Week 18

Either I am psychic, I jinxed it, or I know my body extremely well. In my last post I wrote:

“When the pain didn’t go away and got increasingly worse, I was worried that something was seriously wrong and I would require further surgery.”

I think you can guess what happened when I met with Banksey on Friday… Yes, I need more surgery on my right hip. Banksey’s opinion is that there is more to my new hip pain than a pelvic stress reaction. It’s not that he disagrees with Debs, as the bone is sore, but after a painful examination, he decided that he needs to “open me up.” I had another X-ray on Friday and the bone has completed healed (sorry, no piccy to show you), so it’s safe to say that the PAO surgery was a success. I’m aware that must sound strange as I’m still in a lot of pain, however, the aim of the op was to deepen the hip socket to prevent an arthritic ball and socket joint. Banksey did his job, and other than having to live with a numb outer thigh for the rest of my life, there are no major, long-term post-surgery complications (so far).

Banksey believes a torn labrum is triggering the pain; therefore he wants to inspect and repair it as soon as possible. I explained that my entire life is on hold because of these two PAO ops and recoveries, and if you throw another op into the equation, then that’s going to prolong everything further. Not only will it continue to impact me psychologically, but financially it just isn’t an option. I want to return to work and normality as quick as I can. Before this recovery period began, I was prepared for a 6 month stint off work, not a whole year! We discussed my options for a lengthy period of time and I was very grateful with his approach and demeanour. Understandably, he is a very busy bee. So when his patients are recovering swimmingly, it’s bish, bosh, bash and out the door. Banksey was very compassionate and apologetic, and although I don’t hold him accountable for this bumpy recovery, it was comforting to hear.

I mentioned that I’d received my date for the next PAO surgery and Banksey initially suggested that we do the hip arthroscopy (labrum repair) on the 1^st July. Though, after hearing my sob story, he agreed that we should try and keep the general anaesthetics and recovery periods to a minimum. It was here that Banksey hatched his grand plan. He admitted that he’d never performed this before, but with the diverse nature of each op, there was no reason why he couldn’t operate on both hips on the 1^st July. Obviously I questioned the practicalities of it all, namely, the rehabilitation demands. He reassured me that it’s more than possible, but it’ll require a longer stay in hospital. After the blast I had, I actually don’t see it as a negative thing. Although, it will all depend on who I’m sharing the ward with. The big risk is if the right hip procedure is not successful, but that's a risk I'm willing to take!

So, I don’t feel any more or less upset after last Friday’s news. In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn’t change much. I still have three months to wait for surgery and between now and the 1^st July the only hurdle is coping with this chronic pain. It aches constantly throughout the day and flares up with certain movements and generally over-doing it. After seeing Debs last week, I wore the pelvic brace for a few days but it aggravated both hips so I’ve discontinued its use. I’m still taking ibuprofen but the crutches have also been shelved since Friday. Debs requested non-weight bearing for over a week but it just wasn’t possible on Friday. It actually hurt a lot more to use both crutches to get to Guy’s Hospital than walking unaided. Even though I wasn’t putting any weight through my right leg, every time I flexed at the hip (to bring my leg forward) I could feel the intense pain in my groin. The two ways I couldn’t feel as much pain were: immobilising my right hip/leg and not moving at all (like when you have your foot in plaster and you either keep your leg in front or bent at the knee with the cast behind you), whilst relying solely on my left side and crutches; or walking crutch-less. You can imagine what my experimenting looked like. I was offered a few seats on the train and tube thanks to the crutches though.

My next physio appointment with Debs is Thursday so I will update her on my findings regarding non-weight bearing and the pelvic brace, as well as Banksey’s verdict. Hopefully she can suggest a few things to limit the pain until the op.

Moving forward, my plan of action involves mostly rest, and spending as much time as possible with my gorgeous little nephew, Jacob.

Week 15 - 17

Apologies if you’ve been eagerly anticipating this blog post. I returned from my wonderful holiday just under two weeks ago and I’ve been too busy to write until now.

I left you a few days after my steroid injection and I’m pleased to say that 97% of the bursitis pain has disappeared. Just as Banksey predicted, it vanished after a week so for the entire holiday, it was fine. It’s returned mildly in recent days but it may have been aggravated with the house move...

From the moment we landed, it’s been go go go on moving all of our possessions back to Reading and into my dad’s house. Four car trips and a van load later, and I’ve officially moved home. - Something that I never thought would happen. I know that unforeseeable circumstances have resulted in this, but the reality of it all is pretty demoralising. At the age of 25: I’m half way through my double hip surgery so I can’t return to my practical-based job; therefore I’m on benefits; which means my partner and I can’t afford to live together; so I’ve had to move back to my childhood home and he’s living with his brother and sister-in-law in Clapham. Not an ideal scenario but there’s no logical alternative.

