One Year 10 Months Post Right Hip Open SDD Surgery for FAI

Cant believe how long it has been since my last post....I can remember in my last but one post planning to just try and get on with life and forget about this hip stuff, until I was able to contemplate doing any more about them. Bear with me on this update, it might be a long one.....

I am still super pleased with the surgery on my right hip, it was absolutely the right thing to do. Since I last posted in January 2015, I have developed an issue with the 3 screws that were placed through the head of the trochanter. These screws are only there because of the type of surgery I had, in order to get to the joint they needed to dislocate the hip and to do that, they have to take off the head of the trochanter, and screw it back on. Once the bone had healed, the screws serve no purpose and it seems many people go on with their life never having an issue with them.

But for some people, the screws can become a problem. They can irritate the muscles and tissues  surrounding them, causing pain and swelling. I had thought that my screws had settled down, having been pretty bit sore through the early recovery phase, by 9 months post op, I had stopped thinking about them. But from about Feb 2015, they started to play up. It has been intermittent, mainly brought on by  “too much” walking but also is worse in the cold/damp weather. The feeling is a bit like something sticking in my leg but from the inside out, and also a bit itchy. Sometimes I get pain radiating down my IT band and very occasionally, a bit of groin pain. It is also uncomfortable to lie directly on, and a  press or knock to the area results in pain and the itching feeling. I also have a small swelling at the base of my scar, it often feels like I am sitting on an egg under my outer thigh.

I have tried not to be to disappointed by the problems the screws are causing as I know it should be resolved by having the screws taken out. But as I have just not had the time to be able to take a week off to have the screws out, I have found the pain from them rather frustrating as it is the only thing that makes me think about that hip.

Despite the screw pain. I have spent much of the year, so far, enjoying be able to ride o my horse, which given that my 1^st opinion hip consultant said was an “unreasonable expectation”, I shall forever be thankful to my 2^nd opinion consultant who fixed that hip. I have been limited by my left hip (more on that later) so made the decision to just take things easy this year, no travelling my horse to lessons, clinics or shows. Very little in the way of schooling (since my left leg prevents me from doing lateral work) Instead,  we have been “happy hackers”, riding out 2 or 3 times a week from the yard.

Back wise, I have only been to see my physio (Donna) for two episodes this year,  that said they were both quite horrible back pain episodes. The first was in March, when my upper back went into spasm. It was sudden and disabling pain, which felt like a bolt of lightning in my spine, and was unable to move very far for a good  few minutes.

During the treatments for this, Donna mentioned how rounded my upper back appears, and how I need to try and address my posture to decrease the amount of upper back pain I have, and stop me developing a “dowagers hump” in years to come (Google that and you will do anything to avoid it!) She suggested looking in the Alexander Technique (AT). So I started researching AT. It all seemed a bit “vague” to me, the Wikipedia definition of AT is here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_technique

Having a science/veterinary nurse background, I like facts, and struggle to understand phrases like “Sensory Appreciation” or “let your head and neck be free” and the Youtube videos  I watched seemed very odd, the AT teacher just making minute adjustments to a person as they sat, stood, lay down. But I have always trusted Donna, and if she thought AT could help me, then I would try it. I found a fantastic teacher in Bristol called Lisa Clarke. I went to my fist lesson, and can honestly say I didn’t really understand what on earth she was on about, but it intrigued me. So I kept going every week, from April to the end of June. One of the first things I learnt about AT is that it cannot be learnt from a book or a video, you have to have a lesson to understand it. And so I won’t go into great detail here, suffice to say I found the whole thing immensely helpful, and my posture has improved no end. Just making some minor adjustments in the way I use my back, neck and head I have improved my back pain no end, and If my upper back does feel pinchy, I know it is because I have been neglecting my AT techniques. Here’s a few link about AT:

http://cliftonalexandertechnique.co.uk/
http://www.alexandertechnique.com/
http://www.stat.org.uk/

So from April through to July I felt pretty good, both back and hip wise, the pain from the screws wasn’t to bad with the warmer weather and my left hip was behaving pretty well. I also started Yoga in May. One of my husband’s friend’s wife was a newly qualified teacher and I have always got on well with her when we have met so I decided to give it a go. I think she was a bit worried she might be getting me doing something that would hurt me, when I listed out all my issues, but she was brave enough to take me on and I had a couple of private lessons before joining in the group class on a Thursday. I have found it very beneficial and slightly less intense than pilates,  of course there are a number of poses that I cannot, and some that I should not do, but I know how to listen to my body and not push it to do things that will be detrimental.

