I saw my orthopedist this morning. Honestly, I didn't have any expectations for what he might be able to do for me. Thinking about it rationally, I don't even know what he could say to make me feel any better. At the same time, I sort of feel like he should know about my pain, you know?
Given this mindset, it was actually a pretty good appointment - better than I was expecting. And unlike last time, I was very calm and did not cry at all. :) The doctor poked around a bit and did a few 'tests,' although I have to say that his examination skills seem to be a little lacking. It reminds me of a time I had to take a practical for a sports medicine class; all the coaches in the athletic department were mock patients with pretend injuries and we were supposed to figure out what was wrong with them. The feedback I got from the practical was, 'It was as if you were afraid to touch anyone.' That about sums it up. So I understand that the art of physical examination is harder than one might think.
Anyway. He did not think that my continued pain, which is identical to my pain pre-surgery, was necessarily a sign of the surgery not working or the labrum somehow being re-torn. Rather, he just said that the labrum had obviously not yet healed completely. I mean, who are we kidding? Of course he's going to say that. I have my doubts, but really, what can you do? The only way to confirm this one way or the other is to have another MRI, and it's a little early for that. While I do feel frustrated by having this much pain almost nine weeks post-surgery, it's not out of the realm of normal. Plus, I've had some complications along the way. The doctor said that he often saw people who weren't feeling very good two months out but then felt much better three months out. Again, of course he had to say that, but my guess is it might actually be true. I just hope I end up being one of those people.
He said my strength was very good, but that all the muscles around my hip, including my hip flexors, IT band, and muscles in my back were super tight, which I knew. Duh. Although, I believe his exact words were actually, 'Your muscles are really angry right now.' LOL. (Meanwhile, I'm thinking, Yeah, and my muscles aren't the only part of me that are angry.) He asked whether I was taking an anti-inflammatory, and I told him I had to ditch the diclofenac because it upset my stomach too much. His assistant had also suggested trying Aleve, but I just hadn't gotten to the store to buy any yet. He said he would give me a prescription for another anti-inflammatory, meloxicam, and if that didn't work I could try prescription-strength Aleve/naproxen. He said he really didn't want to go the route of a muscle relaxant because in his experience those just made people sleepy. I agreed, and shared my experience with a muscle relaxant with him, and added that I had no desire to ever take a muscle relaxant again for as long as I live. So we agree on something! :)
Then he said something I might want to consider is trying a cortisone injection. Aaaaaaagh!! I had a cortisone injection before, and it was awful. (See: http://39andhip.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-cortisone-injection.html) But, I have to admit that it did help, which I told him. It just didn't help enough. However, it's possible that in conjunction with the surgery, it might be helpful. And as he explained, I could just be stuck in some sort of vicious pain cycle, and this might help break me out of it and calm my muscles down. Fair enough. I mean, the bummer of this is that I went the surgery route precisely because I didn't want to have to go the cortisone injection route for many more years to come, but... I understand how a cortisone injection might be a logical thing to do at this point. And given that I'm fairly desperate right now, I agreed to it, and made an appointment for next Wednesday. I am 100% dreading it, but if it helps it will really be worth it. And what I really, really, really need right now, more than anything, is some hope.
So here's to hoping.
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