Tag Archives: hip issues

More Hip Problems (or Thinking Out Of Order)

Posted on April 9, 2014 | Comments Off on More Hip Problems (or Thinking Out Of Order)

After my 5K, my right hip was pretty wrecked. I could barely walk, and when I did my hip kept locking and I couldn’t put my right foot flat on the ground (I was walking on the outside edge of my foot).

This terrified me. I was taking all my usual painkillers, but by Sunday things had just gotten worse. I could only walk if I was balancing against a wall and not putting much weight on my right side.

All this time, I assumed that the next part of my journey with my hip issues would be to have the surgery on my left hip that has already been done on my right. And then the steps after that would eventually be hip replacements. That’s pretty much the order that things were explained to me. In fact, my surgeon didn’t think I would make it 5 years after my first surgery before I needed the surgery on my left side (this was almost 8 years ago).

So for forever, I’ve been cautious about how my left hip felt. I got nervous with any pain and if things just didn’t feel right.

I never thought that maybe the next step in my surgeries would be on my right side again.

I talked to my parents about it and we all thought that I should wait to see if the pain went away on its own. It’s now Tuesday as I type this and while the pain isn’t gone, it has gotten better. I’m not rushing to make an appointment with my surgeon just yet, but I’m thinking differently now.

I have another 5K coming up this month and I’ll see how I feel after it. Maybe it was just this one 5K with the long time standing still and the elevation changes that made me hurt so bad. Maybe it was because I wasn’t prepared for the hills (like I am with the weSPARK 5K).

It has just thrown me since for so long, I’ve tried to ignore any pain I feel on my right side. I’ve almost considered having some pain normal now. I know that things aren’t exactly how they should be in my body and to me, expecting pain doesn’t seem weird. But now I’m going to pay way more attention to all those twinges of pain.

They could be a sign that I might need my next surgery on my right hip sooner than I hoped (I really didn’t want to have to have a hip replacement before I turn 40 and that’s kind of what my surgeon said to me as well). There’s not much I can do to prevent all of this. I just have to accept it as it is (which I have done) and know what’s best for my body.

Now I’m glad I didn’t make a goal of a certain number of 5Ks for this year so I can focus on low or no impact workouts (like spinning).

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Hollywood Half 5K (or Not Starting Off My 2014 5Ks In The Best Way)

Posted on April 7, 2014 | Comments Off on Hollywood Half 5K (or Not Starting Off My 2014 5Ks In The Best Way)

My first 5K of the year was this past Saturday. I had been looking forward to this for a while, but it ended up not being so great.

It started out on Thursday when I went to go pick up my bib number. I didn’t get my number for last year’s race because my friend Kate was doing the 5K as well and got both of our packets for us. So I didn’t know quite what to expect at the expo. Well, it was crazy! It took me about an hour to find parking, and once I got inside, there were so many vendor booths. I’m used to just going to a place where you pick up your number and that’s pretty much all that’s there. But this place had a ton of people inside and so many things for sale. I tried to get my number and shirt quickly and head out (I had parked at a meter and didn’t pay for a lot of time). Of course, as soon as I got back in my car, I had to get a selfie with my race number.

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On Friday night, I tried to go to bed early and I set multiple alarms to make sure I would get up in time.

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Fortunately, I woke up about 2 minutes before the first alarm, so that was pretty awesome. I hate waking up to the jarring sound of an alarm clock! I had a little bit of chocolate milk before leaving (I found that that’s easy enough on my stomach and I need to have a little something so I could take my painkillers) and I headed out the door.

Getting to the recommended parking lot wasn’t so great. They actually ended up blocking off the street right before you could turn into the lot. But I followed some other cars, made a couple of legally questionable u-turns, and was finally able to make it into the parking lot (I have no idea why they told us to park there if you couldn’t legally drive into the lot).

I got to the start line at about 5am. The race was set to start at 6 and it was very clear on the website that nobody was allowed to start after 6:15 so I wanted to make sure I was there nice and early.

I hung out around the start line for a bit.

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And then I saw a friend of mine (who is also a blogger) who was going to be a course angel for the 1/2 marathon.

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As a course angel, she raced to mile 9 and they stayed there and cheered on all the runners as they passed her. Then, after the last runner went by, she continued running her race.

After chatting with my friend for a minute, I realized that it was 5:40 and I should head back to my corral. I somehow moved up a couple of corrals compared to last year, but since I figured there might be runners behind me, I made sure I was on the very side (so I would be out of the way).

6am came, and nothing seemed to happen. For the next 20 minutes, my corral never moved forward. We had no idea if the race had even started. All that standing around was starting to hurt me, but I tried not to focus on that.

Finally, we started to move up. At 6:30am, we still hadn’t started yet.

