2 days down

I think I mentioned how tired I was yesterday... I dozed off and on all day. I could hardly keep my eyes open even when the physical therapists were here talking to me, and needless to say I couldn't read or watch TV (which makes me sleepy anyway).

Today I was much less tired, no naps at all so far and it's 6:30! This morning was really busy with visits from the nurse, a resident who changed my wound dressing (I got to see my incision for the first time which made me cry), Dr. Mont who did the surgery, and the physical therapist. I decided to try my crutches with the physical therapist rather than the walker and I actually felt like I could get around much better with them than with the walker. What a relief! I was too dizzy and light-headed to walk down the hall to the PT area so I got rolled down in a chair, where I practiced going up and down stairs. Because of the dizziness they gave me another IV with fluids which seemed to help right away, and I went walking in the hall later with the nurse. Also my great friend Kirsty came down from New York with her 2-year-old daughter and they were great entertainment! We had lots of fun.

Of course I am still very sore and I keep thinking "is it supposed to hurt this much?" But truthfully it really mostly hurts when I'm up and about, and when I'm sitting and lying down the pain has already subsided a great deal. I'm excited about how much progress I've made today. Tomorrow I'm supposed to be discharged from the hospital and then fly back to Atlanta on Monday! Last night I couldn't have imagined doing this but tonight I feel much more confident about it.

My new bionic hip

I had surgery yesterday afternoon and came out about 4:30 PM. So far, so good! There was a chance that my bones could be too soft or too degraded for the resurfacing that I wanted, in which case I'd have to have a total hip replacement. But, everything was fine and I got the resurfacing! I'm feeling okay really, of course I'm sore and soooo tired but the pain is manageable. Earlier today the physical therapists came--my task for the morning was getting out of bed and getting in a chair! It was actually harder than I thought, and letting the PT move my leg was a real test of faith.

The staff at the hospital are extremely caring and nice, there's free wireless internet and I'm sitting next a big window where I can see the sky.

Have to make this one short because I'm just so sleepy, but just wanted to let you all know that everything seems to be going fine.

Girls' Weekend and Flame Crutches

I finished the rest of last week at work, and ended up being pretty productive. This past weekend I switched places with my brother-in-law--he stayed intown in my condo, and I stayed with my sister and nieces in the suburbs. We had a nice, relaxing weekend and it was fun to have so much time with the girls. On the flip side, I had just spent some time with my parents recovering from the surgery so I felt a little homesick for the city-I would have liked to have gone to the Decatur Book Festival, for instance.

I'm doing alright with recovery, except for the crutches--I'm so tired of them. Yesterday at work somebody told me that I had the hand grips too low and that I needed to move them up a notch. I did that and could hardly control myself, I felt like I was wobbling all over the place and bobbing up and down! Then, last night at band practice, Joe (probably realizing how sick I was of them) tricked out my crutches for me. He painted them flame-style, blue at the tips with a little white-hot turning to yellow, orange, red and then black at the top with a few orange sparks. Today I put the hand grips back where I like them and got to show off my new flaming crutches to everyone at work! They made everybody smile, and then Young 'n Cute at the gym walked out with me and chatted me up on the way out... ;-) Thanks Joe! Still hate the crutches, but maybe I hate them just a tiny bit less. And, instead of people wondering about what's wrong with me since I don't have a cast or anything (heavens! it might be a disability!! don't look...), they're just checking out my awesome paint job. My camera battery is out of juice but I'll post a picture soon.

My right hip has been hurting some, which is kind of worrisome. I keep telling myself that it's normal from the surgery, but it seems like it might be getting worse. I have an appointment next week for an x-ray, and I'll be interested to see what's going on in there. So please, keep those prayers, meditations, incantations and good vibes coming my way!

Chapter 1-The Back Story

So here is the story.

About a year and a half ago, around April 2006, I started feeling some aches in my left hip. I was pretty healthy and was relatively active; I'd take the stairs instead of the elevator and walk rather than drive, if it wasn't too far or too hot. I thought the hip pain was probably related to some minor back problems, and that things were just out of balance. When the aches continued, I went to see my chiropractor who took x-rays and thought I had bursitis.

I finished my thesis in August and started an exciting new fellowship at CDC in September. I had wanted to work at CDC for a while, and these days the best way to get in is through a fellowship. For these reasons I decided to take the job, even though it meant a pay cut from my previous career as a flight attendant and purchasing individual health insurance. Fellows working at CDC, the nation's public health agency, have to purchase their own health insurance, and they don't have access to the federal plans.

Back in September when I started working, my hip felt okay. My friend Oscar (not his real name) at work says he noticed I had an "antalgic gait", but other people just asked why I was limping.

My hip pain seemed to be getting worse. I was tired of people asking about my limp, and a new chiropractor and acupuncture weren't helping. Finally I went to see an orthopedist who took an x-ray. He took one look at it and said "You have avascular necrosis" (also called osteonecrosis). He explained that the blood flow to the top of the femur bone (the femoral head) had been compromised, and that the part of the bone inside the hip was dying, and that there was no cure for this condition except a total hip replacement. He also told me about two other surgeries, a core decompression and a bone graft. Core decompression consists of drilling holes into the joint, increasing the blood flow. Bone grafts involve taking a piece of vascularized bone from the lower leg and inserting it into the hip joint. The doctor recommended I get a second opinion.

At this point I was totally opposed to the idea of surgery, because a bit of pain and a limp just didn't seem like enough to replace the whole entire hip. I started asking around for referrals and several people recommended the same person, Dr. Roberson. Dr. Roberson told me about hip replacements, and told me there wasn't much else that could be done for the left hip. He told me, as the first doctor had, that he thought I probably had avascular necrosis in the right hip too, but that it just wasn't showing up yet on the x-ray. My right hip had started hurting, but I was hoping it was due to favoring it while trying to stay off of the left one. Dr. Roberson did say there was a technique that could potentially save the right hip, but that if it was already hurting it was probably too late. He also recommended not doing anything for the left hip until it got so bad that I wasn't able to sleep, although he said he'd replace it now because my quality of life was already suffering.

I got an MRI and sent my x-rays and the MRI DVD to Dr. Mont, in Baltimore, who is an expert in osteonecrosis (hereforth referred to as ON). Dr. Mont will provide phone consultations to ON patients, since many physicians don't have a lot of experience with this disease. He called last Sunday--from home--and told me that the left hip would have to be replaced, but that the right hip could potentially be saved with a core decompression (CD). However, there is already a fair amount of damage and he felt that this surgery should be performed as soon as possible--as in, within a week! I had already scheduled an appointment with another surgeon to discuss the right hip but I couldn't even see him until mid-September, so I was sort of panicky about how to get this done quickly. I told this to Dr. Mont and he said "well, I'll do it", but that just seemed overwhelming--how to get the insurance approvals, how to get to Baltimore, does he really have room in his schedule, etc...

First thing Monday morning, as soon as I got to work, my phone rang. It was Dr. Mont's secretary telling me that I had an appointment for a CD on August 13, in one week! So I'm busy getting ready, trying to think of things that need to be done. Mom and Dad and I are driving up Sunday as soon as I wake up, and starting to head back Tuesday assuming I feel well enough. Wish me luck!