Sunday, June 29, 2008

All good, for now

Last week I had a check up with the orthopedic surgeon here in Atlanta (not the one who performed my surgeries). It has been 7 months since the left hip resurfacing and 10 months since the right hip core decompression. The x-rays looked fine! The right hip hurts from time to time. Because the surgery I had was intended to keep it from getting worse, there is still some damage to that hip which will cause pain sometimes. The pain is completely tolerable, but it was disconcerting to worry that the disease process could be worsening meaning I'd need another surgery sometime soon. I'm relieved to find out that this doesn't seem to be the case. My left hip (the metal one) looked good too. The doctor told me, again, all of the reasons why a resurfacing might not work for me, as I was happily standing there in no pain with my x-ray indicating no issues. I've been walking 2 or 3 miles pretty much daily, and my quality of life is extremely improved over what it was last year, so even if the resurfacing were to fail at some point I have gained much joy and use out of it already. The lingering muscle soreness has faded to a point where it's nearly imperceptible, and even my scar doesn't look that bad considering it's less than a year old.

At work the other day someone said "you look like you're walking comfortably." I didn't know what she was talking about--I looked at my shoes to see if they were particularly comfortable. Then I remembered she must be talking about my hip! Actually I've been walking comfortably for a while now but I guess she just noticed. So, it's hardly even on my mind these days.

The doc took shoulder x-rays too, but he's not a shoulder specialist. He didn't see anything to worry about but I'll mail them to Baltimore so they can interpret them. The left shoulder hurts intermittently, but less than before the surgery. So, all's well for now!