My Gimp Hip: Part 3

After I had Gabe, I was so motivated to get myself in good enough shape that I could have surgery and get on with life. I was so excited for the relief that I was sure it would bring. I finally met with Dr. West again in July of 2016. He said we were ready for the MRI and the CT, and we scheduled them for the end of July.  

I met with Dr. West to review my scans on August 15. I felt like I had put a lot of things on hold waiting for when this surgery was going to be scheduled. Surgery and my hip were constantly on my mind, and, as a result, August is a little bit of a blur. I felt I spent it in anticipation. On the 15th, Dr. West came in and said, "I have some bad news."

Uh oh.

He explained that the MRI and CT showed that at some point, my femoral head stopped getting blood, and it started to die. This condition is called AVN (avascular necrosis). This also affected my cartilage, so even though it looked great on an x-ray, the more in-depth scans showed that my cartilage was in terrible shape. He told me that the surgery we'd been planning would probably not be the best option for me. He told me that he was going to consult with a few more experts and talk to the "best radiologist" and then decided what needs to happen next, most likely, I would need a hip replacement. He wouldn't be able to meet with them for another week and a half, and so I held my breath until then. 

On Thursday, August 25, I got the call from Dr. West's office. I would need a total hip replacement. They referred me back to Dr. Ferney. I called his office, but the scheduler said that his first available surgery was in December. I got another referral to a Dr. Johnson, and he had availability in October, so I set up an appointment with him for the next morning (August 26). I spent the rest afternoon with Lea, Rachel, and Skyler at Provo Beach Resort. In the middle of that, Dr. Ferney's surgery scheduler called and said they had a surgery opening on September 21, and possibly even as early as September 12. I set up an appointment to meet with him the next day in the afternoon (August 26). 

I called Brian and told him the update and the dates. He had been trying to buy plane tickets several times that morning for a work conference in California on September 12. He figured that the 12th was going to work out for surgery since he had tried 3 different times to buy the tickets and each time something weird went wrong. 

Meanwhile, I had two appointments with two different surgeons. I asked Lea what I should do. Together, we decided that it made sense to meet with both of them and decided who I felt better about performing the surgery. After all, this was a VERY big thing that they would be doing. 

The next morning, I met with Dr. Johnson. He hadn't looked at my chart until he came in and started talking to me. All he saw was a 31 year-old that wanted a hip replacement, and that didn't make sense to him. I felt like I spent half the time convincing him to take me seriously. Finally, he said, "Okay, I'll have you meet with my scheduler." She came in with her book and sure enough, her first availability was in October. I told her that I had another appointment with another surgeon that afternoon, and I would call and schedule if I decided to go with Dr. Johnson. She sent me home with a packet and said, "Just make sure he does an anterior approach." That's it. I didn't even know what that meant, but I left the office feeling rather frustrated. I was tired of trying to get doctors to help me. 

Later that afternoon, I met with Dr. Ferney's P.A. Brad, who I had talked with the year before. The first thing he said to me was, "Oh man! The other thing didn't work and you're back, huh?" It was like meeting an old friend. He then sat down an explained what would happen. He even brought out some sample parts: 

I'll confess, I about changed my mind after he walked me through the surgery. showing me where he was going to cut off the head of my femur and then showed where the spike would go. It was kind of sickening to picture, and I started second guessing everything. Dr. Ferney came in and let me ask all my questions. What does the anterior approach? What approach do you use? Why does it matter? How long is surgery? How long will I be in the hospital? And on and on. He wasn't in any kind of rush. He made sure I understood everything and didn't leave until I was satisfied. I really think he would have stayed there for two or even three more hours talking to me. And since my love language is time, I really appreciated that. 

I met with his scheduling nurse, Mel, who wasn't sure if the 12th was going to be open, but she would know by Monday morning. It was a long weekend--a long month, really--waiting to see when this surgery would take place. Since my mindset had been surgery by the end of the summer, any delay past that was really hard. After all, I'd been working on this for almost two years by that point. On Monday, we scheduled the surgery for September 12, which was two weeks away.  She gave me the option for being first or last. After talking with Lea, I opted for first. Brian agreed. I figured I wasn't going to sleep well the night before anyway. Lea pointed out that I would be really hungry if I went last, and Brian pointed out that if I was last, I might get bumped off that day if they ran out of time. He didn't want to go down that road with me again after what happened when my induction date with Gabe got bumped a day. 

Brian didn't go to his conference. 

Suddenly, two weeks didn't seem like enough time. I had lab work to do, lots of projects to finish, and a lot of preparations to make. And as the surgery approached, I started getting more nervous about it. I tried to distract myself by posting pictures of ridiculous "bucket list" things on Instagram (#hipbucketlist). I tried to stay positive and laugh it all off, but I couldn't help but think that I had just made huge decision and was incredibly naive about how it was all going to turn out. 

(This is the end of Part 3. Please continue reading on Part 4)