7 weeks post PAO update (video)

Hey there! 

Here's the video of me chatting about being 7 weeks post PAO! 

http://youtu.be/t8IrM4WlDF8

And here is the X-ray that I had 6 weeks out that shows my progress :)

Lots of love 

<3 B 

Minutes in my shoes

Let's flash back to about a year ago. Life through Bridget's eyes was beautiful, everything was going in the right direction. Of course there were always improvements to be made, but things were going pretty good. Working as a personal trainer, in tip top physical shape, single, great friends, great relationships with most people around me. Nothing was stopping me. I spent every second I could in the gym, because I thought I loved the lifestyle, things were working for me.

Pan camera to my life now.

Jobless, out of the gym for 2 months now. Lost.

Let's sum up what my issue is right now.

I have had a hip pain for about 4 months now, I didn't know what was causing it, for about a month a chose to ignore it and push forward, until it started hindering my work outs. I went to the doctor and was told to rest and ibuprofen. Hmm, ok.
That wasn't good enough for me, so I decided to see an orthopedic doctor, he told me he didn't know what was wrong, that I needed to get an X-ray, so I got an X-ray.. next appointment: Bridget has a fractured bone in her hip... O shit, ok NO more lower body work, including cardio.
Wait 6 weeks to get a follow up X-Ray to see if there is any healing in the hip whatsoever, new X-ray shows NO healing, Dr calls me and tells me I need to get an MRI. (During this time I spent 4 weeks in physical therapy where they were doing exercises with me that I did to initially hurt myself. So I stopped going, because $50 a session, 2 a week, and no progress, SEE YA!)
Schedule MRI and wait for a new appointment. Next appointment original doctor comes in WITH a sports specific physical therapist. There is no sign of anything on that MRI- didn't receive a radiology report or any diagnosis whatsoever.
Screw this, I thought. So I scheduled with a hip specialist in SANTA FE. Drove up for the initial appointment, he tells me we won't know ANYTHING until I get a contrasting MRI.
Schedule arthrogram (contrasting MRI) Drive back up to santa fe a week later and receive an arthrogram (2 needles inserted into my hip joint to put dye, pain reliever and a numbing agent) MRI done..
See a doctor at NM orthopedics who tells me that the MRI doesn't show a significant enough of a tear in my hip cartilage to take any extreme measures, so I'm directed to continue physical therapy. Last resort is surgery. I told him I AM AT LAST RESORT. Scheduled surgery for December.
See my Dr in Santa Fe for a second opinion, decides he is not a specialist in hips specifically so directs me to see another dr at NM Orthopedics, who is NOT the doctor I saw who I scheduled surgery with. The Dr I was referred to does not take my health insurance..
I am now at a stand still.

In pain on a daily basis, unable to do much of anything.

If you have an opinion on what I should do to fix this problem, I appreciate it, but I don't want to hear it. I am doing the best I can to be as positive as I possibly can. But if you know me, you know I am a physical person, I am being limited from working, joining the military, working out, EVERYTHING.

I am pissed, to say the least.

Rawr.

I made this blog post about a year ago and thought it would be important to include this so people understand and can get a glimpse of my journey. As you can see from reading this post I was extremely lost and at a stand still. I had no idea what was causing my pain and was so fed up with medical professionals who were supposed to be able to help me. Reflecting back on this post, it's hard to realize that I went through all that and am where I'm at now. If you haven't been keeping up with my journey, I was finally diagnosed with hip dysplasia and have gone through a reconstructive hip surgery for my right hip and in just 2 short weeks I will be going through my left surgery so I am almost (fingers crossed) on the other side of it all, but dang what a few years it's been. My dad went in for a routine health procedure the other day and after seeing him coming out of anesthesia and taking care of him it was a huge wake up call for me; I'm 24 years old, I am going through surgeries where my pelvis is literally broken so that it can heal properly, it's so surreal when I really think about it. My dad, in his fragile drugged state cried when he thought about what I've been through and what I'll go through. It touched my heart, because I don't think I even realize how somewhat callused I've become to it all. After dealing with this for almost 2.5 years it's become my life, pain is normal for me now. 

