"Birds make great sky-circles
of their freedom.
How do they learn it?
They fall, and falling,
they are given wings."

-Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks)

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Big News!

I apologize for the lack of update- but wanted to wait until I had some results back before I spilled all the information. Recently I've been following the lead on my left hip and went to go see Dr. Cooke from the Hospital of Special Surgery about it. He did x-rays and a thorough exam last week and discovered that my pubic bone is eroded in the x-ray, which means the tissue around it might be inflamed. He also thought a had a labial tear in my left hip because of my pain and lack of movement.

So following this lead, I went yesterday into NYC to go get an MRI done at the Hospital for Special Surgery. I must say, although it was an 8 hour ordeal to actually get to the city and back, I was very impressed with the Hospital and everyone working there. My actual MRI took about 2 hours- they did a long series of my left hip and then a series of my pelvis.

Today Dr. Cooke called me to give me the verbal report of the MRI (pictures coming in tomorrow.) I do have chronic inflammation around my pelvic bone because it is eroded, however it's not currently inflamed. But it looks like it has been off and on for a long time. The big news is I do have a huge labial tear in my left hip, which extends anterior to posterior. My veins are also swollen on my left side.

I am probably one of the few people who are ecstatic to find out they have a huge tear in their hip. And my doctors believe that it is the cause of all my pain. So where do we go from here?

First of all, apparently I am still allowed to play tennis. I've been playing for this long on a bad hip, and I wouldn't be causing myself more harm. I am making an appointment to get a cortisone injection next week into the inflamed area of my hip. This might eliminate my pain and my body might repair itself. It's only a 15 minute procedure and I can be active within 2 days.

If that injection doesn't work, it seems like the next step is surgery- an arthroscopy that would repair the tear. This surgery has a recovery time of 6 weeks to 2 months, so I might wait to get it until after the tennis season is over (if I do need it.)

I am going to try and post pictures of my x-rays soon, as well as photos from my MRI if I can get access to them. And of course I will keep you updated about my injection next week. The good news is it can't be worse than the steroid injections I got into my vulva this past summer!

3 comments:

Esther said...

Tamra, that is awesome news! I'm so excited for you! I really hope it continues to pan out -- it would be amazing if resolving your hip issue worked for all of your pain. Woohoo!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi there! So glad you're getting to the bottom of things! I am going for an MRI tomorrow. Stacey too is pretty convinced that my problem is coming from my hip...Guess I will find out shortly. Does that mean no more therapy for you? Lucky kid! Don't get me wrong....I think they have the greatest therapists, but sometimes pt tends to be painful..Oh, well. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon and get into the swing of things pain free!

Anonymous said...

Hi Tamara! Was wondering if you ever went for the cortisone shot in your hip? My doctor recommended that I take it for a labral tear in my hip, so was wondering, if you did, I would love to hear some details. Thanks!!