Happy Day!

I am seeing an orthopedic doctor ASAP.

Why's that happy?

Well, because I need this hip replaced/repaired.

In my family runs a gene for degenerative joint disorder. That gene is present and unfortunately dominant/active with me. I would normally have been on top of it much sooner, as in not waiting months to get it addressed.

This ties back to my former OB in a big way. Remember I was posting about how we (women in particular but everyone) have to keep pushing when we know what we feel but doctors keep dismissing it?

Around the 8th month of pregnancy 3, what had been written  off as round ligament pain and hormones was finally diagnosed as symphysis pubis dysfunction. (That's where relaxin causes your pelvis to spread too soon. It happens naturally before delivery, but in SPD it occurs too early and leaves the patient in pain and in bad cases, unable to bear weight on the pelvis--which includes walking.)

The pelvic pain was one thing--but my right hip was an entirely different matter. It got to the point where I could hear my bone grinding when I walked. (This is a symptom of SPD as well--but SPD does not involve your hip. The pain can radiate, but radiant pain does not cause audible cracking and popping of a joint.) The bone burned, and it kind felt like the joint was made of velcro! It would stick and catch whenever I was bold enough to walk.

Somewhere after week 30, I took to crawling around the house. I couldn't bear standing on the leg any more than absolutely crucial. I couldn't drive. I couldn't get down in the tub for those warm soaks my doctor recommended.

And it was depressing. I lost so much mobility and quality of life in those last weeks. No cooking. No baking. No running around with the kids. I couldn't do any outings with them. And when hubby had to work longer hours, I'd be in bed hating every second.

Anxiety had its way with me. What if I couldn't walk anymore? What if the pain, which was in a class all by itself, never went away??? Early 30s is a bit young to be worrying about all that. Especially when my kids are still young and fairly needy.

I woke up one day. It was a Sunday. Right before Halloween. My hip had spasmed all the previous night, felt like a dang bowling ball. It was hard to the touch and I felt like I'd been running all night although I had literally not moved from my pillow nest. (I gave up sleeping in my bed by this point--too hard to get in and out of it.)

We went to the ER. (No choice, as I  couldn't even move.)

...and a doctor finally listened. She did not do x-rays due to my pregnancy (they are safe in certain instances but she opted to forgo them, and I appreciated the concern). She took a detailed history of what I was dealing with! including how I had to crawl and roll to get around in the house, and the cracking and grinding in my hip.

As it turns out, the cracking and grinding was my actual hip and not an imaginary hormone hallucination. The cartilage had worn down. She could feel the friction just by touching my leg as I tried to move. What's more, she actually heard it. The hip is a ball-and-socket joint (think your shoulder) and should move freely and fluidly through its range of motion, but I could only move my leg directly forward and directly back (like a hinge joint--think a door, or your knee) without a jolt of pain. Because I was being monitored, she could read the spikes in my heart rate from moving. She also noted that my blood pressure readings were elevated, quite likely due to pain. (It literally hurts all day, every day--even at rest.)

...and I was honest with her. She asked why I hadn't gotten treatment before now and I told her, because my doctor is generally only concerned with my pregnancy. If it's not a direct effect of that, I don't get any airtime.

...and nowwwwww we wait! I have never been so excited to know I might be facing a painful recovery.

Key word: RECOVERY.