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That was my best attempt of getting a picture of my watch (saying 6:29) and showing how far away we still were from the start line. We finally started around 6:35am and as soon as we got going, I realized that the course had been changed.

Last year the course was out and back (although the start and finish line were not in the same place). According to the website a few days before the race, that’s exactly what the race was supposed to be this year.

But as soon as we started, we turned a corner and walked down a side street (it was a slight downhill incline so we had to do the uphill to go back to Hollywood Blvd.). We ended up doing a couple of those side streets and all of them had at least a little elevation.

I was definitely not happy about this. Right when I started, my right hip (the one that has already had one surgery on it) started to hurt. The elevation changes did not help at all. But I pushed through. It was not a pretty race for me at all. I did enjoy some of the cool costumes, though. This one was the absolute best.

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I crossed the finish line in 1:03.36. That’s about 6 minutes slower than what I was doing toward the end of last year. While I was happy that I finished, I was pretty pissed that I was over the 1 hour mark again.

But I was very happy to get my medal and loved that it was a new color this year.

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After the race, I took the subway back to the start line (so I could get my car) and starting chatting with a few of the other racers. A bunch of people were unhappy about the side streets and their elevation changes. And people thought the race seemed long this year.

I went home and looked to see if the new course had been put on the website, and it had through Map My Run.

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This is almost what we did (except it’s missing 1 of the side streets we had to walk up and back on ). Even with it missing the street, it’s still longer than a 5K. With that missing street added on, I bet it was closer to 3.3 miles. That would help to explain my longer time.

While it wasn’t my best race, I still did it. I’m not doing as many 5Ks this year, so I’m being pretty selective about which races I sign up for. Right now, I’m unsure if I’ll do this one again next year. I’ll probably end up signing up for it because it is a fun event and people there are pretty nice.

My next 5K is a charity walk for the March of Dimes. And today happens to be the 5 year anniversary of Heather and Mike Spohr’s daughter, Maddie, passing away. I’m walking in memory of Maddie for this 5K and I’m hoping to raise some money for this event. If any of you could donate anything, I know that it would go a long way. And if you are in the LA area and want to join us, please feel free to join the team. All that information is on this link.

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7 Years (or Time Really Does Fly By)

Posted on July 8, 2013 | Comments Off on 7 Years (or Time Really Does Fly By)

Yesterday marked an anniversary for me. It had been 7 years since my hip surgery. I can’t believe it’s been that long!

The hip surgery had marked the end of a pretty long ordeal for me. Things started in September of 2005. I had collapsed in the Portland airport and had trouble walking. After that, I was misdiagnosed for several months. Finally, I got my proper diagnosis and had my surgery.

I can remember that day like it was yesterday. The nurse in pre-op hated me because I wanted my mom to be in pre-op with me with they put the IV in (I knew I had a high probability of fainting). I also remember having to sign my leg in pre-op to show that they had the correct leg to operate on. And I remember joking to a friend afterwards how I thought it was funny that I had to take a pre-surgery pregnancy test (it was negative, of course).

This had been my first surgery as an adult, so I was worried how I would react to the anesthesia. Turns out, I wake up very quickly and very lucid after surgery. In my surgery, they put my right foot in a boot to keep things stable. When I woke up, my foot was still in the boot and I asked my surgeon if they had screwed up my pedicure in the surgery (they didn’t).

Recovery was not as horrible as I thought it would be. I had been in so much pain before that I was so happy with the minimal pain I felt after. I’ve since discovered that I have a new type of pain, but again, it is significantly less than what I felt before.

I remember in one of my post-op appointments (after my surgeon discovered that I have the same defect in my left hip), that it was expected that my other hip would have to be corrected within 5 years. I’m pretty damn proud of myself that I’ve made it this long without needing surgery.

Even though my surgery wasn’t necessarily fun, I look back at it with happy memories. Both my mom and dad came to LA to take care of me (my dad took some of the only sick days he ever used in his 30+ years at his job to help me). While I was recovering, my mom and I went to Warner Bros. to take a tour (I used to be a tour guide there). And we took some fun pictures that I still love to look at.

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I still am in shock how many years ago the surgery was. It really feels like it was only maybe a year ago. And hopefully it will still be many more years before I have my other hip done.

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More Hip Issues (or Wish It Was Me)

Posted on April 3, 2013 | Comments Off on More Hip Issues (or Wish It Was Me)

If you follow me on twitter or Facebook, you have some idea of what’s been going on in my life the past few days. But here’s my recap for the rest of you.

On Monday, I called my mom for some silly reason. It was probably something about an upcoming doctors appointment or something. I honestly don’t remember. But a few minutes in to our conversation, my mom let me know that something had happened to my grandma.

