Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Upcoming Surgery... Hip Femural Acetabular Impingement

I found out around Christmas that I had a torn labrum tendon. After my chiropractor sent me for a MRI arthogram (which hurt like hell, we found the torn tendon in the film.The torn tendon was enough for my chiropractor to find me a orthopedic surgeon.At the end of February I met with Dr. Busconi.

He did some X-rays in his office and looked at my MRI. He determined that I had two options 1. cortisone injection into the hip 2. surgically repair the hip. I thought cortisone would be delaying the inevitable. And when he said it was only 40% effective I wasn't really liking the odds. Surgery was 98% effective and I would be up and running in 4 months. When I decided surgery is the way I wanted to go I started firing questions (of course I have questions I'm an engineer). I asked about:
recovery 2-3 weeks on crutches with no driving and limited mobility
anesthesia- general anesthesia I had to go fully under
when can I run again- 4 mo
We discussed the procedure where he will go in through 2-3 holes arthroscopically to shave the top of my femur repair the tendon and remove the fluid built up. The surgery itself lasts an hour to an hour and a half. Depending on the repair needed for the labrum. The repair to the tendon also changes some of the variables for the recovery. If it needs to be braided or pinned to the bone it will be longer. I scheduled the surgery for his first available date 9 April.

After leaving and finally getting the name of what is wrong with my hip Femoroacetabular Impingement I looked up as much as I could find about it. This site seemed to explain things well http://www.hipfai.com/ I have the cam form. So my femur needs to be shaved. It also appears this is something I was born with. It is possible I could live my whole life with it and if I wasn't active I may have never needed it repaired. But now that I read more it looks like if I don't get it fixed I could possibly need a hip replacement in the future. I would rather do the arthroscopic surgery.

I have to be honest, I am nervous. I know this is what I need to do in order to be active again- training for triathlons and half marathons and other races. But It is still scary. I had my pre op testing last Friday. I met with a nurse practitioner who took my history, then an anesthesiologist, then had lab work done, then a nurse- I expected a lot more explanation about the day of surgery. I am still a bit in the air about what will happen that day. They say I will be in the hospital for 5-6 hours.

I am having a hard time sleeping. I am trying to be sure I drink enough water this week. I am also trying to get in workouts, since I am not sure when I will be able to do what. The workouts also help me clear my head. I am coaching lacrosse again, so my assistant coach will be taking that over till I can get up there again. I have a lot going on this week but I would rather be busy up till the surgery, because when left alone for long enough to start thinking I get upset.

I try to keep myself calm but it is tough. Part of me is looking to the surgery to be like a vacation from work and lacrosse. I have been working a lot and even got an agreement from work to do some work from home in bed. I am trying my best to look at this procedure as a start to getting back out there. I really can't wait to do my next triathlon and sign up for races again. Its hard to pick a recovery race but I think I will sign up for a sprint Triathlon in September as soon as I am cleared to starting to do workouts. I figure I will be able to swim/bike during recovery and running will come in time so I should be okay come September. It will be nice to have a mark on the wall to train for again!

I will try to update the blog again before my surgery on Friday. There are lots of thoughts floating around in this head and it is nice to get them out.... Thanks all!

2 comments:

  1. Wow, I can see being nervous about this. It is a big step and the recovery will take some time. But it certainly sounds like the best decision and I'm sure it will go smoothly. It's just the waiting (recovery) time will be a bit hard, but sounds like you've made good plans. Wait until you're good as new again! That will be exciting!

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  2. Sorry to hear, but there is a world of us out here: http://hippreservationportal.com/ for more info.

    Good Luck,
    Super Hip Chick

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