Wait, what, it's already Thursday!? I'm so confusedddddd. The days off work due to Easter weekend had me thinking today was Wednesday. Sorry for the lack of update! Last week was overall good, until TOM came. I've been one grumpy cat in the past few days, and my hip has been achey since Tuesday. I've been taking Celebrex and it's been helping. Ugh. Darn female hormones! In exactly two months, I will be shooting my first wedding of the season. I'm a bit nervous, as those 10-12 hour days running all over the place with heavy equipment are hard on the body, even when you've had no hip surgery. I've been walking everyday with Monsieur Bailey, trying to increase distance so that I can build endurance. I did 7km on Tuesday, plus training at the gym in the morning, and my hip was semi-happy about it. I iced in the evening, but still it felt tight the next day. I had PT yesterday morning. One HUGE improvement has been my trunk's mouvement. It has been SO tight in the past few months, to the point my PTs would say "oh boy" when testing how far I can twist on each side. I was trying to stretch, foam roll and even had some work done on it in PT, but it never seemed to improve much. Last week, my PT added a new exercise: lunge and twist w/ the pulley. It's been day and night...it really seems this gave me the amplitude I was lacking so much! Feels so good. My exercises remain the same so: - Bike / Rowers (alternate between two to avoid fatigue) - Sumo squat - One leg deadlift - Backward lunge + Side lunge - Lunge and Twist with pulley - Planks - Superman - Turkish Get Up - 1/2 kneeling 3-way stretch - Rolling the ball (glutes) - Rolling pin (IT band, quads) The main difference is now I'm going to have days where I really up the weights, do less reps so I can build strength. This is going to be new, so I'm looking forward to see how my hip will react. Overall, I'm still happy with how things are going. My boss at the clinic recently told me "you must be so tired of this" but to be honest, it's really not that bad. I'm seeing improvements as the weeks go by, and there's finally hope that I'll be able to get back to a non-painful, functional hip in the future. My hip has even been less tight in PT, so much that this week's session I only had dry needling in my LEFT hip. Hurray! Well, not hurray for my left hip. But hurray for the right! The left well...whatever. Anyway, I have to go home, have dinner, and hit the gym! Hope y'all having a great week!
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Hello hello! Ever since I had my first surgery in 2014, I've been hearing hip patients say "You'll see, you'll someday turn a corner!" and never really understood what that meant. I don't want to get ahead of myself, or jinx it, but I feel that this week has been the best I've had in a long time. Sara (Dr. Nho's PA), just a few weeks ago, told me that anterior hip tightness is still to be expected at this point in my recovery, and that most patients just one day wake up and it's gone. I can't say it's completely gone, but it is SO much better. Even dry needling wasn't THAT bad this week! It was almost enjoyable, said no one ever lol It's not easy to do my exercises with the new family member in the house! The second I rolled out my yoga mat, Monsieur Bailey grabbed his toy and started drooling all over the place. Every time I stepped on it, he jumped on me to lick my face. Haha. So now I try to do all my stretches and planks at the gym, it seems it's the only way to get them done for now! This weekend, I spent part of my day hanging out with niece Corinne. We went shopping, girl time! I asked her where she wanted to go, and it was so cute that she didn't know. I gave her a few suggestions, including going to build-a-bear...and the second I said those three words, she jumped up in the air with excitement. We got there, and she immediately chose the black lab stuffed animal, naming him "Monsieur Bailey". She was so proud to have him, introducing her plush dog to her family, and apparently bringing it to school today! So cute. I then brought her to Menchies, introducing her to frozen yogurt. Her sister is allergic to milk, so they can't really go to ice cream places. She was pretty stoked, I think she put 20 maraschino cherries in her bowl! On Sunday, I went over friend's house to babysit their almost-two-year-old. Max is always so much fun. I was a bit nervous because watching a toddler can be a lot for the hip...playing on the ground, picking him up, etc etc...but everything went well! I made sure to always engage my core, use my glutes, and take some time to rest a bit too (while watching Caillou with him snuggled up to me...heart melting!). Made me realize how it must be hard to have children when going through the early months following hip surgery. A fellow Nho-patient who just had surgery told me that he's not allowed to pick up his son and daughter for at least four months. It must be SO hard. This is what's always on my mind...and I wonder if I should move forward with left hip surgery sooner rather than later. I want to have a baby eventually/soonish, and I feel it would be easier to go through recovery now. But then I wonder, is my hip bad enough? Will it be worth it? It's still early to tell, and I'm far from being back to normal with my right anyway. Once it will be all healed up (who knows when...), and that I will be back shooting intensively + training...I will be able to make a clearer decision. On Monday, I had an appointment with a new local orthopedic surgeon. Before having surgery with Dr. Nho, my physiatrist recommended I see her for my possible revision. I was then placed on her waiting list, and received a call last week. Clearly a lot of stuff happened since then, but I decided to go anyway to have her opinion on my left hip, and to see if she could help me get my revision covered by the government. I sat in her office, explained my timeline and brought up my left hip. But then she informed me that she cannot operate on patients over 20 years old. She was very apologetic, and I could tell she was frustrated she couldn't help me further. She recommended I see Dr. Belzile in Quebec City, who's list I'm already on. Dr. Millis in Boston had referred me to him when he confirmed mild dysplasia a few months ago. Dr. Belzile studied under him, and he's one of the top dysplasia specialists on the east coast. The whole point was so that I have someone IN CASE the hip scope fails due to dysplasia. And then, I could consider PAO. Obviously I'm crossing my fingers I never have to get to that point (look it up on Google if you don't know what it is, the photos are pretty traumatizing!)
