I saw a specialist within the next several weeks, but never did I realize that it would take almost a year from the time my daughter was born until I would get a new hip joint. There were so many tests that had to be run on every inch of my body it seemed. The muscles, the nerves, and the bones all had to succumb to the twisting, bending, and probes of the experts who would determine my fate.
Meanwhile, the excruciating pain grew by the minute. I tried various pain killers, but they did nothing more than make me drowsy, which was not a good symptom while trying to teach. It was several months, though, before any students realized that I wasn't my usual self. Once they discovered what was wrong, they volunteered to do every task for me that they possibly could. They were the best!
During one of many appointments with my orthopedic surgeon, he explained to me that it was considered unethical by medical standards to replace a joint in someone as young as I was. (almost 30 years old) Joint replacements were somewhat new to the medical profession, and it was yet to be determined exactly how long the new hip would last. If I were to look through rose-colored glasses, it would hopefully have a lifespan of 15 years. Yikes!!
As he took me by the hand, he asked me to talk to him as though he were my husband and to tell him how bad the pain really was by giving him examples and not using a scale of 1 to 10. I thought about it for a moment.
"I know that I have an extremely high tolerance for pain, but my 16-pound daughter was walking at 8 1/2 months because it hurt too much to even lift or carry her. I cry myself to sleep every night because of the pain and wake up in the morning with tears in my eyes as though I've been crying all night."
He squeezed my hands gently while affirming, "I'll schedule the surgery for as soon as possible."
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment