Some ramblings...

Oh I am so excited! I can not wait to meet with the new surgeon Dr. Phil Downer. I have heard great things from him. 3 more days until i have my second opinion. I was talking with an old friend a few days ago about learning of the labral tear and what will be some fixes. And she asked me, "Aren't you excited?" My first reaction was "Emm, NO" But after thinking about it I am excited to know what is going on in there and knowing what is causing me pain is awesome. Not excited about having to go through all this, and truly I am just done. Done with pain, done with aching, clicking, catching, twanging, crying, nerve pain. Done with limited mobility, weight gain, inability to move when I want, how I want, where I want and for as long as I want to. Done with not being able to run, ride a bike, roller blade, walk a mile with my family, stand for a while, sight see, walk in the park or the zoo. Crawl on the floor with my daughter, run around with her, play with her the way she wants to do it.

So yes, I am excited to finally know the truth of what is going on and to know that someday very soon this quite possibly will be over and I will be able to do everything and thousands more of what I mentioned above. I have remembered one thing from reading blogs and that is "Tomorrow will be better than today." So I will need to keep that in mind because that simple phrase has so much meaning and can be so powerful to someone going through something like this.

I wish my husband was going with me but he cannot miss work right now due to his job. So again I will be alone. Though I may need to just drag someone along with me for support. I have also read that bringing someone along with you preferably a male, will soften the doctor you're meeting with but either way I will ok. I am noticing I am having way too high hopes for this meeting with him and I am expecting him to be my saviour! Gosh, I really hope he is :) But if it does not turn out the way I want, there is another person still and the only thing I need to do is wait to meet him. So count down to Friday :D

Last week I went to my health care team and got all my records regarding my hip and I went through everything. It was very empowering to learn what the doctors have said about my hip, what their feelings are, and the "doctor-speak" for what is going on in there. I also googled everything I did not understand so I can be more prepared for my next appointment. I encourage anyone to do the same. Why not get your info and read up on it, it is very helpful even if you never look at it at least you have it there. I swear since I have read the notes by the doctor analyzing my MRI that I can feel exactly where the tear is. I know where I have been feeling the tear pain prior but now when it happens I know what it is and I can feel when it will happen. I can even make it do it purposefully, though probably not the best thing. I have been trying to prepare my hubby for all the possibilities of any type of surgery that I may have and he is not taking it well. I hope he can be my strength support because I am going to need it, BIG TIME :)

Xrays & MRI

These are some of the images I have.
#1 is the list of stuff they put into the hip when they did the fluoroscope injection before the MRI.
#2 is an image of the needle inside or right before going into the hip joint. OUCH.
#3 is just a pic of my right hip which shows deterioration on the pelvic bone where there should be a point above the femur. Also it shows a shallow socket and the femoral head is outside the socket. There is also a smoothness to the femoral head which differs from the left side which is not smooth. June 2010
#4 May 2011. This one shows both hips and you can compare each of them together. You can also see the difference a year made to the right hip. The deterioration on the pelvic bone above the femur head is much more present.
#5 is an image of an MRI scan. I have this on a disk and am able to scroll the scan to find the best pic. Its pretty cool to use though once you know what to look for. The arrows are where i am guessing the labral tear is, or places anyway if there are more than one.
#6, same thing.

So I contacted my primary yesterday and asked her to look into the results of my MRI because I was not sure when or how I would be getting any info about this. The surgeon that requested this MRI is half-retired and honestly I do not really want to see him again. I think he is a lazy doctor and he will not be doing my surgery. So She got back to me and informed me that 1: Yes I do have dysplasia, DUH. LOL and 2: I have a labral tear of the cartilage, or soft tissue, that lines the joint. The white part around the femoral head in the pics is the labrum. From what I have read online on many sights, it can be damaged fairly easily and people with dysplasia often have this going on too. Basically from I gathered at http://www.mayoclinic.com, A hip labral tear involves the ring of soft elastic tissue, called the labrum, that follows the outside rim of the socket of your hip joint. The labrum acts like a socket to hold the ball at the top of your thighbone (femur) in place. Symptoms include hip pain or a "catching" sensation in your hip joint. Initial treatment may include pain relievers and physical therapy. Using arthroscopic techniques, surgeons can remove loose fragments from within the joint and trim or repair the hip labral tear.

This "catching" and "clicking" sensation are things I feel every day and they are becoming more often and more painful. Pain killers do nothing for it unless I take so much which I do not like doing. Also I don't believe PT is helpful because honestly the LAST thing I want to do is move it and stress it when it hurts so bad. The catching and impingement feeling is very painful for me and often times if I step wrong I almost fall down because I feel there is no support for my step. Here is what mayoclinic.com said about the surgery: If you have a hip labral tear and experience hip pain for more than four to 12 weeks despite physical therapy, or if you have mechanical symptoms of your hip locking, your doctor may recommend arthroscopic surgery — in which a fiber-optic camera and surgical tools are inserted via small incisions in your skin.
Depending on the cause and extent of the tear, the surgeon may cut out and remove the torn piece of labrum or repair the torn tissue by sewing it back together.

I happened across another youtube video (why do I keep "happening" across these things and then KEEP watching?) on a labral tear fix. The doctor is showing a real-time, inside the joint, video and giving commentary on a late 40's woman. The first part was of the tool kind of shaving and sucking out the excess labrum and then the next part which I did not end up watching was starting to drive an anchor (a screw of sorts) into the labrum to keep in place. I stopped there.

I can't wait to see the surgeon Dr. Downer next week and see what he has to say. I am hoping his attitude is more hopeful and helpful than the last guy. I mean really, I know my weight has a big impact on everything but seriously, there are people bigger than I am who have gotten this fixed so just HELP ME :)

Ok off for now :D