Good days. Bad days.

I've been having some good days and some bad ones. I try not to complain much. I never have through this whole thing. Doc and I are still busy. Super busy. Busier than we've ever been in a summer. Usually it drops off by now. By April the viruses start waning away and allergy season kicks in to gear! Although this year it's still very viral and with some strange weather we've been having, allergies have kicked into overdrive! We don't have as MUCH over time. So that's good.

Most days are good, even great I'd say. However, lately it's been a little on the weird side. I haven't really had any pain in the same spot as pre-surgery. It's been more like,a deep, burning buttock pain. I remember telling Connie about a similar pain shortly after surgery and she assured me that many weird pains can arise from surgery. I stopped noticing it for a little while, but over the past couple of weeks it has returned. I've also had some pain on the side too! STRANGE!

So, I see Sampson for my 1 year anniversary from his surgery next month and I've been keeping a symptom diary. So I'll see what he has to say about the pain. I can't pinpoint it to any action(s). I'm thoroughly puzzled. It's not all the time, so that's good. Last time when I visited with Sampson, he thought perhaps that I may need an injection or an oral dose of a strong steroid. I still have some range of motion problems. So for now, I'll be doing my stretches, working hard, and planning my wedding! Lots to look forward to and this darn hip just needs to get in check!

Two Years

Today is the two year anniversary of my first (unsuccessful) hip surgery. It's bittersweet. I thought everything was going to be great after this surgery. The first several weeks of the recovery were going pretty well. I had improved some. Just not enough.

Today makes me feel thankful for finding Dr. Sampson. I've come a long way between my two surgeries. Most recently, that I didn't blog about... I had to take several weeks off!

Since I had been back at work, I had been working 9, 10, even 11 hour days at work. That was 5 months of working 50 hour weeks. My bank account was loving it! However, my hip wasn't really. I was sore and exhausted, so I went to go see my favorite doctor with my Sweetie! When I saw him we did some x-rays. There's a tiny bit of recurrence of my FAI, but since he shaved down my bones quite thoroughly, he didn't see it as a problem. He DID see a problem with me working so much! He said he could feel that my joint was inflammed. He told me I looked exhausted and I almost started crying.

He and Connie could tell I needed some time off so he gave me three weeks! That allowed Wifey and I to go to TwiCon in LA. We had a great time! Then her family and Sweetie came down and...he asked me to marry him! Yay! I said yes, of course! We've been wedding planning ever since! The big day is October 16, 2010. Yes, this year!

I'm excited. I'm feeling much better after my time off. It really helped. I feel 90% better from this time two years ago. It's amazing to look back and see how far I've come, and I've only got farther to go!!

Whirlwind

Things have felt like a whirlwind lately. I can't believe that it's already January 2010! I've officially passed my 6 month marker. I can safely say that I can definitely feel a difference. I was getting slightly worried for a little bit.

I've been back to work since the end of September. I was surprised that it was getting busy! If I haven't said before, I'm a Medical Assistant for a Pediatrician. Our busy season usually doesn't start until around late October or even early November. Things were already gearing up for me when I came in late September! Our tiny practice that Doc and I started back in January of '05 has grown immensely. At times it's nice, but at times we miss the slow times and reminisce of watching Grey's on slow days and how we used to be ecstatic when we would get close to 10 patients in a day. We are easily seeing double that and at times almost triple! Which is when I started to worry.

Doc...and myself, have a hard time saying no. I feel bad for my sick kids and their distraught parents! Especially the ones who have been with us from the beginning. So, I would "fit" them in that day, and Doc didn't do anything to help stop it. The second week of working nearly 50 hours my poor hip was feeling it! It wasn't used to being worked so much! I told Doc very plainly, that if he didn't want me going back to Dr. Sampson and telling him to take me off work again we were gonna have to do a better job of putting our foot down when we get full. We came up with a "reasonable" number to see during each half of the day and told people no double-booking unless it was run by me.

It didn't seem to help much. I began to pop a lot and I just wasn't FEELING my progress as I had back in August. I kept telling myself I'd call Dr. Sampson and ask him about it. However, when you work in a doctor's office, it's actually really hard to find time to call another doctor! I work the same hours they do. I take lunch when they do. I knew that if I had requested him to call me back after 6:30 or 7:00pm he very well would. He's just a sweetheart like that to me. But time kept flying. Before I knew it Halloween passed in a flash and we were coming up on Thanksgiving weekend. I had to admit I felt a lot better after being off for 5 days! My post-op was just two and a half weeksish from then so I decided to wait.

I loaded up my entourage. Mom, Lil Sis, Sweetie, and myself all piled into my car and we left on our way into The City. Dr. Sampson's office was quite amused with my little entourage. Connie was teasing Sweetie and we gabbed some. She's amazing. Dr. Sampson came in and with his comforting tone and way he soothed my fears that perhaps working nearly 50 hours a week for the past 8 weeks wasn't hurting me! He came in saying, "One year, one year, one year." He explained that sometimes people seem to make great progress in the beginning and then kind of plateau and make more progress later. I instantly felt better and was so thankful that God gave me this surgeon. He has also had pretty much the same procedure and told me that it took him two years to feel healed and normal. That makes me feel so much better. He told me that I'm free until my 1 year anniversary with him and can of course come back between now and then if something arises.

I am pleased with the way that 2009 ended. So thankful for the people and situations that God has put into my life. I'm praying that it will be an even better year for me and my loved ones!