SET THE DATE!

I finally set the date for my surgery! May 14th!!!!!! It's three months away and I'm really nervous. However, to keep myself feeling better I have been doing different things to get prepared:

• Started swimming to get in better shape and strengthen my muscles
• Started doing morning and evening hip strengthening exercises that were approved by my PT
• Started taking Vitamin D and Calcium
• Started using Shea Butter every morning on my hip where the scar is going to be (to hopefully reduce the appearance of the scar)

Like I said, I'm pretty nervous that this is all happening so soon. However, I am so glad that everything is set in stone because I can finally plan around it. Right now I don't have anything to do until May 7th when I go in for pre-surgery testing. To keep sane, I'm going to concentrate on strengthening my hip and doing everything I can to be 100% by May.

~Mary Lynn

My MRI arthrogram Adventure

So today I went in for my MRI arthrogram. I arrived early just to make sure that everything was settled and ready to go by my appointment time. As soon as I signed in the receptionist sent me back to wait for the technician. The technician, confused why I was in the X-ray hallway sent me back to the receptionist. I guess they overbooked the arthrograms that day and had to do my arthrogram in the X-ray room. Also, to make it even better, they scheduled my arthrogram to be at 1:30p when it really should have been scheduled at 2:30p. This was only the beginning to my very eventful two and a half hour wait.

Instead of sending me back to the waiting area up front, they had me wait in the X-ray hall. Here I saw many different characters go in and out. The first was this poor guy that just went in to get his tooth pulled. I guess during the procedure he accidentally swallowed the gauze and couldn't breath normally. They had him sit out in the hallway and try to cough it up. How embarrassing! This poor guy was constantly coughing for about a half and hour! I hope that he finally coughed it up.

The next character that I came across was this sweet little old lady. She got her X-ray done and was waiting for a transfer person to bring her back to her room. The person that was suppose to transfer her took FOREVER! She explained to me that she had to go to the bathroom really bad and just wanted to go back to her room. There were no X-ray technicians around so I tracked down a really nice RN and she got her the help she needed. The transfer person came within the next ten minutes. The longest ten minutes of this ladies life. The whole entire time she complained to me that all she wanted to do was go back to her room. I tried to change the subject to get her mind off of it, but she didn't want that at all. So I just listened and nodded my head. She was very happy once they took her away.

The next woman that came through was there for a swallow test. She was explaining to her daughter that she was having a very difficult time swallowing. Not even two minutes after she stated this, she pulled out a bag of M&M's and starting eating them. Ugh.

As patient after patient went in and out of the X-rays, I waited and waited on the most uncomfortable chairs I have ever sat on! I literally at one point had to just start walking up and down the hallway to give my hip and back a break from the chairs. Finally, two and a half hours later they said they were ready for me.

As I got ready for the arthrogram and layed on the table, the nurse and resident were getting the procedure table ready for the doctor. It was obvious that they had no idea exactly what they were suppose to do. The one technician joked with me that it sounds like the first time they were doing this, but he promises me that it wasn't. That instilled a lot of confidence. Haha. But, honestly, I didn't really mind. I knew that the doctor would make sure they were doing everything correctly and they did. The resident did the procedure with the doctor looking over his shoulder. The doctor kept giving him compliments on how well he was doing and everything looked perfect.

The procedure:
They first injected the local anesthetic to the top layer of skin (which really burns when it goes in!). They then proceeded to do this deeper and deeper into the joint. That really was the worse part. Once they had that done, I couldn't feel anything. He then put the needle in that they were going to use for the procedure and I couldn't feel it until they got really deep into the joint. Even then it wasn't really that bad. I was told that I would feel a lot of pressure in the joint when they put the contrast in but I didn't. Honestly, it was so numb that it felt great! I have had constant pain in my hip for the past 7 months and now I couldn't feel it at all! It was such a relief!

Once the procedure was done they sent me to MRI. I was told to walk over to MRI in order to make sure the contrast moved all around my joint and fulled covered everything. The ladies in MRI were very nice and made me feel really comfortable. I am claustrophobic and they made sure I was OK every step of the way. This is my THIRD MRI now! However, this one went the best out of all of them. I was given medicine to calm my nerves and oxygen to make sure I felt like I had enough air. It was over before I knew it and I was heading home.

