WARNING: This is not going to be a happy post...more of a venting post so I apologize if you were hoping for some good news from me!
It's been a while since I last blogged about my surgery. I just haven't had a whole lot to tell you! I guess that is good news right? If you look at my leg from the outside, you will see 3 very small incisions that have healed quite nicely and I am grateful that they are small and barely there! Other than that....I am not sure how I am doing..why don't I know this? Because my post-op care has FAILED me! Keep in mind that my surgeon is in San Antonio and I have to drive 4 hours to see him and it cost about $150 in gas to get there.
On one hand...I am VERY grateful to have found him..he is a TOP NOTCH surgeon and if it weren't for him, I would still be sitting here waiting for a surgery that Tricare wasn't going to cover in the civilian world. On the 2nd hand...he is a TOP NOTCH surgeon that apparently...is always gone. Rewind.......
Post-op day 10....drive back to SA to get my stitches out. Hoping to talk to Dr K about my procedure, what he saw while scoping my hip....have TONS of questions because keep in mind...I was asleep while he was doing this and after for that matter. Get to SA..guess what Dr K is NOT THERE! He is TDY (again). Not only do I not see a member of his "Team" I see a nurse (bless her heart because she felt bad) that didn't have a clue about my case OR arthroscopy of the hip. She did do a very nice job taking out my stitches. :) Disappointed, I left that appt with many questions un-answered with the request that Dr K call me so that I could get answers. A few days later, one of Dr K's residents called me and I felt a little better.
1) How long do I need to be on crutches...answer: start weaning at 3 weeks if tolerated
2) What was done in the procedure: Partial Psoas Tendon release and left femur chondroplasty (shaved the head of the femur to re-shape it) and removed bone spurs. No Labral repair (mine was intact) and arthritis wasn't as bad as they had initially thought.
3) when to follow up? 6-8 weeks.
I ditch the crutches as soon as possible at week 3. Feeling pretty good. Progressing with PT. Go on vacation for 3 weeks. Schedule follow-up apt as soon as I get home (June 21st) appt is set for July 15th with Dr K.
July 14th....make a phone call down to BAMC to make sure that Dr K was going to be there because I am NOT going to make another trip to NOT see my Dr. Talk to someone at the ortho clinic, tell her my story that I am not going to drive 4 hours to SA if he is not going to be there. She puts me on hold, comes back and says that he WILL be there in the ortho clinic that day. Get up, drive to SA (my dear friend Angela goes with me to keep my company). Get to BAMC, get called back right away! Take me into a big room with 6 beds divided only by curtains. (this is new....have never been in the room before as I have always been in a regular patient room?) They say this is where they are doing Ortho-Clinic today. I should have known that something wasn't going to go right when I hear Hair Nation playing loudly on the radio and 5 airman standing around doing nothing but staring at me. 1st thing I ask is if Dr K is there...guess what....NO. WHAT????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
NO???? Still holding out hope that maybe they didn't know what they were talking about that surely he would be there after the lunch hour. I wait.......and then the Dr walks in. Nope. Not Dr K! :(
Hello, I am Dr so-and-so (girl). I am a resident of Dr K. She says, "You do know that Dr K is in Alaska?" Ummm...NO...I did not know that he was in Alaska and that is why I called YESTERDAY to make sure that he was going to be here! And he won't be back until NOVEMBER!
I felt bad for crying but I was so upset! She did have the courtesy to hand me a box of tissues and shut the curtain so that nobody could stare at me. She felt bad that I was upset and she understood. She thumbed through my chart the best that she could.(which didn't even have an operative report in it) and tried to answer my questions the best that she could but honestly....she didn't have a clue about ME or MY case. And you want to hear the kicker............She Didn't even TOUCH my leg! Didn't look at my incision scars, didn't even move my leg around to see if it was working...or not working??
