My right leg and me go back a long way, 😉. But since I was 16, due to an incompetent school medic, things got worse faster than they would have otherwise. Sure, the leg was bad, it would have given me issues in the end. But the way it happened now, it was probably way worse than if it had happened over time…
The way it happened still angers me. It hurt so much and it made the bad situation even worse. Of course I can never be sure, as this happened and I will never know what would have happened if nature had done it’s thing by just time… But yeah… I’ll try to give a short explanation of what happened in the last 28 years up to now, but I fear the definition of short may still seem long to you. Sorry in advance!
So, after the “incident”, we found out that my hip was bad! I didn’t have a bowl in my pelvis, and my hip joint was oval. I was scheduled for a surgery, which I got in August 2017. I got my first triple pelvic osteotomy. Most sites I could find are very technical, so I’ll try to explain what they did.
They were going to saw my right side of the pelvis in three places. They were taking some of my pelvis bone, to place it near where the socket should be. The parts that were cut loose from the pelvis they would rotate that some, so that they could form a socket where there was none. I found a simple image of it without the bit of pelvic bone that they took off. I don’t know the original source of the image, so I can’t give credit sorry.
Drawings of the pelvis and hip situations before and after the procedure.
It was a heavy surgery and I took a while to recover. But I did my best and things seemed loads better. Halfway through 2005, the pain was back, with a vengeance! In January 2006 I had my second triple surgery, where they used some donor bone this time.
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The second surgery went well too. The recovery process was quite different though, which was weird to be as it had only been 8½ years since the previous op. But it meant I was able to be active faster again, so that was a plus to me.
Unfortunately, my hip bone never had a decent layer of cartilage, as can be seen in the xray. The socket had never really properly formed, to that didn’t have any cartilage. So when started being more active again, I was getting pains again.
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In late 2007 I started collapsing and the pain was bad. I went to a specialist, and… Was told I was too young to be receiving a new hip…! Basically, that dude told me that I needed to use a wheelchair for about 12 years and then I’d be “a better age” for a new hip. Sure! I got second opinion, and while that specialist wasn’t against helping me, they didn’t have the knowledge to deal with my situation. That doc told me about a specialist in Belgium.
Many trips to Belgium, tests here and there, and in October 2008, I got a new hip. It was a enw tech, which could mean that I could get more replacements after that one, which was perfect seeing my age. (I was 28 at the time).
The surgery went well and after a week, I was heading home again. After a while through, they discovered that this type of hip, the BHR (Birmingham Hip Resurfacing), could wear down and put metal in the body. I was tested and all was good. I had no issues and a very active life.
In December 2020, during the whole pandemic bit, I started struggling. My hip seemed “more heavy” to use and I struggled loads with my energy. I got tested, xrays and blood, and my BHR was indeed wearing down. I already kinda knew, as my hip started making screeching noises with certain movements! 😂 Sometimes it was like a horror movie, where a door on rusty hinges was slowly opening… And, the blood levels for metal were waaaay too high!! And I could find all info on “low on metal”, but there was barely any info what happened if the levels were too high… 🤔
flic.kr/p/2qAutgU
So, it’s September 2021, and I get my first steel pin hip replacement. All went well and I slowly recovered (I feel I could have recovered way faster, but due to the cement they used, it took longer than I wanted 😂).
In December 2022, I first noticed that my right leg would tingle after certain exercises/movements. I was training quite a bit, so I figured that it was just me doing too much. The tingling came and went, and I didn’t think too much of it. I was also regaining some feelings back into some nerves of my right upper leg, some had been dormant since my first hip surgery, so I just figured that they were connected…
But then, earlier this year, after the move and all, my adductor muscle started to act up. It also came and went. Then, my muscles next to my hip started hurting more. Since the move, I’d been doing less exercising, so it wasn’t that I’d done too much… I got an xray and that showed no wrong bits. The physical therapist did his best, I kept doing the same, but the pain kept increasing.
It’s annoying when I move. It’s annoying when I lay or sit. I always feel it now, and it’s restricting me in many ways. I’ve been scheduled for a scan and a visit with my surgeon, but that’s at the end of January. And I’ve been struggling since about September now, so it just seems too long to wait.
I know there’s waiting lists, I know hospitals and GPs are busy, I know it all takes time, as it’s not my first rodeo, as they say. But when you’re not comfortable, when you can’t do all that you’d like, when you have to take more painkillers to get through the day… Every day you need to wait seems like ages… Waiting for something fun is hard, because you’re eager to get to the good bits. But, waiting while in discomfort, it’s so much harder… Also because you don’t know if they can help you, when you’re finally there… 😔
So when I finally got my hospital date for the checkup, I was both eiger and weary, as I knew that there would be a chance that I would need a new surgery. Maybe the scan would not show anything and it was just something I needed to learn to live with… But maybe…
They first took Xrays, which surprised me as they told me that I was getting a scan. 🤔 Then I met the doc. He did some testing, looked at the xrays, and ordered a CT scan. I got back to the doc, and he saw that there was some space between the hip cup (bowl) and my pelvis. So now, he ordered a blood test and a puncture test, to check for infections. As I had three infections after the surgery, been on heavy antibiotics for three months then, and that could be a reason for the bowl to come loose….
But in the end, the bowl needs to be reattached, so I’ll need another surgery. Not as heavy as a whole new hip, but still half-way there. Which will cause pain, discomfort, disruption of my routine, and all that…. 😔 But, things will only get worse as the bowl gets more loose, so I will need that surgery at some point. Better sooner than later then…
So the saga continues… Once a hip patient, always a hip patient. I just didn’t think I would be back in line for another hip surgery, so shortly (3,5 years) after the last one… I was hoping this one would last me at least 10-15 years, or so I hoped. But alas, I am not that lucky…
To be continued…
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