Another week of the Good and the Bad/ Plus Happy Thanksgiving!

As the title says I had a mix week..of  GOOD and BAD

Went to see Band of Skulls again  in Boston (thank you lil bro)(pic of me and lead singer of BOS)..awesome to get out and see the show..unfortunately it is hard standing at a concert in pain..so I had to go sit down for the 2nd half and take pain pills (first time I have taken them outside of my bedroom)..the concert became more relaxing afterwards that's for sure.  I am quite frustrated that I am having a lot of difficulty standing for any long length of time w/ out a huge amount of pain..ugh!

I am still recouping from my psaos tendon injection which has made for a uncomfortable 2 weeks..I guess my body doesn't like cortisone.. (great another thing to add to my list.. my body is too high maintenance it seriously needs to chill out and go w/ the flow) But this cortisone injection seem to produce a pretty bad flare up w/ my psoas tendon, but it is finally starting to calm down..not sure if I will be doing any more cortisone injections....

I had a night at the movies w/ nine of my friend..(movie name will remain anonymous..lets leave it at that)..LOOOOONG Movies are just hard to sit through at the moment....my friends did hook me up w/ a luxury seat theater (only 3 dollars more) and I had the aisle seat to stretch out a bit..It  was a nice distraction to see the cute shirtless dudes on the screen which again was a distraction from my hip..If you guess the movie..no teasing..everyone has there guilty pleasures ...;)




I had a happy Thanksgiving w/ my family..where I got to mix up sitting and standing and having my family distract me from my pain was just the bonus..I love my family it was a AWESOME Thanksgiving..minus the turkey (I am a vegetarian so It's just not my holiday..but I Love the family part)  Even though my hip is nothing but trouble..I feel very lucky and Thankful for all the body parts that are working well..yay..and thankful for all the amazing, helpful, kind, and inspiring people In my life..I am a very Lucky Woman!

 (Me and the newest member of my family..my little cousin who came here from Ireland for the festivities..soooo adorable)


 Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!!!!

A Full Circle

Went to Children's Hospital today to meet w/ the surgeon who may be doing my hip surgery..I guess I am still considered "young" ..their cut off is 35.. whew..just made it! ;)  So I have come back full circle at the moment since Children's Hospital is where it all began, but this time w/ a different Dr..(No Dr.McCrappy this time around )!
I saw Dr. Great (I like to give my Dr code names to keep their privacy..plus it's fun) He agreed w/ what Dr. Brilliant said after looking at my x-rays and giving me a physical exam.  He said that my impingement was pretty bad on my right side but my left side also has an impingement..wawawhat you say..I am right there w/ you....left side stay strong ..PLEASE!

His recommendation is as followed:

Revision arthroscopy,acetabuloplasty/labral refixation, osteoplasty of head neck junction and possible psoas release VS Open Surgical dislocation

So pretty much what that all means..They need to shave the bone of my head and neck of my hip so it fits into place nicely and stops tearing my labrum (the protective padding for my hip). and maybe release my psoas tendon because it has been in full spasm for two years and the injections don't seems to be helping that much. Unfortunately Dr. Great thinks the only way to do this successfully is through open surgery due to the fact of the damage my hip already has and the scar tissue from my previous two surgeries.  Open Surgery also require putting screws in my hip and having them removed a year from now..plus a lot longer hospital stay and recovery.

Ok the good news (yes there is some) my hip could be fixed once and for all, my pain can go away for the most part (YES!) and I may never need to get a hip replacement ,because of this surgery or at least it will save my hip for a loooooooooooong time from being replaced, and by that point medical science may be able to fix things w/ lasers or something cool like that and Dr's wont be playing w/ knives and scalpels anymore..hey you never know..medical science/technology moves fast!


So now Dr. Great is sending me to his partner at Children's who does the open surgery for this particular surgery to consult w/ him and see what he has to say ,and then I get to make my decsion on what to do.  So I should have more info in 2 1/2 weeks. Until then lots of ice, some water therapy PT for pain, and pain meds..good times...uh not!    But I will try to put on a happy face and keep on keeping on till surgery..cause in my book that the only choice I got! 

