My One year Anniversary...

So today is my one year surgery anniversary…its weird thinking that one year ago today I was sitting in St George’s hospital waiting for surgery. I remember being so scared about post op pain to the point of wanting to cancel surgery. My Mum said she would kill me if I did, thank God she didn’t let me as it has been worth all the pain of surgery (not that it was really that bad) to get to the point of where I am today.
This time last year I could hardly walk, sit, stand, sleep or do anything because my hip was so painful, I had no pain free flexion basically. I couldn’t reach my right foot and getting my socks and shoes on was a mission (I had to get someone else to cut my toe nails for me, luckily they hardly grew). I couldn’t play any sport or run or do so many things I still cant believe that several doctors didn’t seem to believe that something was wrong?!
Now I can walk with no pain, sleep (even starting to on my right side), run about a bit, putting on my socks and shoes is a breeze, I can even cut my own nails and 90 degrees of flexion is easy. I am swimming regularly, have played table tennis and badminton and have got back into dancing-yay! I have also just started attempting to wear something other than my trainers although it has to be something pretty special like an interview or a graduation dinner! My bike has even been dusted off and been for several walks (I don’t think I could say I went must faster than that but you have to start somewhere). All the pre-op pain was gone when I woke from surgery and the only time anything like it came back was when I fell down those stairs recently-I am happy to say it was short lived thank goodness. I get little tiny twinges of similar pain when I have my leg in flexion and internal rotation but I was told to expect that so I just make sure as much as possible that I don’t put myself in that position.

I was hoping I would be back to running and it’s a bit disappointing that I still cant deal with standing still for more than 2 seconds but then you cant have everything and I am still going around saying wow I can do…wow I can do…but I think these other issues are due to combinations of things (feet in particular) so I cant really blame my hip totally.

Something that is starting to concern me and I must bring it up when I go back to see my surgeon (I think I’m going back soon anyway…) is the continued tenderness and sensitivity around the incision site. I can just run my hand along it gently and it hurts so every time I bang it and trust me this is a lot, it hurts like hell, especially around where the greater trochanter is. I’m not sure this is normal and I would have thought that by now it would have got better and I had my screws out to deal with this so go figure. I have been in two minds to mention it to anybody at all as I feel so bad about it, I mean I don’t want to come across as ungrateful as I am so grateful its not funny but I think that maybe he has the right to know I am a little concerned about it. It’s certainly liveable and I wouldn’t switch pre-op pain with this for anything but I just want to know if there is still a chance it will get better over time.Even with this and the RSD symptoms, I am still totally happy with the surgical results and consider I am a 100% success as far as everything goes and as I said before, if it wasn’t for all the other complications I seem to have I think I would be better than I am right now-that’s pretty good now don’t you think!

I'm getting impatient...

It has been 3 weeks since my last exam and I still haven’t got all my results back. My second to last exam result has been available for half of that time but nothing of the other 3 yet - I call that shocking!

I have been checking once or twice a day (ok maybe more like 4-5 times) and every time I do I get butterflies as I scroll down the page to see second semester papers, and every time I am disappointed, enough already – I don’t care how bad they are, I just want to know!
I am waiting on biochemistry, human body systems and human development. Epidemiology results are out and considering how badly I did in the mid semester exam I was surprised and relieved with the result I achieved, I made some serious comeback in the final exam apparently!

It was the exam I found the hardest and even though I got an extra 20 min (bringing it to a total 2 hr 20min exam) I still struggled to finish the whole paper in time. Considering I thought it would be my worst result and then got a B+ (76%) I am worried that it wasn’t my worst exam after all. I was only hoping on getting B+’s in my best exams…I don’t really know what to think and I am getting impatient about having to wait and wait and wait!!!!!!!!!

So you know how I fell down those stairs....

...well I dont think it was such a good idea-I hurt my shoulder.

After about 2 weeks I gave in to my friends and went to get my shoulder checked out. I mean it wasn't too bad, I just couldn't wash or do my hair, get dressed properly, or write at all (and I was seriously swearing, something I do not do-no not too bad at all...)

Anyway trying seeing doctors here is almost pointless as you have to wait a least a week-sometimes two so I went back to the physio school clinic. I love Sue, she is the amazing lady at the desk and knows me quite well now so I went in to talk to her and see what she thought I should do, umm well she thought I should be seen pronto and gave me an appointment that afternoon with a postgrad student under Steve's watchful eye (inward groan from me).

Turned out I had damaged some of the nerves around my cervical spine which they were a bit concerned about and because of my complicated history I spent over an hour and needed to go back in the morning to continue the eval. as they hadn't even got around to seeing if I had really done anything to my shoulder or if it was just referred pain.
Well after 3 more than hour long appointments it was decided that I had damaged the nerves and just to be careful and let them settle and that it was possible that I had also damaged my shoulder in some way. I had my final exams and was supposed to be studying for them so I said I had no time for physio over the next 3 weeks and I would come back then to see what was going to be our plan of attack...( I am a bad person, I would have told someone off for doing this but I am a stuborn person and my exams took priority).

So after my exams (by the way my shoulder made me cry several times through these as it is sooooo painful) I went back to see Steve and this is where we are at:
Yes my shoulder hurts....
Yes I have damaged it somehow...
Ok so just now we are thinking damaged tendons, one possibly 2 (I think this turns into rotator cuff tears)
Maybe a torn labrum (yes you have them in your shoulder too) but hopefully not.
Need an ultrasound to check out what is going on.
He gave me 3 exercises to do in the meantime and I have to say that for the first time I am a slacker...they make it even more painful, doesn't seem to matter when I do them and so I am not doing them religiously as I did for my hip. He did say not to do one of them if it made it worse but right now I know that the other 2 are making it worse too so I am not keeping up as I should be.

I am going home tomorrow-my Dad is on his way down right now and then he is driving me back home tomorrow, I am so excited!

And Steve and my home doc have got together and on Tuesday I have an ultrasound and x-ray appointment all set up ready to see if we cant find out what is going on inside this naughty shoulder of mine.

Ok so it is positively screaming at me for having done all this typing-it is sure not a happy joint right now...