Whenever you think something is going to happen just as you've planned...

...it probably won't go as planned...that's just Murphy's Law, right? Well, apparently that theory also applies to the laws of future bionic women. When there is a need for another one, the total hip replacement stars align themselves correctly to make sure they suck you in. And that is just what happened today!

I went to Rochester this morning for my scheduled pre-op appointments with Dr. Trousdale. Included in my several appointments were 5 brand-spanking new x-rays that indicated a significant amount of degeneration of the joint since March. He gave me 2 options, the PAO, or a total hip replacement (THR). With the possibility of my pain remaining the same, and that I will be happy with the PAO at 50%, and the possibility that I will be pain free happy with the THR at 95%. On paper, it's an obvious no-brainer. The tough part is that A. I'm only 33 and B. I will have a fake hip!!! Did I mention a fake hip at 33? After all considerations and hours of conversations with friends and family today, it was determined that the main concern is my quality of life. This has recently been not quite as good as I would have liked for my 33rd year given all the pain I have been in. So, in order to enjoy the life & children I have been given...I'm going for it.

I guess I knew this option was a possibility, but I sooooo was not expecting this. All of my plans, informational searches, youtube surgery video searches, EVERYTHING was for the PAO surgery. Now, it turns out, I will be having a THR tomorrow morning. I report at 7:00am, and am fairly anxious about this whole deal...

I am staying in Rochester with my friend Molly tonight. She will be seeing me off to surgery, along with my mom & dad who will be driving down in the morning. The nurses today told me to bring a small bag with just my ID and a few toiletries that I would need...HA! They had no idea who they are dealing with here...

My hospital suitcase includes:
sweatpants/tshirts
cute button down nighty (thanks to my work girls!!!)
fuzzy slippers
ALL my toiletries
my pillow
dry shampoo and conditioner
laptop
ipod speakers/ipod
backpack (serves as purse for the next few months)
sundress (for leaving day!)
flip flops
cute pair of flats (just in case the PT doesn't like my flip flops)
a few movies
some other random items :-)

We'll see how much of it is overkill...better to be safe than sorry!

The next update will probably be from Molly, or me whenever possible. thanks to all of you for your continued support!

Peri Acetabular Osteotomy Surgery Video

This is a video of a 27 year old girl who is having the same sugery as I am. The only difference in our story is that her hip dysplasia was found at birth, and she was put in a cast to correct it. However, her hip sockets still did not form correctly and still needs this surgery. Since she was aware of the dysplasia, she is able to do this surgery before her joint becomes arthritic. Unfortunately, mine was not found at birth, and my hip has been degenerating and developing arthritis over the last few years, hence my hip pain. This video isn't too long, and is not very graphic. Enjoy!

T minus 7...

It's been a few months, and quite a bit has happened since my last post. First of all, my PAO surgery was scheduled for June 19th, only to be pushed to the 23rd because Dr. Trousdale had something "come up" and couldn't make it. In addition to that, I have been experiencing quite a bit of fatigue and some really random symptoms which I won't bore you with in hopes that I don't sound like I'm 80. Then one day, about two months ago, I woke up and couldn't walk on my right foot at all. I went in to a Podiatrist to find I had Sesamoiditis in the ball of my foot, in addition to some extra inflammation that was unexplained. So, 2 cortizone shots later (one in the ball of my foot, one directly into the top of the big toe) I hobbled home to await results of the blood tests. Come to find out my rheumatoid factor came back high, and he told me I had Rheumatoid Arthritis. This idea was squashed by the Rheumatologist a few weeks later who is now insisting that I have Fibromyalgia. I asked him if that was a fake disease or diagnosis given to people who have weird symptoms but really don't know what they have. For some reason didn't really think that was very funny...



It turns out that Fibromyalgia is often brought on by chronic pain in the body. He informed me that it is entirely possible the all-over body pains may subside after my hip is healed. So, I guess I have THAT possiblity to look forward to. :-) With surgery being so close, he does not want to start any medications, and since I'm already on pain meds ALL the time (which obviously aren't really doing the trick if I'm still in pain) he decided to wait. Sweet.



