leg to the left 10 degrees and to the right 10 degrees feels like I haven't improved at all because I can't bring it back towards my right leg. So I'm not sure what's taking that muscle so long to get back into shape. I'm definitely moving around enough. Oh well...it obviously has something to do with all the cutting once they got into my hip so I can't complain too much.

I've felt soooo tired and exhausted this week. Been working about 4 hours a day at work and it has drained me. It's the most straight work I've done since surgery and boy is it making me tired. I'm really glad they are working with me and allowing me to work at a revised schedule at first. It's hard too because it's not like I can do anything at work besides desk stuff. I can't make anything in the lab or carry anything so it makes for a real long day.

Other than that...things are going really great. I wanted to start at the gym today and do the stationary bike but that never happened. It's difficult seeing myself drive all the way to the gym (out of the way from my house and work) just to get on the bike for 10 minutes...do some arms and leave. So maybe in a week or so.

That's about all