So things were going along pretty well. Infusions were being tapered off, I was in college at UT, and I was feeling pretty good overall. One day I was carrying my laundry down the stairs and my hip started hurting. I didn't think anything of it and continued about my day. This went on for over a month until I went home for summer break. It was hurting every day and I was constantly limping around so I went to a chiropractor. Not the best idea, but we thought it would help at the time.
We went twice to the chiropractor and it did nothing to help. So we ended up going to a doctor. He had me move around, watched me walk, and then took some x-rays. Then he came back and told me that I had avascular necrosis in my hips. The right one was worse than the left because it had already fully cracked.
For my friends who don't speak medicine, avascular necrosis is when your bones begin to die due to lack of blood supply, especially in joints, leading to fractures and breaks. So I had this awesome bone disease and it had already fracture my right hip. Let the surgeries begin!
I had my right hip done in June of 2010. Because of the atrophy from being in the hospital, my muscles were still not back to normal- about 70%. They had given me an epidural so that I wouldn't feel anything when I woke up from the surgery because apparently that would have been bad. They took me off the epidural after 2 days and I started "walking". Ok, more like shuffling. They gave me a walker the first day, but I was able to just use crutches the next day. I was on crutches for about a month and then just used a cane. When I got back to college, I was down to a limp and my right hip felt great!
Written out like this, the process seems somewhat easy. But it definitely wasn't. There was a lot of pain and a lot of drugs. I felt very helpless. I couldn't move easily or quickly and I had to be very careful. If I rotated the wrong way, it could pop out. If I stepped on it the wrong way, it would pop out. If someone stepped on me, the world would explode. Things like that. And the physical therapy. Aka PT. Aka pain and torture. I HATED PT. The worst was the leg lifts. You laid on your side and tried to lift your leg. At first I couldn't even lift it- someone had to help me lift it. And I couldn't do it with a shoe on for about 2 months. Considering that they cut a 6 inch hole into the outside of my leg, this exercise was by far the hardest. The muscle was pretty destroyed and I still find that it is my weakest leg muscle. So yeah. Pain and torture.
You may think this hip story is over. But wait. Part Two: The Left Leg! In October, I had rehabilitated pretty well. I wasn't really limping anymore and then BAM. Left hip hurts. It was the same old, same old. It had cracked and needed replacing. So repeat of above, but this time over Christmas break. This time, I only had my already-surgeried-on right leg to keep me standing. So it was a bit harder than before. I was still on crutches by the time school started again. I think it took me 3 months this time to get off crutches. But I did do it!
And now I can walk, I can talk, and I can even walk AND talk. They said it would probably be 15 years before they needed replacing again. I'm betting on 30.
