Completely Unexpected!!!

About 5 weeks ago, I had my 4th hip surgery at Boston's Childrens Hospital with Dr. Millis. Dr. Millis performed a hardware removal and scar revision on my right hip. I stayed at Childrens overnight and was released the following evening after an MRI with contrast was performed. My hip was pretty swollen and bruised, but the incision looked a lot better than the first time around. The surgery did send my nerves into overdrive and I had intense burning sensations down my leg. The sensations would take my breath away and I could not touch my leg when the flares would occur. They have decreased with an increase in nerve meds and time. Dr. Millis told me that he would call me with the results, but he was "cautiously optimistic" that the screws were causing the problems and this would be very helpful. It was also necessary to remove the screws so that he could get useful imaging.

I got to keep my screws!!!

It took over 4 weeks for Dr. Millis to call with my results, despite numerous emails and many phone calls and messages. He called as I was getting dismissed from my drill weekend. He asked how my incision was healing because 3 weeks post-op it got infected. My incision is still healing, but is definitely better! This is when I got the curve-ball. Millis told me that my acetabulum didn't actually look too bad. It could use an adjustment, but he didn't think that was where a majority of the problem was coming from. He then told me that I had Femoral Retroversion, a twisted femur, and the femoral head was hitting against the hip socket, causing pain, bruising and tearing the labrum. When my knee is straight the femoral head hits the socket, but when my leg is twisted outward, like sitting indian style, its "normal," fitting how it should. He wants to do a Femoral Derotational Osteotomy, where the femur will be broken, realigned and plated back together. He thinks could eliminate the problem, but if I continue to have problems then a re-RPAO would be a last resort to readjust the acetabulum.

I was in SHOCK! After everything, now I find out that my femur is twisted! It is more rare than hip dysplasia. Hip dysplasia is 1 in 1000 and femoral retroversion or anteversion is like 1 in 5000. Also, because of my current issues and medical history, Dr. Millis wants me to get some genetic testing done for a connective tissue disorder such as, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. It might explain a lot of the problems such as poor wound healing, the rare issues, etc. I am also going to a pain clinic to deal with the increased nerve problems, pain management and to see a pain psychologist. I got slammed with so much information to digest. I didn't even know what to say in response. Lastly, Dr. Millis wanted me to go back to Dr. Maiers for an extensive physical exam and to review the op notes from Jan, as well as the imaging. He wanted to see what he thought, if he agreed and then we would all get together to discuss the game plan.

I see Dr. Maiers tomorrow and will hopefully know more and be able to schedule my Femoral Osteotomy at CHB and be one step closer to a better hip/leg. Updates will follow!!!

Me, Dr. Maiers, Jess & Randy