So here it is, one week out from my surgery. I will go down to the Mayo next Monday morning for my pre-op exam, whatever that entails, and a final x-ray. The X-ray really plays a big part in this, because if my hip has degenerated more since March, I may miss my window of opportunity for the PAO due to too much arthritis and have to get a THR (Total Hip Replacement for those of you who don't have to deal with this crap). It should be interesting! I am getting more and more nervous. It doesn't feel like it's really almost here. I've lost 4 lbs in 1 week, so I guess it's not all bad! :-)



I am going to be staying in DT Rochester with Molly (BFFs since forever ago) and she will be seeing me off into surgery, along with my parents. I won't find out what time surgery is until Monday night when they call me. They told me that surgery could be anywhere from 7:30 am to 10:30 am depending on the schedule. Apparently they don't know how cranky I get when I'm hungry? Let's hope they don't find out!



Molly will be posting updates on here the morning of surgery as things progress. Thank you to all of you, my friends and familly for your continued support. I couldn't have done it without you!

Drumroll Please...

And the verdict is......SURGERY! Ha. Big surprise, there! Today was quite possibly one of the longest days of my life. It started @ 4:30am and it was a lot of "hurry up and wait". There is no doubt that they are pretty efficient @ the Mayo, but it is crazy how big it is, and how many people they can herd through that place. Dr. Trousdale was very nice, and would make a good living as an auctioneer on the side if he ever needed a gig to fall back on. I can't even begin to tell you how fast he talked and went through all this "stuff". As soon as he left the room, Jennifer and I just looked at each other with blank stares and said "What just happened?". It was like a whirlwind of a diagnosis!

The situation is that I need to have a peri acetabular osteotomy (PAO). I had a "pain test" shot this afternoon, so it turns out some of my pain is coming from inside the joint, but some is also coming from bursitis that has developed on the outside of the hip. That said, he can't guarantee that my pain will be gone after the PAO surgery. Hopefully though, my gait will improve after surgery, which will help promote the bursitis to go away. If I don't have the surgery now, I will need a total hip replacement within about 5 years. If I do have the PAO now, I can put off the hip replacement for 10+ years...hopefully until I'm about 60, but who knows!

It took me 7.5 months to get into see Dr. Trousdale, and I would say it was definitely worth the wait. He is incredibly knowlegeable, answered EVERY question I had, and listened to my concerns and discussed ALL my options, while giving me his opinion on what was best for my situation. If you are reading this and will be seeing Dr. Trousdale in the future, I would definitely recommend typing up all your questions, and give a copy to your sidekick to take notes while you talk. It worked out great for us!

So, aside from an overwhelming feeling that we were on the set of Cocoon, the day went pretty well. The good news is that I won't have to go back to the Mayo until the day before surgery, when I will get another x-ray to determine if the arthritis has gotten any worse. If it has progressed, he may need to do a total hip replacement. Most likely, that won't happen, so we will keep our fingers crossed!

Thanks again to all my friends and family for your continued concern and support. A special thank you to Jennifer for taking the time to come with me and help me out so much. If it weren't for her, my left hip wouldn't have been coined "Bursa". :-)

It's becoming more real...

It's been a while since my last post, as I haven't really wanted to deal with any of this hip "crap" until my appt with Dr. Trousdale was here. Well, I was able to get it moved up from the 31st, and it is this Thursday, March 19th. I figured I should probably accept that I am having to do this whole Mayo thing, it is a real deal, and I need to get my butt in gear...



