Health Update (again)

I saw the PM&R specialist again yesterday (aka: the hip doctor). He's the guy who told me over the phone that I had managed to tear some cartilage in my hip joint. Well, in person, apparently, you get MUCH more information. In addition to the torn hip cartilage, I also have a retroverted femoral head. This means that the ball part of the ball-and-socket hip joint is torqued back out of the joint. In my case, it's not completely out of the joint, which is why I can still walk, climb stairs, etc., but it's why I have a lot of pain, I can hear a "click" every time I take a step, and why I have to be careful with how I move (such as getting into/out of cars certain ways).

Based on his physical examination (which consists of him moving my leg in painful ways and then asking "Does that hurt?" Oh, really? You couldn't tell by the way I just grimaced and yelled "Yaaah!!"), he's also not convinced that I might not have a slight hernia or a pulled/strained abdominal muscle. Keep in mind that this is all the same issue that started in early November. Yes, that's right - ten months ago now that I've been in pain and have had limited range of motion (ROM) of my left hip. It's awesome.

So we're going to try four weeks of physiotherapy. He's officially recommending three times a week, but he's mindful of my unemployment situation and said that he feels I'm intelligent enough (ha!) to go in once a week, learn the exercises, and do them at home the rest of the week. And the idea is that every week the exercises will increase my ROM and decrease the pain. If it doesn't, he wants to do another MRI to look for a hernia or abdominal issue. At that time, we'll also consider steroid injections.

My PCP and I discussed this, and we decided to hold off on the second opinion (from an orthopod), which we had been leaning toward since the PM&R doctor had seemed kind of lackadaisical the last time I had spoken to him on the telephone. But now that he seems to have a more specific plan and has given me more information, we feel more confident with him.

My PCP asked me what his plan was in the event that I have a hernia, and I told her that I hadn't asked. She told me that I'm most likely looking at surgery. Awesome. Can't wait.

But the best part of the exam? When I was lying on the table, face up, fully-clothed, he's pressing on me (just above my groin), and says, "Bear down as if you're having a bowel movement, BUT DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE ONE!!!" (Yes, he actually said that last part with urgency in his voice.) And it made me wonder what had happened that made him learn to add that part with such urgency in his voice. I mean, believe me when I tell you that I certainly had no plans on having a bowel movement in his office, in my clothes, with both him and his resident staring at me. But I fully believe that someone else must have in the past, yes?