Maybe I should be a DR!

So I finally had my Apt. at New England Baptist Hospital (it was a 3 month wait to get this apt) but it was worth the wait..I finally got some answers.  My biggest question I have had since this first began is ...WHY???  WHY did my hip tear while I was working out..(no trauma happened during the work out)...WHY did it happen again less than two years later...WHY did I never get any true relief from either one of my surgeries where I felt like I was my "normal" self again....WHY am I having a problem w/ my psoas tendon and sciatic nerve which I did not have prior to my first surgery..The answer....DRUM ROLL PLEASE

Impingement: Pincer FAI

What is it?

"Femoroacetabular impingement or FAI is a condition of too much friction in the hip joint.  Basically, the ball (femoral head) and socket (acetabulum) rub abnormally creating damage to the hip joint.  The damage can occur to the articular cartilage (smooth white surface of the ball or socket) or the labral cartilage (soft tissue bumper of the socket).

FAI generally occurs as two forms: Cam and Pincer.  The Cam form (Cam comes from the Dutch word meaning “cog”) describes the femoral head and neck relationship as aspherical or not perfectly round.  This loss of roundness contributes to abnormal contact between the head and socket.  The Pincer form (Pincer comes from the French word meaning “to pinch”) describes the situation where the socket or acetabulum has too much coverage of the ball or femoral head.  This over-coverage typically exists along the front-top rim of the socket (acetabulum) and results in the labral cartilage being “pinched” between the rim of the socket and the anterior femoral head-neck junction.  The Pincer form of the impingement is typically secondary to “retroversion”, a turning back of the socket, or “profunda”, a socket that is too deep.  Most of the time, the Cam and Pincer forms exist together.

FAI is associated with cartilage damage, labral tears, early hip arthritis, hyperlaxity, sports hernias, and low back pain.

FAI is common in high level athletes, but also occurs in active individuals."

So lets call My new Dr...um lets see...Dr. Brilliant!  So Dr. Brilliant did x-rays of my hip..used his fancy plasma style flat screen monitor and showed me exactly where my hip is "troubled" I could actually see the hip impingement. This is why my hip keeps re tearing.... yes it is torn again....this is why I am in pain constantly....this is why I am not "fixed" yet, because they didn't actually fixed the problem in the other two surgeries..they only fixed the symptoms and the damage from the problem.

I can't even begin to express my frustration from this realization..if I did this would be the never ending blog post....so instead my advice to anyone who may be going through a similar situation is don't give up..keep pressing for answers..get second, third ,or even a fourth opinion until you get someone who will dive into your case and look at it at from all angles. Dr's are human and they make mistakes....no matter what, you know your body better than anyone else and you know when something truly feels wrong. I have always asked this question of WHY to both my surgeons and I never got a real answer......until Dr. Brilliant.

The  reason I called this post "Maybe I should be a Dr." is because two years ago after my first surgery when I wasn't feeling better I did A LOT of research on hips and I thought FAI is what I had..but my surgeons at the time said no.  I guess in the end I was right!  If I were still talking to my other surgeons I would totally say.."I told you so"  hmmmm on second thought maybe I will....... ;)

So Now I am looking at another surgery...This time fixing the actual problem.  It's a much bigger surgery than my last two, but hopefully this will be the last.  But learning from my own mistakes I do have two more apts set up for second and third opinion before I let anyone cut into me again.  In the meantime I got two cortisone injections. One for Bursitis of my hip (4 weeks ago) and one two days ago into my psoas tendon because I have developed extreme iliopsoas tendinitis due to my hip.  Hopefully this will help w/ the pain while I wait to make my next decision.

On another note I had a Happy Hipster Birthday this week ..Even w/out being able to dance w/ my friends, or wear heels w/ my dress, or even being comfortable sitting down..I still had a lot of fun, because I fed off the energy of my friends and family which in turn made for a very  very happy birthday!

