Hip Surgery (Pre-Op)

So this spring I started having pain in my hip. At first it felt like my hip was out of position and needed to pop back into place. I would get glitches of pain every once in a while, but not enough to prevent me from being active. I noticed it most on days when I was running, and back then I was running 6-8 miles 3 times a week with a long run of 10-14 miles on Saturdays. I assumed all I needed was to take a rest. So I did.

But then that pain never went away and eventually got worse. Over our boating weekend in Boise this summer, I couldn't stand up on the wake board because my hip hurt terribly bad (and that's not just an excuse to cover up my lack of wake boarding skills)! I was having trouble with kneeling on the ground to change diapers and bathing children, I couldn't even do yoga. Running was out of the question. Little things that I had taken for granted and didn't take much thought of like changing directions and bending over to weed the garden was now painful.

I decided it was time to search out an orthopedic sports medicine specialist. I was hoping a prescriptive anti-inflammatory and rest would be his recovery plan for me, but I wasn't so lucky. Through X-rays, CT scans and MRI's, we learned that I had a labral tear on the cartilage surrounding my hip joint. I also had a mis-shapen femur that was causing some damage to the hip joint... a condition called Femoral Acetabular Impingement, FAI. I also had hip bursitis and Sacroiliac dysfunction! In short, my hips were messed up! Surgery would be required. I couldn't have been more shocked to hear that at age 34 I was gong to need hip surgery! WHAT?

I've been doing physical therapy since to help heal what needs healed and strengthen what needs strengthened. I've had to rest from all physical activity, which has been a serious mental struggle for me! The last four months have been as much of a mental challenging as it has been physical. This is a series of photos Zoey took while she was with me at a PT session. Here, they have sensors attached to my legs to calculate what joints and muscles are taking impact, how intense, and how different from Left vs. Right side. All the data gets put into a computer program and renders up a digital image of me. The data should help in my recovery when I begin to build up my strength for physical activity again to prevent future injuries. Neat.

On December 30th I will go in for surgery. It's just a scope, but I've been told the first month is really hard. I'm relying on my mom and Brian to help me through it. The first week will have me in bed 24/7, being rotated 4 times a day to my stomach. I won't be able to pick up children, twist, or sit much for 4 weeks. I will be on crutches for a month. I'm hoping for better.

Although it takes a full year to expect a full-recovery, I should be strong enough to start doing yoga and some other activities within a few months post-op. I'm excited for that. For now, I get to enjoy the holidays without trying to recover...and my recovery will be in the thick of winter. It's a win-win. I'm told I should be running again by summer...to some degree anyway :)

 I've never had surgery before. I've never had a broken bone before! I've never had an injury that rest didn't cure. I'm really nervous about the surgery and the recovery but looking forward to getting my life back. And even though getting active again without pain gets me excited, I'm more excited to handle my daily responsibilities of being a mom without pain.