Australian Periacetabular Osteotomy (PAO) Journal

Wednesday

Hi there!

It would seem the source of my saw hip was possibly wearing clothes that were just too tight to be sitting in all day at work, plus the extra walking I was doing.

I have cut back on the walking a bit and wear looser fitting clothing and all is right with the world again.

It's 2 years since my hip op on 13th November 2009. The 2 years has just flown by and I sometimes catch myself doing things and remember what it was like immediately after my hip op, when I couldn't do anything. It makes me feel grateful to be walking around. To be able to bend, twist, and walk unaided. I consider myself lucky overall.

Not much else to report for now.

TurtleGirl26

Hello There!

Well, it's not exactly the front of my hip that's sore, but more so around the back of my hip that hurts. It's hurting from sitting down all day I think and maybe some extra walking I've been doing.

I don't know. I guess I really have to recongise my limits and not overdo it or I pay for it with a sore hip later.

Still the occasional pain I guess is better than the crippling "can't even walk" pain I had pre-op.

Take care.

TurtleGirl26

Hi there!

I've just been realising that it is a small world after all.

Today I have just found out that someone I recently met has also had a PAO. She had it 10 years ago when she was in about year 8 at school.

This coincidence might not seem that unusual, except that in January this year my partner and I made the big move from Adelaide to a small-ish town in outback SA. It's a 7 hour drive from Adelaide and is a mining town where my partner has been working.

I actually never really expected to meet anyone who has also had this operation because only a few of these operations are done each year.

She didn't mind sharing her experience with me, but I think she found my interest in it a bit strange, although she does know I've had the op.

I have empathy and sympathy for her though. She has had hip dysplaysia in both hips and has been having pain in her other hip lately.

Anyway just wanted to share this with you.

TurtleGirl26

Hi there!

Wow, it's been awhile, hasn't it? Just writing to let you know how my hip is progressing.

In November 2007 I had a left hip PAO in Adelaide, SA. Fast forward just over 18 months and we are in September 2009 and, for the most part, my hip is great.

I still get pain if I sit still for long periods of time. I can't sleep on my op side on spring mattresses, without any kind of mattress protector. We currently sleep in a waterbed, which is brilliant, but putting a foam mattress protector on my spirng mattress made all the difference when we were sleeping on that.

I also find it a struggle to sit for too long on our lounge which has springs. I just find it uncomfortable.

I rarely have pain when walking. By rarely I mean, maybe once every 3 months I have bad pain. Otherwise, for the rest of the time my hip is brilliant. I can walk and walk and walk without any problems at all.

I consider myself very lucky really, compared to where I was at 2.5-3years ago. I could hardly walk after a day at work sitting at a desk. I had shooting pain up and down me left leg and groin pain as well. Any pain I do get now is actually at the back of my hip and not the front anymore.

If you have any questions or would like to contact me I can still be contacted at sjc1981@hotmail.com.

Wishing all future PAO patients the speediest recovery possible. :)

TurtleGirl26

THURSDAY

Can you believe it? I know I can't! Today it is 1 year to the date since my PAO last year. The time just flies by so quickly.

My scar has healed really well and whilst it's quite long, it's also very neat and just sits under the top of most of my pants, shorts & skirts. If I was to wear bathers you'd definitely see the top and bottom of the scar, but I tend to wear boardshorts over my bathers, so it's not a problem.

I wear all kinds of shoes now, I walk for quite a long time and can run as well (although I mostly choose not too) and I can sit for long periods without any problems.

Really the only adjustment I have had to make recently, is the purchase of a foam overlay to go over my innerspring mattress. It's not that the mattress was cheap or old or anything. It was medium priced, medium quality and quite comfy before my op, but post-op I hadn't been able to lie on my op side without the sensation of feeling like I could feel the springs in the mattress pressing into my side. It was very weird.

So I invested in a foam overlay for our mattress and I haven't looked back since. Now I can sleep anyway I like. I spoke to my Grandma who had a hip replacement a few years back and she said she had a similar problem with lying on her op side and they ended up purchasing a "pillow top" mattress and now she's fine.