July and August are traditionally my most busy months work wise. I run a pet care business and so the summer means long days driving around the many cat care at home visits that come hand in hand with the school holidays, and people going away. I also had some donkeys to care for two weeks. All that aswell as my usual dog walks and looking after my own animals. Something had to give and in the end, it was my lower back and left hip. I struggled through those two months, and had to stop riding my horse because of my left hip. I was having a lot of groin pain, ITB pain and SI joint point. My lower back spasmed a couple  of times, and I managed to control it myself with medication and stretches. Then, in August, it all went very wrong. I was in tonnes of pain, left and right hip and all across my lower back. I sent to see Donna a few times and she said the issues  on the left side were to do with my Psoas and piriformis muscles, and that the issue on my right was my lumber disc disease rearing its head and putting all the muscles on that side into spasm. The last time I saw Donna was the 17^th August and she did some manipulations that she hadn’t done to me before, along with some acupuncture and massage. It was really full on and very painful but oh my word, how wonderful I felt 2 days after. She is an amazing physio!! We were due to go on holiday to Wales the 1^st September so I decided it was best to not attempt riding my horse until we got back from that, to give my back and hips time to settle back down to “normal” 

My plan for my left hip has always been to get it fixed over a winter, as I tend be quieter work wise and as a real outdoorsy person, if I have sit around recovering during any months, I would rather it be the winter ones. I couldn’t have contemplated it last winter, I was pleased with my other hip allowing me to get back to horse riding- and skiing! But through the middle of 2015, I can feel that my left hip is starting to deteriorate, I am getting more in the way of stabbing groin pain,  SI joint pain, and part of me longs to know how much more stable my lower back will feel with a matching pair of correct hips. Plus, I am through with taking it easy. I want to gallop my horse on the beach , school him, go to clinics with him, take him on holiday to see, and ride with my friend in Wales. I want to go kayaking. I want to go on proper walks, the sort of walks where you need to wear proper hiking gear, where you have to pack you rucksack with an OS map, food, a flask of tea, waterproofs, a torch and a fist aid kit. I want to walk the Cornish Coastal Path, the Mendip Hills and Snowdon. The only I see me doing those things is if I can get this gammy old left hip fixed and get properly fit again.  So, when we got back from our holiday, I set the wheels in motion to get my left hip looked at. I have an appointment to see my surgeon in Truro on the 25^th September.

Snowdon

Crushing the "you can't do that" voice

16th Jan 2015 I have been pushing my luck all week. And now I am paying for it but in a positive way. I am Sat here snuggled on a sofa with my non op hip (old lefty) resting on a cushion, in the TV room at Hotel Alpe in St Martin De Belleville, 3 valleys, France.,at the end of a skiing holiday. This time last year, my Facebook status read "feeling like I do have two legs after all" I was just starting to weight bear on my right leg and reduce down to one crutch. Yesterday, I ski'd 10 miles from a height of 2400m. It was a challenge, I am only just out of snow plough and into parallel skiing, I still have that fearsome moment when the next section looks so steep the skiers in front look like ants, but I pushed on. There is something awesome about beating that little voice that says "you can't do that, who do you think are for even  attempting this , don't be silly, you need to stop now "that voice has been winning over for a while now and yesterday  I suppressed that voice and I did it, feeding the part of me that is actually pretty much a determined dare devil. The part of me that longs to gallop full pelt along the beach on my horse again, the part of me that wants to climb snowdon mountain again. The part of me that secretly longs to do a parachute jump. The part of me limited in recent years by hip & back pain. As I wooshed down a particularly straight section, reaching that point that your face stings with the cold wind, that point where you are only just in control, I felt like the old me. That I was crushing that voice who try's to convince me I can't. Well actually I can. 

