SHC's Journey to Freedom (x7): HIP PRESERVATION

Kiddo was having pain this morning….and pain intermittently throughout the weekend as well. The numbing had gone away, and the “zings” of pain commenced, but then the pain she began experiencing was different…and remarkably similar to the pain she was complaining about before.

Rotation of the leg was causing her the same pain as before, and she was having some other “aches” but mostly after walking or doing stuff. This morning, she complained of pain not too long after waking…and we tried another dose of naproxen just to try to help take the edge off so she could shuttle off to school.

That’s the thing: after the injection, the pain was “zings” in the area of the injection site, but since it is more of an “ache” in the area over her actual joint. Yesterday, she began complaining more about the other side, too.

All this while we were decorating for the holidays and enjoying some fun-filled days together.

Keep charging ahead…there are answers out there for everyone, just sometimes have to find the right people to piece the parts of the puzzle together for you. Thankfully…

What a find!

http://informahealthcare.com/doi/full/10.1080/17453690610046620?cookieSet=1

from the web:

TRANSITIONAL SEGMENT

Transitional segment (transitional vertebral segment): a congenital anamoly of a vertebra in which it develops characteristics of the adjoining structure or region, e.g lumbosacral, cervicothoracic. The clinical significance of this lies in its aberrant motion characteristics; gross postural effects on the super incumbent spinal column or pseudoarthrosis between the enlarged transverse processes and either the sacrum or ilia.

Lumbarization:

a transitional segment in which the first sacral segment becomes like an additional lumbar vertebra articulating with the second sacral segment.

Sacralization:

1. Incomplete separation and differentiation of the fifth lumbar vertebra   (L5) such that it takes on characteristics of a sacral vertebra

2. When transverse processes of the fifth lumbar are atypically   Large,  causing pseudoarthrosis with the sacrum and/or ilia referred to as batwing deformity if bilateral.

…far from the tree.

Online health portals can be very beneficial, allowing one to aquire access to things sometimes no one has told them. This is the case in regards to kiddo’s diagnostic report from her previous xrays. It appears that not only does she have hip issues like mom, but she also has a transitional vertebra of the lumbosacral junction…just like mom.

There’s more I’d like to say on the subject, but I’m about flabberghasted that no one decided to tell me this. Although not directly related to hip pain, certainly the mix of symptoms makes for determining what is true back and what is true hip pain more complicated. Case in point: ME over like a zillion years!

One would wonder if this was determined during the process of deciding about kiddo’s diagnostic hip injection. The good news: it initially helped her hip, pointing towards the hip as an intra-articular source of the problem. The bad news: it has decreased in effectiveness and really stopped working and her hip is back to pretty close as what it was before, just days ago.

I wonder now if anyone has considered the hip issues combined with the lumbosacral transitional vertebra, and perhaps that is where there apparently seems to be confusion in hip diagnosis where there was not confusion before (diagnosed with some retroversion and lateral dysplasia).

Despite the physical misgivings that have obviously been passed down…at least the brainiac smurf powers have been as well!

Gosh, how I can NOT wait for those MRI results…both the ones  I might be told, and the ones I might read later on that I was NOT told as well!

I hate driving long drives for medical appointments. They also aggravate my hip area of my operated side, which is the same side I need to drive with. I’m guessing it has to do with some sort of internal inflammation or something similar going on, maybe something gets caught up on another, but shifting myself more onto the left side helps “open up” the area and it feels better…until the monotony of the drive makes me lean towards the right again!

Comfort of my own regards aside, kiddo was having flares throughout the drive as well. Zings of pain similar to the injection, and in the area of the injection. She really got a good bruise in the area, too, which quite surprised me…having never bruised from an injection on the hip before myself (but of course, I have more padding to hide it as well!). Had her try shifting, too, and placing more weight on the left side seemed to help her right side as well a little bit.

Got her on naproxen to help (amazing what a little sleep can do for SPELLING! lol) and have had her icing as  well…when in one locale anyway. The numbing effect had definitely subsided and the flare of zings of pain came about just as timely as suspected, with today being fairly steady pulses of pain.

