My mom and I went to Chicago yesterday for my appointment. Dr. Stover was SUPER nice and very personable, we like him a lot. He seems like a great surgeon and very knowledgeable. This is what he had to say
1.) First of all, after some tests he determined that I am hyperlax (hypermobility, hyperlaxity) - which means that my soft tissue doesn't have as much hold as it should. I can bend my thumbs back to my wrist, my elbows hyperextend.. when I was little I use to even be able to bend both legs and tuck them BEHIND my neck. I can still do it with the left leg but not the right since my accident when I was 16 and broke my hip. I guess being hyperlax makes sense. So that means that my joints don't have much stability to begin with.
2.) There is a slight abnomal twisting of my femur. When I stand with my feet together and my toes pointing out, my knees turn in together, whereas a normal persons would not turn in at all.
3.) I was born with slightly "funky" hips as he called it. They are off about 5-8 degrees. My hip sockets point slightly down and seem to overlap. While this probably wouldnt have affected me, this accident in October was the "straw that broke the camel's back", in Dr. Stover's words.
4.) My labrum is torn. So this will need to be fixed during surgery for the PAO. They will actually have to do two seperate incisions. The PAO will be an incision on the front, or top of my hip. After they do that, they will have to make another incision on the side of my thigh/hip, and fix the labrum. You can not access the labrum through the front of the hip, unfortunately. But, they are going to go throughy my old scar when I broke my hip (that will be the 3rd time through that scar that I've had surgery there). So its no biggie - I will probably look like someone took knives to my hip at the end of all this, lol. Good thing Bryce doesn't mind! I don't really care either - I think each scar tells a story of something significant that happened in our lives. If you dont like it - then don't look, it doesn't bother me!
So what are they going to do with all of this? First, Dr. Stover is actually going to drive down to Indianapolis and he and Dr. Weber (they are actually best friends, what are the odds?), are going to put me under anesthesia and under live x-rays, they are going to manipulate my legs in and out of socket to see exactly when its starting to slip and at what angle ect. I also have to get a dye-injected MRI scan of the hip socket/pelvic area. And it sounds like he is going to do the PAO- so that will be scheduled after all of this. I will have to go to Chicago to have that done, as I said before.
So atleast I got my info! Not the greatest news.. but atleast I know. Now its figuring out how we are going to make life work through all of this (work? bills? who is going to take care of Bella?) Right now we have devised the following plan:
Bryce and Bella will move in with his parents. For the first few weeks after my surgery, I will move in with my mom. I will need someone to take care of me and help me do everything, shower, go to the bathroom, everything. So she will do this for me. Bryce's grandma will watch Bella Mon-Weds, and my mom will watch her Thurs and Friday. Weekends will be wherever I am, probably at Bryce's parents. After the first few weeks, it would be nice if I could stay at Mike and Sherri's with Bryce and Bella so I don't have to spend so much time without them. I can't even imagine and don't want to - but thats a very busy household and I'd be a big burden, so I'm not sure. We'll see. But thats our plan as of now, maybe something will change! Oh yea, and I need someone to take care of my cat, Sammy, through all of this. Any takers? Bryce's parents have 2 dogs, and he can't stay at my Mom's. He can't stay at my Dads because my stepmom is allergic. I can't just leave him at our house because he will be too lonely, and I don't want to do that to him.
Anywho.. thats the update!
Friday, March 27, 2009
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Girl...It's unbelievable that you have to go through all this. You are such a strong person. I love you and am thinking and praying for you and the family. I'd watch your cat if i wasn't so far away...and my st. bernard wouldn't eat her! lol! Anyways...I love you guys and know you'll be great after all this. Miss you! ~Steph
ReplyDeleteI have to talk to Jerry... but I want to cat sit :)
ReplyDeleteMy mother has plenty o room for cats at her place or me too. Any time you need a Bella babysitter, let me know.
ReplyDeleteKayleigh
HOLY MOLY. chelsea I'm so sorry you have to go through all this. As if you havent been through enough. I wish i lived closer cuz I would looveee to babysit bella. But if you need ANYTHING through all this do not hesitate to ask me. I'm calling you soon so we can talk. i miss you!!
ReplyDelete-dilley