Five months....

A couple weeks ago in physical therapy, John, my physical therapist, decided that we should do something called "dry needling." Turns out, one of my muscles in my butt wasn't fully awake. He tested this by feeling the muscle during exercises I had been doing at home. What he discovered was the muscle was firing, but it was more of a spark than the wild fire we needed to really get that muscle strengthened. Dry needling is helping that muscle activate and it is helping me isolate that muscle during physics therapy exercises. 

For those of you who don't want to google what dry needling is, it is basically acupuncture with a twist. John sticks four acupuncture needles into certain points in that particular muscle and those needles get hooked up to an electric stimulation machine. It's like jumping a car... But only the car is my butt. 

It has certainly helped me isolate the muscle and really work on strength, but I'm still struggling with walking with a normal gait. When I really concentrate on my walking, I more often than not feel my hip dislocate still. Part of me feels like it's not a matter of strength, but more of a matter things not sitting right on the inside. I have four weeks until I go back to see Doctor White, and I'm really hoping by then my gait will be closer to normal, and that I won't be told I will have to go through yet another surgery. 

I have to say this has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.... I'm five months out and I'm still having complications with my hip dislocating. It's frustrating and some days I just want to give up, but I know that won't solve anything. I struggle a lot with the way people look at me when they see me walk too. I can't describe what that's like, but I can say that what they are thinking isn't even in the ballpark of what the truth is. 

I'll be sure to update again on Novemeber 11th!