Somedays I am grateful for all of this, because there are quite a few good things that have come out of it and other days I am just pissed off, but don't wanna be that person who uses their ailment as an excuse when there are amputees breaking records, people with cancer doing amazing things and here I am with some messed up hips feeling sorry for myself. The bottom line is I need to buck up and realize that even though my situation is not ideal, it will improve. The future is not a guaranteed happily ever after, but no ones is. We do the best we can with the hand we're dealt. Leading up to this surgery I'm going to finish this semester strong, work hard to gain some weight because I'm sure to lose it during the process and then get through the surgery. After that, I will be ready to take on my world. I am lucky that I've been given the opportunities and resources to take care of this, because others are not so fortunate and my heart goes out to you all. Do the best you can and never give up. 

Lots of love 

B 

PAO recovery: How to stay sane!

IHey all,

I am going to be undergoing my second PAO (periacetabular osteotomy) in about 19 days and wanted to share some of the things that really helped me get through my last PAO without going absolutely bonkers. Obviously everyone is different and some people are going to find different things to help them cope, but this is what helped me, so here goes:

• Honestly, the thing that helped me get through this surgery and recovery was my family and boyfriend, without their constant support and entertainment, I really don't think it would have been as successful as it was. If you're preparing for this surgery and are under the impression that you can do everything without any one's help, unfortunately you're going to learn a hard lesson. It was a hard pill to swallow when I had to give up my independence, but once I did it was much more enjoyable, for everyone. Being stubborn and not letting anyone help you is not the way to go! 

• Comfy outfits were a must after surgery, I didn't like wearing pants too often, especially right when I got home so I got some cute nighties :) It took a lot of the pressure that pants put on your skin off and lets face it, putting pants on when your hip is immobile is not happening so these nighties were the best!

• Buy some candles before your surgery and when you're home have friends or family bring you flowers, having something bright and alive in the room with you will help improve your mood. Who doesn't love flowers and candles?

• Make your bed nice and comfy and get lots of pillows, you're going to be spending a lot of time in your bed so might as well make it as comfortable as possible. The pillows help with keeping you comfortable, I had to sleep on my back for quite a while after surgery so putting a pillow under my knees and calves really helped. When you're ready to switch to your side (opposite side of your op hip) put a pillow between your knees to help keep your hips stable. I also love having stuffed animals around. My boyfriend buys me a new stuffed animal every time I have surgery and writes the date of the surgery on it's foot. I have two so far (arthroscopic surgery and RPAO) I'm looking forward to seeing what he gets me this year :)

• This walker looks so fun, the one I had last year was not this sturdy. Using a walker was my favorite way to get around, especially in public, because if I needed to take a break and sit down, I could :) Crutches also wear me out so I definitely preferred the walker. 

• This shower seat was a life saver, I don't think I was fully weight bearing until about 6 weeks after my RPAO so showering wasn't going to happen without this seat. This is another one of those times that you have to accept that you can't do everything yourself, Noah had to help me shower, shave my legs and all that fun stuff, because I couldn't bend over to do it myself. 

• Most people may not have access to one of these, I'm not sure if you can buy them and attach them to your shower somehow, but this thing is awesome too! It allows you to shower without getting your incision wet and when you're seated in one position and can't move much it helps you get clean while sitting.

• Staying hydrated is so important all the time, but it doesn't hurt during recovery too. I got a water bottle that has measurements on it so that I could track how much water I'm drinking throughout the day. It also helps so you don't have to make multiple trips to get a cup of water and it has a lid so no need to worry about spilling! :)

• Of course it's important to stay entertained while laying in bed for weeks on end so I've decided to share some of my favorite ways to stay entertained! Smallville, Gilmore Girls and Halo are some of my favorite shows to watch and video game to play! Some of my other favorite series and movies that are on Netflix: Prison Break, Supernatural, Ink Masters, Silver Linings Playbook, Troy, Once Upon a Time. If you don't have netflix or some other avenue of watching TV shows on, I suggest you get it, it helped me a ton during recovery!!

These are just a few things that really helped me get through recovery successfully and I'll definitely be using them all again in about 21 days time!! Sending all my love to my fellow PAO warriors and remember you're not alone! 

:) Thanks for reading 

<3 B

Testing testing... 1.. 2.. 3..

