Hip Surgery

I've had 12 years of hip pain progressively getting worse. It all started in my year off after school when I remember limping for 2 weeks at Bertoldos. I also remember collapsing in throbbing pain after going to a yoga festival a few years ago. It spasms, clicks, clacks and collapses in the right groin at random, mostly at rest ie just standing there! Getting out of the car, going downstairs, sitting or any prolonged activity makes it worse. I get aches down the right side of my body starting from the lower ribs, QL, SIJ, side butt, down side leg, shin pain that flares up every so often and I am in agony with sharp stabs that reduce my walking for a few days, and finally the last 2 toes on right foot are numb/dead! 

I have seen a GP a few times and had an MRI 2 years ago that showed some wear and tear, though nothing remarkable enough to do anything about. I decided to up the anti this year and asked to see a surgeon, who ordered another lot of images and MRI. Shout out to Steve who organised all this. I've officially broken my lifelong streak of never breaking a bone as the images showed a loose body, labral tear and crack/fracture in the head of the femur (ie the ball) causing fluid to get into the bone developing a cyst, as pictured. This obviously weakens the bone and apparently the only answer is a hip replacement, though the older you are for this the better. It could have been caused by my Hip dysplasia (a hip socket that doesn't fully cover the ball portion of the upper thighbone) from birth. I am going to put up with it as long as I can and just keep up with the things that help (mytherapy, chiro, supplements like fish oil, not doing exercise that aggravates like mountain climbers or squatting too deep). It is annoying as I will be in pain and aches for about a week after going for a simple walk up the hill with Damien or gardening with lots of bending. Something I've just lived with up until now. The surgeon actually thinks its "pretty bad" and can't believe I've been so active. 

My MRI showing loose bone and cyst

Meanwhile, he suggested removing the floating body and sorting out the labral tear in hopes to remove the mechanical aspect of the pain ie the collapse. Apparently the labrum would have been folding under itself and flicking back out at random which is when I would collapse and feel the clicks. I went to see him for the results Thursday, and was booked for surgery at Griffith Private Hospital on the Tuesday! That's private patient for you, though it came at a cost of $7800 out of pocket!! Let's just say we've upped our health fund since in prep for the hip replacement. I feel like an old lady! (Also, lucky we have some savings after not getting married, not what we thought we'd be spending our money on). He ended up removing the labrum as it was too bad to fix. I woke up in a lot of pain and was given a lot of pain meds. I was completely out of it when Damien came to see me and I made him take a photo which ended up not being my best angle... It was pretty sore to move around at the start... 

Recovery has been pretty good, I've taken a month off and rested on the couch for the first 3-4 days, having to use crutches. Shout out to mum and John for looking after me the first few days, it was actually very helpful! Was nice being waited on... Though I have learnt I hate not working or having a full day of stuff to do. Everyday I feel a dramatic change in getting better and am walking around semi normal now, though taking it quite easy still. No driving, no exercise, no deep bending etc. Physio, hydrotherapy and follow up with the surgeon to remove the dressing is all next week, I am really looking forward to starting back some fitness. 

The many views of sitting

Didn't want to miss out on weekend outings!