But now, That's me done skiing for this year my un operated hip (old lefty) has woken up in a very bad mood. On the positive side, I now know the surgery on my right hip was worth it, as it feels great! Onwards and upwards, I am so so very grateful for what I have been able to do and mountain tops I have seen this week....hopefully by this time next year I'll be well on my way to a matching pain free pair.

Now I do appreciate that I am very lucky to be able to ski post a Fai repair/with fai. I know that there are many in my situation for whom skiing (or what ever their chosen longing may be) will never be reality. We each have ownbattles to fight and we should strive to do the best we can, even if that is just putting one foot in front of the other, and we should not expect the journey to be easy.

There is a quote told to me that I try to use in all asspects  of my life. I was involved in the retraining of my horse whose behavioural issues had spiralled out of control and I was seriously facing retiring  him if retraining did not help. I was reading Buck Brannamans book Believe . In it he mentions St Francis of Assisi's words :

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
With my horse, we started with the necessary being leading in hand training on the ground to help him be a safe horse to be around. Then it became possible to ride him safely for short periods, 9 months later we were riding out alone up Cadbury Camp hill. Something we  thought impossible. 
So it was with my hip recovery. The necessary being the physiotherapy and hydrotherapy to allow me to put one foot in front of the other. And then came the possible of crossing the road on two crutches to sit on a bench to going back to  work and before long doing  what once seemed like impossible, riding my horse and now skiing. 
Taking my skis back to the hire shop this afternoon, walking across the bottom of the ski slope with skiers whizzing down and stopping at the end, grinning, I had to pinch myself that I had done it myself, yes my hip is shouting at me now but I had done it. And don't care if I never manage to do it again. Take it a step at a time. stay on each step as long as you need, above all, be kind to yourself. 

 

 

 

Top of the world, 15th Jan 2015

One Year Post Op And Feeling Awesome

So here I am one year to the date of my hip surgery. This time last year I was sky high on Morphine at Duchy Hospital !

Today I have:
walked 3 dogs (one for 40mins the other 2 for 30mins each)
Mucked out a stable
Poo picked a field
filled 12 haynets
rearranged my horses electric fencing into new paddocks
groomed my elderly pony
picked out and applied hoof treatments to above pony and horse
A Pilates class.

Phew, I am a little achy but my OP hip feels wonderful. I am so so so glad I git it done. It has been a long hard year but I am in such a better place than before this surgery.

I am 4 months out form my back last  having an spasm episode (see previous post) and it is ok, I still know it has limitations but I am learning to listen to it more and pace myself.

Myleft hip continues to be troublesome and I am pretty much 90% sure I will get the same surgery done on that one next Autumn (I prefer a winter recovery). But for now I am happy to cope with it. We are off on a ski trip to France in January so I am excited to find out how my op hip will do, hopefully snow plough will be less painful on that side than last time! - am not a natural skier but love been in the mountains and pottering about on the greens and blues

So my friends I shall leave you with 3 pics of my boy Charlie Brown (one with me in!) that sum up how I feel about getting my hip fixed and getting on the path out of chronic pain. If you hear nothing more of me on here, presume I am off doing  exciting things and not thinking about my hip. I shall no doubt be back next year to discuss my surgery on my left hip, but for now, Adios, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

If you would like to contact me for any info/advice, you can email on digaden01@gmail.com I can aslo be found on the Facebook hip groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FAIhip/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/408488389227462/

First walk on the beach with my boy and his friend Harvey

The view of the old Pier from on board my boy with his
friend Harvey, This month, it was 3 hr a ride, a great achievement
for us both!



Me with my boy last month , the first time he went in the sea (he is aged 12 lol!)

8 Months Post Op For Right Open SDD, Left hip not feeling great

I can remember saying pretty early on in my recovery that things can change both mentally and physically in just a few hours. And it seems that that is still true.

Saturday 2nd August Marked my 8 month post op day. If I had written this that day, It would have been a lot shorter and more positive.  I had a pretty good weekend, though if I look back at it, I knew something was brewing.

