Back to My Hips

Yeah, remember my hip problems? Why this blog is called 39 and Hip? (On a side note, it should now be 41 and Hip.) Well, because I'm tired of writing about cancer, I'm going to post something about my hips.

They. are. killing. me.

Okay so not literally. (I'm pretty sure I've admonished myself previously for using that phrase because nonono, one cannot die from hip pain.) But seriously, my hips are terrible, terrible, terrible.

It all started with a road trip I took with my family that involved sitting in the car for 20+ hours over a period of four days. The trip also involved a fair amount of walking, which sadly also hurts my hips. I cannot win. Walking really hurts, but at least sitting hurts worse. LOL. Ever since the road trip almost a month ago, my hips have been bad news.

I've had it in the back of my mind that while I am not working and while I have free medical care (free as in 'free'), I should go back to my orthopedist and discuss possibilities for managing my hip pain, and at least find out the results of the arthrogram I had on my left hip back in April. Not surprisingly, I didn't get around to it because even after all this, making doctor's appointments still induces high blood pressure.

But. I have a colleague who also has hip problems due to hip dysplasia. This colleague is only a few years older than I am, and her younger sister has already had both hips replaced, so she gets it. We exchange sad hip stories and gripe about our orthopedists a lot. It is nice to have someone who realizes just how much a cortisone shot in the hip can hurt and how distressing having such severe hip problems at a young age is. Apparently while I've been wrapped up in my cancer saga, her hip got really bad really fast, and now she is having a hip replacement December 1st, which she told me about last night.

I then proceeded to have a nightmare about having a hip replacement, and woke up all confused until I realized Phew! I'm not the one having a hip replacement! However, my relief was immediately followed by But dammit my hips really ARE killing me! &*%#!

All this to say that I finally made an appointment to see my orthopedist. Tomorrow. Because, yeah, bad hips cause more pain than cancer, even though cancer really can kill you.