5 months post RPAO

Here I am at 5 1/2 months post surgery. Sometimes it is hard to see the bright side of things. I think we all tend to see what we still can't do rather than how far we've come. Either that or I am just a "glass is half empty" type of a girl. I have definitely come a long way. I can walk miles without pain which is amazing. Things have improved a ton in the past 6 weeks or so. I started taking glucosomine and fish oil and was surprised at the benefits that seemed to come directly from that change. I have been trying to get to water aerobics as much as possible. I absolutely love it. At first I despised being "stuck" in the pool with the old ladies but now I love it. I get a great workout and feel very little restriction from my hip. I definitely still get sore but I don't have any joint pain, it's more of a muscle sore. Sometimes my hip feels stuck but not nearly as often as right after surgery. I was really worried at about 2-3 months post op because my hip felt like it was out and needed to be popped all of the time. As the muscles have gotten stronger this feeling has pretty much gone away which is awesome. The worst complaint I have is the numbness I still have in my quad. Actually if it was just numb I would be much more okay with it, it's more of a pins and needles poking me constantly type of feeling. It is just so obnoxious and I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever really heal. As I am able to do more I am noticing lefty wincing out in pain from time to time. I went to "This is the Place" Park in Salt Lake with my kids last week. I didn't realize how big the place was and how much walking up hills I would be facing all day. Surprisingly my op hip held up really well and I wasn't sore at all after. I told my daughter that I didn't know if I could've done it just a month before. So that was a good test. But, on the other hand, my left hip was really sore that night and for the next couple of days. It was the same all too familiar pain in the groin. I felt the same thing after doing the eliptical for 1/2 hour the other day which was a surprise since it hadn't bothered me after that before. I think it was still wincing from the day at the park. So as far as the left hip goes, I don't know what I'm doing. I had totally talked myself out of having surgery any time soon but now I am starting to contemplate just doing it and getting it over with. If I knew it was going to have to be done within 2-3 years I would absolutely go ahead now and just do it now. If I could get by for awhile, say 5 years or so, I would absolutely wait. Although, that isn't necessarily taking the pain that will increase in the meantime into consideration. Anyway you look at it, it is a very difficult decision for me. One that is going to take a lot of prayer to come to a final conclusion. So, I am glad I had the surgery. I feel better than I did going in. That being said, my op hip (right) is still hurting way more than the left and it has a long ways to go to feel fully recovered (does it really fully recover? ) I can't imagine actually getting back to 100%. I would be happy with about 80%. Time will tell I guess but it's so hard to wait!

7 Week Update

Well, I am overdue for an update. I went to see Dr. Peters for my 6 week checkup a little over a week ago. I was frustrated when I was told he was out of town and that I was meeting with his head resident. I hadn't realized that was the case and I had a bunch of questions for Dr. Peters himself. It's just not the same talking to the residents; they don't have the experience and expertise. But still, I saw my xrays and Peters was able to get a really good "fit". The bone is healing well but I was surprised at how big the gap still is. I told the doctor I couldn't believe I was getting around as well as I am. Looking at the xray it looks like I should be in a ton of pain still. He laughed and said he is always amazed at that same thing with the post PAO patients. The main questions that he couldn't answer that I wanted to ask Dr. Peters are regarding my left hip. I want to know if the twinges of pain and some bad days here and there justify having surgery right away or if he would recommend waiting until it gets worse. The real kicker is what if we decide we want another baby. I don't want my left hip to act up right when we are ready for another which I don't think will be for another couple years. I'm afraid that in that amount of time lefty will act up and I don't want my hip preventing us from having a baby. On the other hand, if we are happy with the family we have, I could just give lefty a little time and the kids will get a little older, making the whole recovery a little less crazy when (if?) the time comes. It is a tough call and one that I really wanted to hear Dr. Peters' take on. Oh well, maybe we will both feel more informed when I see him in 5 months. That will allow me to get recovered and more active and see how lefty is holding up. It's hard to be patient. I want to just have a plan. I am feeling like I want to just have the surgery this fall and get it over with. I really feel like I want one more baby and I don't want my hip to get in the way. I guess time will tell. In the meantime I will try to be patient and trust in the Lord.
As far as recovery goes, here are the latest achievements I have been making:
-I can drive!!! Hallelujah. I drove for the first time to my first PT appointment at 6 1/2 weeks post op.
-I can finally sleep on my side. That happened at about 5 1/2 weeks.
-Still can't sleep on my right (op) side. I rolled over in my sleep the other night and woke up right away in pain.
-I am totally off narcotics as of about 51/2 weeks. I made the 6 week deadline! For awhile there I didn't think I was going to but I did. I was given the okay to take Ibuprofin so I've been taking that as needed for pain.
-I am down to 1 crutch. I hobble around the house without it but can't last for long. It's frustrating because I have the okay to get rid of it but my body isn't cooperating yet.
-I love pool therapy. It is heavenly to be able to move freely.