My op hip has been really pretty good, and I am still pleased with my progress. I haven't been to the gym since the she made do heap of squats 4 weeks ago, that really hurt and I think it was just to much to soon for a person who never did squats in the first place. I have wanted to go, but time has been against me and there just haven't been enough hours in the day. I have been doing my best to go to the Tuesday evening Pilates though and am enjoying that.

I have had my horse back on DIY livery for a month and half now and it is going well, I had forgotten how much manure he produces though,, its hard work shovelling!! but they are both living out 24/7 at the moment so that makes things easier. I have been on some nice rides on the beach and up the woods with the other ladies at the yard, one ride was  an hour and half and I was pleased with how well my hip coped.

But my non op hip is really not happy today. One night last week, my spine was really tight and achy and I had diazepam and felt better the next day. Then at the weekend, my IT band on that side was on fire. Really bad and I was due to ride on Sunday afternoon in the outdoor arena with other girls from the yard. I was determined to do it and did it with a fiery IT band and felt not to bad, did some lovely cantering and trotting on Charlie Brown and felt pleased with both him and me. And then bang. This morning my left hip and lower back are HORRENDOUS, my hip feels like something is gnawing away at the joint and my lower back is in complete spasm. First thing my husband said when he saw me this evening was "you are crooked" by that he means my back is crooked laterally . That has hasn't happened to me in almost a year and certainly not since my op. I had thought it was a thing of the past. My heart fell when he said it. I know from the past that when he says that, things are bad I am not going to be right for at least 2 weeks, and work is at its busiest.

I have a feeling that this blog will now become more about my left (non op) hip as my op hip feels so good, all my pain now is focussed on the left, right just feels a bit achy from taking the strain. I know I have to take comfort in how well my op hip feels. As at least I know I am on my way out of all this. When I finally get old lefty done, I should feel great.

I came across this post in a blog that I follow and pretty much sums today up. Hit the wall and can't get over it.

http://invisibleillnessbattle.wordpress.com/2014/05/01/the-wall/

6.5 months post op. Negative FAI test. YES!

I just wanted to check in with a brief update as I have been to see my physio today (16th June) for the first time in  4 weeks. I just needed a break from it to help get back into going to the gym & Pilates, which has gone really well. 

We had a good discussion on how I feel now, and as I always like to quantify things, came up with following. 

This time last year my overall pain levels (taking both hips and lower back into account)  were 7-8 out of 10. Today they are 4-5 out 10, mainly linked to the none op hip pain. If I think about where I am on my journey to hopefully feeling 100% better, I would say I am 60-70% there. 

So those all good figures . My physio had my do the two classic hip FAI tests on my op hip. The tests that this time last year I was in immense pain from. The test that in September 2013 Mr F did not follow through with as he could tell he would be scraping me off the ceiling g if he proceed to the rotation part!  Today ZERO  on flexion plus rotation. Wow. Amazing. I never thought I would ever feel no pain with that test!   So I think that now officially means I do not have FAI in my right hip. 

6 months post op right hip open SDD

Here I am 6 months post op to the day. In many ways the 2nd of December 2013 seems like a lifetime a go, but in other it just seems like yesterday.

 

So to sum up how I feel today. I feel OK. Whilst I would be love to sitting here writing "yes everything is wonderful and I am pain free and I can do everything like a normal person. That would not be true. But I am glad I had the surgery? a catorgoric YES!

 

I think it would be foolish to think that this FAI surgery would cure me of pain completely, especially when I know I have on going pathology in both my left hip and my lower back. BUT what this surgery does seem to be enabling me to do is use my muscles (in particular the glute ones) in a more correct way which in turn is strengthening my back.

 

I am able to do all things that I wanted to do. I am riding my horse for up to  an 40mins in walk, trot and canter. I am walking 4-5 miles a day. I am caring for all my animals , including our elderly pony in two weeks time I shall have my "big" horse Charlie Brown back on DIY livery at the farm. (he has been on full livery for 18 months as I could not care for him). I can do the garden (remembering to pace myself and switch activity often). I can go shopping with other people and not feel like a complete misery.  I am going to the gym two mornings a week and Pilates once a week.

