Hiiiiiii! A week ago, I flew to Chicago for my 6 months (a little bit late) follow-up with Dr. Nho. It's funny, I flew here so many times now that I specifically pick my seat to get this view. Left side of the plane, window seat. Early weekend flights are the best, no wait time to get through security and border control. One hour and half direct flight into O'Hare, done. The great thing about being 8 months post-surgery is that I now have enough endurance to walk through the city, almost like a normal person. I bought a weekly train pass, which got me around the city during my 4 day stay. I stayed at the IMD guesthouse again, which is a bit further west from downtown Chicago. It's a five minute walk to the pink line, which brings you to Millenium Ave in approximately 20-30 minutes. I did about 8-10km of walking per day, which is way more than what I usually do back home. Felt super sore and had to resort to NSAIDs everyday...I tried taking Tylenol vs Celebrex and realized that it makes a huge difference, the Tylenol only has an effect for an hour or so. On Monday, I had a an appointment down in physical therapy so that Lindsay could evaluate how things are going, and for some well-needed manual therapy (after the flight and all that walking, I was sure happy to see her). I always enjoy her company, even when she's jabbing her fingers deep into my thigh to relax tense muscles. This time around, she did a lot of work near my incisions, which was definitely not the best time of my life. The sad part is that she's now moving back to Colorado, meaning I won't get to have her as my PT back in Chicago anymore :( Boo. But I am happy for her, I mean...Colorado! How awesome must it be to live there. When we were about to say our goodbyes, I said "before I go...can I have the Game Ready?" She laughed, she knows how much I love that thing. After spending 15 minutes in pure heaven, I actually had to say goodbye...clearly I was sad. Lindsay has been amazing with me, she's such a competent physical therapist, ultra specialized with FAI/hip scope patients...but her personality is what makes it all even better. She always took the time to listen to me, reassure me, and that, as a patient, is truly valuable. Tuesday was the big day, I had my follow-up with Dr. Nho at 9:30am. A few weeks before the appointment, Sara - Dr. Nho's PA, asked if I would be interested in doing a promo video for Canadian patients. After all they've done for me, I immediately jumped in. I was connected with Lisa, who would be coordinating the whole project. I was going to be interviewed on my entire experience with Dr. Nho's office, my initial story (had to try to not say mean things about my first surgeon) and how I am doing now. One thing for sure: I am WAY more comfortable BEHIND the camera than in front of it. Holy smokes I was nervous. They asked me to do a mini photo shoot so they could film me in action, as getting back to my job without any pain is one of the biggest goals of having this surgery. I realized I'm a control freak when I would be suggesting locations for them to film me, haha the poor video guy must of hated me. Then came the interview and I feel I just blabbered out random words that made no sense lol...I'm crossing my fingers the editing will be solid so I don't look like a complete nut job. Again, I'm way better behind the camera. They filmed Dr. Nho and I in an exam room, from the initial handshake/hey how's it going, to a physical exam of my hips, to reviewing images from my surgery. Found it pretty funny listening to the video guy "can you put back the image...the red one...it's good for the camera" haha. So apparently the inside of my hip will be someday exposed to the world lol. I did have an actual consult with Dr. Nho though! He's really satisfied by how things are going. The fact that I'm back in the gym (still not doing any plyo though), doing rock climbing, etc...that has him very happy. I'm still dealing with a lot of anterior hip tightness, and lack of endurance...but he's not worried as revisions take longer to heal - up to a year, or even a little more. He wants me to keep working in physical therapy, respect my bodies' limitations and be patient. We also talked about my left hip. Two years ago, when I had my first surgery, my left barely ever hurt...maybe once every few months or so. I still had imaging done, and it showed that I had the same issues than my right: cam impingement and a labral tear. Then a little while after revision surgery, it started to be more symptomatic. Back then, Dr. Nho told me not to worry about it, as it could solely be compensation. So as the months went by, my left bothered me on and off. But lately, I'd say since the past 6-8 weeks, it has gotten significantly worse. It is now a 2-3/10 daily nagging deep pain, going up to 6-7/10 when more active. It's very similar to the pain I dealt with my right hip, except I don't have the locking when I walk. The thing I love and Dr. Nho is that he doesn't pressure his patients to get surgery. He isn't rushing his patients to go under the knife, preferring to take the conservative route first. He basically told me to wait a year before making any decisions (which my PT had also suggested). If my right is doing well when I'm back at my recreational activities/work, but my left is the one holding me back, then maybe surgery would be the best option. I'm going to be a good patient and listen, will keep up with my physical therapy. Won't jump into making harsh decisions. I'll consult the amazing team around me - the staff at Rush and my physical therapist - and consider their objective point of view on the whole situation. Deep inside, I kind of want to just jump in and move forward with surgery on my left hip. My right hip has been doing so much better, so to me is proof that I can have a better life, even though it's months of effort, hurt, struggles. My right hip showed signs of cartilage damage due to the bump on my femoral neck, and I wonder what would have happened if I never had it addressed? Will it have degenerated in early osteoarthritis? Hip replacement at the age of 40? I'm the type of person that if a problem rises in front of me, I want to confront it head on, and deal with it right away. Which is why I'm having a hard time just waiting and seeing how things go. I have a bump on my femur that's rubbing in my joint, that caused a tear, that creates pain. If I just ignore it, won't it get worse? I'm not sure I'm mentally strong enough to go through this process for a third year in a row, but I'm also not sure I'll be able to deal with this down the line, when I will have a baby (fingers crossed it happens someday). Better peel off the bandaid and get it done, no? Right now, there's no one else than Dr. Nho I would trust with surgery on my left hip. This would mean having to go through the whole process again. Flights, accommodation, facility fees, surgeon fees, follow-ups, etc...meaning a whole new chunk of money. I still believe there's no price on one person's health, and I know my husband and I would be able to get through it a second time. But it's still a lot of money, and we'd have to figure some things out before going forward with this decision. I wish there was a 2 for 1 deal on this surgery! Or like...buy one get the second half price lol. How about group pricing? I know a few Canadians that would be ready to get surgery, maybe if we all band together? Make it like a surgery tour? Arrive in a tour bus? Haha. Anyway. We will see how the summer goes. One of the cool things of the online support groups I've encountered is that I've had the chance to meet fellow patients going through the same situation as me. So far, I've met Rodney from Calgary who had both his hips done by Dr. Nho, Steven from Montreal who had his hip revisioned 3 months after me, Jennifer from the Maritimes. When I had surgery, I met Nicole and Katherine in physical therapy, then at my 3 week post up visit I met Stephanie. Happy that this visit to Chicago allowed me to meet Shane, who's from Saskatchewan and who also had revision surgery with Dr. Nho. Went for coffee before I headed out to the airport for my trip back home. Flight was delayed, which seems to be a given when you're flying out of O'Hare. Anwyay, I'm not so good at updating this blog...and don't even know if people still read it, but I'll still journal this whole journey anyway. If not for others, for myself...who knows maybe one day I'll be super bored and want to re-live the whole thing through my posts lol. Alright, off to walk the dog now, have a good weekend!
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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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