Thursday, December 1, 2016

B*tch sticks

I'm done with crutches. 

It's been 3 1/2 weeks now and here's the run down.

Weeks 1 to 2- really immobile unable to put on socks and the slightest twist = a lot of pain. Painkillers of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen after leaving hospital. Maybe if I could feel more pain I wouldn't have gotten into this fine mess? 
Really light exercise of foot pumps, butt crunches and standing leg swings (really, really limited).

I see the consultant at week 3 who treats me to a video of the procedure. Nice.
It wasn't something I would have wanted to watch however 2 weeks of being laid up has made me really want to see what I'm dealing with. If I'm honest, it doesn't look good.

Weeks 3 and four- adding the really basic foot slide whilst lying on the floor.

The micro fracture area was quite large- the consultant tells me it was between 10pm  and 3pm when looking at the joint side on so the physio is really taking is easy. Sitting upright is still really uncomfortable.

The sliding raises have resulted in a nagging pain similar to what I used to experience, particularly when lying in bed at night. Intermittently back on the pain killers.

Every think is difficult on crutches. 

Getting food, drink. Washing, cleaning teeth and shaving on one leg.

Getting up in the night for the toilet, using the toilet.

I'm not going to lie, these weeks have been pretty low times. My other hip is in pain from performing the most basic of tasks like a flamingo. 

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

The op

I went in and had the  op.

The consultant had a chat with me before hand, and after going down to surgery at 9am I'm out at 10.30 am.
I've had anaesthetic before and it left me feeling groggy for longer than 24 hours. This time I'm flying though. when I came around they gave me some tramadol as I was in a bit of pain so that and the morphine are leaving me in a good place.
After relaxing for a while the surgeon comes around and tells me that it was successful, but worse than anticipated.
The labrum was shredded, and they have had to do microfracture in quite a large area. if you look at the hip joint side on he has microfractured between 10 o'clock and 3 o'clock.
Bad news.
I rest up until evening time and get releases the same day complete with a set of crutches.
No weight bearing for 4 weeks and that includes sitting upright.
I can put 'touch' weight on, but that's all.
Home to Recover!

Monday, November 21, 2016

The symptons

12 months ago while indoor rock climbing something  'went' in my hip. it was a horrible sensation of something giving way, without the sharp pain that you'd expect to follow.
At the time I was pretty active. I played football twice a week, I climbed. I ran a half marathon a year, and a couple of 5ks every month. I cycled 12ks to work- when the sun was out. you get the picture.
Over the next ten months I carried on trying to do these but quite literally these became a pain in the butt. I tried resting, and making a comeback... and the same.
I went to a physio, who diagnoses piriformis syndrome. it didn't go away.
I went to another physio practice and had session with different physios. Still no dice.
Over the next ten months I tried all of the exercises, muscle looseness and rest periods going but still no dice. 
Eventually, knowing that my company had private health scheme that could provide some free physio I made an appointment with a consultant.
He did a few mobility checks and put me forward for an mri scan, with contrast injection.
This resulted in diagnosis for a labrum tear, as well as some irregularities around the Femur?
The consultant explained that around the main cup of the hip joint, is another lip of cartilage which is called the labrum. This could be repaired surgically, although unfortunately I would have to be referred to another consultant who specialised in this technique.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and I meet Mr Thomas who explains that I have FAI cam impingement which has caused the wear to the labrum and to the hip. He goes on to tell me that he's performed around 400 of these procedures before.
I am now suffering from dull pain which makes its way right the way down my leg bone for the majority of my day. The pain is accentuated by sitting down in my 9-5 job.
'when can you start? ' I ask.