On the car ride home the pain started to come back. However, it doesn't really hurt as much as I thought it would. Overall, the whole procedure wasn't as bad as I prepared myself for. It is a little stiff and I can't really walk much right now, but not unbearable. I did have a major headache when I got home but I think that has to do with the medicine they gave me. Right around the time the medicine was suppose to wear off was when the headache came. My headache is pretty much gone now and I'm feeling great.

Overall, I wanted to let you know that even though the procedure sounds scary, it really isn't that bad at all. You just have to breathe and get it over with. This is just one of the first steps to my journey and I'm ready for it!

MRI Arthrogram

I was suppose to go in and get an MRI arthrogram done the other day. However, it had to be rescheduled. The doctor explained that because of my allergies he did not want to risk anything. I now have to schedule the procedure to be on a different day (almost a month away)!

On the bright side, I learned a lot when I initially went into have the arthrogram the first time. I was talking to the technicians while waiting for the doctor (there was an emergency case so the doctor was busy). I thought they would just have to inject me with the contrast and send me into the MRI. However, I was wrong. The procedure is much more intense than I thought. The contrast for the MRI is added into the stuff that they need for the arthrogram. The arthrogram is a way to see the "soft tissue structures of the joint, such as tendons, ligaments, muscles, cartilage, and your joint capsule. These structures are not seen on a plain X-ray without contrast material. A special type of X-ray, called flouroscopy, is used to take pictures of the joint." However, this is a very common procedure that the technicians do about 3 times a week. They made me feel a lot better about the whole thing and were very nice. I hope that I get them again the next time I go in. 

Overall, going in to this appointment made everything seem really real. So far the most I've gone through were MRI's. Thank god that I don't have to be awake when they do the actual surgery!

Tips

Here are some helpful hints before surgery:

• Get a cane that folds up so you can put it in your purse/bookbag
• Take up a hobby to do since you're going to be sitting a lot more than usual (ex. knitting or reading)
• Plan out how much you have to walk when you go some where so you know if you need crutches or just a cane or nothing at all
• Educate yourself on your condition and the procedures you are going through so you know what's coming
• Keep ALL your medical records organized in one place
• Get support from family members or friends
• Join a support group

A little about me

Hi, My name is Mary Lynn. I started this blog in order to help others also going through hip dysplasia. Whether you are 16 or 60, hip dysplasia is a hard thing to go through. There is constant pain and difficulty in daily activities. I hope my experiences can help.

Here's a little background on what I have been going through:

I have been having hip problems since I was 12 years old. When I was 12, I went to the doctor because I couldn't put any weight on my hip without extreme pain. They couldn't find anything wrong with me and sent me on my way with no answers. I had to be on crutches until I found out something to help. Fortunately, a woman I ran into hours after the doctors appointment was a dance instructor. She said her girls would have the same type of pains. She suggested that I go to a chiropractor in order to help. Her advice really helped. After going to the chiropractor, my pain was minimized and I didn't need to use crutches. At the time, I thought I finally found what my problem was and how to fix it.

I kept going back to the chiropractor for a period of 8 years with the same pain in my hip. The chiropractor would help for a short period of time but the pain would always come back. I remember nights where I would wake up from the pain and days where putting any weight on my hip would be excruciating.

This past summer I decided that I wanted to train for a marathon (I know crazy right?!). I have run in the past and was in Cross Country in middle school. I signed up for a marathon training course with my boyfriend in order to complete the marathon in a healthy and supportive way. During the training, I was going to the chiropractor every 2 weeks. Being so used to the pain in my hip, I ran through it. The most I ran during the training was 14 miles! I ran this non-stop which was a really big milestone for me. I went to the chiropractor two days before that run and had no pain the day of the run. The next week was our 16 mile run. On this run my hip started hurting around mile 3 but I kept going until I got to mile 12 (I was stubborn). I decided that I couldn't go any further because of the pain. This time the pain was much different than before.

Since the pain was different, I decided to go to a "real doctor" instead of going to see the chiropractor. The doctor sent me to physical therapy for about a month. When my pain was not getting any better the PT decided I should see the doctor again. I was sent to get an MRI and found that I had a stress fracture and ganglion cyst in my hip. I was put on crutches immediately. This was only the beginning.

After being sent to three different surgeons over a period of 6 months, the third one finally knew what was going on. I have hip dysplasia and need PAO surgery.