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a letter saying I had to go to the states for surgery. She said that she's 400% sure it would be denied as hip arthroscopy is practiced here in Quebec. I mentioned labral reconstruction, and capsular plication, and she informed me that she and Belzile both practice those recent techniques. WHERE WERE THESE PEOPLE WHEN I NEEDED THEM IN 2014??? I asked her if she is ever going to be able to help adults with FAI...she said, most probably not. After a few questions, I think I understood. Surgical mafia. I'm pretty convinced the surgeons who do surgery in Montreal ganged up together to keep OR times for themselves, forcing her to withdraw from adult hip preservation surgery. I was at loss of words. This amazingly sweet, empathetic, COMPETENT for what I know of a surgeon can't even reach out to patients in need. I wasn't really disappointed to not have a letter to have my surgery reimbursed, it was a long shot to begin with...but finding out this? I walked out, almost feeling more bad for her than for me, as she repetitively apologized for not being able to help me further. Luckily, teenage patients are able to get surgery with her. I'm sure they're in great hands. At this point, comes the question: left hip surgery with Dr. Nho, or Dr. Belzile? Dr. Nho is my surgeon, I trust him, I know how good he is with this kind of surgery. But it would also mean another 20-25K. Dr. Belzile is probably one of the best dysplasia/PAO specialists, but is he as good with hip scopes? Guess I'll cross the bridge when I get there. In other news, I booked my flight for my 6 month follow up! It's actually going to be 7.5 months, as I preferred to shoot a wedding before seeing Dr. Nho. Just in case things don't go so well, so I can hear what he has to say about it. Hopefully all will be good though! I'm going for a few days and will be meeting up with my friends again, so it's exciting. My goal is to visit less touristy areas this time. It'll be so nice to visit in the summer! Alright...I'm sleepy. Bonne nuit! Well well well, what have we got here? Five months post-op! This week I walked to work once...total of 5km. It went pretty well. My main annoyance at this point is really the anterior hip tightness. Each step is almost always super stiff, and somewhat painful :/ I love to look at Facebook's "On This Day", sometimes my past posts make me laugh, sometimes they make me realize that I have really irrelevant status updates haha. The other day, I got this one: It was an update about the first orthopedic surgeon I saw concerning my hip pain. 2014. The guy was terrible. He didn't look at my XRs/MRI, barely examined me and simply said "your MRI report says you have a labral tear, I don't treat those, I'm referring you to someone who does" Boom. 7 month wait for a 6 minute consult that barely gave me any info on why I was in so much pain. I only heard back from this referral several months later, AFTER I had seen the surgeon who first operated on me. Oh well. It's all part of my journey. Oh Hai! Hello puppy! This is my brand new puppy!!! We adopted him on Monday at the SPCA. He's a 2 year old black lab/golden retriever mix and we love him! We had a bernese mountain dog, but she passed away about a year ago. I'm so happy to have this dog, I now have a reason to go out for walks! I really need to get more endurance as I will be soon shooting weddings, and weddings = 10 hour days running all over the place with heavy gear. I've been going on long walks with him and it's so much fun! I'm also hoping he will help me shed the extra pounds I got since surgery. He also needs to lose weight so hopefully we can do it together! He's super sweet. He lays his head on my lap when I'm chilling, and he seems truly happy to be in our home. Heart explosion! Hip wise, things are going good I guess. I feel I've been stuck at the same place for a while. Or that I'm not much better than earlier PO. I remember having days with NO pain, or barely any pain, fairly quickly after surgery. Now, there's this nagging acheyness that's there every other day. I know it's because I'm much more active than at the beginning. I'm pushing and doing harder exercises. I'm back to work, sitting, standing, driving, etc etc. And this probably puts a lot of stress on the hip. All I can do is trust the process and remind myself that Dr. Nho said 6 months to one year. Trust the process and trust what my PTs are telling me. Yesterday, we tested going up/down stairs, and having my op leg go down slowly, and I was told there's much less hesitation than before. More control, yay! My nerve has calmed down, and I haven't had any numbness this week. So yeah, things are getting better. I'd be lying to say I don't have any doubts from time to time. Wondering if I should have gone with revision or not. Would I have been