Initially, we thought this would be a temporary arrangement until after I’ve recovered from my next op in May, but I called the hospital on return from Abu Dhabi and the date for my left hip PAO is now 1^st July! Therefore the earliest I can resume work is the middle of August. That’s almost five months living away from Andy and almost nine months off work. The surgery has to be performed on a Monday for inpatient care, there are a few bank holiday Mondays between now and then, and Banksey has booked leave, so unfortunately the date isn’t going to change. These buggered hips of mine have really screwed up a lot of things and continue to interfere with my dad’s life too. Everything has been put on hold and I’m really annoyed that there’s nothing I can do about it. I do feel like Banksey lured me in under false pretences and then continued to give me false hope. When I first met him, he explained that I’d have had both ops by February/March, and ok, I wouldn’t have been ready due to the complications I’ve had after the first op, but then I was told it would be April, then May, and now damn July. Oh well, moan over. This is the hand that life dealt me so if I keep playing and fighting, eventually I should come out on top. If it wasn’t for the amazing holiday we just had, my mood may be very different.

Andy and I thought we were going to have a really chilled out holiday by the pool for seven days, but Andy’s family had other ideas…

Andy’s uncle, Trevor, surprised us at Heathrow and announced that he was “hijacking our holiday.” He and Rachel (Trevor’s daughter and Andy’s cousin who we were staying with) had pre-planned our holiday itinerary and there was a lot of sight-seeing on the list.

We got an upgrade on the way out!

It was a pretty good surprise as we had the best time and couldn’t have done a lot of it without Trev. He took us to Dubai for the day and we drove down the palm, had a coffee near the Burj, went in the Dubai mall and saw the Burj Khalifa. He also took us to the Abu Dhabi Yas Marina Formula 1 track and we cycled around the course. - This is up there with one of my best experiences and not just because my hip could hack it. He was our tour guide around the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the Emirates Palace, and took us to the beach. Everyone needs a ‘Trev’ when they visit Abu Dhabi or Dubai!

 We all went to brunch one day and had all you can eat and drink. It was here that I discovered I need to rebuild my alcohol tolerance up… Rachel force ‘fed’ me too many mojitos ;) We all went to a pub quiz, went to the Westin Hotel to watch the rugby, watched Rachel play netball, went to a driving range, went to loads of nice hotels and generally ate our body weight in nice food.

Unfortunately though, it wasn’t all fun and games as a few days into the trip, I developed an intense pain deep in my groin. It was completely separate to the bursitis pain and felt more like the old pain that I used to experience before surgery: only much worse! Every day the pain got more and more intense so I had to resort to using a crutch. Then, during our day trip to Dubai, I was forced to rent a wheelchair in the mall as I literally couldn’t take another step. After a few days, I worked out that getting in and out of the car aggravated the pain and holding or carrying things also made it worse. Despite the immense pain and negative emotions associated with it, I didn’t let it ruin our holiday!

I had a feeling that I’d overdone it and my hip was in desperate need of complete rest. However, I couldn’t rest until we’d packed up and cleaned the flat. It hurts constantly and certain movements make it worse, so I was dying to see Debs for some physio and a diagnosis. She was fully booked until today so my dad drove me from Reading.

Debs couldn’t believe that I’d had more bad luck and after a thorough assessment she concluded that I had a pelvic stress reaction caused from repetitive overloading. A stress reaction is similar to a stress fracture, with the only difference being the severity of the bone disruption. The treatment is pretty much the same; rest and non-weight bearing. So it’s back on the crutches and ibuprofen for me. Debs performed some soft tissue work on my inner thigh and strapped on a pelvic brace which I have to wear at all times except when seated.

It is pretty upsetting to have another hiccup in this lengthy recovery, but the main thing I’m feeling after today is relief. When the pain didn’t go away and got increasingly worse, I was worried that something was seriously wrong and I would require further surgery. The pain that I’ve experienced in the last two weeks outweighs all the pain that I’ve been through thus far. Usually I can just sit or lie down when I’ve been in pain, but with this time around, once it’s at its worst, that’s it and nothing relieves it. I’ve literally felt sick with this pain. Now that the move is done and dusted, I’m ready to put my feet up and do nothing for a while. – Except for Friday when I have another check-up with Banksey. Then I’m putting my feet up for a few months!