Chasing my tail

The two week deadline has passed for contact from the Elective Orthopedic Centre , no word, not a peep. I'm not surprised but slightly peeved that I'm not surprised.

So, today it will be chasing, chasing the health check date and hopefully a surgery date. Making sure it is Jonathan Hutt doing the cutting. Then chasing my doctor's surgery for a prescription of Naproxen, the drug that seems to be making life much more easier to deal with.

I will also be chasing work, re working from home, as the start date is looming for that. I'm glad that work have finally realised how bad it all is. It took a while, I'm not sure if they thought I should be in tears or something. I've formed the opinion my perception of pain is quite different to the rest of the world. I blame film for this, not all of us go around screaming and wailing. I go ofph, that is it, a small sound as the pain sharpens up. The same pain that reduced me to tears six months ago. The body is amazing. I do get relief, there are times it doesn't hurt but they are getting rarer. The drugs reduce it to a dull ache and the big drug, tramadol, can make the pain go completely.

 I have been helping my women's institute branch organise an early Halloween party.  To get through the evening I took some tramadol, I wore cool boots and divided my time between sitting and standing. It was a good time and I felt great besides the bottom of the barrel feeling of dislocation. My Halloween team and Mr Gin were aware of this and were great in making sure the barrel was not too deep. The evening was a success and I felt as close to the old me as I can get. I am hoping the new hip does this without the bottom of the barrel feeling.
 
My hat goes off to those who have much more pain and manage life.

I hope today I catch my tail.

Our hero battles a panther, Hutt and official old lady status.

Panther.

My morning began with a dropped Naproxen pill and trying to convince our forever hungry black cat that the white pill was not a treat and not fall over picking the damn thing up!

Hutt.

The main job today was to get to St George hospital in Tooting, an hour and half journey of bus, tube, tube and a bit of a walk.
Finding the department was a challenge because I had no letter due to the short notice. I knew who it was to be with and after directions from a helpful volunteer I found my way to the orthopaedic and trauma department. Filled with young people with busted limbs, older people with sticks and a lot of sets of crutches, it was a busy place and I registered my presence via the electronic do hickey instead of queuing and settled in for a long wait.  Ten minutes and my name was called!  Win!
The lovely nurse informed me I had to take myself off to x-ray. I had already sent one in but they wanted more. I walked past the same volunteer and presented my slip to the lady. At that point I was told there would be a two hour wait!  I may not of worn my yoga pants that are helpful for x-rays but I did bring a book. I checked in with Mr Gin, having to leave as there was no signal and then came back in and settled down to read the book.  This was a much better plan that shopping like my first though as I got into four pages in and my name was called. I was about to introduce crunchy the hip to a trainee radiographer and have to wear a hospital gown! Joy!
The x-ray was quite uncomfortable, really odd pose in one of the shots. The radiographer did have a fun time finding bits of pelvis, as they feel peculiar due to bone graft donor sites.
Back to the delightfully named Orthopaedics and Trauma clinic. Again ready for a wait. Again, not much of one.
The person who called me was not Phillip Mitchell, he introduced himself as Mr Hutt. No a good start. It turns out Mr Hutt has a special interest in younger hip issue patients with a focus on people like myself with complications of childhood surgery.  He seemed very interested and was surprised that I had early x-rays with me.We did a history. Then moved to why I made sure I wore sensible underwear. He called for a hospital gown, I know from experience that this is a fiddly way to do these exams. Clear view of the legs and pelvis helps the doctor and I have done it so much of this, I am not fussed about gowns. So, I walked the hobbly walk. Scored my hyper-mobility, 8/9. Then the pulling, twisting and bending and making me go ouch. He also checked the scar on the side of my thigh, he said they could excise the scar and extend it.
Trousers on and a long talk about the complications that could occur. One of the more worrying ones is a possibility of doing damage to my sciatic nerve.  Apparently with the amount of surgery I have had there is a possibility the nerve is not in the normal location and could be close to the surgery site, and permanent damage done. A surprising thing is my right leg could end up longer than my left!
The short outcome is the hip is full of arthritis and there is no joint space left in the hip, it is worn out. I could either leave it and carry on or get a hip replacement.

