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So I went to the ortho to discuss surgery plans on my hip, and he reaffirmed something I already knew...my previous doctors were idiots.
I gave him my history and he looked at the MRI, then proceeded to inform me that I had never, in fact, dislocated my hip. That the way my hips are deformed, it would actually be physically impossible for me to dislocate my hip short of a catastrophic car accident in which I did the super-splits. In short, I'd have to shatter my pelvis to get the hip out of place.
I told him about the first incident when I was 19, when I had injured it and the doctor had told me that I had dislocated it, and he declared with much amusement that that doctor was an idiot...which I already knew
Turns out, each time I had thought I dislocated my hip (including that first time), the popping sensation was actually me ripping the cartilage and the tendons, and each subsequent time the hip 'came out' (including the latest just two weeks ago...didn't do anything beyond lift my foot off the ground) was each time it was torn further.
He said the doc who had first taken x-rays and said I just needed more excercise had done the exact WRONG x-rays and was also an idiot. He then proceeded to send me for the 'correct' x-rays.
So after talking to me, perusing the x-rays and the MRI he did something no other doctor thus far has done...he SHOWED them to me. He pointed out that my hip sockets, especially on the right, were abnormally deep. The bone was overgrown on the lip of the socket, actually locking the head into place (which is why I can't dislocate it short of shattering my pelvis). The neck was much longer than it should have been, and at a sharper sloping angle than it should have been. He pointed out my labral tear and said it was one of the worst ones he'd ever seen.
On the physical examination he showed me that I do in fact have mild hip displaysia on both sides, which is why when I lay down my feet fall flat to each side and why when I put my feet 'straight' when I stand, my legs are actually twisted. He was a bit alarmed that I could barely bend over when he asked me to touch my toes, and more than a little shocked when he realized I haven't been taking any pain medications save advil...I believe his exact words were, 'I have grown men come in here, hopped up on percocet, and STILL in tears over a third of the tear you have'.
I think he thought I was a bit of a masochist *ROFL*
So, long story short (too late) this is the final diagnosis:
Severe labral tear
Overgrowth of bone that needs to be trimmed, socket mildly reshaped
Debris in the joint itself from pieces of cartilage and stuff that's ripped free that needs removed
A secondary tear of my hamstring where it joins the pelvis
Tendonitis
Bursitis
He said even with repairing the hip, the chances are almost guaranteed of me getting osteoarthritis in my hips in the next twenty years. Yay.
He wants to do arthroscopic surgery, go in and repair or remove the torn labram, clean up the debris, and reshape the socket and overgrown bone a little to make the socket more 'normal'. This is good...no replacement and no dramatic restructuring means a heck of a lot less healing and recovery time. He's doing it as an outpatient proceedure and I'll only miss about two weeks of work.
The bad news is, he can't do it until March...so I get four more months of this.
The worse news is, my insurance company may not cover it because it's still considered an 'experimental' proceedure, though they've been doing it for years now. If the insurance doesn't cover it, I'm looking at between $5000 and $10,000 out of pocket to get it done.
**thump**
I gave him my history and he looked at the MRI, then proceeded to inform me that I had never, in fact, dislocated my hip. That the way my hips are deformed, it would actually be physically impossible for me to dislocate my hip short of a catastrophic car accident in which I did the super-splits. In short, I'd have to shatter my pelvis to get the hip out of place.
I told him about the first incident when I was 19, when I had injured it and the doctor had told me that I had dislocated it, and he declared with much amusement that that doctor was an idiot...which I already knew
Turns out, each time I had thought I dislocated my hip (including that first time), the popping sensation was actually me ripping the cartilage and the tendons, and each subsequent time the hip 'came out' (including the latest just two weeks ago...didn't do anything beyond lift my foot off the ground) was each time it was torn further.
He said the doc who had first taken x-rays and said I just needed more excercise had done the exact WRONG x-rays and was also an idiot. He then proceeded to send me for the 'correct' x-rays.
So after talking to me, perusing the x-rays and the MRI he did something no other doctor thus far has done...he SHOWED them to me. He pointed out that my hip sockets, especially on the right, were abnormally deep. The bone was overgrown on the lip of the socket, actually locking the head into place (which is why I can't dislocate it short of shattering my pelvis). The neck was much longer than it should have been, and at a sharper sloping angle than it should have been. He pointed out my labral tear and said it was one of the worst ones he'd ever seen.
On the physical examination he showed me that I do in fact have mild hip displaysia on both sides, which is why when I lay down my feet fall flat to each side and why when I put my feet 'straight' when I stand, my legs are actually twisted. He was a bit alarmed that I could barely bend over when he asked me to touch my toes, and more than a little shocked when he realized I haven't been taking any pain medications save advil...I believe his exact words were, 'I have grown men come in here, hopped up on percocet, and STILL in tears over a third of the tear you have'.
I think he thought I was a bit of a masochist *ROFL*
So, long story short (too late) this is the final diagnosis:
Severe labral tear
Overgrowth of bone that needs to be trimmed, socket mildly reshaped
Debris in the joint itself from pieces of cartilage and stuff that's ripped free that needs removed
A secondary tear of my hamstring where it joins the pelvis
Tendonitis
Bursitis
He said even with repairing the hip, the chances are almost guaranteed of me getting osteoarthritis in my hips in the next twenty years. Yay.
He wants to do arthroscopic surgery, go in and repair or remove the torn labram, clean up the debris, and reshape the socket and overgrown bone a little to make the socket more 'normal'. This is good...no replacement and no dramatic restructuring means a heck of a lot less healing and recovery time. He's doing it as an outpatient proceedure and I'll only miss about two weeks of work.
The bad news is, he can't do it until March...so I get four more months of this.
The worse news is, my insurance company may not cover it because it's still considered an 'experimental' proceedure, though they've been doing it for years now. If the insurance doesn't cover it, I'm looking at between $5000 and $10,000 out of pocket to get it done.
**thump**
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