went to new ortho today

[Guest guest]

well i went to the orthopedic doctor today and i'm so glad i went. she examined me so thoroughly, that other dork ortho simply took my foot and pushed it up and then out and said, yep, you need hip replacement. she took another x-ray, since i didn't have my records (i'm going to glow in the dark one of these days, ugh).

here's what she saw on the x-ray -- definitely NO cartiledge left between the socket and ball of my hip joint. also, on the side of my bone, just below the joint, is what she called a bursa -- a fluid filled cyst-like -- caused from bursitis, which is caused by the arthritis (i think i got this right). the bursa sticks outward, to the side. there is ligament that fits over that bone and because of the bursa, each time i move, the ligament is popping and snapping back and forth across the bursa, which is causing my pain in my thigh area. so, she was able to give me a cortisone shot right into that bursa today (ouch). (that other dang doctor didn't even see that!)

i have an appt. to go back to her in 1 month.

also, i have an appt. for a cortisone shot directly INTO my hip joint - which i had once before -- a couple years ago -- it helped for like 2 months -- after my doctor said there was no use giving me another because you cannot have one every 2 months. i'm going to try it again though, just in case this time it MIGHT work. i have to wait for doug to return though since i cannot drive afterwards, because my leg is numbed and i won't have my reflexes. my appt. isn't til jan. 22.

oh, and the doctor gave me the paperwork to get a handicapped sticker.

she told me yes, i will need a hip replacement but they let the patients more or less decide when that will take place -- they don't say YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT RIGHT THIS MINUTE, because the surgery is such a big deal and hard to recover from and a patient has to be at the point where they just can't take it anymore. when that time comes, she'll refer me to one of their orthopedic surgeons.

i'm actually ready right NOW. the shot she gave me today has only taken a bit of the pain away but i'm going to try to stay positive about the other shot; however, if i wait and have it, then i won't be able to have surgery this winter because the shot isn't scheduled til jan 22nd. i wouldn't know for a month or so after if it's going to last this time and then if it doesn't, i won't have time to have surgery before doug goes back to the ship.

i have had enough. i'm depressed (which the doc today said is very normal with constant pain) i'm irritable, i'm not living my life -- heck, i can't even walk through walmart -- and we all know how much fun that is. FDROFLOLPMP (oh, and that's one thing i worry about -- if after the surgery if i'll make it to the bathroom in time since i'll be moving REAL slow and i'm afraid i'll PMP, ha ha -- will have to wear diapers.

so i had already picked out a surgeon from the St. 's site the other day -- when i made the appts.

then i called a friend tonight, who has had both knees replaced, guess what -- her surgeon was the doctor i'd already chosen. she said he's wonderful and i can tell that from his face -- he just looks like a really good doctor - - - she HIGHLY recommends him and,

i went to the duluth clinic site last night and there was a link to a "live" (it was done on 10/18) surgery of a knee replacement -- and the doctor was this same doctor -- OMG, it was graphic -- and lots of hammering, sawing of bones, and drilling. i kept thinking of sue the entire time.

sue basically said that once you come home from the hospital (she was there only 4 days) to keep moving that leg; otherwise, it will freeze up, then they have to go back in, rip it all out and start all over again. OMG! she also said that a nurse came out every day to take her blood because you have to be on blood thinners afterwards. she had a physical therapist come to her home as well. way out here -- in nowheresville -- they might come from the near-by nursing home, maybe, or an on call nurse or therapist who lives around here -- i don't know, but i know one would HAVE to come. i guess there's no rehabilitation place to go to, not unless doug wasn't here when i had the surgery and HAD to go there. ???????

doug was so excited when i told him tonight that i think the shot i had today was helping, but now i'm not so sure. plus, i feel really sick to my stomach -- which i'm wondering if is a reaction. i've had cortisone before while i lived in charlotte -- in my hip - at the doctor's office.

i just can't figure why none of my recent doctors have never suggested i have these shots in my hip in an office. sue said she got tons of them before her surgeries.

so then, i stopped at clinic where i've gone for the past 9 years on the way home and i went to medical records and requested my records. it was no big deal. i filled out a simple form and i go back on friday to pick them up -- next monday i go to the Internal Medicine doctor's nurse at St. 's/Duluth Clinic -- for my meds -- so they can start writing me prescriptions.

so that's that. i don't know how long it takes (if it takes a while) for cortisone to work -- maybe tomorrow i'll feel a lot better. when i had them in charlotte, they helped right away, but my hip wasn't so bad then. heck that was eleven years ago.

well, that was my day. ;-)

hugs,

lindy lou