My May 18, 2015, Journal:

May 18th, 2015 will always be a day to remember for me. Today I went in at 5:30 am for my hip surgery. I had been going about 5 years in horrific pain. I was truly really unable to continue walking at this point. I was in such pain. I was at a point where I could hardly function as a parent with my kids because I couldn’t get down on the floor nor could I get up at this point, I could barely get out of a seated chair. So it was time to find out what was going on and it was time to get it fixed.

Over the course of about 1 1/2 years, I had gone to several doctors in hopes they would perform surgery on my hip. At this time I found out that it wasn’t just a small amount of arthritis but it was actually a congenital defect. I was born with a hip socket that wasn’t fully formed. This explained so many things during my childhood that I never understood why I couldn’t do some of the things that my friends could do. All because of my hip. It made so much sense now.

After seeing two doctors and both of them saying “NO” to performing the surgery, I had given up hope. Both of them had explained to me I was too heavy to take a chance on operating. Even though at this point I had been walking 5 to 6 miles every weekday and I had just stopped less than a year or so prior to my operation because it was just too painful. But that didn’t seem to persuade them.

My husband insisted that I try one more doctor but I dont have any hope.  But what ended up happening was a glorious occasion. I told the Dr. Batchelor what was wrong, he took some x-rays, looked at the MRIs that I had brought in, left the room. When he came back into the room, he sat down, looked at me, and said “We need to operate. We need to do a full left lateral hip replacement. We have an opening in about 2 weeks”. I burst out in tears.
{For those of you who know me, you know that I don’t like to cry in front of people if I can help it but I couldn’t help it this time.} He thought I was upset with the news of needing the surgery, but I had to tell him that I was not upset and that the tears were actually tears of joy! I even proceeded to tell him about the other doctors and how they have treated me. His response? “No one, no matter their size or age, should live their lives in this kind of pain ever!” What a response I almost jumped out of my seat to hug him.

However, I didn’t have the operation two weeks later because I had to take care of my mom first. You see she was having some serious health issues and at this point, we knew that she needed more help than what I could give her after having a hip operation. And on May 7th, my mom ended up in the hospital. Now I knew for sure that I had made the right choice to push my operation out a little bit. When she was released from the hospital we (meaning my mom, my husband, and me) agreed to put her in a Rehabilitation center so that she would have 24-hour care while I was in rehab myself.

_________________________________________________________________________This was what I had thought was the most stressful time of my life. Here my mom was in a rehabilitation center after being in a hospital for almost a week and I’m going in for a full left hip replacement. Extreme stress!

Once I got to the hospital I was scared out of my mind. I was shaking like a leaf, my BP was elevated from the nerves and I was on the verge of tears. I had watched several hip surgeries on the internet so I knew what was to come. I knew what it was going to look and sound like in the OR. But once I woke up, even though I was in a lot of pain and they made me try to walk, I was so happy. It was over. Soon I was going to be pain-free!!! I was so ecstatic. Plus I was going to get to spend the next couple of weeks in a rehab center. And before you even think it, yes I had to go to a rehab center. The reason being is my bedroom was on the second story and my doctor didn’t want to take any chances of me falling down the stairs during that healing/relearning to walk time. Also, with my mom in need of constant care and me in need of it as well, it was going to be a huge burden on my family! So they put me in a rehab center for 2 weeks.

But my horrors and what this journal is all about documenting have just only begun. The following posts are going to be somewhat sporadic. And they will be from a journal that I was keeping. I didn’t write in it every day and sometimes I didn’t even write in it every week, but I did jot down my feelings. With this journal in hand, I will be able to relive my journey and my recovery with you in hopes to enlighten those who know people going through something similar or to encourage you who are hitting rock bottom in your recovery from an injury or illness. Remember there is always a light at the end of a tunnel and if you stick with me, you will see my light getting brighter and brighter! Welcome to my journey to healing and recovery!

If you want to read more about my journey, keep following. I will be posting more of my journals. All parts of my journal that are in italic are my current thoughts or additions, otherwise, everything else comes directly from the journal I was keeping at the time. I hope if you know me personally this gives you insight into what was really going on every time you asked and I said  “I’m Fine”. I also hope that for those of you who are going through something similar, this journal gives you hope that things do get better!