 

Whilst the exercises I am doing  still seem quite basic compared to what I see other people doing at the gym, I do find them challenging , so I am happy that they are right for me. Just some of the exercises my gym instructor has me doing on a circuit type programme:

 

START warm at walk on treadmill, 4mph, gradient of 3 for 10 mins

FLOOR exercise: Clam Shells, side leg raises, sit up using the half balance ball type thing

STANDING Exercises : side walk with resistance band around ankles , and floor raises with band (hard to describe)

Weights for upper body

Squats, stilling using a bench to sit up and down from (when she first had me doing this, I literally could not do it without help. But I can now!)

END: warm down 5 mins on cross trainer (the first time I got on this I could not push the pedals fast enough to make the screen stop saying "sessions paused!")

 

I enjoy the Pilates but the one exercise that really bugs me is sitting from a lying down position, I just cannot do it, whilst other around me can.

 

With all this activity and exercise my op leg does get tired before the rest of me. I quite often have sore flexors, occasional tight IT band and also some groin pain but I can always put it down to what I did the previous day. No pain no gain!

 

My other hip gets quite pinchy and achy in the groin and it is interesting to feel how different the groin pain is in each hip. I deffinatly feel that my op hip is now taking some pressure of the other hip, which is great.

 

My back feels very achy a lot of the time but I have  lost the feeling of it being "about to go" , which I felt it was in a permanent sate of in the 6 months prior to the surgery. I find I am still taking paracetmol and codeine for my back and other hip.

 

I am very aware of my screws in my trochanter giving me some pain and discomfort in that area at night as I really like to lie on that side, I also find a lot of the side lying gym exercises difficult because of them and have to modify my position. A lady on our Open SDD face book page had her screws taken out at the same time as having the other hip done so I hope that I will be able to do likewise, but for now I can manage with them.

 

So there you go, I hope this comes across positive as I am happy with how I am doing and I am happy that I had the surgery. I shall check in again at 8 months post op. Thanks for reading.

Me and My Boy at 6 months post op.

                  

5 months post open surgical disclocation/debridment surgery for FAI

It is Sunday 11^th May 2014 I am now 5 months post op. On the whole I am doing well. I would say I am back to pretty much normal ROM with my op leg. Generally it is pain free. The area where the screw heads are located gives me pain if I  lie directly on it. Or bump into something with it. I can live with that so will not be looking at getting the screws out anytime soon. When I have my left hip done, I will have to decide if I can live with that uncomfortable feeling on both sides, so I guess I will get them taken out in the future.

My op leg continues to feel different from the other one. I can tell the muscles are still weak, the main ache being at the top, and slightly to the side of the front of my thigh. This comes on when I have done too much. There is also some pain in the joint itself, which comes and goes. It is different to the sharp stabbing groin pain I had pre op and is bearable. When it does happen, it hurts more as I take weight off that leg during walking. It can still often feel a little stiff when I stand after sitting for a while, as if the muscles need a moment to realise I have stood up. There is some occasional inner thigh and IT band pain, but again, not like pre op. All of this I can live with and presume will only continue to improve.

My back continues to be troublesome, but again, not as much as pre op. I do still get some pretty nasty SIJ pain, but I haven’t had the feeling of my lower back  about to go into spasm for a long time. Something tells me my back has its own issues to deal with. I know the disc bulge and degeneration in some of the lumbar vertebrae are there and will not go away. But my theory has always been that if my hips work better, may back has a better chance of becoming stronger. Hip surgery always seemed like the better option that spinal.

 My non op leg is pretty ropey, but I have less in the way of groin pain than pre op. I presume this is because it is now not working so hard/compensating for the other leg. I still get some nasty catching and clunking and the feeling of restriction in certain exercise or when riding my horse. I am getting alot of thigh pain at the moment. In particular a nasty sensitive skin / muscle sensation on my IT band and inside of my left thigh. I don’t know what it this is about and hope it will settle with some rest. I have to accept that my non op leg is not going to feel great and that I have to grit my teeth and bare it until I can have it fixed in Autumn 2015. But now that I know it can be fixed, it seems more manageable. Unlike this time last year I now know there is a way out to all this, that I am 5 months through my plan of action that started in December 2013.

