I patiently awaited my 12 week post operative appointment like a pregnant woman longing for her 20 week ultrasound. I needed the all clear. Not only did I need to see the giant chunk they'd carved out of my femur was healing, but I wanted to be told that I could start safely weight training and increasing my fitness level again. If weight training went well, it would be the precursor for running.
My femur still looks like a gremlin took a jagged bite out of an apple. But my surgeon reassured me that was normal and things were healing beautifully. He pulled up the before and after x-rays to let me see for the first time exactly what he'd done. "See how your bone pre-surgery looks like an electricity pole?"
"Um, sure. It's definitely sturdy."
"Yeah, that's bad. Your bone around the socket should look like an hour glass. So if you compare the before and after you can see how much bone I took from you." He laughed. "You are definitely a few ounces lighter!"
My post operative x-ray looks like Barbie's hips. She's got the curves...
While things are healing well, I've been completely miserable for the last 3 weeks. Both hips ache and burn. At night when I sleep, they throb incessantly with a persistent piercing pain. I've complained weekly to my physical therapist, asking what I am doing wrong and what I can do to fix it? But nothing helps. I've pulled way back on physical activity, but things remain inflamed. While rotating the joint around the socket, my surgeon was shocked by the level of irritation. I cringed as he circled my knee around and around, measuring my mobility.
As a comparison, he checked the other leg. When he rotated my knee inwards I yelped. Somehow, my left hip joint deteriorated faster than my right. For about a month now, driving and sitting have become increasingly difficult. While my right hip can finally handle a 45 minute drive up the mountains to visit the in-laws, my left side didn't want to risk being left out of the burden. Without knowing it, I've been pampering my left leg, altering my stride as I walk to handle the impact on two broken hip joints.
Repairing muscles applies a lot of pressure to the sockets. Just like physical therapy made my right hip worse, the act of healing my right hip post operation, is killing my left. I knew this could happen but the reality of it is inconceivable. "Once I hit the 12 week mark I will be halfway. It will be smooth sailing from there." I am not halfway anymore. I am less than a quarter of the way to full recovery.
The doctor took an x-ray of my left hip. It's the same giant pole, marked with a nice peppering of bone material that's been scraped clear of the joint. The shards sit near the socket, evidence of bone on bone abrasion. "I'm really sorry, Jen. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear today, but I can't allow you to run, or do anything until we fix your left hip. This is a congenital defect and I warned you, your chances were quite high that both legs would need to be operated on, we just didn't predict it would be this soon. Your condition is significant. Just 1mm of extra bone can make people miserable, yours is quadruple that."
He put me on a large dose of anti-inflammatory drugs to try and settle things down on both sides for the next two weeks. The next step will be to get an Arthrogram MRI on my left hip to see what the damage looks like on a tissue level. Because I love 7 inch needles, I am really looking forward to it... He told me not to worry too much about things yet. I don't have to schedule it now, but the sooner I do, the sooner I can get back to a normal life. "Take some time to think about it. This is major surgery. What I did to you was just short of a hip replacement. I know this wasn't easy on your kids, and you've worked really hard. I want to you be active again and pain free. Once a labrum flares up, sadly there's not much we can do except surgery to permanently fix the bony bumps. Because your left hip is weak, it will affect how well your right one heals."
Obviously, if I rehabilitated my right hip and finally earned the spot at a starting line, I would be crushed if I had to pull out because my left hip failed. Honestly, I'm relieved it's rearing it's ugly femoral head now. Had I run a race and consequently needed surgery on the left hip afterwards, I would question my sanity of trying to ever run again. This proves it is genetics, not running, that's caused it.
I'll get back out there, it's going to be longer than I expected. But when I hit the trails again, for any distance, the victory will be sweet.
~Roadburner
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