Also having a birthday makes you realize all the good things you have in your life ..that you survived another year through the good and the bad (and besides my hip my year has been great) and it also is a new start for a new year, new hope, and new adventures..so hopefully this will even be a healthier and happier year for me.

Thank You to all my friends and family for making my birthday very special and for always being there for me! xoxox

An Ode to My Hip

It has been six months since my last surgery I had on my hip
and now here I am stuck in bed again trying to get a grip

I do not blame it on the heels, my vacations, or being on my feet at work
I would like to blame it on my first surgeon because i think he is a jerk

I am on pain medcation and muscle relaxers until wednesday at one
then I get to meet with Dr. Fabulous to find out what now can be done

I spent last Thurs in the ER due to sickness from meds and for extreme hip pain
They did their best to help me feel better then sent me home on crutches not a cane

It seems that I have a psoas muscle that is injured from my previous surgeries and now it is to tight
and a hip that seems to be re torned which now is keeping me up through out the night

Four days in bed and counting is truly quite a pain
with a situation like this you wish you could have someone to blame

Hopefully my Dr's this time will figure out the right course of action
I did schedule a second opinion though for my own satisfaction

I am hoping now this will be the last time I will have to be put on bed rest for my hip
because this experience I wish could have been a part of my life that I could have skipped

But for some reason this is the experience that my life has put in front of me
so hopefully after this my hip will last me till I am at least one hundred and three

I said to my sister it's so hard to describe the pain because my head is in such a fog
but she told me she did understand because she has been reading my blog

Thanks for the good laugh tonight Ray -Ray I needed it!

I never claim to be a poet but I am getting a little bored of just writing paragraphs about my hip so I thought I would have some" fun" telling my current situation in a different manner..or hey it could be all the pain meds too...;)

6 Month Anniversary...Cheers! (ps the cheers was sarcastic ;) )

So I had my official 6 month post surgery apt. Lets just say I didn't feel like celebrating afterwords...I marked the occasion by taking my first pain pill in months and laid down in bed and cried! Well as they say it's my party and I can cry if I want to ;) Unfortunately Dr. Fabulous didn't give me the "anniversary news" I wanted to hear...ugh!

So the 6 month report breakdown:

1.Psoas Tendon is in full spasm and will not "chillax" no matter what I do or what they do in physical therapy due to the fact my body has been protecting an injured hip for almost 3 years. so I have a apt on Friday to meet w/ another Dr. to set up a procedure where they will put me under and administer 3 cortisone type injections into different areas of my psoas tendon to try to make it chill out for a bit. A big source of my pain comes from the psoas tendon (the psaos tendon problem is a result from 2 hip surgeries/ a hip w/ a big piece of missing cartilage).

2. Dr Fabulous is sending me for an MRI because my right foot is still numb since surgery..so they want to take a look at my back and sciatic nerve and see if being out of alignment for the past 3 years is causing back problems/nerve problems...

We can't even get to my actual hip to see if it is actual healing/feeling better until we can calm down the surrounding issues..it"s a vicious cycle that seems never ending...these are the things they DID NOT tell me before having my first surgery.
If I wasn't in pain every day I think I could handle this news better but the pain is definitely getting to me and since I have been doing so much more I guess it is making everything worse but I can't just lie around and do nothing...it is a hard fine line to walk on..plus I hate feeling like I am missing out on life due to my freakin hip! Well my 6 month anniversary has taken a turn for the worse and became a full on pity party....:(

So on a brighter note I hope this next procedure works... really how hard can it be to fix a 34 year old woman's hip...seriously!

Ok I hate writing such a depressing blog entry so let me end this blog w/ some happier updates..

My physical therapy has been a huge source of pain relief..especially the trigger point acupressure they do on me...it does provide me w/ pain relief while I am there. Thank You so much T and V!