And this is the metal:  https://www.depuysynthes.com/hcp/hip/products/qs/S-ROM-Modular-Hip-System

I have said yes to this, it is needful, I am not going to be able to live like this much longer, I want my life back.  It will take 6 to 12 months to recover. Younger hip replacement recipients struggle with recovery because of the lack of feedback through the joint. I am not sure I have had much feedback besides pain!  So, 2016 is the year of the new hip. No marathons but still good.

And it will be done by Jonathan Hutt, because as a younger surgeon, he will be around to do the left and right revision.  Also, he was not offended when I was very hesitant about him and said I could swap surgeons if I wanted. I also had a good vibe from him, he is my age and understands why I'm all about wanting my life back. And with some luck, I won't call him Jabba.

Old Lady Status.

I now own slip on Sketcher shoes, Old lady shoes but ones I can put on myself!

Thank you Mr Gin for helping me through today.

Slow, slow, lightening fast.

Friday afternoon was a touch stressful, I got a phone call from Central Booking at St Georges, offering me an appointment to see a consultant on Monday morning.

It seems that the email to PALS worked, but I had no idea it would be that short notice.

Sadly it is not with the surgeon I originally asked for but it is with Phillip Mitchell, he has written lots of papers on the 'nitty gritty' aspects of replacements, he also seems to have a reputation for taking on complicated cases and ones that other surgeons won't touch.  I am pleased with this, because although my hip is very odd and looks like it was built by a blind plaster, it is not a complete mess, nor shattered and not a result of other trauma. The other thing is that he does almost double the national average hip replacements. As long as he or Mr Bridle are doing the surgery, I will be happy.  (He is also younger and does a lot revision work and maybe still working when the left finally goes.)

I have a long list of questions, I am EXTREMELY nervous. I am doing this initial consultation solo. I am making sure I wear sensible underwear, because no doubt, sans trousers hobbling and scar looking will be needed.

*gulp*

Almost complete obliteration

The, the past month, five weeks has been tough.

No movement on a consultant appointment, three weeks off sick, read the x-ray report and played with lots of medication. Time for a catch up!

Things have been going down hill for a while, stress migraines popping up, lots of pain killers, still just paracetamol and ibuprofen and curtailing life in general. Jobs taking longer, rests are longer and I generally have felt pretty low. We had the Victoria tube line interrupted because of engineering work, this meant a longer, more crowded commute and having to use my cane a lot more than I would like. Work knew but really, the understanding of my commute and the knock on effects were not there. This was frustrating. The pain levels increased with the commute and my mood plummeted. Even when the commute went back it, the body didn't bounce back.

Exhausted, in pain and depressed, I took some sick leave, citing hip pain but also out of cope. I figured some better painkillers were needed. A phone call to the doctors to sort that out and in that conversation I was told the xray report. That there is almost complete obliteration of the joint space. Obliteration, not a word you want attached to your body.

That was a gut blow, I cried a lot, I cried at my supportive boyfriend, I cried into my cat's fur as they lay in a cat puddle, twisted together. The brave face cracked. I realised work was a part that had to be taken out of the equation. It was not helping in the physical management and I desperately needed head space.

After a week, I physically saw a doctor and he signed me off work for two weeks. Also told me to up my new medication,naproxen and prescribed tramadol. He also said chase the consultant appointment, because over a month was certainly enough waiting.

I did that, and spoke with two people at St George's who said they would call me back, but didn't, I did give them a week each to do this.

So, the third try it was recommended I contact PALS, which I did.  More on that outcome later.

I returned to work and had a meeting with my line manager and his manager, I explained the drugs and generally that sitting all day and the commute is killing me.  I have said the same thing to Occupational Health and they have backed me up with a report suggesting one day a week working from home.  This would break up the tube travel which I am finding increasingly difficult to deal with, it hurts to sit and stand on the tube and the sheer amount of people is nuts and they knock into you!  I have a meeting next week to see if the team can do that, if they can't I am not sure what to do.

One positive has been a sports massage that seemed to loose a lot of the muscles around the hip and in my back that has reduced my pain, a lot!  Swimming is still helping but currently shopping for slip on shoes! Such an old lady!