Even though I've been pretty sure of my labral tear for about 15 years, I obviously needed a formal diagnosis. Although the orthopedist I saw in my 20s was wrong about me needing a double hip replacement by 30 (I'm happy to say I still have both of my original hips), he was right about the labral tear. That is pretty impressive considering he spent about five minutes with me, and apparently this can actually be a tricky diagnosis.
The time between me deciding that I couldn't take my hip pain anymore and actually seeing an orthopedist was ridiculously long, mostly due to me and my inexplicable fear of making doctor's appointments. I initially saw my PA about it, in January 2014, even though I knew she would just order X-rays. That is exactly what she did, and of course they didn't show anything (which is actually good - I felt like I was in trouble if the X-rays showed anything). After I got the X-rays, I started to feel better, so there was a long gap between the X-rays and the MRI. I have this weird thing where I will go around in pain for a long time and put off doing anything about it, then when I finally do, I start to feel better. I used to joke that all
my orthopedic problems seem to go away when I schedule doctor
appointments, so apparently that's all I need to do to cure myself. I call it my reverse placebo effect. I actually saw a great orthopedist about my knee about five years ago who told me it was okay if I just wanted to keep making appointments with him to keep my knee from hurting. Ha. Anyway, my PA did make me feel a lot
better, assuring me that treatment options had come a long way in 15
years. (Most of what my PA does with me is hand-holding, because as I mentioned earlier, I freak out really easily.)
* * * * *
I limped through the semester; I had good days and bad days and days
in between. Eventually enough bad days built up and I scheduled an MRI. This was in May. By then it had gotten to a point where I couldn't even walk normally, and I could actually barely walk at all after sitting for a long time, and I found all of this to be really embarrassing. I am sort of weird in that I get
super easily embarrassed by some things, but not other things that
others find appalling. Having done a lot of sports and spent a lot of time in locker rooms, I don't think twice about undressing in front of total strangers. Apparently this isn't normal. At the same time, both my kids spent a fair amount of time in the hospital after birth, and I found pumping milk in a hospital room without total privacy to be super embarrassing, to the point where I could actually not do it. And here is another contradiction: teaching biology, I have to talk about all sorts of stuff that even my students giggle and turn red over - peeing, pooping, farting, erections, intercourse, you name it. It's not that embarrassing, it's just part of my job. On the other hand, I found it way too embarrassing to ask my orthopedist when it is okay to have sex after surgery. So... I Googled it. That's what led me to discover the cool bunch of 'hip sisters' that exist on the Internet.
By the way: http://susie711.blogspot.com/2007/07/learn-from-my-experiences-mistakes.html
So onto the MRI. Here's how I described it in my journal:
I had my MRI today. It didn't actually take as long as I thought
it would. I hardly had to wait at all, and then the MRI itself only
took about 30 minutes even though I was told it would be closer to an
hour. I got a nice nap in, lol. Seriously, I was soooo tired, and what
else is there to do in that teeny tube? The sort of funny thing is that
the tech asked me what type of music I wanted to listen to, then rattled
off a bunch of choices. I told him classic rock would be fine. I caught
a little bit of the music in between dozing and waking up, and most of
it was '80s music, like what I listened to in middle school. OMG, I
can't believe that's now considered 'classic.' Maybe I am old enough to
have to have a hip replacement.
Speaking of which, the MRI
itself was pretty horrible. When I lay down, the tech strapped me to the
table and taped my feet together, which was actually helpful, so I
didn't have to worry about trying to hold still. Unfortunately, my hip
started throbbing at that point, and never stopped, which made it a
pretty uncomfortable half hour. When it was over, I was groggy, not to
mention in a massive amount of pain, and I'm sure I was a ridiculous
sight. When the tech asked me if I had any questions before I left, I
asked if he had seen anything interesting. He replied, 'Well, there's
definitely a lot of swelling, but legally I'm not allowed to say
anything' (which I knew - but [my husband] always manages to work things out of
people who 'aren't allowed to say anything,' so I figured it was worth a
shot). I told him I knew he wasn't technically allowed to say anything,
but I figured he must know a little something from looking at this
stuff all day. He then responded
vaguely, 'There's definitely something going on in there.' I guess
that's good? Because at least now I can be fairly certain it won't be a
case of there supposedly being nothing wrong, like with my knee, which
supposedly has nothing wrong with it but yet gives out on me randomly at
least three times a day. Regardless, I think I've been feeling very
depressed and uneasy about the idea that some drastic measure might be
necessary in my near future if I want to be able to, like, walk when I'm
in my 40s. UGH!! Like [my best friend] said, I guess I always knew this was a
reality, but I always hoped and prayed that it wouldn't be. At the same time, as I get older, I'm becoming more
sensitive to aging in general, realizing that I'm approaching 'middle
age.' I do not want to be that decrepit woman-in-her-50s
who seems likes she's 70. On the other hand, I don't want to have
surgery, either.
Ugh, enough of that. I don't like thinking about it.
* * * * *
Not surprisingly, my PA called me post-MRI and said that I needed to go see an orthopedist because it seemed that I had a torn labrum. I would not exactly say this was good news, but at the same time, it was not a surprise, and it was good news in that I was happy the MRI showed SOMETHING. The only other MRI I'd had before was on my knee, and it didn't show anything. But that does not change the fact that my knee often hurts A LOT and, more annoyingly, gives out on me at random and unpredictable times, which can be embarrassing.
* * * * *
I'm going to finish this post with an amusing story about getting a correct diagnosis. In my early 20s, I moved across the country to train for diving. At the time I didn't have health insurance because I was no
longer a student and not on my parents' plan, either, and it was pre-Obama, so I didn't have to have insurance. I had a really
awful pain near my Achilles tendon, which I assumed to be tendonitis,
so... what can you do? I mean, even if I had had health insurance, I doubt I would
have seen the doctor for something like that. However, one of the other divers had the exact same pain; we used
to sit and ice together before and after practice. Eventually he went to see an orthopedist, so I joked that whatever
he had, I would just self-diagnose myself as having the same thing. When
he came back from his appointment, I asked him what the
orthopedist had said, and he smiled slyly and said, 'I'm evolving.' I was
like, huh? He then told me that he had an extra bone in his foot, which
was causing the pain. At that point, I was like, okay, I seriously doubt
that's my problem, too, lol. But... several years later, after quitting diving and getting a job and insurance and experiencing mildly debilitating foot and ankle pain on and off
for several months, I finally went to an orthopedist. Who told me... that I
have an extra bone in my foot. Ha - too funny!
By the way, this extra bone has a name and an associated syndrome. (There is a name and a syndrome for everything, isn't there?) Apparently we both suffered from accessory navicular syndrome: http://www.foothealthfacts.org/footankleinfo/accessory_navicular_syndrome.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment