24 days BAHAMAS OR BUST

24 Days till my vacation/family time in the Bahamas!!!

I miss my parents so incredibly much it is just not the same being able to pop in at their house
when they lives here in SC as opposed to having to pick up the phone and only hear their voice with no facial expressions or physical touch.

Today marks me and Wesleys three year "date" aversary!!! We went on our first date one week before my first big PAO and who would have thought that he would still be standing strong beside me through three major hip surgeries behind us and who knows how many more to go.

I thank God for giving me such an incredibly AMAZING man to share this journey that we call life with there are days that I am not sure what I would do without him by my side.

As I continue to go through this hip journey I am realizing more and more who I truly am as a person, what I want from life and what a friendship really means.

I am truly blessed to have a few amazing friends and for them I am very thankful ;)

Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is.


Jim Morrison


until next time   love   Tiffany

rollercoaster

Well lets just say the past few months sure have been a rollercoaster for me.
I have had four other opinions on the next course of treatment for my hips, I continue to be in excruciating pain daily and cannot perform simple tasks regularly without being in alot of pain.  I sent my records to the Orthopaedic group in Greenville SC and after reviewing they contacted me regarding their opinion. 
They stated due to my arthiritis and misshapen femoral head that the only option to fully correct my issues was a THR, to say that I was devastated would be an understatement.

I went for another opinion to see Dr. Jeffrey Guy who is the USC (the REAL USC) sports medicine physician, he ordered and MRI on my right side to see if I also had a labral tear their as well as my left. A defined tear was not confirmed but my labrum is frayed in two places on my right.  I also have non-union of my pubic ramus after my PAO's so he ordered a bone growth stimulator to stimulate those bones to fuse. He also stated that THR would be my ultimate option however he wanted to do all these other procedures before doing that (arthroscopy to repair my labrums, injection in my pubic ramus for pain relief etc) I decided to go and get another opinion and discontinue my care under Dr. Guy.

I sought another opion at Moore Orthopaedic from Dr. Bradley Presnal.  He was very upfront and honest with me and stated that the only surgery that would fix all of my issues would be a THR, needless to say that day was very emotional as I finally realized that more surgery would be in my future sooner rather than later. I knew that when I started this journey three years ago that THR would ultimately be an option but I sure didn't think we would be discussing it so soon. At my first visit with Dr. Presnal he ordered a bone scan to see how advanced my arthritis was on my femoral head and in the socket.  After getting the results back it confirmed that I do have arthritis in my socket as well as my femoral head.  I decided to proceed with scheduling THR at this point.  I scheduled my THR for November 16,2012 at Palmetto Health Richland.

I had an appointment yesterday with the surgeon who performed my two PAOs and my Heterotopic Ossification excision to discuss what he thought about me going the THR route.
I will admit I was really nervous that he would be very adamant that a THR was not was I needed to correct my issues.  I had my mothers good friend Sally go with me since she is very knowleagable about hip issues.  I was very surprised that he supported me in my decision to go ahead with another surgery.  He did ask that I research THresurfacing first as opposed to THR since it is a less invasive surgery and the restrictions and recovery are much more fitted for active younger individuals.  My mother had both of her hips resurfaced and has done GREAT!!!  I decided to have her physician Dr. Thomas Gross review my records to see if I was even a candidate for THresurfacing, he called me about an hour later and he said by looking at my x-rays and scans alone he would say no but he would like to evaluate me in person to see my ROM and what positions and things cause me pain and in which areas to see if it was a definite yes or no.

I scheduled and appointment with Dr. Thomas Gross October 25,2012.

After all of this I am more than ready for my vacation to visit my parents in the Bahamas Oct11-22 ;)

HERES TO BEACHING IT UP ;)

HIP CHICK

long time no post

It has been quite awhile since I posted seems that the months just seem to fly by

My Heterotopic Ossification removal in December went GREAT!!!

Surgery was on the 22nd and I made it home Christmas Eve!!!

January was a rather hard month for me my Grandfather passed away the day after my Birthday January 16 so we made the long trek to Michigan for his funeral, it was very hard emotionally and physically to make that trip.

and the journey continues.....

This last year has been a mighty crazy one!!!!


My right PAO has not gone as well as my left
I still continue to have TONS of pain and pinching in my right hip joint

When I first told my surgeon about this pain he diagnosed me with Bursitis
and gave me and injection which I ended up having an allergic reaction to
and ended up in the ER for heavy doses of Benadryl intravenously (not fun)

after the injection did nothing for pain or swelling he ordered and MRI which showed
Heterotophic Ossification..
for those of you who dont know what this is
Heterotopic ossification (HO) is the process by which bone tissue forms outside of the skeleton.

this link better described symptoms, causes and other thing related to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterotopic_ossification



This was diagnosed in May he exlplained to me my options (being surgery)
I definitely was not ready to talk surgery so early after my PAO in October 2010
that I told him I would deal with the pain until basically it got to the point that I couldnt
take it any longer.

Well come July I started noticing the same problem in my left hip so at my checkup August 9th I explained to him the issued I have having and he diagnosed me with Bursitis in my left hip, he asked if I would like an injection, which I told him NEVER again I will deal with the pain.

We again spoke about my surgery option for my right hip.

Basically I was told the sooner the better so that it doesnt continue to grow deeper into my soft tissue
making surgery more extensive and recovery longer and more difficult.

I basically LOST it in his office and let him know that I knew my hips were not normal before surgery and knew that they wouldnt be normal after but hearing the word surgery again really got my emotions going he said he understood and I told him I would call when I was ready to have surgery.

The next day his office called to check on me to see how I was doing.
I let them know that I had thought about it and I was ready to schedule surgery after realizing that its better to have it now then continue to put it off and compromise my quality of life..

so the date is set December 22, 2011 at Palmetto Health Baptist
same place I had my surgery last October!!!

So heres to ANOTHER hip journey!!!!

2 weeks and counting!!!!!

As the two week mark is approaching I feel myself getting extremely nervous with a very long to do list of things I have to get done before surgery.....

I am going out this Friday night with a group of girlfriends for my last night out before surgery!!!!!

I has my pre-op appointment last Friday everything went well we discussed the surgery and he took a few more x-rays of  my right hip.

We discussed lab work and anethesia.  He basically told me he plans to do the same thing he did on the left maybe just a few more screws as the dysplasia is worse on the right so therefore he might have to cut my pelvis in more places than my left but basically the same concept.

I am so ready to get this surgery over with and be on the road to recovery from hopefully my last surgery EVER!!!!!!

I went hunting for the first time last weekend and actually it was very peaceful I thouroughly enjoyed it for sure!!!

So I hope to be able to go at least twice this coming weekend!!!

Things with Wesley are still going AMAZING!!!

We went to the Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan concert last Saturday and it was soooooo good.

We went with some good friend Amy and Stephen we always have so much fun when we hang out together!!

Well I will more thank likely update the day before surgery as im sure my mind will be running 100 miles an hour.

Our puppy Drake isnt so much a puppy anymore hes up to 40lbs!!! Hes as playful as ever him and Lillie have so much fun playing together!!!

Until then......... ;)

ANXIETY....

Well as the month mark is fastly approaching for my next surgery I find myself extremely anxious and nervous about this surgery.

I thought it would be the other way around since I know what to expect and will be better prepared but I find myself being the worry wart that I am.

I am losing focus on everyday activities because I get so nervous and my thoughts are interrupted by this upcoming surgery.  I try to keep my mind occupied with positive thoughts and honestly I am sick of my "hips" ruling my life.

I am so ready to be the outgoing person that I was before all this stuff surfaced for sure!!!

sorry for the rant I just had to get that out.....

ONE MONTH AND COUNTING

It's Been a rocky few months

Well my last post was in April and a lot sure has happened since then.