If anything it's just my own cautious-ness that holds me back now. I'm nervous about damaging an already fragile hip. That being said it was some 6 months ago that my hip surgeon told me my hip could withstand the rigours of pregnancy and labour, so I'm sure there's not too many things I could do that would be more strenuous on it than that. I guess I worry about it needlessly sometimes!! :)

Well, that's about all that I have for this update. I've taken another photo for you, which is below. Sorry the lighting wasn't great!

Hope you're all well and I'd love to hear from anyone else on how they're going - sjc1981@hotmail.com

All the best!

TurtleGirl26 (now 27!)


P.S. In case you missed all of the action at the time...

My first entry ever - http://turtlegirl26.livejournal.com/2007/08/26/

My op was on 13th November 2007 - http://turtlegirl26.livejournal.com/2007/11/13/

MONDAY

Hi Everyone!

Well, my partner and I went on a weekend trip to Melbourne over the weekend. We left on Thursday night and came back last night. It was for a few reasons - 1. We needed a break, 2. It was my birthday yesterday and 3. Our fave footy team was playing over there. So we packed our bags and headed to Melbourne.

On Friday we went to the Direct Factory Outlets (DFO) mall on Spencer St. It's a big complex that houses all different factory outlets. We bought a heap of stuff and spent about 4 hours walking around. Needless to say by Friday night I was struggling with my hip being sore.

We rested up heaps on Friday night and then on Saturday we headed to the Queen Victoria Markets. They are HUGE! We spent another 3-4 hours walking around there and my hip pulled up well. We went out Saturday night to the Crown Casino and my hip was sore, but my feet felt worse by the end of the night!

Sunday we went to the football which was great, although our team lost. Boo!

Overall my hip did okay. I really worked it out on Friday walking everywhere, so with the lesson learnt that the hip still does have its limits I decided to be a little more careful and walk a little less the rest of the weekend and we did well.

It's not perfect. I can't run marathons, or really even run at all well, but I can walk and it does last me a reasonable amount of time. Let's face it people if I only get another 5 years out of this hip then it's another 5 years without a total hip replacement isn't it? That's gotta be good.

Well, I hope you are all keeping well. Feel free to email any questions or comments to me if you want to: sjc1981@hotmail.com

Cheers!

TurtleGirl26

THURSDAY

Hi Everyone!

I am now 9 months post op...

I have been told of a fabulous new article that has been put together by some of the other members of the 'PAO sisterhood'. Please read it if you get the chance / have any questions about PAO. Here's the link:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/hip-dysplasia.htm

My birthday is on the 24th and my partner and I are flying out to Melbourne on the 21st for a weekend of shopping and then catching a match of AFL footy at the Telstra Dome on my birthday. 27 this year!! After the stress of the last 12 months with my op I am just so relieved to have reached my birthday to be honest.

I can't wait for a holiday and the chance to really put this hip to the test!!

Take care.

TurtleGirl26

 P.S. Is anyone still reading my blog? There's probably not much point updating it if no one reads it. Let me know if you're out there reading this.... :) :) :)

THURSDAY

Hi Again!

It's 8.5 months post op now and I'm pleased to say that on the whole things seem to be going well.

It's really cold in Adelaide at the moment, which makes my hip/knee more sensitive, but on the whole it's not too bad. I find my knee gets sore some days. I guess it's from walking differently after so many years, but I don't really know.

Last night I measure my scar and it's 16.5cm long. That's quite long I think... we also took some photos of it which I will post today. It's healed really well.

I hope everyone out there who is having or has had a PAO is going well. If you have any questions or are concerned about anything feel free to email me at sjc1981@hotmail.com. I'm happy to help however I can.

Take care!

TurtleGirl26

FRIDAY

Hi there!

