Here I am 8 months post op from hip surgery and finally feeling as if the end is in sight. Things are going really, really well with respect to rehab. The repaired left hip is at or beyond the ability it had prior to issues starting, not just prior to surgery. I am amazed at what it can do and what it can handle. I can walk, sit, swim, do normal daily tasks, etc. It will get sore at times as we are still increasing and advancing things in rehab, but it is just muscle soreness. I have been told the hip has good strength and full normal range of motion again. The bothersome trigger points are gone, compensation issues lessening, gait better than it had been in years! The other hip is a different story. It had been getting gradually worse again, the injection completely lost effect, and things are pretty challenging again. I am being encouraged to keep walking and swimming, but with rehab we are shifting back to single leg exercises on op side again to give the other a break. It can still handle some exercises, but is becoming selective. We want to try to keep it strong but without irritating it any more than it already is. Walking hurts, but I can still walk without limping. I do not like restrictions, or having to modify things, but also realize that this is necessary for long term. It is worth it to me to decrease activity gradually in order to be able to keep doing some activity, than to push through at current level and lose the ability completely. I used to call it a "controlled slide" before surgery with the left hip, as injections would let me increase ability temporarily for the duration the injection was in effect, and losing injection effects would find me again slowly backing down again. This is now what we are doing with the right hip and my shoulders.
I was finally able to get the left shoulder injected and calmed down! So much better! However, right shoulder has the same issues, and although PT told me she thought the orthopedic surgeon could inject two joints at the same time, I was told by the surgeon he could only inject one and I had to choose. Difficult decision, but opted for left shoulder since it had been problematic longest and chose to optimistically hope right shoulder would maybe calm with time. (More on this later....see further down.) Swimming pace and activities are still decreased to protect shoulder(s). In hindsight, it almost seemed silly to only inject one shoulder when both cause trouble. But, ever finding the positive side, realized this means I do still know my limits even when pain is out of the equation for one shoulder, as the other lets me know what both can truly handle.
This is a potentially dangerous thought track to follow, but I keep wondering what would have happened if we had just repaired the left hip three years ago shortly after the pain got severe. Would the left shoulder have gotten injured two years ago? Would the right hip have gotten injured a year ago? Would the right shoulder have gotten injured several weeks ago? All have been result of compensation issues. Both the right hip and left shoulder were directly related to left hip. Right shoulder (the second one) is probably from right hip getting worse. I have underlying bone structure issues that make me more susceptible to impingement issues, but no one knew that. There is no way to go back, I can only go forward from here. However, it is worth thinking through what has happened over time from trying to keep going with injuries unresolved. I was told I am not a good candidate for surgery for either shoulder because of the underlying structure issues that are contributing to the problem. I do not know what the plan is with the right hip. I had been hoping to avoid surgery, and trying to focus on rehabbing the left hip and moving on with life, but right hip keeps intruding itself upon notice and I am becoming less optimistic. I am really not sure how is best to manage the multiple issues without making things worse.
There have been a few more medication trial and error experiments that have only discovered more things that ether just do not help, or actually make things worse. Pain issues are not particularly well managed at present. Sleep has become a major challenge again as well. Sleep has been almost non-existent some nights, broken and random other nights. Just impossible to get comfortable. Having left hip no longer painful at night for months now, left shoulder calmed down via injection has helped, but still have painful right hip, right shoulder, neck, back, etc.
Other adventures this month include a pinched nerve situation with pain radiating down my entire right arm. I knew it was a nerve issue, knew pretty much what to do, employed every strategy I could think of, plus what others suggested. Battled all day long, nothing could do much more than take the edge off. Finally, by evening, called the nurse hotline seeking additional suggestions, and was promptly sent to the emergency room because it was arm pain and arm pain can in some cases mean bad things. But, normal EKG ruled out cardiac concerns, doctor agreed with my guess it was a pinched nerve. So anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxant injections and sent home. Ever the optimist, I soon realized that the injections were helping not only the nerve pain in my arm, but also the shoulder and hip pain! I slept that night! Finally! *Disclaimer: I do not recommend adding new pain issues just to get sent to the ER for injections for a couple of troublesome joints. It is not worth it! Especially when the injections wear off within a day or so and pain gets out of hand again.*
A couple of days later at my regular appointment, PT checked the painful right arm/neck/shoulder and commented I'd had both shoulders injected? No, I had only been able to get one done, and had chosen left shoulder, and was starting to rethink and regret that. Sigh. There was no way for anyone to know what was going to happen. It is challenging with this being dominant side arm. I had always been grateful with the left shoulder that at least it was not dominant side....then right got bad too. That was part of what made it difficult to decide which shoulder to have injected. Left had been in bad shape longer, less optimistic of it calming down without injection, but right is dominant side and I use it more.
Whew! Crazy month! Lots of good progress with the recovering hip. Loss of progress almost everywhere else, but that is what it is and I am grateful the hip is doing well in spite of other challenges. It is holding strong and not getting drawn back into the rest of the mess. This is huge progress! The current mess possibly sheds insight into what happened that did flare up left hip a few months ago--flare elsewhere that caused compensation issues in the hip. I remember being puzzled at the time at what seemed similar, yet different, to old patterns. This time is very similar to then except hip is not really involved this time. Huge progress! From left hip seeming to be what undermined management of everything else before surgery, to left hip being able to withstand the effects of everything else being flared! Wow! The ER trip was actually just this past weekend, the injections have lost effect, things are challenging. Not really sure from here, but hopeful we can figure something out. If not, then learn to live with this as new normal until things change again. Hope is essential.
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
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