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.