Yesterday I had another appointment with the surgeon. I wanted to find out how long I have to wait before my hip is healed enough to cope with pregnancy. His answer sort of surprised me... yesterday. He said it would cope well now, but I will have a bit more soreness in that area than usual because of the op, but that will be the case at any stage.

He's happy with how it's all going and will see me again in Dec/Jan.

Also last weekend I decided to give riding my bike ago. It was an experience for me, considering I'm not the fitest person or most motivated. I rode for around 45mins to an hour. It was good though and I spent the rest of the day collapsed on the lounge! At least I know I can do it!

I've also been back wearing high heels again on a regular basis, for the first time since my op. Admittedly they're not super high, because I never wore super high heels anyway, but they're higher than flats.

Hope everything is going well with other people going through a PAO.

TurtleGirl26

P.S. One day soon I will hopefully remember to post an update picture of my scar. It's healed really neatly and faded away in parts. Can't complain! :)

WEDNESDAY

Well, things have been crazy since my last post...

We've moved house, my Dad has had a double heart bypass operation and my hip is good some days and not so good other days.

I was very fortunate moving house, because my hip didn't give me too many issues and neither did my back.

In the last couple of weeks the really cold, wintery weather has kicked in, in Adelaide and my hip has started giving me trouble. I am finding it increasingly harder to sit all day at me desk.

My job is a 9-5 arrangement, but I just can't sit for any length of time without my hip hurting. In the end I have this week had to tell my boss that I will just have to finish when I need to finish. Sounds a bit dodgey and like I am trying to get out of working, but there's not much else I can do.

With the cold weather and moving house, swimming has all but stopped, which probably isn't helping things.

I still don't sleep on my left (op) side for any length of time. I might fall asleep like that, but pretty quickly change positions, because it just doesn't feel comfortable.

I cleaned all the floors in my house a couple of weeks ago (swept, mopped and vaccumed) and the hip and back, whilst sore, pulled up pretty well. That was a relief!

I am always conscious of my hip, which is annoying me at the moment. I feel as thought I have to think twice before lifting anything, walking anywhere, sitting for too long, running ~ argh!

That's about all I have to report for this update.

Hope you're keeping well :)

TurtleGirl26

SUNDAY

Do you wonder where this blog began...

My first entry ever - http://turtlegirl26.livejournal.com/2007/08/26/

My op was on 13th November 2007 - http://turtlegirl26.livejournal.com/2007/11/13/


Hope things are going well with you, as they are with me. 

I still can't walk long distances or wear flat shoes or sleep for long periods on my op side, but otherwise I am A-OK.

Bye for now!

TUESDAY

Hi there,

So much changes in a week sometimes, doesn't it?

I had my appointment with the surgeon last Thursday afternoon. It went well. He told me again to do the small exercises he's given me, told me to try Pilates run by a physio if my back gives me trouble, and when I told him I'd been swimming he told me that's the best thing I can be doing. Excellent! He said he'll see me at the end of this year or early next year.

On Monday my partner and I signed a lease for a new property, not too far from where we are. We found out at the end of January that the landlord didn't want to renew our lease when it came up in April, so we had to find somewhere new and we have! We will spend the Easter long weekend moving house.

Last week I swam Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday nights and I also went swimming last night. It does me the world of good. I sleep so well and walk better. It's great! I'm going to try and keep motivated to keep on doing it.

Also today the heatwave has finally broken. It's a lovely cool evening and I've opened up all my doors and windows to cool my house down.

Hope things are okay wherever you are in the world!

TurtleGirl26

TUESDAY

Hi there,

I am in Adelaide, where we are having the longest heat wave ever! It has been higher than 35 degress celsius for 9 days straight now. It's insane-o!!

Since my last entry last week my back hasn't really given me any trouble. I attempted to walk a little distance one day last week and it started to flare up again, so I've been very careful with it ever since.

I didn't end up going to the chiro appointment last Monday night. I phoned his rooms and they said if it's not giving me trouble I should leave it be.

