Timeline Of The Bumpy Road To Bilateral Hip Replacements

A lot happened in 2021. This timeline will give you a glimpse of my crazy health year. Ready, set, go.

December 2020 –

• The Day: December 22 was a normal day. I was working from home and playing with my dogs during my lunch break. As I went to pick up my dog Oakley, I felt a quick, sharp pain in my back. I’m not new to back issues; I’ve had back pains consistently since high school. I grabbed my heating pad and some ice and got back to work with hope that it would get better as the day went on. It did not. The pain continued. That evening, my brother had to help me off my desk chair to the couch. I laid there for a few hours as the pain increased. I assumed I had a slipped disc so I looked up ways to alleviate the pain. Dr. Google told me to lay on the floor. I proactively tried to lay on the floor when I realized I physically couldn’t move off the couch. It took 45 minutes for my parents to help me get down. I laid there for a few hours until I finally felt some relief. Once I was able to stand up, I walked upstairs to celebrate the success and laugh with my family about the craziness of that evening. As soon as I got to the foyer, I felt an intense pain and became ghostly pale. I called out to my dad who quickly rushed over to catch me as I fainted. The pain didn’t subside even after I woke up.
• The Next Day: The following morning, it took my mom and dad two hours to help me out of bed. I felt every movement in my lower back. Everything. My mom couldn’t even move a light sheet to help untangle me from the bed. When I finally got out, we rushed to the urgent care. My doctor prescribed a steroid pack and ordered STAT x-rays and MRIs.

January 2021 –  

• Discovered from the imaging that I had multiple herniated and bulging discs, in addition to a curvature of my spine. After seeing this, my doctor referred me to a spine surgeon to seek treatment. 
• Learned that I’ve had bilateral hip dysplasia. As soon as I got to the spine surgeon, he took in-house x-rays of my back, neck, and hips. He diagnosed me with hip dysplasia and informed me that my back conditions were likely caused by my hip problems. He then referred me to a hip surgeon and began treating my back pain with Epidural Corticosteroid Injections (I had two and they didn’t help more than a few days).
• Started physical therapy. While waiting a few weeks for the first available appointment with the hip surgeon, I started physical therapy for my back. 
• Nerve damage. As the pain to my back and hips continued, I began to have nerve issues. I would have numbness, discoloration, and pain in my feet and legs. 

February – 

• Diagnosed with bilateral avascular necrosis. During my first appointment with the referred hip surgeon, he found avascular necrosis in both hips. This first surgeon initially recommended a periacetabular osteotomy (PAO). He then referred me to a few different specialists to rule out additional conditions before moving forward with scheduling the surgery (nerve specialist, rheumatologist, etc.). 
• Nerve testing. This was extremely painful. The specialist inserted needles to various muscles in my legs to determine and assess the extent of my nerve damage.
• Stopped physical therapy. In order to preserve physical therapy slots for my impending hip surgeries (I only had 60 sessions available), we stopped the physical therapy for my back at the end of February.

March –

• Nerve damage diagnosed. The nerve specialist found that I had nerve damage to my left saphenous and femoral nerves as well as nerve damage down my right leg.
• Chiropractor visits began. As my back issues continued, I was in desperate need for relief. I went back to my primary care doctor to see if she had any other recommendations for pain management. She referred me to a local chiropractor. I felt so much back relief in just the first appointment! The chiropractor used a decompression table which helped relieve pressure on my discs. 
• Found a new hip surgeon and started physical therapy for my hips. I visited three hip surgeons to ensure I felt comfortable with the strategy and person who would be doing my surgeries. The hip surgeon I ultimately selected opted for bilateral anterior total hip replacements (THA’s) three months apart. He then referred me to six weeks of physical therapy until we scheduled the first surgery.

April – 

• Passed a kidney stone. This was such a random part of the year – and super painful. This instance spiraled another round of significant testing.
• Wonky blood results. With the fainting, expanding numbness/discoloration, kidney stone, and dizziness I was experiencing, my doctors ordered blood results to see if something else was wrong. I had some weird results in addition to a positive ANA test and was referred to additional specialists to determine what was going on.