better off if I never had surgery in the first place? I'm annoyed to still be in pain at 5 months post-op. But then I remember how much pain I was in before...and it was way worse than what I'm going through now. I remember our trip in Spain last summer. After walking all day through Granada, I came back to the apartment with horrible deep burning pain. No matter what I did - stretch, change positions, ice...nothing would make it better. I knew that I would never want to limit my traveling. Shooting weddings was becoming more and more difficult...where I had to sit and stretch several times during the reception, as well as pop NSAIDs morning and night. And training...well I'd have to modify what I was doing so much that there was almost no point in me going anymore. So I'm on the right path. It's just a long, long, LONG path. Last night, I was in a lot of pain. Not quite sure why...but I could barely stand myself, and ice wasn't helping at all. I decided to take some Norco and tadaaaa, it all magically disappeared. But with the advantage of no more pain, comes with the disadvantage of nightmares. Each time I take Norco, I have crazy vivid nightmares. And what's weird is that the nightmares always occur quickly after I fall asleep. They're always SUPER detailed dreams, more surreal than anything I've ever had before. It's strange, as we dream during REM sleep, which is about 90 minutes after you fall asleep. But these...these are always 15-20 minutes after I fall asleep. I'd really be interested to know what happens neurologically for opiates to have such an effect on the brain, and its sleep patterns. Anyway, neuro nerd aside, last night's was so messed up I wish I could have a recording of it!
I walked in a room, it was empty, and I could tell it was the end of the world. I was scared, because I knew zombies could attack me at any time. But then my dream-self remembered that I could do whatever I wanted with the power of thought, so I simply flew away, and then I was safe. Then, my dream-self decided to go into the ocean by Australia. I could breathe under water. And I wanted TONS of fish. Boom, tons of fish appeared. But then I was grossed out because they were slimy and kept getting caught in my fingers. So I asked for less fish, boom, half the fish disappeared. Then I was sick of the ocean so I went in warm lake. And then I was walking on the moon. HAHAH. SERIOUSLY. Opiates are messed up!!! Or my brain is? And it's weird because I woke up in a panic and was afraid to fall back to sleep...but it's not like the dream was really that scary. Anyway. ALL THIS TO SAY...I need to remind myself to trust the process, and acknowledge the fact that I am progressing, even if it's slow. I really hate not knowing what's going to happen in the future: when I'm going to be 100%, IF I'm going to be 100%, will I get surgery on my left? If so, when? How long will that take? Will I need PAO on my right after all this trouble? I'm the type of person that needs to be in control of things, but obviously I can't in situations like these. So I need to keep working hard to put all the chances on my side. And whatever happens, I will deal with when I get there. Alright, going to go pet my fur-baby now...have a nice day! In last week's post, I mentioned feeling pain because of two days sitting...well two days turned into over a week. Sunday I went out for dinner with one of my friends, and when I came home my hip was so painful. I couldn't even walk without limping like crazy. I rested, I iced, I NSAIDededed (how do make this a verb lol) and I even had to resort to Norco. Wasn't feeling much better on Monday. So I know this recovery is full of up and downs. It's not linear. But this week, I didn't have the energy to power through the negative thoughts. I felt envious when I saw people playing badminton in the condo's gym (I used to play competitively in high school and for fun in the past few years). I felt impatient when I wasn't able to walk quickly on my way to work because of icy streets. Saw photos of the gym I used to train at on Facebook, and felt left out as I haven't been in over a year and a half. Guess I'm just sick of feeling different. Different compared to normal people, and different to who I used to be before this injury. My flare lasted over a week. I'm still not completely over it. But soon! PT yesterday really helped. Like...really. He did a lot of manual therapy and some dry (ouch) needling. Instructions are to get back to my exercises but to go in a little less intensively. This morning I did: - 20 minutes on spin bike - 15lbs KB press step ups 10 reps x 3 both sides - Gliding backward + sideway lunges 10 reps x 3 both sides - Half kneeling 3 way stretch Happy to say that it went well :) Working was fairly good too, just the annoying capsular/anterior hip tightness. But I can deal with that. Tonight