3.5 Months post DFO

I feel like I have hit a recovery plateau. After having my 3 month check up back on March 9th, I feel like I have gotten nowhere. The xray still showed the break and a little more bone growth, but nowhere near the end yet. My groin pain is a lot better and I have no doubt that I have made the right decision to have this Derotational Femoral Osteotomy. However, my balance is still not back. The glute soreness is a whole lot better but now it's my IT band that gets sore. Just when I think that I've had every kind of pain that the hip can offer, a new one crops up. I thought IT band soreness was only for runners but I now know it's for runners and people post DFO! I am still limping and need the cane to straighten out my gait. I am down to going to PT 2 days a week. I am there for 2 hours each time and it takes a lot out of my day. But I do still need to go.
I know that this is a long process, but sometimes I just want it to be done. Now my right groin is acting up from time to time and I can only hope that I don't re-tear that labrum. Will this ever be over? I figure by the time I am 50, I will have a whole new lower body. That is my goal.
     My left thigh gets very sore especially after doing a lot, walking a lot. At first I thought it was from the rod, but after reading my reports I found out it is from the broken femur. This is the only thing that really bothers me the most now that hat my glute calmed down. I have managed to keep my weight down which also helps with the hips. I have been doing pilates and yoga to help with my core and strength. What a great workout PiYo is!
     Now that spring is here, I am really hoping for a boost in recovery. At first it seemed like every week I was improving but now it is going slower. My next visit isn't until June where I will get another xray and see the progress. I only hope that I can see a significant difference.

9 Weeks Post Op

As I sit here writing this, I am watching my 15y.o. daughter and her first boyfriend swim in the pool. It makes me think about where she was at in her life when my hip journey started. She was 12, wore headphones all the time, and obsessed over One Direction. Boys were friends and nothing really more then that. She has grown over these years into a nice young lady. It makes me realize that, even though I have been battling the hip pain, surgeries, physical therapy, and second opinion, life goes on. I get older, my kids get older, and I get closer and closer to this journey being over, at least I hope. I also know that when my children reflect back on their lives as teenagers, they will remember their mom on crutches, recovering from a few surgeries, and fighting for Hip Dysplasia awareness. I know it will make them stronger individuals and more sensitive to people in chronic pain. Besides all that, i know they will remember me trying to make sure they have as normal a life as possible despite all my speed bumps. They are supportive and sensitive to my needs just as I am to theirs. I thank God everyday for them.

At 9 weeks, I have progressed to using a cane to walk. Most of the pain I feel is in my glute muscle and my adductor. Sometimes when the therapist massages my thigh, my IT band is sore. But I am working on my walking and trying to keep up with ab and core work on my own.  I can already tell that I have better range of motion in my left hip and that my right one has less! Funny, I didn't think that would happen. My right groin is tight and my left one feels a lot looser. And I am not having that type of pain that I was having pre surgery. So far, I feel that having the FO was the right decision. It is a slow process and I only had 1 minor setback, but everything is going forward.

Next week I return to work. I hope to be off the cane by then, but if not, I will at least be closer to it.

Follow my instagram @happyhealthyhips to see my progress!

My 6 week appointment

I am already 6 weeks post op. I went for my first visit since the surgery in December and I had a great visit. My bone is 80% healed already and I saw the xray even though I was hesitant. I wasn't looking forward to seeing the rod and screws in my bone, mainly because if they were crooked or bent, then I thought I'd feel it. Well the screws were put in perfectly I couldn't believe it. It looks too good to be true. These was no  additional Heterotopic Ossification either which I was most worried about. Hey, if you ever need this surgery I highly recommend going to Dr. Buly and his team at Hospital for Special Surgery. They really know their stuff!

As for recovery, I still need the crutches. The glute and the outer leg muscle is the last one to come back and these are for proper gait (walking). I can't do a side leg raise on my own but a straight leg raise I can. The crutches get tiring and my upper back is feeling it. I am so glad I shed those 30 pounds! I'd be dying if I had to truck all that extra weight with me.

He also showed me my 3D CT scan. I was more impressed with this then my post op xray. You really can see the whole hip and how sad it looks:( But knowing I had it corrected, hopefully all that dreaded groin pain will be gone after all this. My right groin bothers me some still, we will have to see where that goes. I am NOT having another hip scope no matter what. No more traction for me!

I started driving this week and seems to be fine. I tend to get tired after PT or just simple things we all take for granted. I am hoping to go back to work at the end of February but not looking forward to being on my feet. 

The correction was 20 degrees. You can really see a difference in my left foot from before the surgery.

Oh, my quad,

I am almost 4 weeks post op and my quad is what't giving me the most pain. I think I over-did it on the home strengthening exercises. I was at the point last week where I had difficulty walking with the crutches. I couldn't finish walking my laps in the garage. I had pulled my quad muscle getting up from the bed the saturday before, it radiated all the way down my shin. My doctor agreed to having me try a muscle relaxer with regular tylenol which I only took for 2 days because they made me feel weird. I stuck with regular Tylenol because I thought I was ready and was trying to come off the Percocet. Well, I was starting out patient PT that wednesday and stopped the muscle relaxer and started taking the Percocet again. It made a world of difference! That and asking God to take some of the pain away. I really couldn't handle it anymore.