Is it just me or am I expecting TOO much out of my follow-up care?? How am I supposed to know if I am progressing normally? Do they expect that I am supposed to KNOW this stuff. The last I checked, I don't have M.D. at the end of my name and although, I have done a TON of research about my surgery, it is always nice to have the expert tell you that you are doing good.
Ugh. Where do I go from here. Not sure if I will take another trip down to BAMC to even attempt to see the good Dr K. Thinking that it might be best to see if I can get another referral to go back and see my 1st Ortho up in Dallas. (the one that was originally going to do the surgery until Tricare refused to pay for it) What do y'all think I should do??
The only positive thing that came out of the day is getting to eat at Mimi's Cafe, doing a little shopping, and my favorite part was the drive home with Angela, listening to really old amazing country music and singing at the top of our lungs, "Mamma he's crazy...crazy over me..." and tons of other classic country tunes. :)
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
On to Recovery!
Friday was sort of a blur but I made it! The nurse came in to give me the "I don't Care" medicine and that is the last thing that I remember before waking up in recovery 4 hours later. The 1.5 hour surgery ended up taking 3 hours! Dr K said that my hip was in worse shape than what he thought so it took extra care and time getting it right and I appreciate that. He was able to re-shape my femur head and remove most of the bone spurs. I am just so relieved that it is OVER and I can move forward!
Getting around on crutches is more of a pain than anything and honestly...I feel like I could walk without them but I will follow orders and use them. Sigh. Physical Therapy starts tomorrow and we will be hitting it hard. I visited with PT today and he is still in shock that the procedure wasn't covered by Tricare...but that...I could write a book about!
Thank you all for the well wishes!
Logan insisted on trying out my CPM machine. I have to use it 4 hours on/4 hours off. :)
Getting around on crutches is more of a pain than anything and honestly...I feel like I could walk without them but I will follow orders and use them. Sigh. Physical Therapy starts tomorrow and we will be hitting it hard. I visited with PT today and he is still in shock that the procedure wasn't covered by Tricare...but that...I could write a book about!
Thank you all for the well wishes!
Logan insisted on trying out my CPM machine. I have to use it 4 hours on/4 hours off. :)
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Off to San Antonio!
Okay...so I will admit it! I am a bit Nervous! A LOT bummed that I won't be singing along with Miranda Lambert tonight! Oh well. It just didn't make any sense to go to the concert and head to San Antonio after the show. :(
So...we head to San Antonio today, stopping in Fredricksburg along the way, and eating at PF Changs tonight for dinner courtesy of my besties, Jamie, Alice, and Teresa. Jamie delivered a beautiful basket of goodies to me this morning full of magazines and other treasures. I do love my friends....all of you.....have been such great motivation and strength for me!
Why is this "minor" surgery weighing so heavy on my brain? I couldn't even sleep last night! I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it has been a LONG time coming. I have waited 10 months for this procedure and maybe I am a little nervous STILL that it is even going to happen! I will probably feel more at ease when we walk through the doors tomorrow. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am going to be going through Jazzercise Withdrawals! But don't you worry...I will be working it (as hard as I can) to be READY for my 20 Year class reunion this June!
Here goes nothing! Say some prayers for my AMAZING surgeon Lt. Col Kadrmas and that his wisdom and skills will have me back on the dance floor ASAP. And also pray for my sanity to have to "Take it Easy" for a month on Crutches. :) We will keep you posted!
So...we head to San Antonio today, stopping in Fredricksburg along the way, and eating at PF Changs tonight for dinner courtesy of my besties, Jamie, Alice, and Teresa. Jamie delivered a beautiful basket of goodies to me this morning full of magazines and other treasures. I do love my friends....all of you.....have been such great motivation and strength for me!
Why is this "minor" surgery weighing so heavy on my brain? I couldn't even sleep last night! I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it has been a LONG time coming. I have waited 10 months for this procedure and maybe I am a little nervous STILL that it is even going to happen! I will probably feel more at ease when we walk through the doors tomorrow. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am going to be going through Jazzercise Withdrawals! But don't you worry...I will be working it (as hard as I can) to be READY for my 20 Year class reunion this June!
