Road to 40: Part 3

Recovery to now:

Moving past the 10 weeks of relief from the cortisone shot,  my surgeon was convinced that there was a strong reason to scope my hip and figure out what was damaged.  It’s deep in the winter at this point, coming up on the end of the year.  I’ve been away from work since July, still not really able to do much, putting on weight and not feeling great about the inactivity.  I had tried lifting a few times and even moderate stuff, seated, caused me pain.  So I was just waiting for an official date for the surgery.  And by mid December, I had a date.  I’d be bringing in the first week of the New Year w/ a newly repaired hip!

January 6th, 2019 will forever live in infamy…  Okay that’s a little over the top because I’m probably the only one that remembers the actual date but it’s my blog so I get to be dramatic when I want to.  Read at your own peril…  Anyways…  We arrived at the surgery center in Antioch before 7am and my surgery is scheduled for 9am.  The process will take 6 hours to prep, scope the hip, and likely repair what was originally thought to be a labrum tear.  It’s Elsa and me just hanging out.  I’m starting to feel a little nervous and she can obviously tell due to my not so quiet nature.  We have a very dry, blunt sense of humor together, and she looks over and says, “You remembered to write THIS ONE on your hip right?” I laughed.  

They come get me from the waiting room and take me into the pre-op waiting room.  The nurse gives me the breakdown of what the plan is, asks me one last time if I’m allergic to anything, and makes sure I have a ride home.  I reminded Elsa that she had to take me home after and not to leave, she responded with, “I won’t make any promises.”  The nurse kind of laughs because obviously her sense of humor needs work.  My surgeon comes by for a quick chat about the plan, assures me this is a very standard procedure and tells me he’ll make sure to be thorough in case there’s something else going on.  Shortly after comes the General Anesthesia.  Things are getting interesting!     

 6 hours later I’m drowsy as hell, hear voices murmuring, and I wake up to the doctor and Elsa chatting. 

 “Mr. Sandoval, you had a lot more going on in that hip than we anticipated but the surgery was a success.”  My surgeon said, smiling under his mask.

“Great, is everything fixed?” I managed to mutter, feeling like I took about 15 shots of a good whisky bourbon.  

 “There was a little more going on in there than we originally thought. I’ll spare you the details for the time being, as you are still feeling the effects of Anesthesia.  I’ve given your girlfriend the details and I’ll email you tomorrow to set up a follow-up.   We’ll talk in a day or so when you are more clear-headed.”

 “Okay, Doc.  But is the Labrum fixed?  I should be back to normal after some physical therapy?”

 “The labrum was actually intact, aside from some shearing likely from normal wear and tear of someone in your type of work.  It was actually your hip flexor and psoas.” responded the surgeon 

 I’ll spare you the rest of my slurred speech and slow responses but in essence, my hip flexor had fused to the top of my hip bone and my psoas had become so tight due to all the internal madness, they had to be split down the middle to release the pressure.  They also had to peel my hip flexor off my hip bone and shave the bone down so it wouldn’t catch again.  Fun stuff!  BUT…  he said it was a success and we were in the clear!  That’s good news!  Little did I know how long things would take to recover and the long road it would put me on to where I am now…