1 week and counting...

As I write this I know that at this time next week I will most likely be in surgery. I am feeling a lot different emotions. Denial is always there, but I am trying to be positive and put aside the negative thoughts that keep coming. I am pretty much ready, arrangements for Caleb have been made, there is a ton of frozen meals in my freezer, and I even got some new nightgowns! I have my transfer bench for the shower and some lovely hand rails for our toilet. It is kind of crazy to think that I will be relying on these things very soon. My crutches will come from the hospital, they will be my new best buds! All that is left is to clean the house a final time and pack my bag. This weekend we will go to the farmer's market in the morning and then go to my parent's house to celebrate my Dad's retirement. I am going to try to have a great last weekend utilizing both my legs.

Pre-Op apointment

My pre-op appointment was last week, I apologize that I do not post as things happen. I will try to do better. The day started very early, Logan and I were up at 5am so we could drop Caleb off at daycare at 6:30am and drive to Iowa City for a 9:30 appointment. Once we arrived at Iowa City I met with Dr. Mckinley's nurse, Tess. She was really nice and patient. I had a lot of questions. I think I might have given her the impression that I was backing out of surgery with some of my questions/comments. I do that quite a bit, I still don't want to believe that I am really going through this. She said I could get a second opinion, I reassured her that I was not backing out. Besides where would I get a second opinion from? There really is no question about how bad my dysplasia is. I am the only one questioning if my "symptoms" warrant surgery. I know that I have to go through with this and the time I waste getting second opinions could be better spent healing from said surgery.
Back to the surgery. I will have to report 1 & 1/2 hours before my surgery time, the actual surgery should take around 4 hours, and then I will spend 1-2 hours in recovery before family can see me. After that I will be transferred to a room and then my hospital stay of 3-5 days begins. I will be on coumadin to prevent blood clots and I will have to wear compression stockings for 8 weeks. Twice a week I will have to have my blood drawn to monitor my INR level from the coumadin. This will also be for 8 weeks. I will not be able to bear weight on my left hip and there will be no driving while on controlled pain medications. Sounds fun right?! All I can do is try to stay positive and know that time will pass and then hopefully I will avoid a total hip replacement before my 60's!
The day ended on a positive note, my CT scan was scheduled at 3:15 pm, but I checked with them when I was done with pre-op around 11am and they were able to get me in early. It was so nice to go home early so we could pick Caleb up from daycare!

CHD+PAO=WTF

I think now I will explain the name of my blog. CHD stands for Congenital Hip Dysplasia. PAO is for Periacetabular Osteotomy. WTF needs no explanation. I hope I don't offend too many people, but that is truly how I feel. It sums it up quite well. I have often thought that I need a stamp like this one below for the pharmacy that I could use when I got crazy orders from physicians or strange requests from patients.



Back to the hip thing. I am including a very helpful link to explain PAO.

http://www.hipandpelvis.com/patient_education/periace/page1.html

Basically for those unfamiliar with the procedure, my socket will be cut out of my pelvis and realigned and attached with metal pins until the bone grows back together and the pins can be removed. Bone takes a long time to heal and everyone does this differently. I won't be able to put weight on my left leg for 8 weeks or longer, until the bones heal back together. This won't allow me to pick up my son and carry him like he loves so much. I will need help to care for him, which makes me feel useless. I will also have to be on crutches for 8 weeks. This means new ways to learn how to take care of myself and it means no work. (I don't think I could type while on crutches while standing.) Luckily the company I work for has a great short term disability plan so I don't have to worry about not working. Our insurance is also very good and I still have a lot of flex money left to use for the deductibles and copays. Another positive is that my husband is very supportive as is several family members that we will be relying on for help during my recovery. It is hard for me to ask for help from others, but I am so grateful that we have so much support.

And Then...

So I was sent to an O.S. to evaluate my left hip. I was not very happy about this, I vowed I didn't need surgery. I was sure I would be told nothing was wrong with me and to go back home.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) that is not what happened. The O.S. came into the exam room with his P.A. and then asked me if I had pain and if they could see the scar on my right side. I showed them and they got a funny look on their face and said they would be right back. This kind of freaked me out a bit, I wondered what they thought was wrong and why they were looking at me like I was a sideshow. They came back into the room and said "We can't help you, you need to go to Iowa City. There is only one doctor in all of Iowa that can help you." Well this was a little shocking, but I went along with it. They called and set up the appointment for me, but told me nothing about what kind of surgery I needed or any specifics. I tried to get answers but was told that the doctor in Ia City will be able to answer your questions best. So I waited a week to see the "only doctor in Iowa that could help me." I was still in big time denial and honestly thought he would tell me nothing is wrong, go have another baby and then we will talk. This is not what happened. I was told the brief details about pericacetabular osteotomy and told that I was a perfect candidate. As for waiting, no, I should have my left hip done then have a baby, then think about options for the right hip. If I chose to do nothing, in 5-7 years I will have debiltating arthritis and will need a total hip replacement at age 40. With THR only lasting 10-15 years, that didn't sound like a good option, especially when it is rare to have more than two done on the same side. On the ride home I was shell shocked.

In the Beginning...

I find it hard to tell my story without going to the very beginning, so bear with me. When I was nearly two years old it was discovered that I had been born with congenital hip dysplasia. At 20 months I underwent an open reduction to repair the dysplasia on my right side. The left side was "fixed" with a closed reduction. (I wore a special harness, apparently I didn't like it) I then wore a body cast for several weeks and then had different braces that I wore I think until around 3 years of age. I don't really remember any of this, I have seen pictures and I remember crawling with a brace on, but that is it.
As a child I was as active as any other and only remember leg pains that my mom called "growing pains." In junior high and high school I went out for almost all the sports, except track. I still hate running. In high school when I was 15 I must have complained about left hip pain because we went to a follow up visit to the physician that had treated me 13 years before. It wasn't too bad though because I never went back and never saw another doctor until I was in college. I decided to see a D.O. because I liked their philosophy of treating the body through manipulations. It seemed to help for a while, but then it didn't so I was referred to a different D.O. who discovered my left leg was shorter than the right and this lead to a rather large muscle hump on my left. He set me up with a heel lift and I did really well for a long time. Then in 2006 I became pregnant with my son, Caleb. The pregnancy was pretty uneventful and I didn't experience too much pain that I can remember. I ended up having a C-section for many reasons none related to my hip, but we both came through just fine.
After Caleb was born and in this past year though my left hip has gotten worse. I don't really have pain so much as it locks up on me. (I like to deny this but I just had to bend down to clean up spilled milk and almost didn't make it back up!) The final straw was in Februrary when I had bent over to tie my shoes to go to the gym, when I stood up I had a sharp pain and my left hip locked up and I couldn't put any weight on it. I toughed it out and went to the gym anyways, as I was working out on the elliptical I had no pain, but when I sat down in my car, sharp pain again. This continued for the next day until it magically went away. This episode lead my D.O. to send me in for an M.R.I. which showed cysts and a possible tear in my left hip. He then sent me to an O.S. in Des Moines for an evaluation.