Straight from the Hip

Well, Here's the Story

As regular readers know, I took a fall from Tucker last year and ended up with a broken hip bone. Fortunately I healed well but the metal hardware installed to stabilize my bone is causing some chronic and often hard to bear pain.

My orthopedic doctor decided I needed to have the pin that anchored the rod in my broken bone removed as it was the source of the discomfort. He, however, has retired from doing surgery so he referred me to one of the younger doctors in the practice.

I met with Doctor #2 yesterday.  He thinks he should remove both the pin and the rod.

He had no surgical openings until into June. That posed a problem for me. I have already paid for my yearly membership at my local swimming complex and I really do want to spend most summer days getting some swimming exercise in both for my weight and for my knees. It's the best way for me to exercise.

So, we decided I would hold off on surgery until September. It really was up to me as to whether or not I wanted to wait.

The plus is that I will be in really good physical shape for surgery at that point with all the swimming. The downside is spending the summer coping with a very aggravating sore and sometimes painful thigh muscle.

I asked about any other temporary options and my doctor suggested an injection of cortisone. I agreed and he gave me one--right into the really sore spot of my muscle. It did hurt, but I survived. Now I have to wait a few days to see if it does anything. Apparently it takes a few days to take effect. But, there is no guarantee it will help. Sometimes it works really well, and sometimes not.

So, I wait.

As for the surgery, it is usually an outpatient procedure with no hospital stay unless there are unforeseen complications. One never knows with a surgery. Getting out of the hospital on the same day to go home would be great. It does solve a lot of pre-planning complications.

I will still hire my horsesitter if she is available. Taking care of the Boys for a few weeks will likely be a bit too much for me. Not only will the new surgery site have to heal, but the hip bone itself will be a bit weaker than it is now with the rod in place. That does concern me a little, but my September I will have done enough research and investigating into it to be confident as to exactly what the right thing to do will be.

Meantime, I am planning to try a little more trail riding--with a good stretch first--to see how the muscle feels in the saddle. Some days its fine and other days it goes into spasm.

Now Chance, with is OCD, and I, with my unhappy thigh, have even more in common. We are both slightly disabled and need to take it easy.

Just the kind of riding I like to do these days.