Monday, April 18, 2011
What is FAI anyway???
I have always wanted to start a blog but never really felt like I had a whole lot to blog about...Until now. By writing this, I hope to reach out and inspire others with my story to not quit just because someone tells you to!
Here it goes.....
I say this because it is true..........In my quest to become a more FIT person, I discovered that I have Femoral Acetabular Impingement of my left hip.
So..let's rewind a bit. In September of 2009, I found Jazzercise. Don't laugh..it is NOT your mother's Jazzercise! It is fabulous. I was hooked after ONE class. A full hour of heavy impact, 600 calorie burning, dance-type fitness and even strength training had me coming back to 5 or 6 classes a week! A few months into it, I started noticing some pain in my left groin area during certain movements. It was a sharp pain, sometimes popping like a rubber band. I chalked it up to a pulled muscle of some sort and kept on truckin'! Over time, it progressed to pain when getting in and out of the car, stepping a certain way, and would often times wake me up from a sound sleep. (probably when I would change positions). I was referred to see a physical therapist to see what was going on. (In the midst of all of this, I had decided to become a Jazzercise instructor and had begun my training.) After a few weeks of therapy, my PT was pretty sure that I had a labral tear. Off to an orthopedic doc I went with MRI results. I was convinced that my problem had been SOLVED! I would get a tiny little surgery to fix my labrum and I would be FIXED! Bad news. He didn't see a labral tear but what he did see was a "significant" amount of arthritis. WHAT? I am 37 years old! How do I have arthritis? His advice to me was:
1) you need to quit the high-impact jazzercise
2) there isn't anything that I can do to help you
3) You will need a hip replacement
4) I think you should see a hip specialist.
Devastated. I was ONE week away from my Jazzericse audition workshop! I had paid my money, and worked my butt off! Should I quit? No way. I wasn't going to let one doctor tell me to give up what I had worked so hard for.
July......finally got in to see a fabulous Hip surgeon in Ft Worth. X-rays done and a diagnosis. One look at my x-rays and he knew EXACTLY what was wrong with me. FAI he said....what?? Femoral Acetabular Impingement and he drew me a picture. Basically your femur(top of leg) and your hip socket are like a trailor hitch. My trailer and my hitch are not normal. By definition:
Femoroacetabular impingement or FAI is a condition of too much friction in the hip joint. Basically, the ball (femoral head) and socket (acetabulum) rub abnormally creating damage to the hip joint. Here is a great link with pictures and all! Not exactly what I wanted to hear but was happy to know that I had options and that Dr Croffard was willing to fix me. My options were to have a total hip replacement, wait and do nothing, or have an arthroscopic procedure that might help prolong the need for a THR. He DID tell me that arthroscopy was not a guarantee but he thought that because of my young age that it was worth a shot.. Arthroscopy of my Left Hip was scheduled for September 9th, 2010.
One week prior to surgery, we found out that our insurance provider was not going to cover the procedure. Treatment for FAI is considered "experimental" according Tricare. We appealed with no luck. During my extensive research, I came across a wonderful website hippreservationportal.org. I was amazed to see how many young people had the same issues that I had and I began asking a lot of questions. Through this site and it's administrator, we were given a few names for military surgeons in San Antonio. The first surgeon that we saw did NOT think that I was a candidate for athroscopy. His suggestion was to just wait until the pain was keeping me up at night and then opt for a total hip replacement. Needless to say, I was furious. How could he commit me to a life of sitting on the couch when I was in the best shape physically that I have ever been in?? I wanted to be fixed and was NOT going to settle for a hip replacement at my young age! I will say that the only thing that came out of that visit was a referral to see Dr Warren Kadrmas. A month later I had an appt with him and he agreed to do the surgery! He is VERY experienced in Arthroscopy of the Hip and I feel that I am in GOOD hands! We decided to wait until after Richard's 4 month deployment to have the procedure done so here we are...10 days from surgery and I am READY. Ready to move forward with surgery and move onto healing.