I saw my other PT (yes, I'm pretty lucky to have two amazing PTs, three if you include Lindsay in Chicago!) so we could work on my left hip, as it's been hurting pretty bad. Tightttttt hip flexors. Oy. My neck was stiff too, so he worked on it and it felt SO good. I've been thinking that maybe I should go forward with left hip surgery in the fall. Last week it was painful almost everyday, and I barely did anything. I'm trying to think of how it will react the day I get back to sports, or even just shooting weddings...and I doubt that it will be pain free. Dr. Nho had told me that usually when the pain starts, it rarely goes away. He said that if I'm able to modify my activities to avoid pain, and that I'm fine with the limitations, then we could avoid surgery. But that if it interferes with my daily life, then maybe I need to consider surgery. It's too early to make a clear decision, but I'm the type of person who likes to know what's up next, so I'm starting to prepare myself. I really don't want to deal with this the day I will have a baby, so it seems this fall would be the best option. I'm going to keep working on it in PT, and keep strengthening as best I can. The financial aspect of it is a bit stressful too, as I don't think I can afford another surgery. I'm seeing a new OS here in Montreal in two weeks (been on her waiting list for almost a year now) and I'm hoping she will agree to write a letter saying I had to go to the US for care. This would get me one step closer to the government accepting to cover for the surgery. I honestly would be happy if they accepted to reimburse only one surgery....I'd use the money to pay for my left hip. It's a touchy subject, because I don't want her to think that I think she's not good enough, or whatever. I just, after so many years in pain, cannot trust anyone else but Dr. Nho. I need someone who does 600 of these every year, who can work with any situation, as complex as it can be. I can't go in for another surgery risking that not enough bone be removed, or the capsule to be left open (especially with my borderline/mild dysplasia). I'm just going to be honest with her, and hopefully she will understand where I'm coming from. Anyways. For now I'll just keep focusing on getting my right hip back in order. Just watched Under Armour's new ad with Michael Phelps...so good. Love the quote "What you do in the dark puts you in the light." Feel it's so accurate with this recovery. Hello hello! Hope y'all having a great week so far! Hmmm, what's new since last week's blog post? Whaaaaaat!!!!!! Yup, I went ice skating. I've been feeling a bit bummed out lately. I miss snowboarding SO much. I know the conditions aren't the best here anyway...but it's the NOT BEING ABLE to go - even in crappy conditions - that really sucks. I needed a small piece of victory. Ever since I've been rehabbing for the past...I don't even know how long anymore, I've been wanting to get back into things I haven't done in YEARS or to start new activities, new challenges. And then boom, I thought of ice skating. I haven't gone ice skating in like, 15 years. But suddenly, I had the URGE to strap on boots mounted on tiny sharp blades gliding on the slipperiest surfaces aka ice. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. "ARE YOU CRAZY?" I thought long and hard about it. First, Oli and I decided to simply go buy me some new skates, and that it wouldn't necessarily mean I'd go out using them right away. Mini-shopping trip! Hey, shopping for hockey skates is better than staying at home doing nothing. So we went. And I found a pair I liked. I bought them. We then arrived home and I procrastinated. "Do we go tonight? Do we go tomorrow? Is it better if I don't go at all?" I decided to go that night. But I made things clear with Oli: - We would only go for a short period of time - I would have to be REALLY careful - I would have to take MANY breaks - I would have to listen to my body, no matter how soon it would mean that I would have to stop DEAL. Voicing out these guidelines simply allowed me to be accountable, as I knew Oli would keep a close eye on me. I also knew Dr. Nho's team had told a fellow-Canadian that he could go skating, and this was when he was around 3 months PO. To simply be really careful, and to not overdo it (sound familiar? story of any hip patient's life haha) So we went. It was great as the ice was even. It was also not too crowded. I went around the small loop once. Sat down. Took the time to pay attention to how the hip felt. "Hmm, feels fine". Another turn around the loop. And a few others. Each push was carefully planned as my brain focused to engage my core and glutes. And there you had it! My first skating outing of the year, of my rehab process, of the past 15 years! It felt SO good. I kept telling Oli "I'm so happy!". We did a total of about 20 