From what we understand, she was walking on the hardwood floor in my grandparents’ place in socks and slipped and fell. She wasn’t able to get up, so my grandpa got help. Turns out, my grandma broke her hip.

All day Monday, my family wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen. We pretty much knew she needed surgery, but we weren’t sure what exactly was going to be done.

Finally on Monday evening, my grandma went in to surgery for a partial hip replacement. She did wonderfully in surgery.

I’ve been staying in touch with several family members the past few days. My aunt and mom both got to talk with my grandma yesterday, so they let me know that she is in good spirits (and is recovering nicely).

I’ve previously mentioned my hip issues, but my grandma’s is much more extensive than mine. But my aunt has had both her hips replaced in the past so she can really help my grandma understand what she needs to do in recovery. Yes, that’s 3 generations of hip issues in my family (although if you are being technical, my aunt isn’t blood related, but I don’t count that).

I’m hoping with encouragement from my aunt and all the rest of my family members, my grandma can get back to her usual self in the projected recovery time.

I’d appreciate all positive and healing thoughts for my grandma. I know she isn’t going through the easiest time. I’m going to go down to see her this week so I’m hoping that I can cheer her up just a little.

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Fearing The Worst (or Trying To Hope For The Best)

Posted on March 5, 2013 | Comments Off on Fearing The Worst (or Trying To Hope For The Best)

I’ve previously mentioned my hip issues on here. Also, my hip defect is pretty popular now since Lady Gaga has had surgery to correct the same issue that I have. This is something I’ve been dealing with since 2005. My right hip surgery was July 7, 2006 and my surgeon was sure I’d need my left hip done within 5 years.

And until recently, I’ve been doing pretty great! I have the occasional pains, but nothing like what I was having with my right hip prior to surgery.

But last week, I started to feel more pain more often. My left hip was having a catching sensation about 60% of the time. That’s not good. I was in a little pain, but it was more of a dull pain, and I am used to feeling a sharp almost electrical shock sort of pain.

So I decided to make an appointment with my hip surgeon to get checked out. My appointment isn’t until next month, but I’m already starting to freak out a little.

Maybe it’s because I’m starting to realize that my next surgery might end up happening within the next year or two. I don’t want to have surgery soon, because it will affect my brother’s wedding. I know that when I have surgery I will be on crutches for 2 weeks prior (due to not being able to take pain meds) and for about 6 weeks after. I don’t want to be on crutches in Maui, nor do I want to be in the first few months of recovery (it’s not the most fun time of my life).

Freaking out like this about my hip is all new to me. The way my right hip started to hurt was pretty sudden. I was walking in the Portland airport and I collapsed. I was barely able to walk after it, and the pain was so intense that I was scared that I did some serious damage. When I got back to LA, I went to the ER (I had pretty awesome health insurance then), and ended up being misdiagnosed. 6 months later (and after having to be on constant pain medications), I found out what was wrong with me and made plans to have surgery.

This time, I’m aware that I have a problem and have to wait for it to get bad. I was warned that this time, I might not have a sudden tear in my cartilage. It could be a slow process. I’m scared that the pain and catching sensations I’ve been having are the start of it.

But I’m really trying to stay positive. I have about a month to go before my appointment so there’s no use worrying yet. And after my appointment and x-rays next month, my surgeon might tell me I still should wait to have surgery.

All this freaking out might be for nothing, but since I know my left hip is a ticking time bomb, I’d rather freak out more than I should than neglect a problem that might be starting.

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Being a Graceful Klutz (or Why I’m Black and Blue)

Posted on February 15, 2013 | Comments Off on Being a Graceful Klutz (or Why I’m Black and Blue)

For my entire life, I’ve been a klutz and I’ve bruised easily. Not necessarily the best combination.

If someone hugs me too hard, I might have bruises on my back. If I sleep with my hand under my face, I will normally wake up with a bruise on my check.

Because of how easily I bruise (and because clothing can’t cover everything), I’ve gotten used to using tattoo coverup makeup to cover any bruises that will draw attention. I used to use makeup from Urban Decay, but I’m out of that so I’m thinking of trying this concealer from Sephora next.

The accidental bruises are a little funny. Sometimes I’ll see a bruise and be so confused on how I got them.

But lately, I’ve gotten some bruises that I can pinpoint to the exact minute I got them.

When I was at Disneyland, one of the rides we went on was the Matterhorn. The bobsleds had been redone since my last visit, plus my mom really wanted to go on it. So we tried it out. The new seats are not comfortable and have no padding at all! My butt hurt so much, but to keep myself steady during the ride, I gripped the seat in front of me with my knees. So now the insides of my knees have funny bruises on them.

