This is how it all began

My left hip has always been somewhat of an issue for me. As an athlete in high school, after a particularly strenuous basketball game, I had the sensation that my hip was "popping out" and it clicked, a lot. I was also asked on occasion "why do you walk like that?" But I was always very active so I had no idea I had an actual problem until about 10-15 years later. It has progressively hurt over the years and recently it got so bad the pain sometimes makes me nauseous and I have a very hard time sleeping at night. I finally went to a family doctor close to my house (my primary care doctor is way too far for me to drive just for silly things like hip pain), not expecting much, maybe a pulled groin, something like that. I mean, I've had three kids and my hip didn't bother me much then. Well, he took an x-ray, looked it over and said everything was fine - what a relief! But, he said because he couldn't explain the pain I was having so he would have the radiologist re-read the x-ray and I needed to make an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon.

About a week later I went to see an orthopedic surgeon, Dr Pierron - a wonderful man, with my "normal" x-ray. He left me in the exam room for what seemed like an eternity while he poured over my x-ray. He finally came in, sat down and said "well, your hip is not normal." What does that mean? He explained to me the situation - I was born with a dysplastic left hip. It was never caught as a child probably because I didn't exhibit a lot of unusual symptoms. Because I was so active and still am, I've worn down the cartilage some and now it's hurting. I was shocked that something like this could go unnoticed for so long. So I asked what my options were and he said I basically had two: 1. I could do nothing and I would lose all the cartilage in my joint probably within two years, then I would have to have it replaced. But since I'm so young, a hip replacement is a bad idea because they don't last very long and I would be looking at possibly multiple hip replacements over my lifetime. My second option was a hip reconstruction or periacetabular osteotomy (pao) that would renew the life of my original hip and hopefully give me a lot more years before I have to have it replaced. I was scared, they both seemed like bad options - either way I was looking at a pretty big surgery (the most surgery I ever had was my gallbladder removal - not that big of a deal). And the kicker to the reconstructive surgery is that there isn't anyone close that performs this specialized surgery, I would have to travel.

I went ahead and scheduled a cortisone shot into my hip to possibly relief some of the pain and Dr Pierron put a call into a doctor he knows in St Louis that does this sort of surgery. I was in shock the entire drive home from the appointment and when I got home I was near tears. I realized I wasn't dying but we were talking about my mobility - my kids are young, they've just started getting into sports that I can coach and we're busy people. I didn't have time to sit still and I surely didn't have time for a big surgery.

Two days later, I went in for my shot, if you have never had a cortisone shot into your hip, you are definitely missing out - why do they put in the local anesthetic after the cortisone? The needle had to have been the size of a small bat (I didn't watch, I couldn't, but I about jumped off the table when he stuck me, good thing my legs were strapped down). I'm teasing, it wasn't as bad as it sounds and it lasted a grand total of 3.2 seconds and then you're done. In the recovery room (which seemed just crazy to me that I had to practically sign my life away for a little shot and then be wheeled around on a bed, jeez, I can walk) Dr Pierron talked to me extensively about the pao and how much it would benefit me. He actually talked to me so long the nurse who was trying to discharge me just stood there and after he finally left said that she had never seen a doctor talk to a patient for so long after a procedure. It made me feel really good, like he truly cared about what was happening to me.

I called Dr Pierron one week after the shot to report how everything was going - not very well, I don't think the shot helped but more than 3 or 4 days, but I was warned before that it might not last. He had gotten a hold of the doctor in St Louis and was sending my x-rays to him to look at. Then I waited.

In the meantime, a couple of things happened. My dad (who is actually in the construction business - sells insulated concrete forms for ecoblock) has a friend/business associate in Michigan who is an emergency room doctor. Well, he mentioned to him what was going on and he was very eager to help out. He immediately put a call into his sister - a medical geneticist/maternal-fetal medicine/obgyn at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. She asked for me to call her back and I did. She was probably one of the most down to earth, honest people I have ever met. I really got a good feeling from her, I liked her very much. She told me exactly what not to do ... hip replacement, I was way too young. She told me that she wanted to look at my x-ray and show it to a couple of orthopedic surgeons in her area and get back with me. I was flattered that this woman, who I'm sure is busier than I could ever imagine, would take time out of her life to look at my x-ray. So ... I called my doctor's office for a copy of my x-ray (because the other one was on the way to St Louis) and guess what ... the office I had my x-ray taken in doesn't have the capacity to make digital copies so there was only one. Well, that stunk, since I didn't really want to call Dr Pierron to ask for it back (I really did want the doctor in St Louis to check it out for me) so I called my primary care (who had absolutely no idea what was going on) and asked him to authorize another x-ray, which he did without any questions. So I had the new x-ray taken and immediately fed-ex'd it out to the kind doctor in Los Angeles. Then I waited. I (coincidentally) had my well-woman check with my primary care a couple days after I asked him for the x-ray for me and told him what was going on. He said sorry, this didn't help my state of mind much.

So, while I waited I did what any normal person contemplating a huge surgery would do (cry - ha,ha), researched like crazy everything I could find online. I'm sure I'm driving my husband crazy because all I do is sit around googling. I found quite a bit of useful information about what a pao actually entails - probably more details than I care to know right now. What I didn't find in any great amount was actual stories about people that have had this done and how they dealt with it. I've found a huge support group in hipwomen, lots of great information, and I've read a couple of fantastic blogs about woman about my age who have already done what I'm going to do. If I can figure out this blog thing (this is my first one), I attached them to the side under links or something like that.

As of right now, I haven't heard back yet from California (like I said, she's a busy woman) but I did get a call from Dr Pierron that my x-rays had been reviewed and that I was definitely a candidate for the surgery (big surprise). I wanted to wait to hear back from California before scheduling a consultation in St Louis but after realizing how long these guys are booked I decided to go ahead and call his office. His personal assistant was very sweet and got me an appointment for three weeks from now - May 16 at 10:15am. I wasn't thrilled that the only available time was in the morning considering I live 4 hours from St Louis but it worked out okay because my mom & dad travel a lot and have lots of Holiday Inn points so we're using some points and spending Thursday night out there so we can be fresh and ready for the Friday morning appointment. However, this may all change depending on what else I hear, I'm positive the doctor in California will do her best to recommend the best surgeon for the job and isn't that what anyone wants when they are considering something like this?