I will say it again, getting all of these surgeries has been
difficult, but the end results have been amazing! After my knees and first hip replacements, I
had a few years of awesomeness! I could
walk, I even tried running a little bit just to see if I could (and I did!), I went
hiking, worked in my garden, had a baby, and things were going well.
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| More on this to come :) But isn't she precious? |
While I was able to pretty much do what I wanted to, my
other hip was bothering me a little bit.
It wasn’t anywhere close to the pain I was having with my other hip, but
it would give me grief once in a while.
I knew it needed to be replaced too, but it wasn’t unbearable yet. I struggled to make the decision to get that
surgery because I was still able to do things.
I wasn’t walking on crutches, it wasn’t aching all of the time, it didn’t
hurt with every step… But I knew it had
to be done sometime, so it might as well be now. I was even still questioning whether or not I
should get the surgery when the surgeon met me outside the operating room. I expressed my concern that it wasn’t
unbearable yet and do I really want to do this?
He was so sweet and told me it was completely my choice and it wasn’t
too late to back out. I told myself to
quit worrying about it and we went ahead with the surgery.
My baby was about 6 months old when I scheduled
surgery. I decided I wanted to get it
done before she got too mobile and I didn’t want to be incapacitated when she
decided to start climbing on things and causing trouble. So, surgery number 4 went down. I can honestly say that it was the easiest
surgery I’ve had (well, RA related surgery, anyway).
I went in for surgery on a Tuesday, was up and walking
Wednesday and getting in and out of bed by myself (much to the surprise of the
nurses in the hospital), went home Thursday, and by Saturday I could carry my
baby and hobble around the house without my walker. I even went back to work after only a couple
of weeks. I didn’t do outpatient
physical therapy, I just walked, and walked, and walked.
So by 28 years old, and 11 years after being diagnosed with
RA, I had 4 total joint replacements!
And my first rheumy said it was a “mild” case. I’m so glad I finally left him!
So, remember those hikes I told you I went on at the
beginning of this post? One of those
hikes I went on was a 6 mile round trip hike to Calf Creek Falls in Southern
Utah that I originally thought was going to be a 3 mile round trip hike. Let’s just say I was more than bushed after
that day. Well, my left foot was hurting
after that hike. A lot. And it was a different pain that normal. I thought maybe it was a stress
fracture. I went in to get it x-rayed,
and they said there’s no fracture and the only damage the doctor could see was
typical arthritis damage. Well, ok, that
was good news. It took a really long
time for my foot to stop hurting. The
pain would come back every once in a while, but it would go away.
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| Calf Creek! |
About a year ago, the pain wouldn’t go away. My foot was aching constantly and I decided it
was time to do something about it. I had
met with a foot surgeon before, and his suggestion was a fusion on one of the
mid-foot joints. He had me try to move
my foot and rotate it a certain way, but it wasn’t going far. He explained that there was just enough
movement in that joint to cause pain, so he said we will fuse it together so it
wouldn’t move anymore and wouldn’t hurt anymore. In April 2015, I had my FIFTH surgery to fix
joint damage caused by Rheumatoid Arthritis.
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| Foot before |
While my foot surgery wasn’t necessarily the most difficult
surgery I’ve had, it was very different from my other surgeries. With knee and hip surgeries, I was encouraged
to get up immediately and walk. But with
the foot surgery, I was restricted to absolutely no pressure on my foot for 6
weeks! The only way I could get around
was on a scooter that I knelt on. Oh,
did I mention that I had a 3 year old and a 10-month old at the time? Yeah, it was a really long 6 weeks. Then when the 6 weeks did pass, I had to very
slowly begin to put pressure on my foot, so I stayed on the scooter for another
few weeks. I was so ready to be done
with that thing, but I tried to be patient.
I knew it would all be worth it. I
had a walking boot that they put on right after surgery, and I loved that
thing! It seems so strange to me the
difference the boot made as I was recovering.
I went to outpatient physical therapy for my foot, which was very
helpful and fun, and now I think things are going great!
I am currently 6 months out from my foot surgery. My foot still gets swollen, but it doesn’t
ache constantly. I’m not planning on
running, walking in stilettos, or anything else crazy, so I think this surgery
has accomplished what I was hoping for.
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| Foot After: Look at those sexy scars |
Five surgeries down.
How many more will be in my lifetime?
Who knows? I do know that I’m not
a world record holder by any means.
There are people who have been through more surgeries than I have and at
younger ages. I also know that surgeries
are a part of my life, and while I was scared and depressed in the beginning, I
have accepted them and embraced them.
They have been a great ice breaker, and I have met many good people
because of them. But more importantly, they have been very helpful in improving my quality of life so I can do more with these:
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| Lovies! Thanks P&G Photography! |
Until next time,
Riley
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