Moving Forward

Moving Forward

I would love to tell you that I went to the doctor right away after the Hot Chocolate 15K incident, but I didn't. I kept pushing the issue to the back burner. Upon returning home, the holidays were basically here. My parents came into town for several weeks for Christmas, and I was busy at work planning a schoolwide event. I focused on family time and togetherness. I decided I would deal with it in January. 

Well, January came, and I was diagnosed with a nasty case of the Flu Type B, which later developed into pneumonia. Let's just say, I spent most of January focusing on recovery and getting healthy and back to work. I'm not too sure what my excuse for February is, but when March came along, COVID-19 became a real thing. Before I knew it, I was working remotely from home. To stay active and keep my mind off things, I spent a lot of time outside walking. I wasn't able to run without extreme pain, but I was thankful to be able to walk for long distances without any issues. I logged over 300 miles walked in March and April, and then, suddenly, it hit in May. My lower back went crazy. I was experiencing extreme pain and muscle spasms up and down my back. After five days of oral steroids, it had barely settled down. I knew it was directly connected to my hip issue and all the miles I had been putting in. 

In early June, I made an appointment with my orthopedic. We discussed, again, treating the labral tear conservatively (aka steroid injection) first to see how I responded. He also ordered a MRI to compare imaging from 2014 to 2020. When the radiologist's report showed up in My Chart online, it mentioned the way that my tear had advanced and grown since my initial MRI in 2014. The steroid injection didn't do much of anything this go around, which I knew was not a good sign. A few weeks l later, I met with my doctor, who laid out the options. Basically- surgery, or keep living like I was. I immediately jumped on surgery, desperate for a chance to live a normal, active life again. He gave me a brief overview of what the surgery would entail, as well as what to expect after surgery. His assistant came in, and I jumped on the first possible date to ensure maximum time to heal and recover before having to go back to work. It was definitely a huge benefit that I was out of work for several weeks due to my job. So, the waiting game began. I had ten days between that appointment and the surgery date. And let me tell you, it was a long ten days of waiting. I read a blog where a girl described the days leading up to her surgery as purgatory, and I was definitely feeling that way. The moment I realized  my hip was going to be dislocated for this surgery, my anxiety went out the roof. Let me go ahead and calm your fears at this point, they will drug you so well you have no idea what happened while you took that nice, deep sleep. 

Suiting Up for the MRI- Ready for Answers 

Waiting for the Doctor to Come In