Hello and Happy Summer to all my hipster friends,
I know I haven't been around the forum at all for a while. Since the last surgery, the revision, my entire day to day life has changed dramatically. I use to spend hours every single day in my office/man cave, which is otherwise known as the basement. LOL Well, as I type this from my PC, this is literally the first time I've been down here since my last posting to the thread.
Being pretty sick and in pain over the last year, I wasn't able to spend much time outdoors, which is something I love to do. Our little house backs up to 13 straight miles of farm fields, with lots of gorgeous views of various clumps of trees and greenery on hilly areas. I've spent close to 10 hours per day out in our back yard, soaking up the fresh air, the sunshine, and the smells of summer. I feel almost normal again, but don't let that fool you.
I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but on my first post op visit to my OS, he mentioned that I had a "possible" fracture in the Greater Trochanter. The radiologist confirmed the very same in his analysis of my X-Ray. I didn't give it much thought, as I had a fracture in my femur that occurred during the explant, if I recall correctly. That healed up in a few weeks, maybe 3. This "possible fracture in the greater trochanter" isn't healing up, and in fact may be getting worse. I'm in a fair amount of pain at times, and still have a hard time walking without the cane most of the time. After visiting with my primary and backup primary, they both said to stay on a small dose of Norco to keep the edge off, pain wise. While I thought I'd be narcotic free by now, sadly, the pain is enough to where I'm still having to take 5mg of Norco in the morning and after dinner. Sometimes, that goes up to 10 mg. I'm also taking 75mg of Lyrica in between the Norco doses for nerve pain. At times I have very little feeling in my thigh muscles, which the OS addressed. He sadi the infection did a major number to my muscles, tendons, and bone. That's why he said plan on 6 to 12 months for recovery. YIKES!!!
All that said, I see the OS again this coming week, and I'm hoping he orders fresh X-Rays and some sort of scan to see if the "possible" fracture has worsened. My labs all came back really good last week, save for my Hemoglobin, which is stil a tad low. Another month of the iron pills should fix that. All this said, I'm still 1000 times better off than I was prior to the latest surgery. I'm grateful for that, very grateful. I do hope we can get to the bottom of the ongoing pain, but if not, and I have to live with it, I'm good. I'll catch you all after the OS visit. Meantime, I haven't forgotten about all the support you all gave me during this whole ordeal. I just needed to catch up on my love of fresh air and sunshine. I hope everyone is well in these surreal times we're living through. All the best to you and yours.
Westy