And then yesterday when I was leaving work, I had a pretty bad spill. The steps outside of the trailer I work in were slick because of all the fog. I didn’t notice that and even holding on to the handrail couldn’t save me. I fell down 4 stairs.

I give myself 10 points for the fall. It was pretty awesome. My boss saw it happen and came running over to me. I said I was in a bit of pain but ok, but once I got home and evaluated my injuries a bit more, I noticed how badly I fell.

My right arm is scraped up from the metal steps. It looks like an animal scratched me. I also hit my head at some point so I have a bruise on the back of my head near my ear. And worst of all is my right hip. Of course most of the impact would be there (this is the hip that was operated on). I have a big bruise on both my leg and back around my hip. Fortunately, all of those injuries will be covered up by clothes (maybe not my arm when I go to spin class, but that’s ok).

I try to be a graceful person, but my klutziness just comes out at times. Maybe my gracefulness doesn’t come from not being a klutz, but how I handle myself after a klutzy incident.

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Feeling The Pain With The Weather (or The Full Story About My Hip Problems)

Posted on December 4, 2012 | 8 comments

It’s been pretty rainy the past few days in LA. I know that we are lucky because a majority of the time it is gorgeous and sunny, but I hate the rainy days.

I used to hate it because my hair would frizz, my makeup would run, and my clothes would get wet (I hate wet shoes the most). But now I hate this weather because of the pain I am in.

I’ve always heard of people joke how they can feel it in their bones when it’s going to rain. Especially in bones that have been broken. Until 2006, the only bones that I had broken were in my toes (small hairline breaks that weren’t too bad), and I never felt it in my toes when it was going to rain.

But in 2006 (July 7th to be exact), I had my hip surgery on my right hip. I haven’t really explained what was done to my hip before, so here is my attempt. In 2005 I started having severe hip pain. It hurt to walk, and I felt like I couldn’t move my right leg all the way. For 6 months I was misdiagnosed (they thought it was a muscle tear) until finally my physical therapist recommended I go to an orthopedic surgeon. I did, and after an MRI to confirm it, I was diagnosed with a hip labral tear. There weren’t too many options for me to correct it without surgery, so I went for it.

In my surgery, they discovered that I had a bone spur on the top of my femur and that is what caused the tear. They removed the bone spur, removed the torn cartilage, and after about 3 months, I was pretty much fully recovered from surgery. I have the same problem on my left side, but since it doesn’t hurt too much, I haven’t scheduled surgery for it yet.

But because of the removal of the bone spur, the top of my femur feels the change in weather like a broken bone. I hate taking too much pain medicine because I had to do that for so long. Most of the time, I just try to not sit still too long (that causes pain too), and hope for the best.

Well, there you have my hip story. And just for fun, here’s a picture of me after surgery with the giant bandage that covered the 3 tiny scars that I had (my surgery was done arthoscopically).

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Yoga Fail (or I’m Trying Not To Judge Based on One Class)

Posted on November 7, 2012 | 3 comments

Earlier this summer, there was a Living Social deal for a month of unlimited yoga at a studio in Santa Monica for $50. A friend and I both bought it hoping that we could go to a couple of yoga classes together.

The deal was going to expire next month and we hadn’t started to use it. Yesterday, I had the day off (nobody wants to make sales calls while election results are coming in), so we decided to take our first class.

There was a class on Tuesdays for people who are recovering from injuries, and since I have my bad hips and my friend had knee surgery a few years ago, we thought we’d try that class. Plus, we didn’t know what the levels would be like, so we decided to start with the easiest class we could find.

Turns out, that was a big mistake.

In the beginning of class, the teacher asked us all about our injuries. I liked that part. I mentioned my bad hips and how it’s tough for me to stay still. For some reason, constant movement causes the least amount of pain.

The class was 90 minutes long, and in those 90 minutes, we did a total of 2 yoga poses. Yup, 2. I guess technically it could be called 3 because one pose was done on both the left and right side. We held each pose for something like 20 minutes. I was in so much pain that I started to shake. And when I would take a break to try to make my hips feel better, the instructor would come and get me back into the correct pose.

I’m not entirely comfortable in group workout classes. I’m usually the biggest person there and I feel like people are looking at me. The only workout class that hasn’t made me feel uncomfortable is when I’ve gone to Richard Simmons, but my work schedule doesn’t allow me to go to any of his classes.

I was almost limping when we left the class. My friend didn’t have a great time either. It was not a workout. It didn’t seem like yoga. I mentioned it was like meditation, but my friend did say how meditation should be relaxing and after that class we both hurt the same or worse than we did before.

Needless to say, I won’t be returning to that particular yoga class again. We do have 30 more days, and we are going to go to a level 1/2 class on Thursday. Hopefully that class will be more my speed and will make me enjoy the next month of yoga classes.

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