The unimaginable happened June 10th, I was home from work sick and around 3:00 in the afternoon I received a call from my brother Trier however when I answered the phone it was Lexington County EMS telling me that Trier had been in a wreck and that he was being transported to Palmetto Health Richland. My parents were out of town in Charleston for my father's job. The EMT wouldn't tell me anything on the phone he told me he was unable to release this information as I drove to the hospital I had a mix of emotions running through my mind. I finally reached the hospital and my boss and co-worker were there waiting for me to take me to meet with the patient liason. Shortly after I arrived I was taken to the consulation room where I met with the Dr's who saw him immediately on arrival.

They informed me that his facial injuries were very severe and that I probably wouldnt recognize him but that he was awake and aware of what was going on. He was very relieved to see me and was pretty upset as you can imagine. He didnt remember anything that happened.

I was able to go back and see him about 30 minutes after meeting with the Dr's. It was a sight I will NEVER forget my poor brothers face was completely crushed and he was completely unrecognizable. He was in a lot of pain and he was pretty shaken up by what had happened. He was driving down Hwy 378 and passed out behind the wheel crossed three lanes of traffic and went about 500 yards before taking down three pine trees.

He endured a lot of tests (MRI's CT scans, blood work galore) and a 12 hour reconstructive facial surgery by the most amazing plastic surgeon EVER Dr. Wasserman.

He also had a tracheotomy and his eyes were sutured shut as well as his jaw after surgery it was
very heart wrenching seeing my brother like this as he is a very outgoing person.
He kept his spirits very high while in the hospital and worked very hard and was discharged two weeks after the accident which was a true miracle.


He does look a little different but he is still the Trier that we all know and love inside.

He will more than likely have to have another surgery to repair his sinus cavitiy more since it was so badly crushed he is unable to breath through his nose at this point, but as Dr. Wasserman told him he wasnt really too concerned about that during the first surgery he was just worried about repairing the fractures throughout his face and working with what was there.

I had a very eye opening experience myself in July I had a few moles removed. I didnt really think anything of them I just wanted them off since I didnt really like the way they looked.

Well I got the phone call two weeks later that no one EVER wants to hear I was diagnosed with Skin Cancer (melanoma stage IB) I was told that it was caught early so that was a good thing. I scheduled surgery for August 20th to have it removed. I was extremely nervous, scared, and very surprised to say the least. I am only 27 how could this have happened to me.

I had surgery August 20th to remove the cancerous cells. The area removed was on my left calf. The surgery was pretty painful as were the days after. Due to the location of the incision it was pretty painful to put weight on my leg for a few days. I got my results back last week and they say that it looks like they got all of the cancerous cells but I will continue to get a 3 month checkup for the next 2 years.

I also took a loooong weekend vacation Sept 2-5 with some good friends and Wesley to Edisto Beach we had a really GREAT time!!! Wesley and I took a walk on the beach on morning and watched the sunrise and collected seashells something I have not done since I was really little it was really nice and peaceful.


Wesley went fising while we were there and caught a few stingrays it was really neat to see them that close.


I sat under a sun shelter the majority of the time on the beach. It was nice just to be able to get away from "life" for a few days

On a better note Wesley and I got a new puppy. A black labrador retriever named Drake. He is the sweetest thing ever he is 15 weeks this weekend and holds my heart for sure.

I have scheduled my right PAO surgery with Dr. Frederick Piehl for October 21, 2010 at Palmetto Health Baptist. It is about 5 weeks away and I am much more nervous about this one than I was the first one I am not really sure if that is due to the fact that I know what to expect or the fact that anything is possible.

I know that I will be laid up for quite sometime but also know that I have AMAZING friends and family will make this bearable as they did the last one.

I will update more once surgery gets closer and my recovering so that everyone will be able to keep updated on my progress, recovery etc.

I have a pre-op appointment scheduled for October 1, 2010 so until then.