Patient Stories

Jordyn

Hi, my story started 6 years ago, when I was involved in a car accident, in which I was thrown from the vehicle. The accident resulted in many fractures around my pelvis, and it took months to heal, but my bones all healed together quite well.
About a year after the accident, I started to feel pain in my hip. I went back to my doctor, and x-rays were done, and I was told that my bones looked good and that nothing was wrong. Well, it still hurt, so over the course of the next five years, I went to my primary physician, who told me to get massage therapy. I would also go to the urgent care, where more x-rays were done and again, I was told nothing was wrong, and that I was not going to be prescribed pain killers(the urgent care doctor assumed I was just pill seeking).
I then tried another option and went to an orthopedic doctor in a city in another state, where a student doctor saw me, did more x-rays, and again, I was told nothing was wrong, that he was not going to prescribe me pain killers, and that I could try physical therapy if it “really hurt”.
Well, I had pretty much given up on doctors believing me that something was wrong, as several doctors did not take me seriously and only thought I was pill seeking. So I stopped trying to get help.
Well one night at work, I was walking and my hip slipped out of socket and I could feel it, and it was extremely painful. I went back to my primary, and told her my hip hurt, she told me to go back to the orthopedic doctor. So, back I went, and did more x-rays. And once again, was told my bones were fine and nothing was wrong. When finally, a second doctor, suggested I do an MRI, to which I agreed.
After the MRI, they called me in, to tell me that my labrum is so torn, that they can’t fix it and I would need to see a specialist. So I was referred to an amazing doctor in Denver, Colorado, 6 hours away from where I live.
So I wait a few months for my surgery date, to reconstruct the labrum. Once arriving in Denver, the day before surgery, I meet with the doctor and he wants to do x-rays in his office, it was his protocol with traveling patients.
After the images were taken, the Dr. comes in to talk to me, he is very somber and apologetic. He tells me, that I have hip dysplasia and that I was born with it, and that he cannot replace my labrum, without addressing the dysplasia as well. So now here I am, looking at two operations, instead of just the one.

So the next day, I had my labrum reconstructed, then 10 days later, the POA. I am currently 9 days post op poa, and it has been a rollercoaster. I stayed in the hospital only 4 days, and I did not get out of bed till the second. I was shocked that i could not lift up my leg and move it forward, i would inch my leg using my toes.
I felt defeated by this operation, like I would never move my leg the way it used to, but finally, it moved, and that gave me motivation and hope for the next day. I made it home finally, and I was exhausted, I mean every time I would stand up, i felt winded. I also have terrible anxiety, so the feeling of being winded, every time I got up, made me nervous that something was wrong.

I started thinking to myself that maybe I was anemic, or had pneumonia, or that I had a clot in my lungs. That really got to me, so two days ago, I went to the hospital, with a heart rate of 130, low blood pressure, my hands were white and clamy, and I was having trouble breathing, all the symptoms of pulmonary embolism.

They gave me iv fluids, and took a few samples of blood, listened to my lungs for fluid, and did a CT scan to check for clots. My blood results came back, and my oxygen, hemoglobin, kidneys, EVERYTHING, came back perfect and normal. I was not anemic. Then the results of CT came back, no clot. My heart rate during this time went down to my normal 80bpm.
I was giving myself a constant panic attack, because I got inside my head about this recovery, and my mind got the best of me. But at least I knew for sure, that nothing was wrong with me(besides being a little dehydrated).
So, I am trying to look at this, as one day at time, I know I will have good days, and bad days, but as the days go by, I can check it off as being one day closer to where I want to be. And before I know it, I will be walking just fine again.
I hope this story helps someone else to know that what they are going through is normal, and to listen to your body, and rest, rest, rest!! Every day is a little but better then the day before. And you can do this!!!!