It's been a while since I wrote a blog. As I was struggling with ideas I came up with this one which indirectly relates to the title of my blog page - Dainty Bones. I was pretty obsessed with this condition after my hip injury. One of the first things I was told (in between morphine hits) was that I could qualify for this disease. It's called Avascular Necrosis. This is what it is:
Osteonecrosis is bone death caused by poor blood supply to the area. It is most common in the hip and shoulder.
Avascular necrosis; Osteonecrosis; Ischemic bone necrosis; AVN; Aseptic necrosis
Osteonecrosis occurs when part of the bone does not get blood and dies. After a while the bone can break off. If this condition is not treated, bone damage gets worse. Eventually, the affected part of the bone may collapse
https://health.google.com/health/ref/Osteonecrosis"
The doctor's assistant came in and drew me a little diagram on a sheet of paper. It's not a hard condition to understand. What I don't like about this is you don't know if you are out of the woods, or, safe from getting it until about 2 years after the injury. My two year mark will coming soon, in May of 2011. Thankfully I'm not feeling a lot of pain, but I am feeling something. This could be because of the cold whether - compression screws. Another positive is that my doctor, who did a swell job on my hip BTW (I'm close to the same flexibility), said I have a 75% chance of being alright.
But what if I'm not?
I get my hip replaced. That's a pretty serious deal. I read Bo Jackson (in his 30s), Prince and Eddie Van Halen had it done. My co-worker had it done. He's in his 60's. He's up and around and feeling great.
The thing that is scary is that they get rid of much of your upper femur and pound a fake artificial joint in there in the bone. That requires a big incision and blood thinner medication to stop clots (rat poison!). The recovery time is remarkably short though. I was laid up and in pain for almost 2 months. My co-worker said he was putting weight on it in 3 weeks.
Hopefully this won't be an issue but I'll probably blog about it if it is.
https://health.google.com/health/ref/Osteonecrosis"
The doctor's assistant came in and drew me a little diagram on a sheet of paper. It's not a hard condition to understand. What I don't like about this is you don't know if you are out of the woods, or, safe from getting it until about 2 years after the injury. My two year mark will coming soon, in May of 2011. Thankfully I'm not feeling a lot of pain, but I am feeling something. This could be because of the cold whether - compression screws. Another positive is that my doctor, who did a swell job on my hip BTW (I'm close to the same flexibility), said I have a 75% chance of being alright.
But what if I'm not?
I get my hip replaced. That's a pretty serious deal. I read Bo Jackson (in his 30s), Prince and Eddie Van Halen had it done. My co-worker had it done. He's in his 60's. He's up and around and feeling great.
The thing that is scary is that they get rid of much of your upper femur and pound a fake artificial joint in there in the bone. That requires a big incision and blood thinner medication to stop clots (rat poison!). The recovery time is remarkably short though. I was laid up and in pain for almost 2 months. My co-worker said he was putting weight on it in 3 weeks.
Hopefully this won't be an issue but I'll probably blog about it if it is.
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