I will be heading down to the Mayo tomorrow night (Wed) with my wonderful friend Jennifer. She grew up in Rochester, so that helps out my anxiety quite a bit in regards to naviating around the area. She has offered to be my support for the day, and I am so grateful for that! My appt is @ 6:45am on Thursday morning, so unfortunately we can't go hit the Rochester hot spots tomorrow night. Bummer! She will no doubt keep me entertained, and knowing her, she may even be more nervous than I am. Just what the Mayo needs...two loud, obnoxious, nervous 30 somethings on what we are calling our "date". We termed it that, as it makes it seem a lot more fun! :-)



Also, I've finally added a whole bunch of other blog links of women going through the same or a similar situation as myself. So, if you are one of those women, just know that you have inspired me in some way, shape, or form, and I have most likely spent, at a minimum, 1-2 hours up at night reading about you! Not stalking...promise. :-) To my friends and family who want to get a feel for what I am currently dealing with or will probably be going through in the next few months after surgery....there you go! Watch out though...it's easy to get sucked in...



Thanks sooooo much to all of my friends and family that have been so supportive of me with all of this stuff. I could not do it without each and every one of you. I will post more over the next day or two as I have information. Thanks for caring!

It's official...

I'm a 32 year old woman stuck in an 87 year old body! Or at least that's what it fees like when I use my brand new handicapped parking pass. That's right...I now have rock star parking everywhere I go. Not that I always need it, but when there are 3 flights of stairs at the park & ride, or a half mile walk for the light rail...it sure is nice!

I've had family members bring up the fact that I will be pulling into a clearly marked handicapped spot, slapping my pass on the dash, and get out with 2-7 year old little boys (that are running around and giggling), and probably get "the look" from more than one individual on if I am really "handicapped" or not. To that, I say BRING IT! When I am being passed on the sidewalk by 65 year old ladies with their bonnets, and going for a photo finish with the 73 year old man with the cane on the way to the light rail, I truly don't care what anyone thinks. If they were stuck walking behind me for any period of time...they will get it!

I have to say, my co-workers and friends have been so understanding when it comes to this. Our "powershopping lunches" have become "powershopping once we take a leisurely stroll through the skyway system". For this, I am so grateful. Even though I am known as "Grandma (Marga)Rita" to my girls, all jokes aside, they have really been there for me and supported me through this. Thanks ladies, I love you!

On a side note, I called the Mayo again today...to no avail. The ladies there are starting to remember my name, and they're encouraging me, now, to not give up. I guess that's a good sign? :-)

It all started when...

I was getting into my car in 2004. Yep, it sounds ridiculous, but it's the truth. My very loveable and highly athletic sister convinced me that it would be a good idea if we trained for & ran the TC marathon...so I gladly obliged. Ha. Mind you, I was NEVER a "runner". It's not easy for me to just go and pound out 7 miles. I was never an athlete. I did letter in track, but I'm not convinced that someone who flips some hurdles over in a few track meets in HS is an athlete. So, I struggled through the training. It was during this training that I first felt what I thought was a pulled groin muscle or hip flexor. Little did I know, it was a little bit worse than that. :-)

After completing the marathon (and running a whole HOUR longer than my sister) I decided to take a little break from running. My knees were shot, and I figured this groin thing needed some time to heal as well. Being that I had trained all outside and was not a memeber at a gym, I decided to re-join Lifetime...and really go this time! haha I had not been a member since my post pregnancy days when I was "for sure" going to go 3 days a week. Yeah. Anyway, my body was in the best shape I had ever been in, and I wanted to maintain it. I started attending kickboxing / mixx classes 3-4 days a week. I LOVED it.

I slowly started incorporating running into my workouts again after a few months, and over the course of the next few years, my left hip pain was getting progessivly worse. I didn't want to give up running because it is one of the workouts that my body actually responds to. So I would suffer through at least 2-3 miles 2 days a week, and continued with my kickboxing. I even mentioned my groin pain to a general practice Dr., and she suggested going to see a PT. I didn't do it. I'm not really sure why. In early 2008, one of my girlfriends and I had decided we wanted to lose some pounds, so we would start running a little more and do the TC 10 miler in October. We both submitted our entry for the lottery, but I didn't make the cut. I was really bummed. Turns out, this was a huge blessing in disguise...

