Saturday, August 9, 2014

On The Bench

I can't remember where I left off with my hip. Back in may I finally found a good doctor. She diagnosed my problem as femoral Acetabular impingement. Basically my femur head is malformed so a bone spur creates friction on the cartilage in my joint. My primary care doc injected my hip with cortisone and lidocaine. The lidocaine works for four hours and wiped out the pain. That meant my pain was coming from the hip. Sadly the cortisone didn't work. 

Things have continued to go downhill I had to go on disability the end of July because I can hardly function for a few hours let alone a 12 hour shift. The next step was an MRI. Dye was injected into my joint before the MRI. I met with the surgeon yesterday. I have a torn labrum (like a suction cup around the ball), thinned cartilage on the ball, and extra bone. The plan is for surgery. I will know a date sometime next week. 

I am looking forward to surgery. I know that sounds crazy. I have detoriated to the point where I'm in pain 24hours a day. It hurts to stand and sitting is even worse. I've had to borrow my moms SUV becuase driving my little car is excruciating. I have been dealing with back and hip pain for years and the end of finally in sight. I know there can be complications but at this point anything has to be better. 

The bad part is the recovery. I won't be able to drive a car for a few weeks and I've been the main driver for my family. I had to go in disability after FMLA started and I'm really scared what will happen with work. Nursing is a physically demanding job. It is hard to be finally fixing a problem that has affected my life for years but knowing that "fix" could risk my job. There really isn't a choice though becuase I can't work as things stand. 

I am sure you are wondering "WHAT ABOUT RIDING?" The answer really really sucks. My surgeon said I will be out of the saddle for 4.5 months. That is unreal to me. I won't ride a horse until 2015!! I haven't been out of the saddle that long since I started riding. Even if it was just a bareback ride on Bre during nursing school I at least got on a horse. I will be able to ride again. Next summer Dickie will be 5 and ready to do more and I'll be better than I am today. Remind me of that when I get frustrated!! 


4 comments:

  1. ouch! That does sound awful but you have to get it taken care of. Dicky will be fine until you get back.

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  2. Well, Dickie is at the age where a break may actually do him good while he finishes growing. This is just a temporary thing.

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  3. So frustrating, but hopefully the surgery sets you right again!

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  4. Dang that sucks... I'm so glad you finally have a diagnoses and surgery planned though. The relief will be worth everything even not riding. Try not to stress too much about your job. My husband lost his job due to an injury that took a year to heal and it was actually a blessing in disguise because he now has a job that is a million times better that he loves. It will all work out.

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