Had The Integrity Of My Artificial Left Hip
[ Sunday December 24th 2023 at 8:57 pm ]
On Friday my artificial left hip made an almighty grinding noise for a full three seconds. This is nothing like the previous instances. This left me feeling weak. At the end of it I felt a sudden increase of pain in my quad muscles. This happened an additional three times yesterday. I am so weak. The quad muscles around my artificial left hip joint have taken a real beating. I was left with the question is my artificial hip joint okay or not. I wasn't worried about catastrophic failure of the artificial hip joint. My artificial hip is made out of ceramic. It is very robust. This left me wondering if it had come loose or a bone fracture occurred.
The emergency department sent me for x-rays. Then even though it was Christmas Eve they asked the radiologist to immediately read and report on my hip x-rays. The artificial hip implant and my femur (the bone) are both okay. It is reasonable to expect a bit of the ceramic ground off during this. But that isn't catastrophic at this stage.
Then the ER doctor had a question for me: "I'm learning that you are very self aware. Am I correct?" I briefly answered her that I underwent a total of 5 years of physiotherapy since 2006 with everyone asking me how I am doing did this to me. But I told the doctor it is a double edge sword. Based on this the emergency department doctor believes me that this happened.
There is a major tendon and also the hip flexors in that are in the area where it is paining the worst. The hip flexors complain loudly. They make a nuisance of themselves when they aren't happy. I've been in pain for so long that I wasn't worried about the pain. I can't be in pain for hours unending. I am only human. But it is the underlying ailments that concerns me. The opinion of the emergency doctor is that with my right knee joint buckling on the final Saturday of November my left leg took up the slack and this was bound to happen.
Initially for treatment what she wants me to do is lay on the edge of my bed and let my left leg dangle over the edge. This will open up the joint. Then put on a video on focus on it and not the ensuing pain this will create. This should help limber up my hip again. She also wants me to go to physiotherapy. I am willing to do so because the doctor asked me to. But I am not starting down the path of 2015 all over again. I should have held my ground when this started going sour in 2015. Then the ER doctor told me I was reaching the end of her skill and if I thought this was serious that I should be contacting the surgeon who replaced the hip. I am perfectly fine with a doctor telling me she is reaching the end of her skills.
I asked if using the warm bath would be problematic. She asked me what felt best. The heat helps me so much. Everything in my legs does the equivalent of exhaling. She is happy for me to use heat if I'm feeling a benefit from it. There is a bigger discussion about ice verses heat. I have to weigh my entire body over the hip. At this time heat wins.
At this point I am willing to do the physiotherapy that is being recommended because the surgeon will appreciate that I've done what I have control over to help myself. This will also help eliminate what isn't wrong. I own a physiotherapy ultrasound unit. This will help my quad muscles be happy again.