As of today, I still need help down the stairs. I almost fell a few times because I lose my balance. I am working on putting equal weight on my legs but it was tough when I was having that excruciating quad pain. I am down to taking only 2 Percocets a day, one in the morning before therapy, and one at night. I haven't driven yet and am in no rush to do that. The only household chores I do are kitchen sink dishes. I have a sit down rolling walker that I use there which comes in handy.

Once the quad muscles are stronger and are used to their new place in my body, I am hoping the quad pain gets less and less and goes away. I have a feeling I will need the crutches for a while past the 6 weeks. I have a follow up appointment with Dr. Buly in about 2 weeks. Then I will get my xray and see the hardware in my body. This I am not looking forward to!

Surgery Completed, Rehab Begins

11 days post op DFO. I was in the hospital for about 3 days and once I was able to go up and down the small staircase in the PT room, they discharged me. I am not going to blog about by hospital stay. It was a painful experience but the staff was fine and met my needs. It's a busy place but they know what they are doing there.

I came home sunday night. It was a 1 1/2 hour ride home and I was so stiff when I got home. I was tired and could barely make it up the stairs. The pain has been excruciating at times, nothing like I've ever felt before. I have to keep on top of taking the pain meds so I can get around and do my activities of daily living.  I stayed upstairs for a few days until the home PT worked with me with crutches to get me down the stairs. I was able to do that for Christmas morning and have been going up and down twice a day. I can't do it alone. I have carpeted stairs and no railing, so either the therapist or my husband have to help me.

The shower chair is a great thing to have as is the walker. I swore I would never use a walker but it really is much easier to use after having something like this. At times I think I can feel where the bone is broken and where the rod is, but it's probably in my mind! I don't have any restrictions, meaning I can bend at my waist and move my leg any way I want, just go by how painful it is. Well, it's painful alright! And I hear a lot of cracking and things moving in the leg. It's been realigned, so it's going to take a while for the alignment to take form. Sometimes when I stand and put weight on it, it wobbles, like the center or gravity is off, which it probably is. All this is normal according to the doctor. 

I was lucky enough to get a very good home physical therapist. She has rehabbed people that have had FOs before, mostly children, but at least she is familiar with the procedure. I only hope that when I go to out patient I have just as good of a therapist. So far no post op injuries or complications, fingers crossed!

Preparing for DFO

I finally had my appointment with Dr. Buly to discuss my hip pain now that I had lost weight. I trimmed almost 30 pounds since spring and my hip joint still bothers me. It is more so in the front and sometimes radiates through my hip joint to my outer hip. He did a lot of ROM with my hip and it was so uncomfortable when he extremely externally rotated it out. He also didn't like my walk and limp. He was impressed with the weight loss and when I asked if it will,help,with recovery, he said that weight loss helps with everything. I am so relieved to finally have definitive answers as to my problem and that I can finally have it fixed.

I am having a DFO - derotational femoral osteotomy, on December 17. I have to do pre op testing and xrays, I am in the process of finding GOOD crutches, I've read some great things about the Mobilegs, and also in process of finding a good physical therapist. Not a lot of therapists are familiar with this surgery so I am looking into a place that the hospital recommends. I have had secondary problems with each of my therapy places from my previous surgeries that I am hoping to find one where everything goes smooth. I know no one is perfect, but some of the things that happened to me were just stupid things, lunges after tearing the labrum in the hip? One therapist told me I had a back problem, not a hip problem. And another threw a 2 lb weight on my ankle to "strengthen my hip" that had been sprained from the traction boot during the 2nd arthroscopy. This is why I don't stay with the same therapist.

I am confident this will help get rid of my pain. Dr. Buly can't guarantee that I won't need a hip replacement in the future, but at least if I do, the femur will be aligned correctly to make it easier to replace. 

Getting Closer

Hurricane Joaquin is upon us. Lots of rain today, kind of dreary, and my joint starts to feel unstable at times. Is it because of the rain? Sorry, just don't buy that! I have been getting my 30 minute workouts in everyday and watching my portions, no counting points or calories, it's a great diet! I am down 17 pounds and 16 inches since starting the 21 day fix, but since April I am down 25 pounds. The outer hip and thigh pain is a lot better, but the joint still bothers me a lot. I still "walk funny" and limp some. I still think about my hip.

About a 2 weeks ago I called Dr. Buly's office and told them my updates. They suggested I make an appointment so I am going in November. I hope to see my 3D CT scan and MRI and discuss my options, which most likely will include a Femoral Osteotomy (FO) to correct the anteversion in my left hip. If he tells me I need a replacement I will be very upset. I have been trying to avoid that right now. I need this fixed. I am tired of it, tired of the compensation, tired of wondering if I will tear the labrum again or not. Oh, and I am hoping that doesn't happen again! I do not want to be in hip traction ever again!!

To keep myself focused and committed to losing weight and staying on track, I've created a closed group on Facebook for daily accountability of diet and exercise. Here there will be tips on recipes from other members as well as ideas for eating options. This should also help me to lose the 7 remaining pounds I have to lose. My goal is to be at my wedding weight before I see Dr. Buly in November.

If you are on the East Coast, stay dry!