Now you may be thinking, "What is hip dysplasia?" To put this simply, it is when the ball and socket of the hip joint don't fit together. In my case, the sockets of my hips are shallow and don't form a nice cup over the ball part of the joint. In addition to that, the ball part of the joint is also not formed perfectly.
How does this happen? Well I was born this way. When I was 14 months old I had surgery that was supposed to correct these problems and help my hips develop normally. When I was 15 and Cheerleading in high school, I started to notice pain in my left hip. I went to a few doctors that told me nothing was wrong and that I could possibly have juvenile arthritis. 3 years later, in my first semester in college at CU Boulder, the pain became worse. I was done believing that there was noting wrong and decided to go see Dr. White. Long story short my dysplasia was not corrected and the pain I was feeling was caused by torn tissue in my hip that Dr. White had to go fix. He also reshaped the head of the femur or the "ball" part of the socket to further ensure that the problem wouldn't happen again and I could live pain-free. But that was just my left hip.
If you look at my x-ray above, you can see that the sockets of my hips don't cover the ball. And on my right side it is much worse. This is where my journey begins. (note: the right hip is on the left side of the picture.)
For the past year I have been in pain on my right side. It is similar pain to what I experienced on my left side. This past November I scheduled an appointment with Dr. White for this issue. We knew three years ago when I had my left hip done that I would be back eventually because of my right hip. Although I didn't know that what they had to do to fix my problem on this side would be more intrusive than the surgery I had on my left side. This is where the Ganz Osteotomy part comes in. My right side is so dysplastic that they are going to cut, or break if you will, my hip in three places, rotate the socket of my hip about 25-30 degrees, and then screw everything back together. They are also going to repair the tissue on the inside and reshape the head of the femur as well. This will all take place May 11, 2015.
There isn't a whole lot I can do to prepare for this physically. I could lose weight, but lately that seems impossible when my activity level is at an all time minimum due to the constant pain I'm in. You could also add the fact that with my hips being so bad, I could potentially make things worse. The hardest part of preparing for me is the mental part. I know I have friends and family that will be there for me during all this, but its hard to mentally prepare yourself to be broken. To know I will be on crutches for the majority of summer is really hard for me to imagine.
If you look at my x-ray above, you can see that the sockets of my hips don't cover the ball. And on my right side it is much worse. This is where my journey begins. (note: the right hip is on the left side of the picture.)
For the past year I have been in pain on my right side. It is similar pain to what I experienced on my left side. This past November I scheduled an appointment with Dr. White for this issue. We knew three years ago when I had my left hip done that I would be back eventually because of my right hip. Although I didn't know that what they had to do to fix my problem on this side would be more intrusive than the surgery I had on my left side. This is where the Ganz Osteotomy part comes in. My right side is so dysplastic that they are going to cut, or break if you will, my hip in three places, rotate the socket of my hip about 25-30 degrees, and then screw everything back together. They are also going to repair the tissue on the inside and reshape the head of the femur as well. This will all take place May 11, 2015.
There isn't a whole lot I can do to prepare for this physically. I could lose weight, but lately that seems impossible when my activity level is at an all time minimum due to the constant pain I'm in. You could also add the fact that with my hips being so bad, I could potentially make things worse. The hardest part of preparing for me is the mental part. I know I have friends and family that will be there for me during all this, but its hard to mentally prepare yourself to be broken. To know I will be on crutches for the majority of summer is really hard for me to imagine.
I am now less than a month from the surgery day, and every day surgery gets closer, but every day I hurt more. I have good days, but I also have really bad days. I decided to blog about my experience, because I want to be able to give someone in my situation the peace of mind I got from a similar blog. I want my friends and family to experience this with me and to see things from my perspective as a patient. Most importantly, this blog will give me the opportunity to see my own progress. I can look back at this years from now and know that I am healthy and stronger.
Stay tuned....
Stay tuned....
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