Being away from home for medical isn’t fun, being away during the holidays isn’t either, and not having any family around to boot…well, we made it the best we could and thankfully, kiddos and mom make one great team and we all sincerely love spending time together with one another. Phone calls and emails from pops in Iraq was nice, but kind of made it harder, too, knowing our military lifestyle and medical needs had our family so silly split up sides down in various locations.

Hopefully kiddo will settle in and find that being home somehow helps alleviate the zings a little more, too. You know…sometimes, it’s just hip to be home!

Wow. No tears. Said “ow” a couple times, but did VERY well…or so I was told. She braved it without me in the room!

It was better for both of us that way…she could focus on what she needed to, not mom…and she could speak up on her own without people thinking other things. As for me, I already began having my stomach turn to knots of concern and knew they’d take good care of her and made sure I stayed long enough, but not too long.

She knew the basics, having been asking questions out of fear and concern, but the only thing I didn’t agree with was when the doctor…who was informed of kiddo’s fear/concern…decided to state the potential for infection from the injection and if so, it could lead to a total hip replacement. SAY WHAT?! I turned straight away and told kiddo: THAT WON’T HAPPEN TO YOU! When he began stating what they were going to inject, 3 things, I reassured her it was only ONE injection though, turning towards the doctor saying “RIGHT?” to which he said yes, that was right. Her eyebrows were still raised, as she continued to eat the corner cuffs of her long sleeves (a nervous habit when scared), but she seemed to calm down when another person came in to help out…and who spoke gently with her.

I did get to discuss naporsin afterwards with the doctor; well, I was going to, but he actually brought it up for me and said he’d recommend it. So I said good, I brought some with us just in case.  He seemed kind of shocked I was so knowledgeable and prepared…IF HE ONLY KNEW THE DETAILS! lol (I may have dropped a couple names of other drs though at the facility, maybe it will help speed up results? probably not…)

Afterwards, it was on to MRI which took about 45mins to complete. Again, went in with her but of 2 people one was very kind and reassuring and I knew she’d be fine. So, I waited right outside.

Mind you as she walked from the injection to MRI she felt “FULL” and “NUMB”…all things to be expected. She also had difficulty putting full weight on her hip. While awaiting her turn in the tube, she began to say her shin felt numb, too…kind of tingly. But it went away. She did great in the MRI.

After 3 hours total, it was finally time to leave and kiddo said she was okay, but I could notice every few steps her leg looked like it was going to give out on her…she looked very wobbly. I made sure I walked closely, with her hand in mine at times, so if anything happened she’d have me to grab hold to. She did okay.

Since, she’s been doing okay. As time has proceeded, the numbness has decreased and the fullness has as well. She has felt some twinges of pain “as if they are sticking the needle in again” but she is maintaining her body weight on her leg fine and not looking wobbly at all.

But the kicker…she insisted on trying to turn her leg into flexion/adduction/internal rotation (since she herself doing it even hurts) to test herself, and she said it was NOTHING like it had been before. She did her opposite side, and the SAME pain she had previously experienced was still there. The procedure side again, only a little.

In addition, while her hip was initially full of fluids, she said it did not feel as though it was grinding…a couple little bits, but nothing like it has been previously.

So, the combination of some initial relief and less “play” in the joint with the “fullness” of fluids makes me consider really what is going on…and whether or not there really is some instability.

As time proceeds now, she complains a bit more of some zings of pain…when just going to shift or move…and sometimes, when not moving at all. But, mom’s on duty and on call…and will make sure she takes it easy.

Regardless, she is one BRAVE KIDDO and I know…I KNOW getting her to this place with these people was the right…no, the ONLY thing to do to hopefully figure out what is going on.

Now, it’s back to the kiddos…and wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving wherever your hip journey may take you as well.

It’s that time; time for the injections and MRI on kiddo.

As a mom, I find that I am utterly more nervous for her than I ever was for myself. Maybe it’s previous knowledge and experience coming to haunt me, as the ghost of holidays past celebrated with trips to doctors and hospitals to undergo procedure after prodecure.

Maybe it’s really just that I know she’s been asking me more and more “will it hurt?” to which I can not honestly tell her yes or no, because as we are all so very well aware, it depends on so much. All I can say is that they are very competent people who will do their best to try not to and will take good care of her.

So here we are, about to take the hill…please keep us in your thoughts.