It’s officially been one week since surgery. It’s 4:00 am and I’m wide awake, which is not unusual for me since I can only sleep about 3-4 hours at a time. Oh, and remember how I said pain was minimal? That is no longer true after yesterday.
Before, the pain in my groin/adductors was just kind of tight and uncomfortable. I have to take Indocin for 10 days and then after that I can start taking other NSAIDS. I also take Norco 5mg (basically Lortab with less acetaminophen). I had been taking only 1 Norco a day until yesterday.
Yesterday. My first PT appointment here in OKC. I had a couple of PT days in Chicago with Dr. Nho’s PT and she was WONDERFUL. I wish I could bottle her up and take her with me. I had talked to this new PT on the phone pre-op. He seemed nice, eager, and like he knew a lot about hips.
First of all, my surgeon has a very specific and detailed protocol based on research and experience. You can view it HERE if you would like. He has it for a reason and wants the PT to follow it. My Chicago PT faxed the whole protocol down to him beforehand so he could read over it.
My friend Kaylee drove me to PT since I can’t drive until I’m off crutches. Before we even started he made a comment about her orange shirt and something referencing the OSU scandal that’s going on.
“Okay, he’s a jokester, that’s fine, I have a sense of humor.” I thought to myself.
He then proceeded to all but make fun of Dr. Nho’s protocol. Basically he knew what he was doing and didn’t need some surgeon telling him what needed to be done. He also made comments regarding my hip brace, like it was too excessive and over the top.
He continued to talk a bunch, kind of sporadic. He’d have me do an exercise then tell me to do another one while I was still doing the first one. In the meantime he insulted Kaylee “jokingly” a couple of more times. Also made smart ass comments about where I went to college, basically saying I went to an easy school that wasn’t challenging. Questioned me on where I lived and instead of saying City, he said Shitty, implying I lived in a poor and gang filled neighborhood. Super professional, right?
Don’t get me wrong. I can take jokes, I have a sense of humor. However, there is a time and place for everything. I am paying someone to rehab me, not insult me and my friend or try to be cool to some 20 year olds.
This guy did more talking, didn’t do half the exercises he was supposed to with me. He didn’t do soft tissue massage, even though I brought it up several times about how the Chicago PT said it was super important to do AND follow the protocol. He did, however massage my incisions and then continued to jab his fingers into my groin for a massage.
In Dr. Nho’s protocol, it states many times, “DO NOT PUSH THROUGH PAIN.” Also has very specific limitations on internal and external rotation. So what does this guy do? Flexes my leg beyond the limit and then internally rotates beyond the limit and I have searing pain. I tell him, he backs off, but then eventually does it a couple of more times.
Apparently my frustration was noted on my face, per Kaylee. Everything he did in an hour, could’ve been done in 20 minutes if he would’ve stopped trying to be funny. I swear, it was almost like he was trying to get me to NEVER EVER come back. Mission accomplished. Kaylee had never done PT so she didn’t know if all of this was normal or somewhat the norm, I reassured her that this was not, in fact, ANYTHING like what PT should be.
Nicholas does passive range of motion exercises with me twice a day and he is 190 million times better than this guy. You know why? Because he reads the protocol, watches the videos he took of the PT in Chicago, and he is careful with me.
When I got home, I was so frustrated and exhausted that I just started bawling. Granted, I’ve been SUPER emotional since surgery. I’m not sure if it’s because of the anesthesia, the stress, or lack of sleep, heck maybe even a combo of all of it. After bawling, I emailed my Chicago PT who quickly answered my email and basically told me to run and quick. Talked to Nicholas about it, started bawling again (shocker). I called around a lot of ortho places, researched online and found another PT closer to me with hip arthroscopy experience and I brought up the protocol. She seemed like it wouldn’t be a problem at all to follow the protocol so I see her next Wednesday. I pray to God that she is good.
I’m super frustrated. I fly all the way to Chicago to have one of the best surgeons do this surgery to ensure that I can go back to being active again at some point and then come back home to have some pompous PT screw it up for me. I’m so sick of trying and searching. Can’t any of this be easy?
Now I’m all iced up, took 3 pain pills yesterday and one this morning due to the groin pain. I know this is just a flare up. It would take a lot to undo all the work the surgeon did. It’s just a setback and I have to rest and take it easy.
You probably didn’t prepare to read a novel, but there it is.
Post Op Week One at it’s finest.
