What a weekend

So I have not taken any pain medicine in a quite a few days which is awesome. Working out at the gym and pushing myself within limits basing my effort off of pain. Lost a little weight. I go to see the personal trainer for measurements, weight lost, bmi check and such tomorrow and to learn a couple new things there. Excited to see if anything has changed though it has only been about 2 weeks, I think, so not 50 lbs but anything is a great victory for me! :)

So this weekend has been rough. A lot of personal issues within my family caused a lot of stress. I am also sick. Added to that my store also went through a beating. There was a parade/ water land festival nearby and that caused us to be extremely busy the entire weekend. Because of family stress I was not able to sleep much and I worked 30 hours of the last 48. I can truly say that my body let me know about halfway through and it has not stopped. SI joint is really acting up and not relieved with medicine. Did some research on you tube looking for stretches to ease the pain. If anyone is experiencing any pain that can be relieved with stretches I think maybe a doctor may be the best bet but I was desperate for relief and tried random things which helped a little. My entire hip is sore front to back. All that time on my feet and lack of sleep is not good. I am wondering how life will be when I am post-surgery and released back to work. I fear I may have to take REALLY good care to not over do anything. I sometimes have trouble letting things go and taking it easy when it comes to work. I really need to start working on this! lol

While I was searching on you tube for random things involving SI and PAO I came across some videos with actual live surgeries. I DO NOT SUGGEST WATCHING THESE!!! I was watching one about this woman who was about to go in for the surgery and kind of giving a story about her and what she was facing then the video went into tools and then I saw about 1 second of something I did not want to see. I do not want to know whats going to happen before they do it. Just a basic where the cut will be type thing  is enough!! YIKES. I saw a link for a video of an arthrogram mri of the hip and wanted to watch it since I am having one done on Aug 16th, but after my un-wanted glimpse of the video clip before, I decided I did not want to see anything that would make getting the procedure done any more difficult to handle. What was I thinking?  I did however see one, which I will post here. A man is talking about healing after surgery. Pretty brief, but to hear aloud helped me. Even though I have read all of it, still, hearing it is good. Helps to cement the knowledge and better prepare. So if you are interested the link is in the links section

It's scheduled!

So I just got a call from the nurse to schedule my arthrogram MRI and it will be on August 16th at 11:20 AM.

I am a little let down by the call but i think its laughable actually. So yesterday when Dr. C. left the room the nurse came in and gave me my after visit summary and told me I could have my MRI closer to home and she also did a questionnaire which asked all these questions about whether i have any prosthetic limbs, implants, metal, or other in my body and if i was claustrophobic. All was no and I was sent on my way. Good times.

So I got this call just now and the lady, who by the way was scheduling for the first time, and she again asked me all the same questions as the woman before. I am not sure if they are just covering their bases or if thy just do not look at my responses from the previous day. The provider I use has a computer system which is pretty advanced and all notes, info, labs, xrays everything is at the touch of a mouse. So seemed a little over kill, but I guess just make sure that I did not just in the course of 16 hours gotten metal shrapnel in my eye, got a pace maker installed, or have somehow managed to get a prosthetic on my body. LOL Also, she then told me that I did not have a choice as to where I went, just that I had to go to Bellevue. Which is not what I was told by the nurse but OK. So she was trying to hang up and I was like...Wait is there anything I need to do? Prepare for? And she was just like oh get your creatinine checked. Did you do that already? I said No, no one told me to get it done but ok sure. No problem. Another lack of communication to top of the day I had yesterday. But all is good.

25 days til MRI 

Arthrogram MRI

So I have now lost 5 lbs. Not a big deal to some. But for me any loss is tremendous to me. When I started to lose weight with Weight Watchers a few years ago my weight has gone up and down and over all with WW I lost 25 though it took about a year. So I have been working with a personal trainer at a new gym my husband and I signed up with and so far I am pretty happy there. They took all the measurements, weight, BMI and fat %. So We signed up and its been almost 2 weeks. So for my 5 lb weight loss that is about 2.5 lbs a week which is pretty good and healthy for weight loss. I weigh 259 now so that means I need to lose 89-99 more lbs! Its a lot man. But I am plugging away at the gym. I wont let any lazy doctors treat me bad and make me feel terrible again. I think it was easy for me to just cry it out and too easy for me to turn into "poor me." But not anymore. That surgeon, Dr. C. will NOT be doing my surgery. Referrals were sent to Dr. Mayo and Dr. Downer and we will see what they say.

