Two years ago, I
started looking into what I can do to help my hip, because it started catching
and clicking and constantly aching. (If you need a refresher about my hip's
complete backstory, here's
my post from two years ago). After seeing the doctor in 2014, I opted to
just take an anti-inflammatory for pain. But as the months went by, I started
to think about it more and more. Brian and I started thinking about having
another baby, and guess what one of the big no-nos for a pregnant lady is?
Yeah, my anti-inflammatory wasn't going to be an option for 9 months when I
would really, really need it.
I talked out my frustrations to Brian and my chiropractor, Dr. Hayes, who
almost feels like a close friend of the family. Dr. Hayes said, "There has
got to be someone out there who can do something for your hip besides just
waiting for it to deteriorate to the point of needing a hip replacement. Even
if you have to travel back east to do it, I think it would be worth it." I
agreed with him. Touring Europe in 2015 was the final straw, and as soon as we
got home, I began searching for a hip specialist in the area.
Long story shorter, I ended up discovering TOSH:The Orthopedic Specialty
Hospital and set up an appointment to meet with Dr. Ferney in August of 2015. I
thought there might be a chance that I was pregnant, so instead of doing an
x-ray they sent me to the lab to get blood work done. As I headed over to the
lab, I called Brian and started crying. I struggle a little with getting blood
drawn to check HCG levels after the miscarriages. "What if I'm pregnant
and they can't do anything with my hip?" I sobbed. "Then, YAY! We're
pregnant!" he responded. "What if I'm not pregnant? (I really wanted
to be pregnant.) "Then, yay, you can fix your hip." he answered.
"So you're saying it's a win/win?" "Yes." I went to the
lab.
We got a phone call from Dr. Ferney's office. The pregnancy test was negative.
It was a little sad, but I was excited about my hip. I went back to meet with
Dr. Ferney, got x-rays, and he gave me the same response as the last hip guy I
had met with the year before. My cartilage looked great and I didn't need a
replacement.
"Yes," I said, "but there has got to be something that someone
can do for me. I'm not going on walks anymore because it hurts. It's affecting
my lifestyle. Yes, I'm only 30, and that is really young to have a hip
replacement, but waiting for my cartilage to wear down is not acceptable to me.
Someone should be able to do something."
He agreed and referred me to Dr. West in TOSH's hip preservation clinic. The
day before my appointment, which was 1 week later, I realized I was late. I
told Brian. "But I can't be pregnant. They did blood work. I'm not
pregnant." "Do you have a test?" "Yeah." "Go take
it."
Guess what?
So the next day (or was it a week later?), I went in to meet with Dr. West and
his P.A. Jenny. They looked at my x-ray and told me how they could help. They
said that they were going to get a team of experts working on my case. They
would go in with a scope and shave off the misshapen part of my bone and
possibly fix the slight dysplasia that I still had in that hit. I was so
excited that there was something that could be done. Jenny said, "We just
want to get a few more x-rays and then probably set up an MRI and a CT scan.
That's when I told her I was pregnant. They pushed pause on those scans until
after I had my baby and set me up with their best physical therapist, named
Susan Gates, who helped me make it through my pregnancy with Gabe.
Susan was amazing, and I will always be grateful for her. She has struggled
with infertility, and it must have been hard hearing me complain about the
pain, but she was always positive and always cheering me on. She kept me
laughing; she hugged me on the really hard days. She was an essential part of
the team that got Gabe to this world.
(This is the end of Part 2. Please continue reading on Part 3)
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