Here it goes.....
I say this because it is true..........In my quest to become a more FIT person, I discovered that I have Femoral Acetabular Impingement of my left hip.
So..let's rewind a bit. In September of 2009, I found Jazzercise. Don't laugh..it is NOT your mother's Jazzercise! It is fabulous. I was hooked after ONE class. A full hour of heavy impact, 600 calorie burning, dance-type fitness and even strength training had me coming back to 5 or 6 classes a week! A few months into it, I started noticing some pain in my left groin area during certain movements. It was a sharp pain, sometimes popping like a rubber band. I chalked it up to a pulled muscle of some sort and kept on truckin'! Over time, it progressed to pain when getting in and out of the car, stepping a certain way, and would often times wake me up from a sound sleep. (probably when I would change positions). I was referred to see a physical therapist to see what was going on. (In the midst of all of this, I had decided to become a Jazzercise instructor and had begun my training.) After a few weeks of therapy, my PT was pretty sure that I had a labral tear. Off to an orthopedic doc I went with MRI results. I was convinced that my problem had been SOLVED! I would get a tiny little surgery to fix my labrum and I would be FIXED! Bad news. He didn't see a labral tear but what he did see was a "significant" amount of arthritis. WHAT? I am 37 years old! How do I have arthritis? His advice to me was:
1) you need to quit the high-impact jazzercise
2) there isn't anything that I can do to help you
3) You will need a hip replacement
4) I think you should see a hip specialist.
Devastated. I was ONE week away from my Jazzericse audition workshop! I had paid my money, and worked my butt off! Should I quit? No way. I wasn't going to let one doctor tell me to give up what I had worked so hard for.
July......finally got in to see a fabulous Hip surgeon in Ft Worth. X-rays done and a diagnosis. One look at my x-rays and he knew EXACTLY what was wrong with me. FAI he said....what?? Femoral Acetabular Impingement and he drew me a picture. Basically your femur(top of leg) and your hip socket are like a trailor hitch. My trailer and my hitch are not normal. By definition:
Femoroacetabular impingement or FAI is a condition of too much friction in the hip joint. Basically, the ball (femoral head) and socket (acetabulum) rub abnormally creating damage to the hip joint. Here is a great link with pictures and all! Not exactly what I wanted to hear but was happy to know that I had options and that Dr Croffard was willing to fix me. My options were to have a total hip replacement, wait and do nothing, or have an arthroscopic procedure that might help prolong the need for a THR. He DID tell me that arthroscopy was not a guarantee but he thought that because of my young age that it was worth a shot.. Arthroscopy of my Left Hip was scheduled for September 9th, 2010.
One week prior to surgery, we found out that our insurance provider was not going to cover the procedure. Treatment for FAI is considered "experimental" according Tricare. We appealed with no luck. During my extensive research, I came across a wonderful website hippreservationportal.org. I was amazed to see how many young people had the same issues that I had and I began asking a lot of questions. Through this site and it's administrator, we were given a few names for military surgeons in San Antonio. The first surgeon that we saw did NOT think that I was a candidate for athroscopy. His suggestion was to just wait until the pain was keeping me up at night and then opt for a total hip replacement. Needless to say, I was furious. How could he commit me to a life of sitting on the couch when I was in the best shape physically that I have ever been in?? I wanted to be fixed and was NOT going to settle for a hip replacement at my young age! I will say that the only thing that came out of that visit was a referral to see Dr Warren Kadrmas. A month later I had an appt with him and he agreed to do the surgery! He is VERY experienced in Arthroscopy of the Hip and I feel that I am in GOOD hands! We decided to wait until after Richard's 4 month deployment to have the procedure done so here we are...10 days from surgery and I am READY. Ready to move forward with surgery and move onto healing.
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