Monday 18 January 2010

Next Appointment

I have had my next appointment with my surgeon brought forward about 5 weeks to 5th Feb, which will be almost 9 months post-op, so shall see how he thinks the recovery is going-a little too slowly for my liking , but hoping it will improve soon.

Sunday 10 January 2010

As good as it gets?

I was assessed by a new physio last week. He was very thorough, and although hadn't seen a PAO patient before obviously understood the procedure well. He managed to identify that some muscles weren't firing properly and also suspects I have psoas tendonitis and bursitis, and thinks that a scan and a steroid injection will be needed. We had to give up with the assessment in the end because I was getting so sore he wasn't able to finish.
So I am now waiting for an appointment for more physio to begin, and also to see my OS again. I have felt slightly better the last few days but think that is mainly down to the NSAIDS and the pain meds masking it rather than any improvements.
I have gone back to using the stationary bike for a few mins twice a day again and some of the old exercises from physio last time around to see if I can make any more improvements myself, although the joint and the main muscles are all pretty strong.
I am starting to prepare myself, at 8 months post-op, that this is about as good as it gets. I hope things will still get better as I move nearer the 1 year mark, but need to mentally prepare myself to whether I would be prepared for any more surgery if it were to be offered or whether I would be happy to live with my hip in this condition.
I am glad I had the PAO as my joint is more stable now and I no longer suffer from the 'giving out' pain from the dysplasia that was present at almost every step. I wonder if my expectations for this surgery were too high, I imagined by 4-5 months post-op that I would have started to forget I had had hip surgery and would be able to get on with all the things I haven't been able to do for the past few years. So far this hasn't been the case.
At this present time, as my other hip has only mild dysplasia and although sometimes painful doesn't give me the constant disabling pain that I had pre-op with my right hip, I have decided not to go ahead with another PAO and would rather wait it out for a THR in a few years time. However this might change if it deteriorates or my other hip improves dramatically.