marvel

I have hip dysplasia, and this short article describes it in a very understandable way. Kind of like, Hip Dysplasia for Dummies

I saw a second orthopedic surgeon for my hip on Tuesday - I was referred to him by my current orthopedic surgeon for my hip, who I was referred to by my orthopedic surgeon who has worked on my shoulder. This doctor was amazing, I'm absolutely smitten with him! He talked with me for SO long, longer than any other doctor I've ever had (and I've had my fair share). While he bent me this way and that, he asked me tons of questions about my hip - when did the problems start? What procedures did you have done? Did you always walk with a limp? How did children tease you? (no doctor has *ever* asked me that before) Why wasn't surgery discussed when you were a teenager? Does it interfere with daily activities? What about sex? And so on and so on and so on.

As I mentioned, he bent my legs and had me contort a fair bit; the last thing he had me do was lay on my stomach on the table and bend my knees so my feet were up. He then asked me to let my legs relax as far as they could go out to the side. I'm sure I've mentioned that I'm flexible, but when my foot touched the window sill, he told me to stop. I told him I could go further if the window wasn't in the way - so I adjusted a bit and my legs went down further still. He said "Wow" a lot.

I sat back up and he began to explain what was wrong with me (I've heard it a lot, but I listened patiently anyway ), and then he described why surgery was important. I know I've posted before about the two procedures I'm being considered for - Total Hip Replacement and an Osteotomy. The doctor described the first in VERY basic terms (again, I patiently listened while he told me where my femur was, lol), when he got to the osteotomy, which was developed by a doctor named Ganz (everyone in the world who performs his type of osteotomy has actually studied under Ganz in Switzerland), I piped up and said that I had been reading up on the Bernese Osteotomy. The doctor looked up, a little stunned and said, "Well, yes... actually... Ganz is from Bern. Did (the other doctor) tell you what the procedure was called? Did he tell you to look it up?" I said no, that I had no idea which type of osteotomy would be done, and I had just started reading as much as I could. He told me that I was the first person in all his years of practice to come in having looked it up. Normally I try to avoid that kind of thing... because I don't like to scare myself - but since the orthopedic surgeon(s) have told me that it's an intense operation, I decided to learn as much as I could ("the more you know" and all that).

After that, he spoke to me in slightly more technical terms, which was nice. Going over both procedures, he said that in a normal patient, they wait til they are as old as possible before doing a total hip replacement. I'm complicated. Yes, I could have a total hip replacement now, but with my hyper-flexibility the joint may dislocate easily (which means going back in to have everything fixed and/or replaced - and every time you have a total hip replacement, they take more of your femur off). He said a total hip replacement now could land me in a wheelchair.

The osteotomy also presents challenges. That surgery has a *much* longer recovery period. Add to that the fact that I live 45 minutes from town, I have chronically dislocating shoulders (I will likely have my left one operated on for the third time after my hips are better), so crutches will be difficult - I will likely have a wheelchair and a walker (because I'm not supposed to bear weight on the leg). I will have to take even MORE time off of work, and I'm struggling financially like you wouldn't believe. The surgery is also not done very often, and not at all where I live. I have to travel four hours to Vancouver to see the third orthopedic surgeon who would potentially perform the operation.

Then he discussed what could happen in Vancouver... he said there's a chance the doctor won't want to do an osteotomy on me - my osteoarthritis technically isn't that bad, what's causing the pain for me is the bones jarring into one another, and grinding. He said that the doctor may recommend a total hip replacement... in which case I'm back on the island hoping I'm not in a chair.

Loooong story short - if I'm lucky I'll get the horrific operation I'm dreading

This is really difficult to get into, seriously. What I can say is, I suffered a pretty big betrayal, and so did someone else... leaving the person who hurt both of us feeling pretty awful. These are both people in my local circle of friends, one whom I kinda know, and one who is a very very close friend of mine. All in all, the three of us have been pretty sad. We're all talking though, and that has been *majorly* beneficial, for all of us. Everyone makes mistakes, and we're doing our best to learn from the experience. I am ever-grateful that my friends (including the one that hurt us) are loving, understanding people.

When it comes to relationships, before Heckler came into my life... well, I didn't have the best luck - no, I haven't made the best choices. It had nothing to do with luck. I married my high school boyfriend and settled down and had kids and then proceeded to try to grow up myself, making plenty of mistakes and causing hurt as I went along. Our relationship wasn't perfect, and, really, we didn't have enough common ground to sustain a marriage, we never did. Towards the end of things, I think one of the only things we had in common was the love we had for our children. Often, I felt like my husband was more of an aloof roommate with whom I slept with. I am ashamed to say that I cheated on my husband, twice. Even though that was years ago, I still feel horrible about it. And with this most recent hurt, I now know some of the pain I caused my (now ex) husband I would never want to inflict pain like that on anyone, ever.

My ex stayed with Heckler, the kids and I over the Christmas holidays this past year - and it went really well. I am happy that we're friends, and we talk fairly often. Our kids are pretty lucky, I think... they are surrounded by people who love them SO much. I hope they always feel that way.