Over the course of the next few weeks, my hip pain became almost untolerable. It didn't matter if I worked out or not, I was in pain. I was taking up to 12 advil a day. I noticed the pain a lot more when I would power walk the skyway system over lunch, or walk the zoo with the kids...so one day I finally decided to go in. I went to the walk-in clinic @ Tria Orthopaedic in Bloomington. The Dr. took one look at my Xray and said "you have arthritis". I was crushed. I really didn't know much about arthritis, other than it's a life long ordeal, and I was only ready for him to tell me that the muscle was just pulled really bad. He gave me some vicodin, referred me to their hip specialist, and I also made an appt to see that specialists PA...she ordered the MRI Arthrogram. This is another whole story...

With this specialized MRI, the doc injects some dye directly into your hip joint. In order to make sure they have it in just the right spot, they take a few shots on the xray, and mark it. Then they take more shots as they're inserting the somewhat lengthy needle. If you are having this done, take it from me...don't look...at the needle...or the screen! It's just not necessary. Here's what it will look like:







EEKS! See...now I just saved someone from almost passing out on the table. It's not so bad looking at it while at home, chilling on your couch. But when you're on the stainless steel table in a cold sterile room with a long needle coming your way, it's just not the same...

This dye also has some type of numbing effect, so they wanted me to take note if my pain went completely away within a half hour or so of the injection. This would mean that the pain is coming from the inside of the joint only. Negative ghostrider. It still hurt.

So, my big appt was here...I was excited to hear how he (Dr. Aadalen, the specialist) could fix me. They had mentioned maybe there were some labral tears, and they could repair that pretty easily with arthoscopic surgery. He comes in and sits down, looks at my mri images, looks at me and looks back. This is how it went:

Doc: "Well, it looks like you have hip dysplasia."
Me: "Um, ok...what does that mean?"
Doc: "Well, your acetabulum doesn't cover the head of your femur, as you can see here. You also have some labral tears and some cysts formed."
Me: "Yes, I see. Well, how did this happen?"
Doc: "You were born this way, and the tissue is now degeneraged enough to cause you pain. Some people go their whole lives with it and never know it...mostly couch potatos."
Me: Wishing I had taken the couch potato route about 4 years ago when I agreed to that marathon, "ok, so you can fix it, right?"
Doc: "Well, I'm a specialist with a scope...this requires a little bit more. I know of a doctor, Dr. Trousdale, at the Mayo who does this specialized surgery. It's called a hip osteotomy."
Me: "A what?" Granted I'm so in shock right now, I can't even breathe. "Can you spell that?"
Doc: "We'll get you the information you need. If you have any problems getting in, just let us know. After you meet him for the consult, we can get you a shot to try to relieve the pain."
Me: "OK. My vicodin is almost gone, can I get a refill on that?"
Doc: "Sorry, if I refill that, your body will get used to it and you won't be able to take care of your pain after surgery. We'll get you a non-narcotic pain medication."
Me: Thinking...great...he can't help me AND he's taking away the little relief I do get from this whole ordeal..."thanks..."

So, that was it. Oh, and that was over 4 months ago...and yep, I still have not been to see Dr. Trousdale. Turns out, they couldn't do much to get me in...

My appt is scheduled for March 31, 2009. I am calling his scheduling receptionist almost once a day to see if there are any cancellations. I feel like I'm bothering her...but she told me to do it! Since that day of my appt, I have not ran at all...well, except to catch my bus, which is not pretty to watch. I'm doing elliptical & non-impact kickboxing for my workouts. I just can't give up the kickboxing! I took a few weeks off of working out over Christmas to see if that was making it worse, and the pain remained the same. I'm taking the non-narcotic pain med Tramadol a few times a day. I'm looking forward to getting a shot and maybe that will help with some of the pain.


So there you have it. I'll keep you posted on what's next. :-)