I never thought preparing for a surgery could be so stressful (I joke). I guess it comes with the territory of preparing for a PAO, but the past month or so has been pretty intense. Being that I'm having my surgery in Salt Lake City, Utah, I wanted to have my body checked out here in Albuquerque before I flew out for the surgery to make sure that everything was good for the surgery. I have been having a few dizzy spells and fainting episodes the past couple of months and thought it may be time to address it, my doctor decided to send me to a cardiologist to check my heart out. After wearing a heart monitor for 24 hours, having multiple EKG's as well as an echocardiogram the doctor decided I needed a tilt table test. What a horrible test to put people through, pretty much the point of the test is to cause you to pass out to see how your body responds before, during and after. I was hooked up to an IV just in case they needed to administer medication and the test began... This is the angle that I was brought up to:

After the nurse tilted the table up, I started to feel sweaty, nauseated and just yucky, it took me 15 minutes to pass out, what a horrible feeling. I literally blacked out, all I could see were white spots all around me and I heard the nurse telling me to stay calm, that she was there and everything would be fine. After sweating like I just ran a marathon, she gave me some saline and let me lay on the table until I felt ok. My cardiologist doctor then came in and talked to me and told me that the condition I have is not life threatening, that there are medicinal options that I could try, but she advised that I should be intaking more water. Because I have such a big surgery coming up, we both decided that this wasn't a priority to deal with at the moment, but she reassured me that it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought and gave me the go ahead for surgery. Glad that ordeal is over!

I am now 5 days out from my RPAO and I feel okay. Some moments I'm freaking out, others I am calm and ready to be done with it. I think the thing that freaks me out most is that I am completely mobile right now, able to do things for myself, in 5 days I will be completely immobile and completely reliant on others. It's a hard pill to swallow (pun intended.) I wanted to make a list of things that have been the most helpful to me personally to prepare me for this whole process, so here goes:

1. I noticed my hip problem over a year and a half ago, I was extremely active at that time, but began to notice how detrimental being so obsessed with exercising was becoming to my life. It has taken me maybe a year, but I have come to peace with the fact that I can't really be active at the moment, I have gotten pretty used to having a somewhat sedentary lifestyle so I think that may be one less thing to get me down during recovery. 

2. I am a home body, I very much enjoy my time alone and would most of the time prefer to stay home and watch a UFC fight, a good movie or even write blogs and clean my room (weird I know.) I know being at home for long periods of time will be difficult, but I know it is critical to my healing process and will be very thoughtful of that. 

3. I have such an amazing support system around me, I don't have tons of friends, but the ones I do have are so unbelievable. My family have been so good to me through this process as well, I am not fortunate enough to be able to sustain a full time job, because of my hip issues and my parents have been nice enough to allow me to live in their house until I'm back up on my feet. I have a dream come true boyfriend, he is flying to Utah to go through the process with me and will be coming back to take care of me after surgery, I haven't seen him in months so it's an understatement to say I'm excited to see him :) 

4. I have found many women who have gone through this process before and even though a lot of people say not to go on the internet, not to read into things too much because it'll freak you out, it has been such a blessing to find support groups and blogs. I am a very plan oriented person and I do really well with mental preparation before I face something. My mentality for this surgery is to expect the absolute worst so that I can be prepared for that. If I expect that it will all be unicorns and rainbows, it's going to be a rude awakening when things aren't that at all. 

5. My bodybuilding definitely helped teach me determination and never giving up, I carry those characteristics with me every single day and without them, I guarantee I would have given up by now. 

6. God, having God by my side gives me so much strength it blows my mind at times.  I used to be the person who didn't understand how people could rely on someone who they've never seen, change their lives for someone that a lot of people don't believe in. Faith is a strong reason why I've gotten through the past year and a half. This process has been depressing, completely life wrecking, but having that higher power to rely on and know that He has a path for me has given me all the hope in the world. I never try to tell people what to believe in, that's not my place, but for me, it has been very important through such a rough period in my life to have someone to rely on that I know will always be there. 

These are just a few things that have gotten me through this beginning process.. we'll see if they get me through the real tough stuff. I'm hopeful! 

I recorded a video last weekend that I'm a little apprehensive to share, but I think it's important to get the real truth out and how I'm really feeling. I get a little emotional at the end so prepare yourself for that, and I ask that you don't judge me, it takes a lot of guts to share all of this. I hope that I can help one person like others have been able to help me!

Link to my video:

http://youtu.be/Lm41UbNc2k4

Thanks for reading :)