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...