Less than encouraging ortho post-op appointment today
On today's schedule for this full-time patient: post op follow appt with Orthopedic Surgeon at OHSU. Xray and super fashionable paper shorts aside, actually spoke directly with the surgeon for the third time in my life (one pre-op appt, quick hello before surgery, then today. Otherwise all appointments were with her PA). I've been walking unassisted and not having problems with the exercises at PT. Feel like I went into this appointment woefully unprepared. About an hour of waiting (totally standard for my experiences with OHSU) in the exam room and then the actualy F2F time with the surgeon just blew past, I didn't even think to ask about the xrays that were taken beforehand. I assume they were fine, since nothing was said about them *sigh* Yeah, I wasn't really expecting what did happen.
An entirely new PA talked to me first, did some ROM exercises, and asked about pain levels. Pretty ok most of the time, exceptions being driving, walking more than about a block, and nighttime discomfort/restlessness. He tried to re-create my pain butof course this pain, just like my pre-op pain, isn't the sudden pain of a burn or pinprick but a slow onset deep aching that can take minutes or hours to develop...pretty much impossible to recreate in a few seconds of specific movements. Straight leg lifts while lying on my back hurt...but I'm pretty sure that's not something I'm *supposed* to be doing as part of PT (and the surgeon confirmed that later, leg lifts aren't usually re-introduced until 3 months post-op and not even 2 months yet).
Some more waiting and then the new PA came back with OS and another dude in a white labcoat. It's a teching hospital, I can't keep up with all the white coats in my exam rooms. She did some more movements and I explained that all the pain went away post op but then came back this last week once I started driving again. She thinks the pain is from inflammation and wrote a new scrip for another month of peroxicam (mega anti-inflammatory) and wants me to get another steroid injection in my hip. Not something they could do today, apparently only one Dr in that office is trained to do ultrasound-guided injections and he only works thursday mornings (it was past 3pm by this point) and waiting another week...ugh. Suggested I go back to the Gabriel Park office where I did all the initial ortho appointments and the April cortisone injection which accomplished jack. Well, it didn't help, but it did make me super aggitated and wanting to go run all the time...super problematic when you have a hip injury and aren't supposed to be walking long distances, much less running. I've never been a runner, of course, so I wouldn't actually have gone for a run, I just had that major restlessness that makes you feel like you want to run. And right now i already HAVE that restlessness at night when I'm trying to fall asleep. Would an injection make that worse? Cancel it out completely and leave me able to fall asleep smoothly again? Whole lotta nothing? I don't know. Surgeon heard that concern from me but said that since the pre-op pain was from cartiledge damage and the current pain is almost certainly from inflammation that it should be a totally different result. I sure hope so. Possibly a moot point as my insurance still has to approve the procedure before I can even get it scheduled.
Worse than the dissapointment over yet another injection into that irritated joint, I asked her about my return to work release and she doesn't want me going back to work until DECEMBER. That's another month beyond what I planned. I can swing early November, but have really been counting on being back at work part time in early to mid November and full time soon after. Heck, my FMLA coverage only runs till October 27. With all the trades I got I should be still getting paid and not penalized for being out sick till November 23rd. There's pretty much no hope of getting any more trades...and I've agreed to start doing paybacks in November 25th. *gulp* If I can't do those tradebacks November 25 and 26, then I lost two days of coverage later this month. It's a jenga tower of trades, and being off work another month would collapse it. I really hate worrying about money. I know that another month off wouldn't leave me destitute or homeless, but it sure would wipe out my savings and leave me vulnerable to any complications or illness for the next year.
Gonna go have a lie down with an ice pack and read a little, try to get my mood back up. Feeling pretty low right now.
An entirely new PA talked to me first, did some ROM exercises, and asked about pain levels. Pretty ok most of the time, exceptions being driving, walking more than about a block, and nighttime discomfort/restlessness. He tried to re-create my pain butof course this pain, just like my pre-op pain, isn't the sudden pain of a burn or pinprick but a slow onset deep aching that can take minutes or hours to develop...pretty much impossible to recreate in a few seconds of specific movements. Straight leg lifts while lying on my back hurt...but I'm pretty sure that's not something I'm *supposed* to be doing as part of PT (and the surgeon confirmed that later, leg lifts aren't usually re-introduced until 3 months post-op and not even 2 months yet).
Some more waiting and then the new PA came back with OS and another dude in a white labcoat. It's a teching hospital, I can't keep up with all the white coats in my exam rooms. She did some more movements and I explained that all the pain went away post op but then came back this last week once I started driving again. She thinks the pain is from inflammation and wrote a new scrip for another month of peroxicam (mega anti-inflammatory) and wants me to get another steroid injection in my hip. Not something they could do today, apparently only one Dr in that office is trained to do ultrasound-guided injections and he only works thursday mornings (it was past 3pm by this point) and waiting another week...ugh. Suggested I go back to the Gabriel Park office where I did all the initial ortho appointments and the April cortisone injection which accomplished jack. Well, it didn't help, but it did make me super aggitated and wanting to go run all the time...super problematic when you have a hip injury and aren't supposed to be walking long distances, much less running. I've never been a runner, of course, so I wouldn't actually have gone for a run, I just had that major restlessness that makes you feel like you want to run. And right now i already HAVE that restlessness at night when I'm trying to fall asleep. Would an injection make that worse? Cancel it out completely and leave me able to fall asleep smoothly again? Whole lotta nothing? I don't know. Surgeon heard that concern from me but said that since the pre-op pain was from cartiledge damage and the current pain is almost certainly from inflammation that it should be a totally different result. I sure hope so. Possibly a moot point as my insurance still has to approve the procedure before I can even get it scheduled.
Worse than the dissapointment over yet another injection into that irritated joint, I asked her about my return to work release and she doesn't want me going back to work until DECEMBER. That's another month beyond what I planned. I can swing early November, but have really been counting on being back at work part time in early to mid November and full time soon after. Heck, my FMLA coverage only runs till October 27. With all the trades I got I should be still getting paid and not penalized for being out sick till November 23rd. There's pretty much no hope of getting any more trades...and I've agreed to start doing paybacks in November 25th. *gulp* If I can't do those tradebacks November 25 and 26, then I lost two days of coverage later this month. It's a jenga tower of trades, and being off work another month would collapse it. I really hate worrying about money. I know that another month off wouldn't leave me destitute or homeless, but it sure would wipe out my savings and leave me vulnerable to any complications or illness for the next year.
Gonna go have a lie down with an ice pack and read a little, try to get my mood back up. Feeling pretty low right now.