minutes, and we headed back home. I was exhausted. All that physical activity, all that MENTAL activity had me completely pooped. I added my ginormous pack of frozen peas on my hip and watched a few of Scandal episodes. Surprisingly, my right hip felt normal. A little stiffer than usual, but nothing too bad. But my left? Ugh, jerk! Seriously. It felt MUCH tighter on that side, and the deep groin pain wasn't going anywhere despite NSAIDs and ice. Rest it is. The next day, I decided to simply go to the gym to bike a little (seated only, no resistance) so I'd keep the hip moving and hopefully flush out the inflammation. Anyways, it was all a great experience and I can't wait to go back! Yesssss, I will be careful. Skip to today. The past two days have been really hard. I had a 7 hour training both on Monday AND Tuesday. 9 to 5, sitting at a desk. The whole time. I didn't want to interrupt the class, so I didn't stand nor stretch every 20-30 minutes as recommended by Dr. Nho. I sat on the edge of my chair, trying to avoid having my hip at a 90 degree angle. I even contracted/released my glutes at several occasions to keep them awake and engaged. I also sat on the spikey red massage ball my friend lent me. But despite all these efforts, my hip is pissed. Correction: HIPS. It wasn't of any help that I also signed up for a 3 hour intro-to-calligraphy class the same day. So that's like...100980892 hours sitting non stop in one day - a lot for a 4 month post-revision hip. But this is something I've been wanting to do for SO long, that I was willing to go through a little pain. IT WAS THE BESTTTTTTT. It was a 3 hour class by Imagine Joy, an amazing calligraphy artist who's work I've been following. I was so excited. It was so interesting. And practicing was so relaxing. If ever you like calligraphy, and that you're post-op, I strongly suggest you look into actually trying it. Not being able to partake in all the physical activity you wish to pursue can be so frustrating and depressing. You're stuck inside a lot (especially in winter when the sidewalks are a safety), and you don't really know what to do with yourself. You've gone through an entire adult colouring book and you are now super bored...this might be a great option for you. Light pressure going up, stronger pressure going down. Overturn. Compound curve. Repeat. Your brain goes in focus mode, and you can find yourself getting lost for hours in the world of pretty lettering. I'm addicted! I'm happy my schedule is looser today. I will have to sit at the office, but I will be able to stand/sit/stretch as much as I wish. I also have PT, which I very much look forward to. And not, because it will surely be painful. I'm currently on call to photograph a birth session, and the mom-to-be is actually due today! My phone has been glued to me since the past week and it shouldn't be much longer before I grab my gear, run to the hospital and capture one of the most intense moments of a couple's life! Overall, the past two days have been tough. Good news is, I know the pain in my right hip is related to muscle tightness. It actually feels really different than my left. Once I'm laying down, I barely feel anything in my right...but my left had this deep burning sensation. On my right, simply dangling the leg off the bed brings this satisfying stretch whereas nothing would make my left feel better. I tossed and turned for an hour before being able to fall asleep. But I'm not discouraged. I know it's part of the process. I didn't go into this second surgery thinking it would be an automatic fix. I still have a lot of work ahead of me, still many victories like my skating outing, and many setbacks as well. If ever you're going through a rough patch in your recovery, don't despair. Remember that you're not alone. Don't be afraid to share with people who are going through the same thing as you. Loved ones - husbands, wives, parents, best friends - as much as they're an amazing support system, they don't know exactly how it feels to be in your shoes. I've had a few people message me through Facebook, or on here, and know that I'm more than happy to listen to their/your story. I would never be where I am today if it wasn't for the amazing people I spoke to online. Without their help, I most probably would still be in pain, waiting for my hip to deteriorate enough to get a THR. So yeah, I would love to hear from you!
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AuthorMy name is Marie-Christine. I'm 34 years old and live in Montreal, QC, Canada. I have had two failed hip scopes on my right hip to do undiagnosed hip dysplasia. My amazing surgeon, who is in Quebec City, performed periacetabular osteotomy in November 2017. He also did one left hip scope (non dysplastic) in February 2017. Archives
May 2018
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