An Accident In Space And Time

Things are still not right in my hip, and as yet nobody knows why. I was sent for an urgent x-ray two weeks ago and the results are still not in; I’ve called my surgery today and begged them to chase it up. I’m also being referred back to my surgeon, who discharged me months ago because the operation was an absolute success (he wasn’t just saying so either; he showed us the x-rays of before and after).I’m also being referred to the chronic pain clinic, and am waiting to hear about a DEXA scan, in order to check my bone density – although everyone seems to believe that I definitely have osteoporosis by this point. This gives us two possible scenarios, even before the x-ray results finally arrive:

1: My hip has crumbled sufficiently that at least one of the screws has lost its anchor and is/are just floating around – causing the clicking and the pain.

2: My hip is sufficiently weak enough that I’ve caused another fracture simply by walking to the bathroom, or something. With osteoporosis it wouldn’t take much – and the suspicion has been there ever since my accident, as nobody my age should really break their hip so easily in the first place – not even from falling all the way down the stairs as I did (I actually suspect that I’ve fractured it on several occasions; just not badly enough to warrant a visit to A&E because it only felt like a bad sprain).

Whatever is going on, it seems likely that a full replacement is in the offing. I was even told at the time that they were trying this first because I’m so young (44) and that the screws may only hold if my bones are strong – and apparently they’re not. A lot of my medications will have weakened my bones, and the perimenopause (which I do appear to be at) most certainly will.

This all may sound rather depressing, but bear with me: A full Cyborg hip won’t click and cause me pain once it’s settled in, and I won’t ever need to worry about further fractures, so that’s a plus. I do wish they’d gone with that decision in the first place, but how were they to know this might happen? It’s nobody’s fault, and in the meantime my wheelchair keeps me safe. I can’t use it around the house, but I can use it for out and about.

I’m not totally helpless anyway; the Discworld convention is coming up (we’re heading there on Thursday) and – with Dom’s help – I’ve been doing fun things with my hair. It took two lots of bleach to get as much of the Viking red out as possible, and the silver is going on tonight, but I’ve had the TARDIS blue underneath for nearly a week now, and I love it – it matches my wheelchair!

I’ve always wanted to do this!

So, that’s me as things are for now. I feel that it’s important to record my journey so that other hip patients my age don’t feel as alone as I did at the time it happened. I still have a fair way to go, but it’s all going to be worth it in the end.