Thursday, November 26, 2009

6 weeks..

6 weeks from tomorrow I'll be at the hospital. Eeks! It's kinda scary, well, actually, really scary to think about it being this close. The past month has been much more painful and as much as I'm scared about surgery, I'm happy to know I'll soon be on the path to recovery and if all goes well, the pain will be much less by this time next year.

People ask me what I'm most scared about. I think about it (maybe too much) and it's a lot of little things. Here is the list I have so far (that I can come up with off the top of my head) The fear of the unknown because I have never had to go to the hospital for anything major before. IVs. all the shots. The OR. Not knowing what the pain will feel like after I wake up. Blood clots. Bad progress and not being able to leave the hospital after my 4 days. Infections. Something going wrong during the operation... Please pray that I would let go of my fears and hand this list to the Lord for Him to deal with, and for Him to give me comfort and peace over the next 6 weeks..

Yesterday Jessica and I got together for the morning and we talked a lot about our surgeries. Hers is in 3 weeks and mine is 3 weeks after hers. We both scared our fears, our thoughts, our experiences etc... and just got to know each other a little better. She is a really awesome girl and I'm looking forward to being in recovery with her! Next week we're getting together again for dinner and Ashely is coming along too! There is another girl, Courtney, that is joining us as well. I have never met her but her surgery is also in December, so it's gonna be really cool to have so many friends to talk to about this whole process.

Today was a great day with my family :) For the first time in a long time we were all at my parents house. We had lunch a little early because my sister Katie and her husband were going up to her in laws for dinner so for the afternoon we relaxed, slept and watched football! Around 6 the rest of us went to my sister Laurens house and had pie and watched the first Bourne movie.

Alright well I'm off to bed because I'm getting up in the morning to go shopping with my boyfriend :) Good night and Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

date moved...

So I got a call from the Dr.s office last night saying he wouldn't be able to do the surgery on the 5th. I called this morning and we moved the surgery to Friday the 8th at 10:30. I was really disappointed yesterady when I heard the message and not being able to get it figured out last night was kinda hard but God works everything out in His perfect timing.

The past couple days have been pretty hard for me, pain wise. Sunday was just bad. No matter what I took, and the positing I was in, I was in so much pain. My wonderful boyfriend was very sweet, asking what he could do and trying tt help. There are just days, nothing really helps, and I just have to suck it up and deal with the pain.

well, I work at 2 so I'm going to go enjoy my morning off! bye ..

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

counting down..

So, today marks the 8 weeks and counting mark. I met with Ashely and Jessica today for lunch. It was great meeting some new friends that we all share a common problem. It was nice to hear advice, stories, and just talk! It seems hard sometime to talk to people about my hip because they don't really understand the pain I'm trying to describe that I feel all the time. They can say "Oh I'm sorry you're in pain. Is there anything I can do?" And that's great that I have people in my life that are caring and that want to take care of me ( my parents, sisters, my boyfriend, friends..) but i wish I could describe the pain so they understood. Everyone knows what a stubbed toe feels like. Or something hitting your shin and the pain it causes, but this, you can't really understand unless you have it.

For me, (it's different for all) the pain starts when I'm on my feet a lot during the day, or when I walk/ run long distances. When I step to the right and point my toe, I can't pull my leg back without a sharp pain go through my body and I grab my hip because of the pain. And a lot of the time, it's such a deep pain and I can't even pinpoint where the pain is coming from. I'll drive the 30 min home after work and sometimes it hurts to get out of my car and walk to the front door..

Ok, so I know it's a sudden stop, but it's getting late and I better get to bed. the past 3 days I have worked a total of ... 33 hours! man on man..
Goodnight!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Starting off..

Well hi there! I'm starting this blog so you all can follow me as I prepare for my PAO I'm having in January, 2010. It's less than 9 weeks and I'm starting to get a little scared...

Well, let me give you an update on the past 4 years or so. I started having hip pain when I was 18. I went for a physical and my Dr. didn't think much of the pain and told me to wait for my next visit and let him know how it was feeling then. 2 years later I told him it was still bothering me and he sent me to have an x-ray and told me he would call me in 10 days after he got back from vacation. I got a call that evening and he told me he wanted me to go to a specialist right away. He thought it might be hip dysplasia or a sports hernia. I went to 3 different specialists all saying it MIGHT be this, it MIGHT be that. I was getting tired of going to different Dr.’s and not getting any answers.

With the third Dr. I had a CT scan. We got the results and he wanted to send them to a Dr. in St. Louis. A few weeks went by, no word; A month, then 2 months and still no word. I was getting upset that I wasn't hearing anything. I would call and they said they would check up on how things are going... no return call. In December on '07 I made plans to move to Bellingham WA in May of '08. I decided not to bother with the Dr.'s anymore because I wasn't even going to be in Indiana in a few months. While I was in WA I was in much more pain. Big hills, mountains, working with and riding horses, and other activities, all played a part in my hip hurting a lot more.
( I can't even describe the pain I was (and I'm still in) and it's hard to understand unless you have been in this situation before)
I moved back to Indiana the last week of August, '08. I talked to my parents and we decided to look for another Dr. to start up the process again with. We saw one more specialist and he told me he wanted me to have an MRI Arthrogram. After those results came back, I was sent from that specialist to (my current Dr.) Dr. Kevin Scheid. After meeting with him, I was diagnosed with Congenital Hip Dysplasia and the process he wanted to take me through was to have a PAO with is short for Periacetabular Osteotomy.

I had just started a new job and applied for new insurance so I told Dr.Scheid I would wait to figure out all the issues with my insurance before I took the next step.
A few weeks back I called the Dr.'s office and talked to a lady who deals with all the financial stuff. I got some good news saying it would be about $3,000 less (out of pocket) than I thought I would be paying. (yay!) Everything went through with the ordering of my surgery and I got the call saying it was a go. So I picked the date and now it's just a waiting process for January to get here.

It’s already been 4 years, and the process is just getting started. God is good and He will be looking out for me, I just ask that you would please be praying for me.