Activity wise I am back to normal. I am back full time with my pet care business. Driving 30-40 miles a day, feeding cats, walking one dog 1.5 miles a day weekdays and then doing another 1.5-2 miles a day with the adhoc dogs on my books. With walking down to the farm to care for my  pony and walking my own dog, my pedometer ap is saying I am doing 4-5 miles a day during the week. Our elderly pony has been unwell and so has required a lot of extra care (much of it bending/crouching down bandaging his feet and putting on his hoof boots) and my hip has coped well with that. I am riding my horse twice a week and lunging him twice a week. I rode him out on the gallops last week and we had a  fantastic gallop, he was really gunning for it as it is something we have always enjoyed. You can’t beat that feeling of tears streaming down your face from the wind as your horse gallops so fast you think his legs will be fall off! And yet he is so well behaved all I have to do is sit back and ay whoooaa and he will drop gently back to a walk. My hip has also coped ok with that, a fair amount of stiffness delayed onset muscle fatigue but I can cope with that as surely it only means my legs are getting stronger again. The more I do it, the better it should get being my theory. No gain without pain.

Medication wise, I am still taking 20mg amitryptaline at night and usually 30mg codeine at night also. This is to help me sleep and help with hip pain on the left, not my op hip. I take paracetamol and ibuprofen in the day as needed, but not every day.

On  Thursday  I went for a gym induction at a local ladies gym. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting (from experience these things are given by super fit people who have no understanding of why I am so unfit and just involve telling me I am overweight and then showing me how t o use the gym machines). I am not a natural gym goer. I presume that if you work in an office all day, the gym is the perfect release. However, I am working outside/driving all day. I walk dogs for 3-5 miles each week day, look after my pony and ride my horse who is currently on full livery. For me the gym is an extra chore on top of everything else, and a drain on my limited energy. Outside of a gym I don’t actually feel that unfit, especially when I walking briskly with a dog or mucking out our pony. But as soon as I walk into a gym, I feel instantly overwhelmed by the fit toned types leaping around. I feel self conscious that I am so untoned and inflexible and a bit fat. The lady that runs this new gym, Rane, is in her late 40’s and yes she is super fit but she is also super nice and really interested in me and my case. She has 25 years experience in the fitness industry and keeps up with a lot of the advances and research, and seems to understand the link between physiotherapy and fitness. She was excited to see me x-ray and surgery pictures that I showed her on my iphone as I needed to know she understood what I had had done.

She first got me to stand on a step with my socks off so she could take a picture of the back of my heels. This picture shows how my Achilles tendon is pretty straight on the left and curved to the outside on the right, which is what is causing my right foot (op side) to stick out a 45 degree angle when walking and standing where as my left foot points forward. She says my arch is also collapsed on that side.  According to her, this is due to my muscle weaknesses in my hips and lower back. She doesn’t want me going on any gym equipment for a few weeks but instead to have two sessions with her a week to work one to one on some muscle activation exercises. At first I thought “oh right, and how much is that going to cost me” but, it will be all included in my gym membership of £24.99 a month, as will the Pilates sessions she also wants me to attend.

So what the hell, I will give it a go. This hip journey has lead me to be very cynical of health and fitness professionals (I still have the words of my  ex-chiropractor ringing in my ears from 5 years ago “I don’t see why I cant fix you” –  at that time I believed him. Now I am very sceptical of such statements). But like I say, I will give Rane and her gym a go. There are not extraordinary costs involved, she appears to know what she is talking about and I like her. It is nice to have a fresh set of eyes on me. So time will tell on that. I hope that perhaps this time in 6 months I have stronger  glutes and core muscles and that I am doing some cardio work to get rid of some of the excess weight that walking alone will not shift.

So that is my 5 months post open SDD surgery update, I hope I continue to improve and will update in a month or so.