Dysplastic Mother of Four: Dr. Peters appointment

So while waiting forever for my appointment, I became completely obsessed with hip dysplasia. I quickly learned the following: If you google "hip dysplasia" you will find a bunch of websites all about dogs. If you google "human hip dysplasia" you will find a bunch of websites about hip problems in babies". If you google "adult human hip dysplasia" you will finally find some worthwhile information. So after searching for a couple days I found this amazing group on yahoo called "hipwomen" that has been a lifesaver for me. If you randomly came across my site and you are searching for information, go to this site! http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/hipwomen/

Such a wealth of information from women who have been through this exact problem or are in the middle of it just like me. I could go on forever about the people I have already met on this website who have helped so much. The day of my appointment I looked at my email that night and had a bunch of well wishes from people I had never met from all over the world wondering how my appointment went. It brought me to tears to realize how fabulous these women are and how concerned and helpful they are. I also feel lucky to already have some great friends who are willing to watch my kids all day while I run around to doctors.

Anyway, back to my appointment which was on June 18, 2009. Dr. Peters walked in the room (finally...my appointment was at 9:30 and I finally saw him at 11:45) and said, "Well, here you are at the hip doctor. You must have something wrong if you are here!" He took a lot of time with me discussing what is going on and recommended I have surgery. It is called a PAO...periacetabular osteotomy. I am putting a couple of links here to explain it. It is a very intensive procedure which he has gratefuly done many times. I guess he has done this surgery over 200 times and currently does about 2/month so at least I am in the right hands! The bad news is the left hip is just as bad, actually worse on xray, then the right and I will have to have that one done at some point too. The good news is my cartilage looks pretty good and I am a good candidate for this surgery, meaning arthritis hasn't developed very extensively yet. So that is all of the crazy insane hip info in a nutshell. I have an arthrogram MRI next Friday. I am really excited to be poked with a humongous needle full of dye right into my hip joint and then wedge my claustrophobic body into a tight tunnel. Thank goodness for Xanax...I will need it! Here is the xray of my hip so you can try to dissect my problem and the links to some websites that explain what is going on better than I can.

MY HIP: Not a lot of horizontal weight bearing...the acetabulum or hip sockets go up at angles and don't extend to the outside of my femur. This puts too much pressure on the cartilage on the outer lip of the acetabulum.