On Sunday I went for a good swim, using a "pool noodle" to help me float easily. Was a bit concerned I might wake up sore yesterday, but pulled up well yesterday and this morning. I have decided to try and keep motivated and swim 2-3 days per week. I need to exercise and build up some sort of fitness cos I just feel like a big fat sloth at the moment!!!

I've also invested in a new pair of shoes for work. My heeled work shoes felt like too much hard work and my really, really flat, ballet flats, were too flat I think (like walking barefoot, but with paper between my foot and the ground) and I had to walk differently to keep them on. I decided that they aren't helping, while I'm trying to develop a new and improved walking style. 

The shoes that I feel the most comfortable in are my Nike runners. So I went to the shops and invested in a pair of flat soled, but slightly higher off the ground, padded and comfortable black slip ons for work. They only cost $20, but are a wise investment I hope. If they don't help either, then I think I will have to resort to some sneaker style black lace ups for work. Totally not cool!

Something I've found about this entire process, from operation to now, is that comfort is paramount. You can't afford to be trying to be trendy because it just does more harm than good overall. You'd best off bite the bullet and try and invest in some slightly trendy old woman style stuff to get you through (night shirts in satin material instead of cotton, as trendy shoes as you can get that are super comfortable and not detrimental to your recovery, etc).

I have an appointment with the surgeon on Thursday afternoon. That should be interesting. I totally intend asking him about my walking style, my back problems, etc. See what he has to say about it. I'm tipping he'll say it's not his problem, he just looks after hip ops. We'll see...

Hope you are all going well!

TurtleGirl26

MONDAY

Hi there,

What a difference a few days can make. Sorry my entry on Friday was so depressing, but it's meant to reflect how I feel, so I guess it's all good.

I saw a different GP on Friday afternoon who organised for me to have a blood test on Saturday morning and booked me in for a CT scan for tomorrow.

Saturday I started to feel a little better and only took one dose of the painkillers. Yesterday was a huge improvement. No drugs at all!! I know, it's a miracle. I did a few loads of washing, some dishes, and other bits and pieces and today... am feeling just as good as yesterday. It's amazing!

I didn't have a very good sleep last night, which was disappointing after my good day. I now don't know whether to go to my chiropractic appointment I have booked for tonight or go for the CT scan tomorrow. If it's all good then I'm inclined to think I should just leave it alone! 

Needless to say I will be taking it easy from now on, so as not to hurt it again. Will get someone else to clean my floors I think, since I think that's part of what did my back in the first place.

On the down side I woke up this morning with 2 coldsores. Both are on the left side of my mouth, x1 on the top lip and x1 on the bottom lip. Lovely! Just what I need when I'm starting to feel better from my back problems of the past month. Darn it!

Hope things are going well out there for those recovering from PAO surgery and those on the lead up to their PAO surgery. Thinking of you all!

TurtleGirl26

FRIDAY

Hi there,

Well the saga has continued...

That GP I saw on that last entry was rude and didn't want to help me at all. I ended up leaving the appointment in tears, just devastated.

Since then I have had a further 2 physio appointments with the same woman, which have seemingly achieved nothing and this week I have had 2 appointments with a chiropractor, which have also done nothing so far. Last Friday I also had xrays taken, which showed up nothing. That said, if there are muscles inflamed or something xrays wouldn't show that up as they only show bone issues.

Tonight I am going to an entirely different GP's surgery to get a referral for a CT Scan. I am hoping this will show up everything an xray can't and doesn't.

To say I am frustrated and depressed, would be an understatement. I am tired from all of this and have just had enough.

Will let you know more when I know more. Until then you can assume I am just battling on...

TurtleGirl26

WEDNESDAY

Hi there,

Well I didn't go to work on Monday, but went back to a GP about 10.30am. He basically just said he didn't know and recommended that I go back to the physio and also make an appointment for today with another GP at the surgery who specialises in musculoskeletal problems.

I went to a different physio on Monday afternoon, who worked out that my hips were uneven, my "sitting" bones are uneven and because of the my right hip had just slipped into a position it couldn't get out of, but it wasn't dislocated. So she pushed and pulled me, taped me across my back from hip to hip and sent me on my way with some exercise to start building up core strength in my pelvic area, which supports my hips.

