It's baaaaaaack!

The very thing I feared has happened.

Prior to undergoing my left hip replacement, I had a discussion with my then-family doctor.  I was concerned that with my history of bursitis, I would go through the journey of hip replacement (which is not to be taken lightly!) only to come out the other end still plagued with bursitis.

My doctor assured me that that would not happen.  He even drew me a picture.  "When they remove the hip joint, they also take the bursa.  So you can't have bursitis after a hip replacement," he said.

With that understanding, I underwent the surgery without having a similar discussion with the surgeon (or any of the aides involved along the way).

Turns out it's a discussion that should have happened.

Within eight weeks of my having had the surgery, the physiotherapist noticed that I had "a bit of bursitis going on there."  How could that be?  My bursa was supposed to have been removed.  She encouraged me to speak to my surgeon because she was fairly certain that what she was seeing was bursitis.

When next I saw the surgeon, I asked if he had removed my bursa.  "No," he replied.  "I incise through the bursa, but I don't excise it unless it is highly inflamed."

I asked him if I had expressed my concern about bursitis with him prior to the surgery, would he have removed the bursa?  "Yes," he answered, "but yours was not inflamed when I saw it."
"Will you go back in and remove it now?" I queried.

"You really want to go through that again?" he asked.  We left the discussion at that.

Well, I am now at a point that my response to that last question is a resounding, "YES!"

The cortisone shot that my doctor gave me on November 21st has now had its ten days to do its work.  And it hasn't worked.  In fact, the pain is worse than it was prior to having had the injection.

On day ten (Saturday), I accompanied John into Ottawa to attend a photo show.  We ended up parking about a block and a half away from the event.  By the time we got there, my hip was screaming at me.  It wasn't long before I had to sit out the visit and simply wait for John to let me know when he was ready to leave.

Yesterday, I was aware of the pain with every step I took just going about my business around the house.

Last night, I got very little sleep.  I saw every hour and was delighted when it was finally 5:00 am and I could declare it a respectable hour to start my day.

Naturally, because my hip is hurting, it's affecting my gait.

Which is in turn affecting my SI joint.

Which is further affecting my gait.

Which is causing further inflammation of the bursitis in my right hip.

I'm back to having to resort to my "waddle" walk.

Which is all to say that I am definitely not enjoying the full benefit of having had my right hip replaced ten months ago. (I do have much better range of motion in that hip so the surgery wasn't all for naught.)

So, do I really want to go through that again?  Just to remove my bursa?

You bet I do!  And that is precisely what I will ask the surgeon when I see him again.

My next scheduled appointment is February 6th of next year.

I'm thinking I might call to see if that can be moved up.