May – 

• Wonky blood results (continued). As we continued to search for answers, we found that my IgA and RDW levels were very low.
• Both THA’s scheduled. As my hip PT wrapped up at the end of May without significant relief, my surgeon went ahead and scheduled my two THA’s. We pursued the right hip first and then the left hip.

June –

• Pain continued. As my pain continued, I waited for my first THA.  I continued with my chiropractor during this time to help minimize the pain as much as possible. 

July – 

• Right Total Hip Replacement (Anterior). Most of July was consumed with prepping for the right THA. I was nervous for the surgery but I kept busy with lots of pre-op appointments, stretching, etc. The surgery was on July 30 and the rest of July was full recovery mode.

In the recovery room after the right THA.

August – 

• Right THA recovery. The entire month of August was dedicated to recovering from the right THA. I was about 2 inches taller on my right side since the surgeon had to restructure the hip. I had a penguin waddle until my next surgery.

September – 

• Continued right hip recovery and prepped for the left THA. My left THA was scheduled for October 25 so I spent my time in September strengthening the right hip and my core. 
• First jog. Yep, you read that right. I went for a mini jog on Labor Day weekend. It was one of the best runs I’ve ever had. My right calf, knee, thigh, and back didn’t hurt. You can check out this post to read about how I didn’t know my “pain” was abnormal my whole life. Of course the jogging hurt my left hip, but I knew I was getting that fixed soon.

October – 

• Left Total Hip Replacement (Anterior). My left THA was moved up to October 20. During this surgery, I was officially “evened out” meaning that my left hip was properly restructured in alignment with the right hip (two inches taller!).

In the recovery room after the left THA.

November – 

• Left and right THA recovery. Geesh was it hard. My right hip had to quickly become the strong one and support my left hip. My walk was still a waddle, sleep felt impossible, and each hip wanted something different. Sometimes the left hip would want to walk and move while the right hip wanted to relax (and vice versa). When I slept, finding a comfortable position was extremely difficult. With the right hip still recovering, the left hip early in recovery, and my back still in pain, I just wanted to sleep upright in bubble wrap. Obviously, that was impossible so I often slept on the couch (not sure how – but this was the most comfortable sleep location/position for me). 
• Left and right THA physical therapy. I started physical therapy to relearn how to walk with the new hip structure and strengthen all of the muscles so I could get back to my normal life. My physical therapist and I established the following goals: to be able to play with my dogs by Christmas, sit and lay comfortably, and jog by New Year’s Day. My physical therapist expanded my sessions into aquatic therapy. 
• Tendinitis in both hips. I wanted to recover as quickly as possible. I was originally heading back to work in early December so I wanted to maximize my recovery time. This resulted in pushing myself too far in PT and general movement. The progress in my right hip began to fall back so my left hip began to try overcompensating for it. Because of all the stress I’d placed on the hips, I gave myself some tendinitis in both hips.

December –

• Sleeping was still hard at the beginning of the month. After my left THA, I started sleeping on my right hip. I could lay in that position for about 3.5 hours before transitioning to my back for an hour or two. Any rest beyond 5 hours left my hips stiff and I would wake up from pain in both of my heels too (from laying on my back). No one warns you about the heel pain.
• …And then sleeping got better. I had my first good night of sleep on December 9. That night was the beginning of solid sleep scores (it’s amazing to enjoy sleeping again).
• Aquatic therapy success. I had my first hopping, skipping, and running laps in the pool. I almost cried from the excitement (my eyes welled but I blamed the chlorine).
• First 2 mile walk. I was still working through the tendinitis but my physical therapy team found better exercises and stretches for me. This allowed me to take my first long walk (mostly pain-free!).
• Headed back to work. I went back to work in the middle of December. I work from home so it was a great transition. I had to be mindful about moving (stiffness can turn to pain really quickly) but I really enjoyed being back. For the first time ever, I wasn’t in pain after working all day.

There you have it! The timeline of my crazy year buttoned up into a single blog post. Although this was a really challenging year, there was so much personal growth that happened along the way. It’s easy for me to look at this timeline now and think, “Hey! The pieces laid out so nicely.” However, going through it was terrifying. It was especially hard to face the unknowns. 

If I’ve learned anything, you can get through hard things with a whole lot of faith, coffee, And Mettle.

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