I went to another concert last week..Regina Spektor..My bro hooked me up w/ AMAZING seats and my hip actually behaved that night so I rocked out and had an amazing time (Regina was absolutely incredible..I recommend that if you get the chance to see her live you need to do it!!!!)..and since we were in the front section..and on the aisle seat..I could stretch my hipster too!

"Hipster in the City"

I spent three days in the city that never sleeps and actually I followed that motto for night one..had to spend the other two nights catching up from that first night ;)

Do people w/ hip issues do well tackling the Big Apple...Well I decide to pursue that question w/ my own "hipster in the city experiment" I am officially 6 months post surgery (yay) so I thought it was time to see how my hip does in NYC..(plus I really wanted to visit my sister and brother in-law)

So I went for a ride w/ my friend to the city..it's nice to be in a car over a bus, because you can stop to stretch and not be restrained to sitting the whole time. My friend did all the driving..so my hipster got to relax..I just took over DJ duties just so I could be of some service while I was sitting there. Car ride was roughly 4 1/2 hours and we stopped twice so..

Verdict: hip survived long car ride as a passenger.

Night one/Experiment one: "Heels Test" (ok I know I said I wasn't going to do this again, but it was NYC and I was wearing a dress..and they looked cute..ok that's all I got for this lack in judgement..oh well..lesson learned...again ;) Heels and Hips just do not mix if you plan on walking around in them for any length of time..if you just want to sit and wear heels then I would give it a thumbs up...but man I am still paying a price for wearing those damn heals 4 days later....ugh. So now I am resorting to my slouchy suede boots..goodbye heels..I will miss you so :(

Verdict: Alcohol / Heels/ NYC not the smartest mix..the alcohol makes you think you can walk NYC on heels. Not good for the "hipster"

Day 2:

Roaming the city: Union Square and Soho. Small strolls is fine for me..but fast walking across busy streets, looooooong blocks, in and out of stores (all things I love to do) my hip didn't love so much...it could have been punishing me for the night before, but by the end of the day I was limping..not good..haven't limped since before surgery. Limping always raises alarms for me so I took it easy back at my sister's house that night.

Verdict: Fast walking: not there yet Chillaxin in an NYC apt..awesome on hip :)

Day 3: Strolls in NYC w/ Proper shoes (natural sport walking shoes w/ Dr Scholls massage gel insoles) and relaxing in the park people watching. Today my sister and I took a nice stroll and chillaxed in a park to have a salad and people watch and relax..with the proper shoes, the non-fast paced walking, the night before of relaxation, and chillaxin in the park= Great for the Hip.

So If your Hip is recovering/ in pain/ or suffering degenerative issues and you head off to NYC just make sure you wear proper shoes, take time to sit and relax, go to a park, limit your shopping and long walking time, and leave your heels at home..you should have a FABULOUS time!

Side note: Tues PT session..psoas tendon SUPER tight and sciatic nerve acting up from overdoing it...ouch ouch ouch....so you just need to pace yourself and be careful in the big city:) On another note I can't wait to go back again :)

I fought the insurance company and I WON!

Soooooooo..unfortunately I had to go 3 weeks w/out any physical therapy..this was not good for my hipster! My insurance company informed me that I only was allowed a certain amount of PT time a calender year . PT is very very important for me, because #1 It is where I get my major source of pain relief from the stretching, the pressure point massage and the traction..this helps me get through the week and #2 This is where I also learned how to strengthen the areas around my hip to protect it from further damage. I am still in the pain management part and just started the strengthening so having it taken away was not good for me and my hip..not good at all! With the help of my PT guy, Dr.Fabulous (wrote a letter of medical necessity), my many phone call to my insurance company (they just love me there) , and the receptionist at my PT place being very persisitent we finally got a 60 day extension for PT..(yay-go team!)!

It is so ridiculous that they pay for my surgery, but not the preventive component..would they rather pay for pain meds and a hip replacement, because I didn't get adequate post care...seriously this was scary for a moment...I am so glad it worked out in my favor, but since I pay for health insurance I really shouldn't even have had to fight for it in the first place!