Road to 40: Part 2
So in November of 2018, I met with the surgeon about possibilities of how to go about it. We exhausted them all and by Jan 2019, 3 months into this new father thing, I was in surgery for what was supposed to be a labrum tear and came out with my hip bone shaved my hip flexor split in half, and lots of painful inflammation.
I’ve had surgery four times in my life. The first one was the wisdom extractions. All 4 at once, not fun but normal for a lot of people. The second was to repair an inguinal hernia I got while working at Orchard Hardware and Supply when I was 18. The third was when I had an emergency appendectomy because my appendix almost exploded; fun stuff. So this fourth surgery didn’t seem all that terrible. Yes, they were going to cut me open and sew me back together, but I had some angles that put me ahead of the average guy. I was in pretty damn good shape and optimistic about recovery.
Despite the constant pain and discomfort, I managed to stay active the entire time. I lifted, within my means, I worked my cardiovascular strength, I did my mobility, and I was resting fairly well. My psoriasis was well under control at the time so my overall inflammation levels were lower, which is just good for anyone in any setting. I had a great support system prior to the surgery. Lots of support from my management team, my co-workers, and my clients. At home, all we talked about was getting through the surgery and getting me healthy again.
As the surgery got closer I was having a harder time being on my feet all day and I was starting to limp a lot. By the time I left work in July it was bothering me pretty regularly throughout the day. Let me tell you, for someone who was up and going 110% all day every day, it’s a different kind of feeling to have to slow down. I was actually using a cane to get around. That same month we baptized my daughter. You won’t notice from the pics but I was really uncomfortable at this point. Lots of ibuprofen and ice and lots more sitting.
Almost 3 full months out of work at this point, trying to stay positive, feeling a little less useful and a little more dependent on the people around me for things that people take for granted. Everyone goes through things like this differently, but let me tell you, as a man who was used to being a leader and always helping to shoulder burdens and power forward, it sucked. Being hurt, feeling a little worse for wear, and having people you care about regularly telling you to just sit and relax or you can’t do that is not a good feeling.
This went on for the remaining months before the surgery. We were sharing a townhouse with my brother at the time, which was awesome and well-timed, because he helped out a lot with the kid where I couldn’t. Not that Elsa seemed to need much help. She’s a ROCKSTAR mom who lots of parents could learn a lesson or two from. But even still, it takes a village as they say. I found myself less and less inclined to do things and started to try to relax a bit. And I kept thinking to myself, “Once my surgery happens, I’ll be fixed and I can make up for all the time I didn’t help.” Because obviously people were keeping a tally of all the things I couldn’t do, right? Right.
Had my first and only cortisone shot about 10 weeks before the surgery. The doc wanted to find out if getting the shot would improve my pain levels. He explained to me that if there was an improvement it would provide some intel on what might actually be going on and increase the reasoning behind actually having the surgery. So I agreed and went and had the longest needle in the history of needles injected into my hip. A very weird feeling experience. It’s not like getting your blood drawn. After it entered my hip, I didn’t feel pain, just a cold sensation as the cortisone was injected. Within a week, things started to clear up and I was actually not using crutches or a cane as much. And, just like hypothesized, I had about 10 weeks of some relief which was nice.
