So I had my appointment with Mr Politis this morning. Hurting so bad after all of that sitting down. Apparently they had booked 4 people in for the same 10am slot, which meant I had over an hour of waiting to do. Not great for someone who struggles to sit properly for 10 mins! (I'm sure there's irony in there somewhere) I had a little mooch around the hospital & grabbed a coffee, all of the time getting more and more nervous for the serious conversation that was about to come. It really didn't help seeing loads of people hobbling about on their crutches, knowing it will be my turn soon.
I decided to pop into hydrotherapy to see if I could quickly have a word with my old PT - she knows a lot about my condition so I wanted to give her a quick update & ask her about Mr Politis, I can't seem to find much about him on the internet. She kindly spared a few minutes and reassured me by telling me that my consultant is a good one & he regularly works with Mr McBryde, whom I have heard great things about.
Before the appointment I was given a questionnaire to fill out on my hips.
"In the past 48 hours how have you found sitting?"
After torturing me with your hour and a quarter wait, I would say 'Extreme'! Now let me get off my ass and go and see the doctor...
I was finally called to his office. I slumped myself cross-legged on the bed, pleased I managed to avoid another chair. It's nice having someone who totally gets my 'not being able to sit down properly' problem! He asked about the steroid injection & I told him it didn't do half as good as I was expecting, that I only had one day of good relief & even walked around the park twice, but after that it has pretty much been its usual, painful self.
He wasn't concerned about the lack of effect & said as long as I felt at least a tiny bit of relief, that is a sign that my pain is very much hip related. Oh, how I wish the last 6 weeks had been the bliss I had heard about with steroid injections, but it's good to know it wasn't completely pointless.
He then started showing me my scans & this is where it all started to get rather complicated. There were all sorts of angles he was measuring and showing to me (I can't remember any of them now!) Some were pretty far off 'normal' and some were worse on my right side compared to my left, which he explained might be why I am having more of a problematic time with my right side - I am starting to feel more aggravation in my left side which is certainly getting stronger, but compared to the screaming right hip pain it's manageable at the moment.
Apparently my case is quite complex, which is not the best news. He is still unsure which exact route to take from here, but he did explain a couple of options and stated that I will perhaps need 3 different types of surgery... Oh my.
My femur is retroverted (the ball part of my hip joint is facing in the wrong direction), so I was told that I 100% need a femoral osteotomy (FO). Cue the biting of fingernails and tight curl of the toes as he began to explain the cutting, maneuvering & plating of my femur- a whole lot to take in after only recently learning about all of this - and not the only thing that needs doing either. This is going to be a really long journey and that makes me scared.
An arthroscopy is also on the cards as I have bone spurs growing on the side of my acetabulum that need shaving off (the hip socket has extra growth which isn't supposed to be there, this causes friction in the joint) I believe this is called pincer impingement. He mentioned perhaps reusing the bone for the FO, economic! I also need the labral tear (cartilage damage) and the cam impingement (femur head deformity) to be repaired.
Then he spoke of the possibility of doing a Triple Pelvic Osteotomy (TPO), which is from what I gather, kinda like my hospitals version of the Periacetabular Osteotomy (PAO). All I know about that is that they cut the pelvis in three different places and then adjust the position of the acetabular, using screws to keep it in place. He said he was unsure if this is what I need at the moment, and that he can't know for sure, but perhaps doing the first two options together might fix my problem. A little confused by this, because from my (brief) research, the gist I get is that the acetabular needs correcting in order for alignment to be right. He also mentioned that preforming all three at the same time would make it a significantly long surgical procedure.
I'm in for a tough couple of years. Urgh.
I also got into the discussion about whether this is classed as hip dysplasia or not. He is adamant that this is not, but UCLH told me last week that my x-rays show hip dysplasia. So the confusion on that front continues. I queried if any of my hip problems could be posture related. I've had back problems since I was 17, so my posture can't be too great with the 3 slipped discs that I now have. He told me that this is entirely bone related and is either something I was born with or have developed as a child. He did say that maybe my hips could have been causing my back problems all along, but it's not definite.
He will now discuss my case with other consultants on Friday and get back to me in a couple of weeks. I really hope the wait isn't too long.
I now feel like a have a little bit of a plan coming together, even if it is just in pencil atm. There are steps that can be taken to give me a normal life in the future & for that I am grateful. The thought of battling with this forever is a nightmare.
I have a hell of a lot to prepare myself for, both mentally & physically, but this will not beat me!
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