I went to work in the morning yesterday and rested in the afternoon and with the pain not subsiding yet I am going to see the other GP this morning. I also have a follow up physio appointment tomorrow morning. This is a nightmare. Both physios and GP's have been surprised that the surgeon has operated on me and sent me off into the world afterwards with no exercises to do to get my mobility back. I don't know what to make of any of it. My back has cost about $150 in a week and so far no 2 people have given me the same answers.

Will let you know how I get on...

SUNDAY

Hi there,

I have been resting at home , on my bed, for 3 days now. I am soooo bored. 

I am only now feeling a touch better than the previous 2 days. I am so frustrated and bored with the whole back situation and resting all day. I'm going insane and yet I know that if I try and do anything too soon I am only going to be backwards and have to sit through this boredom all over again, which I definitely don't want to do. So here we are...

I'm not sure whether I'll go to work tomorrow. I really need to as there will be plenty to do tomorrow and I feel so bad about hardly being there last week, but what can I do?! If my back's not 100% I really don't want to damage it further. I'll think about it a bit more before I decide.

Hope you are all well.

TurtleGirl26

P.S. In my boredom today I was thinking about my op and how smoothly it went. I just wanted to say a big thank you to all the women who have come before me having this op done. You helped to pioneer the surgery and therefore made it a smooth time and recovery for me. I appreciate it!

FRIDAY

Hi there!

Today I am at home resting on my bed for the entire day!!

The massage didn't help the sore patch of my lower right back on Wednesday afternoon. 

Yesterday I decided not to go to work and phoned my boss, who really needed me there, so ended up going in for half a day. I phoned the surgeon in the afternoon and he said he doesn't think my back pain is a direct link to my op. So in the afternoon I also went to a GP (doctor), who advised I have strict bed rest today, take anti-inflammatory tablets, apply heat (wheat bag or hot water bottle) and use my walking stick again until this pain subsides. So here we are...

I think the moral to the story is that just because you feel better doesn't mean you are 100% back to what you were. The GP thinks I overdid my walking and cleaning my floors at home last weekend and that's what has caused all of this. I need to slow down and pace myself better. 

The trouble is that you don't realise you've overdone it until you're in pain. Plus I thought that having a gone all of last week without my walking stick, with no problems, I was well enough to clean my floors and go to the shops to get my bro a birthday present. Maybe I'll let my partner clean our floors next time!

I'm just disappointed with myself because I was feeling like I was going so well. I'm not letting it get me down though. I have had a really good recovery, so this is just a minor setback and after a weekend of resting I should be right as rain.

Hope you have a good weekend!

TurtleGirl26

P.S. If you have any questions or queries that you want to ask I am still happy for you to email me sjc1981@hotmail.com

WEDNESDAY

Hi there,

I had another bad sleep on Monday night and with my whole back painful I took myself to a physio yesterday afternoon. She massaged my entire back and applied some muscle relaxing gel, followed by ultrasound heat. 

It's heaps better, but there's still a patch at the back of my right hip that's killing me, so I'm off to see my friend who is a massage therapist this afternoon.

I'm just glad to have had some sleep last night!

The physio thinks that my body was used to walking a certain way before my op, with the limp, pain, etc. Then it got used to crutches, 1 crutch, a walking stick and now no aid at all. So all my muscles are learning how to accommodate my new hip and new walking style. Makes sense...

Hopefully the pain will ease after this massage this afternoon.

Bye for now.

TurtleGirl26

MONDAY

Well, things aren't always "peaches and cream"!

I feel like I spent the whole night just trying to get comfortable last night. My back hurt, my unoperated side was uncomfortable and I'm still not really sleeping on the op side. It was so frustrating. Then just as I drifted into a good sleep, my alarm went off and it was time to get up for work. ARGH!

Hopefully we'll have a better nights sleep tonight.

TurtleGirl26