The (same ol') waiting game

I'm close to the three weeks out from my first stem-cell injection but I've yet to notice any measurable improvement or change. This is not to say that I have been doing terribly all this time but rather I just haven't had any marked change in pain levels commensurate with an increased activity level. Things are still day by day, week by week. Last weekend I decided to really 'push it' and see what my hip was capable of in terms of weight-bearing activity and got my answer relatively quickly. On our girls' camping weekend in the Mt Massive/Elbert Peak wilderness we did a big day hike up that climbed into a high glacial cirque with three isolated alpine lakes and loads of wildflowers. The hike was probably around 8 miles and had a good bit of elevation gain (maybe 2000 ft?). My hip/groin really started to ache just before we got to the lake for lunch and I decided it would be a wise decision to turn back considering I still had at least 4 miles of down-hill hiking to go. The way down was pretty rough even with my hiking poles (dork) and by the last two miles my groin was really aching with every step. It bummed me out to feel that nagging pain but I have to qualify that by saying I didn't know I could even hike 8 miles, even painful ones. I was really sore the rest of the evening and the next day but by Monday things were pretty improved which is a good sign. The problem just seems to be - consistently - that there is little to no consistency in terms of what my hip can handle, when it feels like behaving and when it decides to hurt for no apparent reason. Yesterday, I walked approximately a mile from the parking lot in Lyons to the Rockyrgass festival and my groin was really aggravating me. That is the kind of thing that I just feel like has to change at some point, especially if I want to have kids in the next few years.

I finally got a call from Dr. P's office to say that they had reviewed my films and that Dr. P "believes I could possibly benefit from a revision arthroscopy". When pressed to give me details his assistant told me that she had none to give and that one of his fellows would likely call within the next few days to explain the basis of his recommendation. Not surprisingly, I've received no call except for a fax with a registration form to sign up for surgery. Not surprisingly, I have no intention of signing up for surgery if I don't have a very good idea of (a) what he intends to fix and how; and (b) what my chances for additional improvement are given the state of my cartilage damage.

So, that leaves me in my current situation which has pretty much been my current situation since March. I will wait it out through September and see how the injections go, get two more opinions from Dr. Rector in Boulder and Dr. DeSmet in Belgium who perform hip resurfacing to see if they believe I am a candidate and whether an additional joint preserving surgery (i.e, hip scope) is unlikely to lead to any real improvement. I figure if I have two opinions from the top hip scope surgeons and two from a local hip resurfacing surgeon and the world's expert that I should be able to make a relatively informed decision about my next course of action. Good grief I don't want to go through another surgery - it really gives me nightmares. But I don't want to be this limited by my hip more than six months after surgery and I don't want to continue living in a way that makes planning more than a week in advance difficult. I realize that there are alot of people who have this limitation with far more serious diseases than a prematurely arthritic hip but this is me and what I am dealing with and I have to do whatever I can to at least try to change the situation for the better.

I'm including this picture of Elliot because it always makes me smile. Every day, without fail, when I pull into the drive-way he comes bounding out of the doggie door and climbs up on the fence to greet me. That's the thing about dogs that everyone who owns one understands -- no matter how shitty your day was you can't turn your back on a wagging labrador retriever who is just as estatic to see you today as he was yesterday and the day before that.

Stem Cells, Dogs down the River and Wildflowers

As the title suggests alot has been going on lately in our lives. I have had a good three weeks and lest I ever say anything to jinx myself, I'll qualify that with the general trend has been up. We headed to Crested Butte for the 4th of July and were thrilled that my hip cooperated enough to ride 22 miles (!!) on our mountain bikes from the ski area through Gothic and up to Schofield Pass. This was not a technical ride but certainly a huge amount of elevation gain as we topped out around 12,000ft. We rode through amazing high alpine fields of wildflowers - indian paint brush, columbine, larkspur, bluebells and aster. It had stormed hard earlier in the day and we began our ride just as the sun was coming out and the land was dewy and sparkling. I cannot describe the exhiliration I felt as I sweat, grinded up hill and pushed my legs and lungs harder than they had been pushed since last fall. For the first time in months, Brian and I both agreed that we had actually earned our beers and even a double gin and tonic which had me stumbling by the time the fireworks came on. I was expecting to be pretty sore the next day from the big ride but was pleased that I was only slightly sore and was even able to ride another 12 miles up Washington Gulch until we got caught in an early t-storm and had to pack up to return home to Boulder.

This past weekend we had another adventure with our boat. We took our friends Steve and Meredith and both dogs down the 15-mile stretch of the Colorado River between Pumphouse (near Kremmling) and State Bridge. Not a particularly challenging run but I was able to paddle a few Class IIs and Elliot decided that he really likes riding in the raft (Phoebe not so much). He was perched atop the dry-box in his red pfd and had the time of his life watching birds, wagging at Steve in his kayak and barking at dogs in other boats. We camped on an island about half way down the run and had a "family nap" in the tent during a brief evening storm before a tasty dinner of pork fajitas and strawberry daiquiris.

As for the stem cells, I will likely devote a lot more of this blog to a discussion of the stem cell procedure I am under-taking this summer but I'll briefly summarize for now. I've decided to undergo a series of three injections of my own mesenchymal stem cells into my hip joint in attempt to re-grow some of the damaged cartilage that is causing the bulk of the on-going issues with my hip. I am working with a physiatrist based out of Broomfield who is running a regenerative medicine clinic which is one of only a handful in the country. The procedure isn't even FDA approved yet and there is actually alot more controversy about that but I'll save that for another post. In terms of risk, as I see it, I'm risking just as much each time I subject myself to another traumatizing surgery which ends up costing thousands in physical therapy and rehabilitation not to mention the emotional costs of being laid up for so long. The actual risks are small because they are injecting my own stem cells which they cultured for two weeks in a labratory after the initial bone marrow draw in June. I'm one week out from my first injection and can't say I really notice anything yet BUT that would be highly unlikely anyhow and I've also been feeling alot better in general.

Fingers crossed for this weekend as I head out with the ladies for a camping trip in the Mount Massive/Elbert Peak area west of Leadville. I'm going to go for the big hike on Saturday and see whether my hip behaves. If it doesn't, I'll be ok with that because I've been so fortunate to just be able to MOVE so much in the last few weeks. (Last night Brian and I rode our mountain bikes on the Dowdy Draw trails for 2 + hours and I'm not even sore today!). As always, I am trying to be grateful for what I do have and not focus on what I still cannot do .