That's about it for now. I'm hoping to keep getting better each day and someday soon be able to drop the crutch. I'm thinking I want to get to the pool more often too. So far I have only been going twice a week.

4 Week Post Op

Things are getting better, slowly but surely. Here are some the the things I can and can't do at this point.
-No more TED hose! Yeah, it was so nice to get rid of those.
-Down to 2 or 3 oxycodone a day.
- Getting around much better. I can bear more weight on the op leg. Sometimes I drop to 1 crutch around the house for a little while. It's so much easier in the kitchen to grab things, etc.
- Sleeping in my own bed, although not without pain. Still can't sleep on my left side. Sick of sleeping on my back.
- Easier to get dressed.
- Tried jeans on yesterday, still too uncomfortable with incision and pain. Was able to wear some other cord pants though.
-Actually went a couple places this past week besides the doctor's office! Went to an hour of church on Sunday and out to dinner last night. I even walked around JC Penney's for a little while.
-Still can't lift kids
- My lower back hurts a lot. I don't know if it is from crutching around or just relating to my hip pain.
-I still have to watch myself. If I do too much I pay for it and have to take more pain pills.
-I can't wait until I can drive again but I am still a long ways from that.

You might be dysplastic if...

haha!! I had to copy this off another hipster's blog. It is so true which makes it so funny (in kind of a sick humor kind of way : )

You might be dysplastic if ...
1. You are under 30 and own a walker, a raised toilet seat and a hip kit.
2. You have said, "it's not a hip replacement, they are breaking my pelvis" more than once in the same day.
3. You are adept at doing the "fist in hand" demonstration of a what a normal hip looks like, followed by what YOURS looks like, followed by how the surgeon will correct it.
4. While carving a turkey, you take the opportunity to demonstrate for your guests how periacetabular osteotomy works using the carving knife, said turkey, and a few screws from the junk drawer in the kitchen. You end up ordering pizza.
5. You are the youngest person in your aquatherapy class.
6. You are the oldest patient at the children's hospital.
7. Before going on any outing you ask, "how far will I have to walk?"
8. You can spell "iliopsoas" and "trochanter."
9. Eskimos have hundreds of words for snow. You have hundreds of words for hip pain: snapping, grinding, tin foil, popping, giving way, ripping, tearing, shredding, burning ...
10. Even though you got a "C" in high school biology, you can name and describe the function of every muscle, tendon and bone between your belly button and your knee cap.
11. You practice sleeping on your back so that you'll be ready for the weeks post surgery.
12. You are a woman but you say the word "groin" a lot.
13. You have posted a picture of yourself in a hospital gown on the internet.
14. You have posted pictures of your incision, your x-rays, your hardware, or your surgeon on the internet.
15. You've refinanced your house and/or cashed out your retirement accounts just in case you have to pay for a surgery which your insurance company may, at the last minute, deem "not medically necessary."
16. You have a blog which you update hourly (first week post diagnosis), obsessively (in the months leading up to surgery), daily (the week before surgery), daily with help from a family member or nurse (from the time the epidural comes out until you leave the hospital), bi-weekly (from the time you leave the hospital until you get to throw the damn crutches away), then twice monthly until such time as you just want to get on with your life again. You then update the blog one year after surgery with a picture of your healed incision. Unless ... you need surgery on the other side; if so, repeat.

I Hate Bedtime!

I am so tired of tossing and turning all night. Some nights have been better than others but this week for whatever reason has been especially bad. I think I am just really sick of sleeping in the recliner. Last night I would sleep okay in one position and then wake up aching and hurting so I would switch to another position, wake up a little later all sore in a different spot. I finally decided to take a pain pill and was able to sleep for a few hours at a time. Then, I moved to the bed and realized I could sleep pretty decent on my stomach. I thought it would hurt to lay like that but so far it has been the best positition. So I am so hoping for a decent night's sleep tonight. Thank goodness I have my MIL still here so even if I can't sleep at night I can catch up some in the day, or sleep in. It will be a whole different story when I'm on my own in a week!

3 Week Update

I feel like I have been stuck inside forever. It is such a beautiful day today. I'll have to make my way outside for a little while. I thought I would update what I can and can't do at the 3 week mark:

- Can take a shower standing up (use chair as support) Yay!
- Down to taking about 3 oxycodone a day. No oxycontin.
- Still wearing TED hose
- Swelling around incision is gone.
- Still sleeping in recliner.
- Walking more. Able to put a lot more weight on my op leg.
- My quad/leg is driving me crazy. The numbness/tingling feeling is constant and feels like hot pokers all along my leg. I hope that means the nerves are recovering.
- I'm noticing my muscles have atrophied. : (
- My muscle spasms at night aren't as bad or as constant as they were. Some nights are better than others.

PAO video

This is a great video explaining what hip dysplasia is and how they fix it. They follow a girl from the UK with hip dysplasia who has the same surgery as me, a periacetabular osteotomy (PAO). It does get graphic in the middle with the surgery. Might want to skip that part. Otherwise check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t6RWO8uG-g