Week 11: Stressed Out

As usual, I am trying to find the positive.  My body endured a lot this past week and I have been amazed at how well the left hip handled everything I asked of it.  The repaired left hip put up with far more sitting and standing than it had managed in the years before surgery.  It also handled high stress. I was facing things I could not change, thus was as careful as I knew how to be under the circumstances, but it was still a rough week.  The rest of my body also managed to hang on through it all.  However, the right hip has continued to gradually worsen.  

I had a bit of an unpleasant surprise this week.  When I had seen the surgeon for post-op follow up with the left hip a couple of weeks ago, he had ordered a cortisone injection for the right hip to help calm it down and allow me to regain better progress with rehab for the left hip.  However, due to circumstances, it was going to be easier to get the injection done locally (or so I thought).  I was amazed that the local surgeon was able to get me in so fast, but also relieved as I really needed help with calming down the right hip, and preferably the shoulder as well. So, an appointment that soon was nothing short of an answer to prayer and I was very grateful!  Being on crutches for a month had flared everything up, things had started to calm down somewhat once off crutches, but then flared again as we started tapering the oral prednisone.  The plan with primary care was to decrease prednisone dose again later in the week so timing of the appt was perfect for getting injections and allow the taper to proceed better. Anyway, I was able to get in, but then was denied injections for either the hip or the shoulder even though I had an order for an injection for the hip and the notes from the surgeon who did my hip surgery also mentioned the shoulder issues.  I left the appointment very discouraged, very disappointed, also very surprised and frustrated--almost in shock that everything I had been told in advance had been disregarded. I had hoped so much that maybe injections would help get rehab going better again and help calm down some of the issues that the prednisone had apparently been masking, plus assist with tapering the prednisone. The only explanation I was given when I asked why not injections was that my body needed more time to heal--in the order of months. I asked about alternative management approaches and was told to do what I could and listen to my body--things I have already been doing and everyone else knew I was doing, which is why the others had suggested (and surgeon had ordered) injections.  I saw primary care physician a couple of days later and was still totally at a loss of what else to do.  She did not really have any other ideas either. For now, we halted the prednisone taper and did not decrease the dose again as initially planned.  Rather, we will wait until things either calm on their own or we figure out an alternate plan for managing things.  I was very grateful for this as struggling already at this dose and literally afraid of decreasing further without some better means of managing the the right hip and the shoulder.  We also restarted the NSAID to see if that would help calm things better to help out with PT. I am very grateful for a medical team that knows me and work to support me, but I was totally unprepared for one physician to go against the entire rest of the team regarding injections. Especially, since he is the one who has done all of my other injections, the one who referred me to the surgeon who did my surgery and ordered the injection. I am still puzzled as to what happened.  If I did not explain things well?  But, they had copies of the injection order and all notes from MN that I had dropped off myself.  I am trying to remember that everything happens for a reason--even things that make no sense at all now.

I am so grateful for my family and church family and their support through this week!  It was hard, but I let them know I was struggling and to be praying. One of the ladies offered to come help me out with home tasks--huge blessing and practical help with the way the week went.   Only the Lord could sustain me through the week--and He did!  God is good no matter how circumstances appear to me.

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