Hip Follow-up

The follow-up appt on my hip went well this morning. He thinks there is a labral tear which is a tear in the cartilage of the hip joint. He is sending me to a dr in Nashville for a hip arthroscopy. He said they don't do a whole lot of those here so he prefers to send his patients to this dr. It sound like it will be June before that happens, possibly before I even hear from them. They will send my records and x-rays to them, he will review them, and get back to me. It is an outpatient surgery where they will go in and look and hopefully repair the tear if possible. (You've probably heard of this for knees.)

Even though I know this is not the end of all my pain, it sure feels good to be on the road to taking care of some of it. And to be honest - the worst of it.

The injection is still successful. I am hurting tonight but he twisted and torqued my hip and I also had a chiropractic adjustment today so I'm not surprised. As I told a friend today - I can almost say I feel good. If it wasn't for the ear pain, I would say that I feel good and I don't think I've said that in over a year. It's a good feeling. I'm having an especially busy phase right now and am weary of hurting and weary of all that needs to be done but I'm trying to keep the proper focus and remember the progress that has been made.

Tube Removal

I had the tube removed from my ear this morning. Everything went fine. It had already started working it's way out. Something about taking the tube out is worse than putting it in so they have to put you to sleep to do it. The procedure itself is only a few mins. But all went fine. I can't tell if my ear is hurting from it or not since it's almost always hurting. I have to keep it dry for 2 weeks and I can't blow my nose for at least a week. There is some kind of patch over the hole while it heals. I guess it just dissolves eventually.

Next Mon, I go to Birmingham for the ear specialist.

But I think I finally figured out why my ear is hurting all the time. It's because DS4 talks ALL THE TIME. It's non-stop unless we are out in public around people he doesn't know. He'll talk to me constantly in the store, in the car, at home, etc... It was a revelation last night. Of course no dr would believe me because he completely clams up and acts shy in a dr office. There have only been a couple of nurses that we've run across that can get him to talk to them. Wonder what the prescription to fix that would be...

Hip Still Good & Ear

My hip/groin is still good. It did hurt some Fri night after I ran a few errands and was trying to do them quickly. But it didn't linger. I'm interested in hearing what the dr says Wed when I go back. I'm having a problem with my heel lift though. It's basically sliding apart. It seems to have 3 layers to it and the top one is sliding. That does not make me happy after I had to pay for that thing! We'll be talking about that on Wed as well.

----------------------------------

I am having the tube taken out of my ear in the morning. Hopefully that goes well. I have no idea what to expect procedure-wise. I'm not really nervous about it, just want it out so hopefully some of the sounds will go away.

Hip Injection/Ear Stuff

I had my hip injection this morning. Right now, I'm hopeful that this is going to help which does help us get to an answer. The injection site is very sore but that is the only "pain" I'm feeling. Hopefully as that soreness wears off the normal pain will still be gone. The soreness is normal and they also said that your hip joint is not used to having fluid around it (which would be the medicine they injected) so that may cause some slight discomfort as well.

I was not put to sleep for this like I was for the back injections. I actually could have driven myself but they said I needed someone. I like that I wasn't put to sleep and therefore was not groggy although I was nervous about it. The gave me a shot to numb the hip and of course I felt that but it wasn't too bad. I didn't feel the other shot so the numbing one worked. It didn't take very long at all. And I didn't have to wait all that long. The dr (radiologist) that I thought was going to do it didn't but I don't suppose it really mattered. It was still a qualified radiologist. The one that was supposed to do it got called to something else just a few mins before.

DH went to work after we had lunch. I don't really have any reason that he needed to be here and he has lots to do at work.

-----------------------------

The ENT called while I was gone. They have referred me to a dr in B'ham and that appt is Mon, May 5. I was going to put off the removal so that we could go ahead and get me in with the ear guy and I just kinda wanted to see what he said before I had it removed. They said they still had me on the books for the tube removal on Mon so I guess I'm going ahead with that. Not real sure what I think about that right now. I want it out but what if the ear guy says something about having it. I just don't know...

