My Old Lady Hip

Apparently my Cookie Pants post got somebody thinking that I didn't have it all that bad, 

so of course things got worse!  

I am blaming Jillian Michaels and her 30 Day Shred, but I can't prove anything.

Saturday morning I was walking around just fine, but as the day wore on I started to feel a stabbing pain in my right side near my hip bone.  I didn't think much of it since I have had a pain there for the last few years, but it gradually got worse and by Sunday morning I was limping around while I scrambled to get everyone ready for church.  

I limped around at church doing my Primary duties but by the time I limped out of there I couldn't hold the tears back any longer.  When Chad got home we decided to ask my dad to come and help him give me a blessing.  My parents were prepared to stay with the kids while Chad took me to the ER, but I stubbornly refused, thinking I would just get in to see my doctor on Monday morning. 

 I took some Advil and tried not to move or think too much.  

Chad was a super awesome husband and took care of the kids and made sure we all had food to eat.

On Monday morning Chad had to pack for an overnight trip to Memphis and while he did that I got the boys out the door and said goodbye to him and took a shower so that I would be dressed just in case the doctor wanted me to come in right away.  

As luck would have it, I called the doctor's office and the scheduler said that he didn't have anything available, but would I like to see a nurse practitioner?  Now, I have nothing against nurse practitioners if I have a cold or something, but the fact that I was in as much pain as I was and the fact that I was going to have to pay through the nose for this appointment since we hadn't met our deductible yet made me refuse to see one.  I told the woman no, and asked if there were any more options.  She said she'd send a message down to his office and see if they would fit me in somewhere.  (Gee, thanks Lady!) 

I waited over an hour for her phone call and finally decided that I was in too much pain to wait any longer.  After consulting with Chad and my parents we decided that since they were most likely going to send me to the ER we may as well just head over there so we wouldn't have to pay for a doctor visit on top of it.  My mom came and got Kade and Sophie and I and we headed over to drop them off with my sister at the YMCA.  Chad met us at the hospital.  His boss told him that he would cover the Memphis trip and to take the rest of the day off to take care of me. 

They got me right in since there was nobody there when we got there.  We had to wait for a few minutes for the doctor to come in and check me, but altogether it wasn't too bad.  After checking me and asking questions the doctor decided to do a CT scan to rule out appendicitis and a few other things.  It was hard to tell exactly where the pain was coming from at that point, it just hurt around my hip, so it could have been many different things.  They gave me a shot in the rear for the pain (which hurt so bad it helped take my mind off the other pain) and took me for the scan.

After an hour or so of waiting (I can't tell you for sure because the pain shot kicked in and I was not all that concerned about the time it was taking) the doctor came back in and looked at me like I was faking it and said that there was nothing wrong with my appendix or colon or ovaries, other than a few little cysts.  He told me to follow up with my doctor (yeah, good luck with that) and sent me home.  

When we got home we learned that my doctor had decided to put me in with the on-call doctor that day, but I no longer need to see him since I had been to the ER.  I was finally able to get hold of someone in his office who was able to get me in with my normal doctor at 8:45 the next morning.  I was still in pain, but I wasn't as freaked out since I knew my appendix wasn't ready to rupture.

Tuesday morning I went in to see Dr. Scott and he felt around my hip and was able to figure out that it hurt the most in the hip joint itself.  He sent me down for x-rays to make sure that I hadn't broken it somehow and told me to come right back up when they were done.  

There was nothing on the x-rays so Dr. S decided to give me a steroid shot (yay. Another shot in the hiney.) and pretty much narrowed the cause of the pain down to some kind of tendonitis.  He decided to put me on steroids for a few days and if they didn't help he would bring me back in for an MRI to see if there is damage to the hip socket or something.

I am happy to say that the steroids are doing their job and I can mostly walk without limping. 

 I have been staying off of it as much as I can and it is feeling much better.  I am concerned that this is going to be with me forever since I have been dealing with tendonitis in my left hand since I was a teenager.  It would almost have been better news if it was my appendix.  But, if I am careful and don't let Jillian Michaels tempt me into doing jumping jacks again anytime soon I should be able to manage it. 

 I will just have to stick to the elliptical at the gym since it is easier on my joints.  

So there you have it.

I have the hip of an 80 year old woman. 

 This makes me wonder what else is going to fall apart on my body in the next 50 years, but for now I am grateful that I can once again keep up with my hoodlums.