Life with a Flare

My PT thinks I am making progress with the external rotation, although I am still not convinced. Overall he still thinks my hip is tight so thats not good. I was really hoping to be able to just do my PT exercise on my own at school and not have to find a new PT right away or pay for it since my insurance is no longer covering my PT, but looks like I still need manual therapy. Plus my left knee has been acting up a lot, like wake me up in the middle of the night type bad, so I will eventually have to deal with that which will probably mean more PT. Current ER Next Friday in my last appointment with my PT since I am going away the following week and then I go to school. In general next Friday is going to be a long day, I also have an OS appointment followed by a rheumy appointment, so I will have to drive to the city and go to those appointments then come home and go to PT. On the bright side it means my mom can't drag me anywhere after the appointments at HSS, but I will be e...

Oh yeah, this girl does if she ever wants to get on a horse again. At 4 weeks post op I am doing very well, no pain with weight bearing at all. Yesterday I did not use even one crutch once, that beats my last surgery by about a week. However I am struggling a bit with gaining back my ROM. I am completely frustrated, I figured ROM would be no problem because last time around I had a larger ROM then pre-op around week 3, but this time no. I got my extension and flexion without issues, my internal rotation does not seem bad either, it is just the stupid external rotation. Of course it would be the one direction that is essential to horseback riding. Even Getting it This Far HURTS!!! I am not going to give up quite yet though. I plan on stretching it for a few 30 second periods (if I can last that long) at least twice a day. It will get better, it has to get better. My PT said I may never be able to ride without pain again, but he didn't say I can't ride. I don't need p...

First some exciting news, I get to wean myself off crutches! Basicly my PT has decided I can make my own decision, so right now I do not use them at all in the house and bring them with me when I go out, tomorrow I will have a day with a lot of walking but then I plan on definitely being down to one or none all the time. Heat then Ice and Stim @ PT (my favorite parts) Thursday I went to the rheumatologist. She thinks I had gastritis (which is the inflammation of the stomach) caused by long term NSAID use, which is what caused the horrible stomach pains. Currently NSAIDs still seem lie the best treatment option since we finally had found one that works. She decided to switch me from Prilosec to Prevacid for the side affects and restart the Voltaren, so today was the I took Voltaren with Prevacid for the first time and hopefully I will not get gastritis again. My rheumy thinks the two things that are my biggest problem right now are my crutches and how lax my joints are. She ...

This past week has been really rough, although my hip is doing really well. Last Tuesday I had my 2 week post op appointment. It went pretty well, everything looks good. The biopsy of the inflammation came back negative for RA. The OS mentioned I toe in when I walk, something which my PT has been telling me for 2 years. Still had to stay at 50% weight bearing for another week (which is disappointing because I thought since I started out with more weight on the leg then last time around I would get to wean sooner not later). I also got a letter to send to my insurance company to try to get them to cover more PT. Wednesday I woke up extremely tired. I took a shower and then went right back to sleep, I even fell asleep in the CPM, which I have tried to do before but never been successful unless I was still on narcotics. I woke up just in time for my weekly PT session, where I noticed my right shoulder hurt and my left ankle did as well. Thursday I went to college orientation, I had ...

I can not believe it has been a week since I last wrote, so much yet so little has happened. I still get to spend about 6 hours a day in the CPM machine, as well as wearing my oh so lovely hip brace when I go out. At this point I am in almost no pain. I also had to get new crutch tips because chunks of rubber were coming off of my old ones. Oh and do you see that split in the top? On the 4th of July I did not do much during the day, I decided to get through my CPM time so I could go out at night. It was nice to get out since I did not go out much last week except for various doctor appointments. I made s'mores and watch fireworks with my friends. My friend was very insistent that the chairs were stable and I should sit on one because of my hip. S'mores Selfie Fireworks! On another note, today I had an opthamologist check up, and I am happy to say I am Uveitis free! It was the first time I had discussed the possibility of me finding another specialist at...

Post Op Day 4 I did not do much besides hang out in the CPM machine. Although I think this was the first day I was completely off painkillers! Post Op Day 5 After doing my 6 hours of CPMing I went to my friend's graduation party! Ok so dresses and hip brace do not look great together but as long as the dress is a bit shorter than knee length it is do able. I spent a good amount of time sitting with my feet in a pool as my friends swam but my lower back/hip started to hurt so I decided I might be better off in a chair with a back. I slept over after the party, I actually slept pretty well on a couch it probably helped that it was around 3:30 am by the time I went to sleep. Post Op Day 6 I left my friend's house around 11:00, as most of my friends were getting back in the pool and I still needed to do 6 hours of CPMing. My big accomplishment of the day was biking on the stationary bike for 20 minutes. 1 Week Post Op! I survived the first week a lot better this ti...