It's 7.07am as I begin to write this little piece. Not for the first time my sleep was interrupted by aches and pains to which I really should be accustomed by now as it's been recurring intermittently for over a year.
During that year I was being treated with physiotherapy for what was originally thought to be Sciatica, then a groin strain and then they threw a possible Abductor muscle tear into the mix. All treatment was unsuccessful, indeed one session of physio put me out of business for almost three weeks.
Those of you who may have suffered this type of ailment will know, that the type of pain created eventually starts to take you down at a mental level. Your head starts to play tricks on you. You lie in bed, mind racing - is it prostate cancer? Is it groin cancer? Is it some form of bone cancer? If not any of these, it must something more devious and cunning? These thoughts were not helped by two inconclusive x-rays and a prolonged ultra sound scan which also came up blank!
I'm now up to Christmas and that was a disaster. No sooner had my GP turned out the lights for his vacation, but the pain shifted up a few gears and neither painkillers nor anti-inflamatories did much to ease it. With little ability to move around and too much time to think, I remembered my physio suggesting to me at the early stage of this problem that an MRI scan might be required and I resolved to insist on this option as soon as the GP was back in harness.
To cut a long story short, the MRI scan took place in mid January and within three days the GP was ringing me to tell me I needed to see a Consultant as my right hip was, as he put it "in tatters". An appointment was duly arranged for mid-February, the scan was produced and the verdict was pronounced - you need a hip replacement and you need it soon. I was stunned! That had never entered my mind. It was a bolt from the blue and as his words of explanation flew over my head, I was already visualising the recovery process, which is sore, tiresome and tedious. You see I know this bit, because, following a bad accident nine years ago, I broke my left hip and had it replaced. It now seems that some damage had occurred in the hip now under scrutiny.
Faced with this burden of proof and understanding the pain that was coming down the tracks at me, I agreed to undergo the surgery. I'm now scheduled for admittance on the 14th & surgery on the 15th March and I'm not looking forward to it, one bit. Only one thing is certain - I will not be walking in the Paddy's Day parade this year!!!
Getting that rant off my chest has been quite therapeutic, and I will try to bring you the story of my progress, throughout the procedure - hopefully on a lighter note!
