Hip-hop anonymous - a PAO journal

Since I missed my four-month update, I guess you're actually reading about two months' worth of progress on my right hip. Truth is, there wasn't much progress at the four-month mark, but I think I'm starting to get somewhere now! I now can: Stand from a squatting position with very little trouble. Walk with no pain and no limp. I take hour-long walks and can spend all day running errands, cleaning house, shopping without pain. However, I still feel a little soreness in the joint a day later if I push really hard. Jog at 85%. No pain, but the gait feels a little funky. Jump and dance. Lift weights at 50-100%, depending on the type of exercise. Play volleyball! I subbed last week and return to the league next week. Boo ya! Issues remaining: Tenderness on the skin around the incision. Random burning/stinging moments deep in the tissue from nerves Speaking of nerves, still numb in the thigh, but not completely. Enough to feel the slightest sensation, but not enough to be ab...

Dun, da da da, dun, dun. Today, I was kindly told by Jennifer, my physical therapist, not to come back. While I'm not at 100 percent, she said there was nothing more she could do for me. At four and a half months, I'm happy to be finished with this part of recovery and hopeful for continued improvement. It's funny, though; I've had to eat my words about physical therapy this go-round. My progress -- which started out so promising -- stalled significantly these past two months. Which meant not two physical therapy sessions, but nearly a dozen over three months. The not-so-great news is that the pain I'm still struggling with (lifting my leg Captain Morgan style, i.e., going up stairs, getting into the car, getting dressed) may be impingement rather than muscle pain. Jennifer is fairly certain that the joint capsule is just too darn tight, causing moderate pain and a lack of flexibility. That information took the air out of my sail. Impingement isn't something th...

Though it's been 31 days since my last post, I've thought about this blog every day since. Something inside me has not wanted to come here. Not wanted to think about my hips, my frustration, my pain. I guess I figured if I didn't face any of it, didn't post on my blog or tell the truth to those who asked, it would somehow go away. It hasn't. Don't get me wrong; nothing major has happened in the past month. I'm dancing, shooting hoops, taking long walks. But my tailbone pain has hit me hard both physically and emotionally, and I've stalled with my progress on my most recent PAO, registering moderate amounts of pain every day. I've been at this whole hip thing for a long time, it feels. Everyone says to me, "It must be great to have all that over with." Or, "I bet you feel fantastic!" Or, "All back to normal now?" I smile, I nod. Because no one really wants to hear otherwise. So I've been quiet here as well, and I apol...