Life with a Flare

15%...That is what I was told by the PA when I asked what percent of people get better with conservative treatment for Femoral Acetabular Impingement (FAI). The other 85% have surgery. I was not expecting a great statistic but was hoping for a better one. Still even though I am almost defiantly having surgery there are steps to take. First comes the Cortisone Injection, which I have had. Thankfully even though the first two days were horrible after the injection it seem to be getting better yesterday. And this morning it was rainy, which means my knees and hips usually swell, and while my knees and right hip still swelled a bit, my injected hip didn't! I only had a little pain where the needle actually entered the joint, but besides that my hip was pretty good. The fact the injection is working means surgery will probably work as well. Next I have to start PT, but I am supposed to go to a hip specialist preferably. It does not seem like a whole bunch of those exactly ...

Today was the big day. I woke up at 5AM, I firmly believe no one on the planet should ever have to be awake at this hour. It was still dark out when I embarked for HSS. The only good thing about getting up this early was how pretty the view was from the waiting room window. I have discovered both the x-ray waiting room and the ultrasound waiting room over look the east river, which is gorgeous in the morning. View from the ultrasound waiting area at 7AM Soon I was called back to an ultrasound room. First they just did an ultrasound of my hip, the radiologist pointed out that I have Cam impingement. I asked if I also have pincer but he said it was nearly impossible to see on an ultrasound but most people have both.He also said that my labrum was not detached, even though he could not tell if it was torn, but at least the fact it is not detached is a good sign. I was really surprised he told me so much when I have gone for MRIs and x-rays the radio...

A bit nervous but excited for my OS appointment/cortisone  injection. I plan on asking a bunch of questions on hip impingement. The more information I look up the better I feel about the hip situation. It's my knees that still worry me. Best case scenario the hip injection makes my knee pain go away (well in the left knee anyway), but if not I have will be in the exact same place I was before the hip issues with my knees. Even if my hip gets fixed, if my knees don't get better will I really be that much better off? I feel like my knees are being ignored, and the hope is that the hip impingement is causing the knee pain, but I am not convinced. I just want to be done dealing with this by the end of the year. I don't want the pain that controls my life now to go away be for college. Here's to hoping the injection works!

Wednesday afternoon HSS called with the results of my MRIs. The knee MRI didn't show much of any importance but I have a high ridding patella, which was not totally new information. The hip MRI was much more interesting apparently. It showed Hip Impingement. Hip Impingement/FAI I was not given a ton of other information which is frustrating. I am going into the city on September 24th for a cortisone shot in my hip. I have already had one in my knee, but hip ones are a bit more annoying since they have to be ultrasound guided. After that I will be sent to physical therapy I think. I wanted to start PT now but was told I have to wait. I will hopefully get more details on the 24th.

Last Friday I went in to the city to see a new OS at the Hospital for Special Surgery. What came out of this appointment is it is time for new MRIs. I scheduled an MRI for both my left knee and hip for Monday. This was my 3rd MRI on my knee and my 1st MRI on my hip, nothing of importance has ever been found through any of these, so I did not have high hopes for this one. I got to HSS for my appointment at 6:15 and I go to the MRI room and the technician is looking at my recently filled out questionnaire. He looks up and says "you have braces?" "Yep" Next he asked me to stick my head next to the MRI machine to see if it pulled on my braces., as this one had a stronger magnet than most. And it did so I had to be swapped with another person. So twenty minutes later I finally started the MRI. In total I was in the MRI machine for over an hour and a half, at least I got to listen to Adele.

Hi, I am Joan and I have probably had knee pain since I was about 10 and first went to an orthopedist when I was a Freshman, well now I am 16 and I am a senior and also have hip pain. If House was an orthopedic surgeon(OS) I would probably be one of his patients. Here is my history by the numbers- Countless X-rays and doctors appointments 8ish different diagnoses (not sure about number) 8 months with out full range of motion(ROM) in my left knee 4 Painful joints (both knees and hips, worse on left side) 4 MRIs 4 Knee braces 3 PT attempts 3 Different doctors 3 Months on crutches 1 Cortisone shot 1 Knee surgery 1 Year since I have ran Lately I have doing a lot of research and have found people's blogs very helpful so I have decided to make one of my own to hopefully help other people (as well as vent a little).