Surgery reschedule is scheduled! (Pre-op, left hip)

Sorry for any confusion!!!
I am over my cold and ear infection and the surgery reschedule has been scheduled:
It'll be this coming Monday (Nov. 3rd)

Details and my  specific prayer requests for this surgery are here.

Table of contents of my FAI story is here.

xoxoxo,
Christina 

Texas Hillcountry Magazine Photo Contest - Vote for me!!!

I have entered a few photos into this contest last minutely. I know they aren't professional quality but I like them and I'm just doing this for fun.

 Please view the photos and click "vote" on the link(s) below!!!


North Prong of the Medina river off of FM 2107, in the little town of Medina Texas. Fall 2013.

Lost Maples State Natural Area, Fall 2012.

Lost Maples State Natural Area creek bottom, fall 2012.

Thanks y'all! The contest ends this Sunday, the 19th.

xoxoxo,
Christina 

Surgery has been postponed: I'm sick (Pre-op, left hip)

Well darn...

As it turns out, there was no surgery today. Because I came down sick yesterday with some flu/cold-like bug. High-ish fever, horrible headache, sore throat, chills and severe body aches. My brother had it last week and even though I stayed away from him and tried being a germaphobe for a few days, and here I am.

Needless to say, you cant have surgery when your sick. So we had to cancel it.

 It is tentatively postponed until sometime in mid-November. Hopefully it'll be sooner though, we're trying to get on the waiting list for if someone else cancels their surgery before then that i'd be able to take their place. I'd really like to get it done within the next two weeks, if possible.

God is in this and has a perfect reason why October 15th wasn't the day that he wanted me in the operating room. He will work out the perfect date for when He does want me there though.

I'll keep y'all posted as to when it will actually be :)

xoxoxo,
Christina 

Coming Soon: FAI Surgery #2 (Pre-op, left hip)

Hey y'all. I had mentioned that I'd be having a second surgery this fall. (full background & details in the link) Well here it comes...

I'm having surgery for my left hip's FAI (Femoral Acetabular Impingement), this Wednesday (Oct. 15th). 

It'll pretty much be the same surgery that I had done on the right hip this past June. It will be arthroscopic, using 2-4 small incisions. The number of incisions depends on what all is going to need to be done inside the joint. It'll start off with two, but if the labrum is damaged, it'll need repairing and they'll need to add another couple of holes to get more access.  Hopefully there isn't any labrum damage, but its definitely possible. The right labrum was fine, but lately the left one has been catching on itself and popping more than usual. Torn labrum is the suspect, we won't know for sure until they get in there. On the MRI taken in May, it was only bruised.  But for sure, the surgery will involve shaving off the bony lesions on both the ball and socket sides of the hip joint. 

I don't have too many concerns about this surgery. I have a great doctor, the surgery itself is relatively low-risk, and I've been through it once already and know what to expect. I'm looking forward to getting it over with and am excited that in a few months FAI will no longer be a part of my life. 

I have one  main concern however, and that is that during the past month and a half I've been experiencing severe numbness/stiffness in my left calf muscle and foot and it hasn't gone away. Doc doesn't  doesn't think it'll put the surgery off though. My PT ruled out a blood clot and spinal/brain injuries. Chiropractor worked on my SI joint and it helped somewhat,  but I'm going to have a deep tissue massage on it on Tuesday and I'm opening that that will help. It seems to be a muscular issue, probably since its been overcompensating my weight for awhile since I've been so off balance. Hopefully its nothing serious. 

I'm also stressed out about how this will affect my school year. I'm not going to be able to get much done during the recovery time, so I'll probably have to do school into next summer. I'll also be missing the PSAT next week and won't be able to take the ACT until the spring. I know it'll all work out but its still really stressful to  have this go on in the middle of your Junior year. Which is a pretty critical year for me since I'm planning on attending college and will absolutely need good grades, test scores, decent extra-curricular acheivement etc... to get  scholarships. But I know it will all work out. God's plan is always what's perfect, my plans are not. 

I'd really appreciate your prayers for me, my family, the surgeon,  the recovery period, my physical therapists, the end results, and ultimately that God would be glorified through everything involved in this situation and how I'm able to use my life afterwards. Specifically that the surgery will go smoothly and be successful, and that I won't have any sort of complications from the surgery, major or minor. That the numbness and pain that I'm currently experiencing with my calf isn't anything serious like compartment syndrome.  That I won't have any pregnancy/delivery related issues from the FAI once I'm married and decide to have kids and that the FAI gene won't be passed on, if it was indeed hereditary.  And finally, that the supposed life-long  results will be positive and that I won't re-develop FAI or develop any arthritis in that joint or ever need a  hip replacement. 

Thanks so much.  I love all of y'all so much and I'm so thankful for your friendships,  prayers and encouragement. 

My mom will email an update probably Thursday or Friday. I won't be able to be on the laptop and thus my blog or skype during the first couple of weeks, but I'll have my phone and will thus have access to Facebook/Instagram and some emails and you of course can text me. Visitors are welcome in small doses!

xoxoxo,
Christina 

4 Month Post-op Update (Right Hip)

I'm just here to report that I'm doing well recovering from the surgery I had this summer for FAI on my right hip (femoral acetabular impingement)!

As of this week, approx. week 16 (4 months) I've made a ton of progress. I'm in little/no pain in the operative joint and I'm ready for the other hip to get done and get further on track to being normal, healthy and active again! 

Physical therapy has gone really well, thanks to my awesome PT! 
For the first 6 weeks the focus was on flexibility and non-weight bearing strengthening. Then the next 6 weeks I got to do fairly normal exercises, mostly partial weigh-bearing but some full. Due to insurance purposes I'm done with going to PT but I'm still doing all of it at home, and and am adding some of my "normal" exercises back in. I'm not able the same amount of reps I was doing pre-op but that's OK. I can't workout every day though, because it irritates it and causes further intra-articular joint swelling. But that's  getting much better and will eventually go away completely. 

So far so good! I think its pretty safe to say that the surgery executed its purpose: increased my range of motion and decreased the pain associated with the joint being impinged by un-impinging it!  I'll give a full report on this after I have the other hip operated on. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!!! Sorry I've been such an inactive blogger. Life is  insanely busy these days, especially with FAI related medical activities so for now that's really all I have to blog about. Eventually this blog will get away from being a FAI related medical journal and will go back to being filled with fun. 


xoxoxo,
Christina