Dr. C was talking about me having a labral tear because i am having a lot of impingement in the front of my hip when I walk, straighten my leg all the way and have sex. Also I am seeing a loss of stability when I make a small step with my foot slightly turned out with weight supported on that leg. Sometimes I almost fall down because I feel like my leg is not strong enough to support me. Also pretty painful. From what I just read online, the labrum is the soft tissue around the socket and can be damaged by vigorous exercises and sports. ( http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hip-labral-tear/DS00920 ) 

So now, all of the things going on in my hip are:
I need a PAO.
I have sciatica at times but I use PT exercises daily to treat that so does it not effect me much any more.
I now have sacroiliac joint pain from misaligned walking. This is painful!
I may have a Labral tear. Waiting for an Arthrogram MRI.
I may have arthritis in the joint (I am 28!!)
And I may  have more damage that a PAO may not help. Good thing for second opinions!

So right now I am waiting to schedule an Arthrogram MRI. Where the DR's usually inject a lidocain or similar into the socket and then inject gadolinium into the joint. They take x-rays and then wheel you down to get the MRI. I have not personally had this done yet but when I do I will put my experience here. From other blogs I see majority say the needle part is not very bad but many people have soreness, and stiffness for a while. Just to make sure I will bring someone with me so they can drive me home because its my right leg. Some people say they had the hardest time in the MRI because you have to stay still and its a very small space and feel claustrophobic. When the nurse did the questionaire on me she asked all these questions. Am I claustrophobic? No. Do I have any metal in my body, shrapnel, pace maker etc? No. Though when she asked me I had a sudden thought that maybe there is a staple left in my stomach from my c-section or the dental fillings i may have some metal in there. I was a little scared and my immediate thought was of being in the MRI and since it is magnetic maybe the metal would be sucked out? I don't know if it works like that but I was freaked for a moment lol!

And now I am going to add a couple tickers to my blog one for weight loss and one for BMI. It will have my start weight from 2 weeks ago and my goal weight and same for BMI.

Hopeless

Well I saw Dr. Clark today. It was bothering me that I couldn't find any reviews or info on him and how many PAO's he has done or patient reviews etc. So I decided  I was going to see him but also make another appointment with another surgeon (Dr. Keith Mayo) and get a second opinion but that I would go to this appt with Clark and see what he says. Not Good.

I am sitting here emotional, pissed off, a little depressed and  mostly hopeless as to my future. Started off good gave the Dr all the specifics and he looked at my xrays and did a little test. Then he starts telling me that it would be physically too hard for him to do the surgery on me because i am over weight. He said that I need to have gastric bypass surgery to radically lose weight and then this PAO might be worth while. However a few minutes later he told me he doesn't know how my hip looks and it probably has arthritis. In that case the surgery will not help. He also kind of hinted that my primary was just pushing pain meds on me instead of trying to lose weight. He obviously did not spend the time looking at my doctors notes because he would have seen 1) What we have done so far, nutrition, PT, personal training,and 2) the measly amount of pain meds that I am actually taking. Mind you, he said "I dont know" Too many times for me to feel comfortable with him doing my surgery. I am not a candidate for Gastric Bypass. I need to lose 90-100 lbs to be "normal" weight. I do not want that surgery. I left there feeling exceptionally less hopeful, and cried all the way home. Hubby is working so I cant tell him whats going on.

So I am getting a referral to Dr Mayo and see what he says though he must be so awesome that I cant even get into see him til October-November. I am so bothered by this appt i cant even put into words. I am angry and just want to push myself to lose the weight even if it means excruciating pain but then, Clark said my bones are deteriorating and that they are being damaged. So will pushing it makes things worse or better. I cannot move to lose the weight physically but "need to lose the weight" so the surgery will be easier for the surgeon. What kind of sense does that make?