Discouraged - Ear

I called today to cancel the ear surgery to have the tube removed and to check on them referring me to the ear dr. They called me back and she said they had just scheduled someone else with him and it was July before they could get in. She said she would talk to the Dr tomorrow and see what he wants to do. It may be that they refer me to someone in Birmingham. Sounds like there is only one ear specialist in H'ville or at least very few. There are more in B'ham. We'll see what he says tomorrow. If it's going to be that long I will probably just go to a different ENT and see if he has any different opinions.

Scheduled

I have my hip injection for Wed morning.

I have also decided to wait on having the ear tube removed. I want/need to get to the ear specialist and find out why my ear hurts so often and so forth. If I have the surgery now I will have to wait longer to go see him. Since it isn't something that I have to have done I will just postpone that.

Hip Evaluation

Today I had my appt with the hip dr. Even though it took forever (waiting) I feel like it was a good appointment and that he cares about finding the source of the pain and not just treating the symptoms.

The took several x-rays and from looking at them and looking at me my hips are uneven. I knew this. One leg is longer than the other which shifted my hips some which caused my scoliosis. He gave (or rather I purchased) a bigger heel lift to put in my shoe. He said that I needed greater support to help prevent further damage. Since I'm not growing anymore, I can't fix that but we can keep it from getting worse.

He feels like there is a good chance that the groin pain and the leg pain is coming from my hip. He thinks I may have torn something in there, somehow. How? Who knows!!!! But that is not something he can see on an x-ray. He is sending me for an injection in my hip. If that injection provides any relief at all, even just a few hours, then he says he will know that it is in my hip otherwise it's not. I'm trying to get that scheduled. I don't know where we go from there in either situation.


So that's the jist of what I know at this point. It isn't much but it's something.

Postponed

I had to call and cancel my ear surgery to have the tube removed. Fri afternoon I started sneezing a lot. I guess the pollen got to me. I don't usually struggle with allergies but I think I'm starting too. By Sat I was blowing my nose a lot and decided it would be best to postpone it. I can't blow my nose for 2 weeks after the surgery while it heals so being a little sick didn't sound like a good plan. I'll call tomorrow to reschedule.

Chair

Someone asked me last night if I had found a chair that would work for baseball. I think I have. I tried a different chair that we already had and it seems to be a whole lot better. I've used it for two games now. It doesn't store in the van the best but that's ok. It fits on my cart fine so transporting it is not an issue. It is firm so it supports my back - that's what matters!!!

Ear Surgery/Back Update

My ear surgery (to have the tube taken out) is scheduled for Monday morning. Not much more to tell about that. Still waiting for them to call about an appt for the ear dr.

---------------------

My chiropractor is sending me to a (different) orthopedist to have my hip evaluated. Basically taking a path to rule out other causes of pain. This one is a hip guy. He may also send me to a different back guy. We'll see... I have an appt next Wed.

Ear Update & Pain

Today I went back to the ENT. He doesn't know what else to do. He's going to take the tube out of my ear because it's driving me crazy. I'll have to go to the OR for that. He said the pain is bad for taking the tube out even though it wasn't for putting it in. Of course it won't take long to do but full recovery (ear wise) from that is 6-8 weeks. I should be able to do whatever the next day but I have to keep it dry for 2 days and I can't blow my nose for 2 weeks (for fear of blowing the packing stuff out). Not sure when that will be yet. They'll call me.

After that he's going to send me to an ear dr, someone who only sees ears. As he said, he went to school 5 years to be an ENT and an ear dr goes 2 more just to do ears.

---------------------

I'm hurting again today. Not nearly as bad as last week but worse than "normal". I've decided that baseball is bad for my health. I'm going to have to try a different chair and see if that helps. Otherwise I don't know what I'm going to do about my son's games.

---------------------

I've also decided to not continue taking the new medicine. I just don't think the side effects are worth the minimal results. I can take a higher dosage but I think that will just increase the side effects. Not sure where to proceed with the pain issues. Now that our insurance has changed I'm going to switch primary care doctors and see if I can get a fresh opinion and what not.