Worth 1000 words

This is a 3D reconstruction from my recent CT scan. You can see how the femoral head does not sit normally in the socket. Also the white marking shows the part of the femoral neck that should not be there. It is this area that causes the impingement. The left hip is labeled, but the abnormalities exist in both hips. You cannot see the cartilage on the CT, the tear was diagnosed by MRI with gadolinium contrast.

Planning a little arthroscopic procedure

Weakness kills in medicine. On a team of physicians the individual viewed as the weakest link is under great scrutiny.

The decision has been made. I need reconstruction of my femur and pelvis. It will correct the femoral acetabular impingement and acetabular retroversion. That is the bad news. The good news is that I will be spared a femoral dislocation, in favor of an arthroscopic approach plus anterior incision. Expect 4-8 weeks of crutches. OR date is January, which the orthropod says is good, to give him "a little more time to gain experience" with arthroscopic approach. I am sure he wishes he hadn't said that to me. But I understand where he was coming from, it is a new technology. Reality is this is a major operation, with major recovery.

At work I have begun to tell colleagues that I need "scope" of my hip to repair cartilage tear. I plan to leave it at that.

From the sparkle

I am trained to understand how infertility affects patients. It is a pervasive source of stress leading to personal and marital conflict. Women facing infertility experience loss of well being because their bodies have betrayed them and they feel helpless in the situation.

This knowledge provides no insight or reassurance. Clinical problems and the emotional response is more transparent when occurring in bodies not connected to your own.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome prevents me from ovulating, makes my complexion resemble a 8th grader's and will save me from starving to death in case of famine. As a teenager I thought it was great to only have periods 4 times a year but now I need drugs to ovulate normally. Since food is a relative abundance survival from famine is unlikely to come in handy- and I am left with a commitment to exercise and reality that if left unchecked I will will be obese.

So desire to start a family got me moving to lose weight. Stupidity led to falling and breaking my arm. Insanity pushed me to run early/ hard post fracture convalescence. Hip pain sent me to PT. Impatience landed me in the orthrapod's office. Protocol prescribed hip films. Black sharpie circled bone in neck of femur that should not be there. Nurse penciled me in for January surgery. Whoa. Log way from the sparkle in my husband's eye and dream of little ones.

Time to stop reading

My comprehensive literature search is over. Understanding of my condition based on the objective radiological data, my symptoms and what is known about treatment for FAI was discussed with my primary orthropod last week.

I still need a CT of my pelvis and AP radiograph to better assess the degree of hip dysplasia. This will determine whether a peri- acetabular osteotomy will be needed. Regardless my surgery date is set for January.

This week has been my best week so far. The pain has decreased, and I have started walking up to 1/2 mile. It seems like improvement. Now that my surgery appointment is on the books, gaging my progress and pain seems different.

Hip bone connected to the thigh bone

My physical therapist is excellent. She has me doing these tiny exercises that kill. I mean, who could believe that lifting your leg one centimeter off the ground could be so challenging? Turns out my muscle groups surrounding my hip are very uneven. This news is surprising, but validating considering the degree of difficulty I am experiencing.

I am searching for a unifying diagnosis- or in other words clarity on how my series of problems are linked. Turns out the back pain keeping me from lying flat is because of my altered gait. My funny walk is because of my tight illiopsoas muscle. The tight illiopsoas is, of course due to the hip inflammation. The inflammation brought on by my fall (probably worse due to running with left arm in a sling) in context of underlying impingement/cartilage damage.

So I will keep doing my baby step exercises. And each week my PT will find a new set of muscles that are struggling to compensate. Falling certainly happens more quickly than climbing back up.