I am hopeless right now though. I feel like if I wait any longer more damage will happen to my hip and possibly turn into a THR (Total Hip Replacement) which I do not want. He was saying I need an MRI but because I am so big he is not hopeful it will do any good. I understand he needs to be blunt but really I felt like he either doesn't have much PAO experience or he is just getting too old to do this surgery. He is half-retired and works a couple days a month. Also He was stuttering and repeating his sentences and having to keep closing his eyes and squinting to see. That does not make me SUPER EXCITED to have him sawing into my bones and messing with my insides. Looks like I will see if there are other surgeons as awesome sounding as Dr. Mayo and just get a referral to Mayo.

And the waiting begins....

New Gym, New Workout

One week to meet with my surgeon Dr. John Clark in Bellevue, WA. I am anxious to meet him, a little worried I may not feel comfortable with him but of course that's me trying to talk myself out of it. I would like to know what his technique is and what he would be doing with me. Also, recovery time, and more specifics. I wish I had a list of things to ask. I may need to ask the Facebook group I am a member off to see what I should have ready and any questions I should ask.

We joined up with a gym and I am seeing a trainer. We did a few things being careful of my hip and it was good. seems the only cardio I can handle is riding a bike but the one where you are sitting down and not sitting up. If that makes sense. So I had some pain after, but at least not too much while working out and it was a short time. I also love the fact that doing good work for my body even if small leads me to making better choices because I feel better about me. I like to eat a lot better, not perfect because I like the good stuff!! But a lot better. Working out just makes you want to eat better. So in less than a week I'm down 5 pounds and going, but I'm not over doing it. Just taking it easy. I have some sore muscles but all in all happy to have some direction. I went to PT yesterday and she was very happy about me meeting with a trainer and added some more exercises to the mix.

So now the wait to see the surgeon. I hope I leave with a date set!

New Title

When people ask me "What's wrong with your leg?" or "Are you hurt?" it used to be very difficult to explain to them because up until a year ago I did not even know what exactly was wrong with me. So to begin explanation was to say "Well, I have this thing with my hip..." and what usually followed was pain, or since I work with Hispanics, "Mucho duele aqui" and point to my hip. Which was followed by sympathetic words. Now I know what it is and how to say it in Spanish. Displasia de cadera. So now its much more easier to explain and communicate with my employees and other members in my work. I have decided to change the name of my blog to something more simple instead of "So I have thing with my hip..."

So after about 10 days of PT at home, the work is awkward but easy. I have some issues still with my wrist but I am powering through it. I have an appointment on Tuesday in 5 days for another PT appt. To see how its going. So I have 5 exercises to do and all are fine except one. Bridge-up. It doesnt hurt though it makes my spine feel weird and a little grinding. No pain but it doesn't feel right so we may have to change that one up. I suggest that if you are going to be doing PT that you feel comfortable with your therapist and that they make you feel good and have an open relationship. If you don't feel right with them in the beginning it will be hard to do the work you need to do. Before I have felt like my fears or pain did not really matter and now with my PT I feel very comfortable speaking up about my problems at home with the workouts.

I am getting increasingly nervous about the upcoming surgery of which I do not have a date yet. I see the surgeon in 2 weeks exactly and we will most likely figure out when will work for both of us. The time I am guessing is going to be not before Nov 1st. I signed up late for short-term disability coverage so when I do go on leave I wont be covered for 60 days. So in order to not affect my income drastically while I cannot work, I need to sign up again during open enrollment in the fall. All of this planning stresses me out. LOL I already have to think about leaving my restaurant in the hands of someone else and then not even being able to go and help them will be tough and I am finding that it will be very hard to let go since I like having that control over my store. UGH. But most important is my health and if I cannot walk in 10 years I know this is necessary. I mean how can I boss people around if I don't have a job and cant work?

I got my disability card to carry in my wallet now. I have a temporary placard and if your disability is temporary in Washington you only get 1 placard. Often I am taking the other vehicle and don't have the placard in that one LOL So now I am carrying it with me. Kind of a hassle at times but helps me when I need it. I am sure this is probably not a good thing to say but I like having it and one good thing out of having hip pain. Being able to not have to walk as far on days when I am almost crying but am doing things for work and cannot just NOT do it is such a small blessing. Though I do notice some older people giving me the mean eye when they see me parking in a disabled parking spot and walking "just fine." It is funny how receiving that judgement changes your thoughts and feelings towards others and I find myself not being so judgmental myself.

Well I will post if something comes up :D