Things were going so well! Oh, it was so nice while it lasted…

Not long after my last post, in late January I started noticing that my left hip had developed a new pain. I was used to the pain around my greater trochanter (caused by screw related inflammation of the tendons — the arrow in the picture of my left hip points to  where the hardware used to screw into the trochanter); however, this new pain was different. It was clearly coming from deep in the joint. Over the following two weeks I noticed the pain was chronic from my first step, and would become quite severe the more I walked. Sadly it got so bad that I busted out my crutch and called my surgeon who was able to get me in quickly. Since the cause of this new pain was not immediately clear, my surgeon ordered X-rays, an MRI, CT scan, and diagnostic injection into my left hip joint, as well as a 2 week follow-up appointment with him (which happened yesterday).

The results of all of the tests showed that the pain was indeed emanating from the joint itself and not the surrounding soft tissue. The MRI showed cartilage damage and cartilage loss which was a bit of a surprise.

CT Scan of my left femoral head and acetabulum.

Unfortunately, there is no way to fix cartilage loss except with a total hip replacement which, through some confusion, had been indicated to me that I might need. However, after completely breaking down at the thought of needing a hip replacement at 36, the confusion was resolved and I am happy to report that such procedure is hopefully still a long ways away.

We discussed alternatives for how to deal with this newly developed pain and cartilage damage (as well as the hip flexor pain I still have in my right side). Rather than rush to surgical intervention, my surgeon and I decided on a plan of attack for the next few months. I will continue to do physical therapy weekly, do my exercises at home on a daily basis, and take Pilates classes 2 times a week (typically reformer or tower) but I will not over do exercise and I will not try to run until cleared by my dr. We also agreed that I would lose 25-30 pounds since body weight can contribute to the pain and apparently for each pound you lose, the effect on your hips is the equivalent of 3 pounds of weight loss!  I’ll meet my surgeon monthly and if I’ve done all of the things that we agreed upon and I still have pain come summer we’ll then consider doing a arthroscopic surgery on one or both hips.

Finally, I have begrudgingly stopped giving my body due dates to get better.  Try as I might, I can’t will my hips into submission and I can’t make the pain go away by working harder.  I’m really bad at remembering these facts but I try, and I think that the next few months will help me focus a bit more on the day to day living rather than trying to get to 100%.  Let’s hope!