wacky hips

I saw the 3rd orthopedist in 3 months yesterday. The next step is a CT scan and having the head of the largest ortho group out here review my case. The Doc. I saw yesterday specializes in hip arthroscopy, mostly sports related injuries and his exact words were, "I've seen a lot of wacky hips in my practice, but you are the first of your kind". great. I feel so special. Actually, what would really make me feel good is if they would just magically say, " that they could of course fix me and take away the limp and the pain by doing "xyz" and I would be cured immediately"... guess that's not going to happen. I started crying on the way home in the car. For the most part I'm pretty upbeat, but when I have to stop and seriously think about the pain I'm in and what it is exactly I can or can't do it really gets to me. I really want to have another baby and if we don't get this pain under control I don't think it's possible. ugh. The only things that really help are that my husband loves me and totally supports me, and my son is amazingly motivating and would cheer anyone up in even the worst situation. Also, my husband still thinks I'm hot, even when I'm a total cane carrying gimp. Too bad pain knocks my libido down so low.
Anyway, bye for now.

olympic shaving

Back in the day (a few years ago) shaving my legs wasn't an olympic event. Not anymore! Now, I have to give myself a pep talk and gather my strength to hoist my leg up onto the shelf in my shower so I can reach down to shave it. It's really freakin hot here, over a 100 degrees most of the summer. Pants are not an option in this weather and my husband's not really one for the "granola-european unshaven look". So at least twice a week I muster my energy, take some ibuprofen and shave that ugly stubble. I'm definitely asking Santa for laser hair removal for Christmas this year!

introductions...

so... gimpy mom? guess that needs to be explained.

I'm 30 years old (31 in a month), I'm a mom to one practically perfect son, and I have congenital developmental hip dysplasia... ugh. I'm a registered nurse too, so I will attempt to avoid ridiculously large annoying medical terminology whenever possible. But I want to start this off the right way with total clarity. So, here's the hip explanation: I was born with hip dysplasia. That means my hip joints didn't form correctly, specifically my acetabulum is too shallow, or in English, the socket of the ball and socket joint is too shallow and kind of wonky. It's normally diagnosed at birth or in the first year of life. In fact they should check your baby, any baby, at every "well-child" visit to the pediatrician. Obviously mine didn't. So here I am 30 and approaching my 3rd hip surgery on the right, the left side has behaved quite well since the original corrective surgery when I was 16. Did I mention that already? When I was 16 I had hip pain, rather abnormal for a teenager, so they did xrays and low and behold I was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. 12 years too late, my orthopedist explained to us, sending my Mom into a guilty crying jag for the rest of the day. Turns out if they had caught it before my 4th birthday I could have been corrected to near normal. They didn't, hence my current painful condition. I had bilateral Chiari Osteotomies at age 16, 6 months apart. They seem to be calling that surgery Peri-acetabular osteotomies now, or PAO. Guess that's a hell of a lot easier to pronounce!

Honestly, I'm really pissed off about the whole thing. I figured this blog would be a great way to vent and let off some steam about dealing with life physically limited and in pain.
I should mention that it's not all doom and gloom. I have a wonderful life otherwise, went to college, married an amazing man who actually loves me and I get to stay home full time with our totally adorable, light of my life son (sorry for the cheese, but seriously kids are really amazing and when you have your own it's totally life altering).

I guess that's it for now, I'll be in touch...