Dislocation #2

Below is a copy of the email I sent to Dr. Pritchett November 7th:

"The left hip has been feeling a little sloppy for the last couple of weeks, and while just sitting in my living room and sliding up onto the couch it dislocated.

Last night was basically a repeat of what happened last go-round I have an appointment to see my GP on Tuesday, and a local ortho surgeon here.

I am walking around with crutches and I've got that knee immobilizer brace back on my leg. It's kind of achy, and I'm just leaving it alone using crutches to get around my condo."


Long story short, I now have to get a different brace. A hip abduction orthosis (see pic at left).  This is a cute little rig which I am told I will have to wear all the time, except when I shower. For 3 or 4 months.

I have also been told told I may always have this instability due to the nerve damage in that left leg, and the now 2 dislocations. Getting a THR may not solve the problem, either.

I think I am done with the hip surgeries.

12 weeks are up

I have been doing a lot over the last 2 weeks. 6 sets of stairs followed by 30 minutes on the bike are done twice a week. I have piggybacked CH on top of CB5 on the other days.

I need a few days off. Left hip hurts...and I admit it worries me. I am  still terrified of a possible dislocation. If I stand and relax that leg it feels like it still could pop.

Currently on the plane on the way to Regina to train people at the Y. My hands feel arthritic, especially the little fingers, which are triggering. Stop. I am dying to get back into shape, but I need a break.

Pritchett in 3 days.

Immobilizer knee brace

Here's a shot of my new immobilizer knee brace:

Nice Crocs. Brace cost $75 CAD.

After some back-and-forth with Dr. Pritchett, it appears I have to wear this beast for 6 weeks. It also appears that the reason the hip dislocated in the first place is that the muscles have atrophied to the point they can't properly hold the joint together. What that means is I have to do some strengthening. Walking is not good enough.

I saw a new physio on Monday. Ben Seun is the first physio I have seen to know what a hip resurfacing is w/o resorting to Google. Between his exercises and the scar breakdown stuff he did I am hoping to get strong again. 

All things considered I feel pretty upbeat for all the shit that keeps getting thrown at me. In all honesty though, Saturday afternoon I was in that hole again. It really didn't help having no one to answer my questions.

I used the stationary bike yesterday for the 1st time in 2 months. I intend to use it everyday at this point, in addition to my other exercises.

I am never crossing my legs again

Apparently I may have dodged a bullet on this one. I managed to find something from the hip and groin clinic that addresses hip dislocation after surgery, and although it is rare it does happen. It sounds like that if it happens once it usually doesn't happen again, but if it does a possible further surgery may be considered. 

Wow… I am going to be so careful at this point. I am really hoping it doesn't require anything further from me. I just can't take much more this. It is so hard on my head after all these years dealing with this shit.

On a sidenote, the paramedics left the back door open to the deck and the place was filled with flies when I got home. I went on a hunt and killed them all. Now I'm wondering what else crawled in.

I dislocated my hip yesterday

While just lying on my back and doing a tricep exercise I crossed my left leg over on top of my right knee. I am six weeks postop, and as I understand it all these restrictions were to be lifted anyway.

I believe this happened because of my spinal cord injury and my weak left leg -which is predisposed to stuff like this. Needless to say, yesterday was a pretty depressing day. The paramedics got into my place, put me on laughing gas while they tried to package me to get me down the stairs of my place.

Once at the hospital I was put on some proforpropanol or something (yes – the Michael Jackson drug) and I was completely under while they relocated my hip; which dislocated again and was relocated the second time; all while I was out of it.

The thing is, it doesn't feel that bad. Although I was told to use crutches to get around, it's clear to me I really don't need them. In fact, I'm going to do some physio exercises and start trying to strengthen the stupid motherfucker. 

It's a safe bet that Dr. Pritchett is going to want to see me down in Seattle as soon as possible. This sucks. I am beyond frustrated and angry, and yesterday did not know what to do with my life anymore. I feel I am so far away from where I want to be right now, and I am all alone dealing with this. 

I am hoping I do not need more surgery to fix this. I am going to book an appointment with the physio and see what he thinks. 

Groin pain has subsided… Gone?

Things of been going much better over the last five days, in most respects. I have been messing around with my medications, and I am going to go much higher with my Lyrica. This is an attempt to rid myself of the nerve pain. Ultimately, I hope to get off the Tramadol entirely, but that may be a bit ambitious.

I had nerve pain Sunday night and Monday all morning. It was tough to get anything done....but I am managing to get in upper body workouts and walks in the woods. The walks in the woods feel great, but Sunday I realized I was going to have to cut it short because the growing pain was coming back. Ice, ice, ice.

Every day now I am noticing improvements and I'm actually beginning to believe I might one day return to climbing and a sense of normality.

Groin pan gone

I have been fearing the worst for the last two weeks. Thankfully this morning, my fears of a failure have subsided, at least temporarily. Now all I have to do is try to avoid having a recurrence.

It is actually really hard for me to know what set this up in the first place, but I suspect it was a physio visit and the exercises that I was given. It is clear to me now that there are no safe exercises, and I have to treat this like a broken bone that is trying to set. Somebody on one of the hip resurfacing websites told me to "take it easy!". Sometimes, for people like me, that literally means not doing very much of anything, including sitting at a desk. Relax, get up and move around, get out and do some chores, but don't lift anything heavy or try too quickly to get back to normal. The bones are trying to set. In years past they probably would've had me casted and lying in bed for weeks. Just because they haven't done that and they are allowing me to move around doesn't mean I should be going to try to do the Grouse Grind.

I think I am better understanding now why my initial hip surgeries failed. Most likely, I was trying too hard to get better too quickly.