Monday, February 7, 2011

My lastest CRAZY news!!

So the day of my appointment has come and gone. I was excited and a little nervous at the same time to go! What day you ask...it was the day I went for my appointment with Dr. Buckley in Calgary. He is a specialist on fractures that won't heal or fracture's that did not heal properly. If you all don't know I got in a bad quading accident when I was 11 where I broke my Femur at the very top and split it all the way down the middle of the bone to the knee. I was air lifted with Stars Air Ambulance to Calgary Children's Hospital and ended up having a 9 hour surgery on my leg. It was supposed to be all good from there and heal within 3 months but I was what they called a "delayed union" because my bone would not grow back and so I ended up being in a body cast for around 10 months. I am not going to lie, it really sucked. Anyways my bone did eventually heal but it healed shorter than my other leg. Because of that I have a permanent limp, I have a lot of knee problems, my pelvis and shoulder's are not aligned and my spine is twisted at the top and the bottom. As of the beginning of January I stared having really bad pains in my lower back. They just started one day and by the end of the next day I could hardly walk on my right leg without it killing me. I thought this was weird because the leg I broke was my left leg but all my pain was on my right side. Anyways I went to a clinic downtown after work that has a bunch of massage therapists and chiropractors to try and find some sort of help! I luckily was able to get a massage within the half hour and it was so painful but a relief sort of pain if you know what I mean. I also booked an appointment with a chiropractor for Monday. I always knew my spine was bent funny but I guess it looks like I have scoliosis! Anyways the whole weekend I was a mess. I could hardly move and I couldn't sleep the pain was so bad. My mom was away and Kyle was at work or something so I called my sister Mindy crying just because I needed someone to talk to. She made me feel a lot better by getting me to go on a video chat and talk with my nephew Logan! He always cheers me up! Anyways since than I have been going to the Chiropractor 2 times a week and I haven't been able to do any lifting or much bending. It has kinda sucked but it has gotten so much better. I only have to go once a week now. But throughout all of this it has made me very aware of my body and when it is hurting and where. But also while trying to deal with my issues we have noticed other possible problems to come if I do not take care of my body like going to the chiropractor regularly and doing my yoga which really helps! I guess because I am constantly on a slant from being shorter on one side than the other I have signs of my right hip deteriorating because it is always forced upwards pulling everything really tight which I guess is really bad. So at the my chiropractor we have been working on my range of motion with my right leg and ways of relieving my right leg. I have come to notice that I have more balance and control on my left leg than my right when I am doing yoga and also just with my flexibility and range of motion.
Anyways so about this appointment with this new doctor. It was on February 10th and everything went well. He looked at some X-rays and a cat scan and he said my leg is exactlly one inch shorter than the other! It was kinda cool because he had me doing this thing where I took my shoes off and he had me stand as he kept adding magazines under my left foot until it felt right. He than added one more magazine and I knew right away it was to much. He than took away some magazines and I knew right away it was not enough. So we measured the magazines to see how thick they were when I felt good and they were pretty close to an inch. It was really cool to be able to feel that instant difference! Anyways He said he strongly recommended me having a leg lenthening surgery. I knew if he was to do anything that would be the out come and before I went in I told myself, "If the doctor says he thinks I should do it I will follow his direction because he is the specialist." Well now it was real!! He said it was up to me but he said any type of a difference being an inch or more causes a huge stress of your body and all your joints. I already knew that because I can feel that everyday. He than told me what the surgery would consist of and this is what he said: We will have to make 3 incisions on the outside of your left leg, one up at your hip, one a couple inches above half of your femur and one right about the knee. He said they would go in the middle incision to cut my bone inhalf than they would put a large titaum rod down the center of my bone from the incision in my hip to hold the two pieces of bone in line with eachother, than they would pull the bottom half of my femur bone down the rod to be the length of my right femur bone, than they would bolt through my bone and into the rod up at my hip incision and one down at the incision right above my knee. These bolts would hold the rod in place and it would be permanent. My bone with naturally just grow and fill in the gap between the top and bottom of my femur but until than the rod would be my femur!!!
Sounds crazy hey! Yes it is major surgery! The nice thing is that he said I would not have to be casted because my leg will be completely stable from the rod on the inside! So I was totally nervous and kinda freaking out on the inside! It wasn't until a couple hours later that I totally broke down in tears! My mom and dad and sisters thought I should do it and so did Kyle but I was so scared. I think the reason I was so scared is that the doctor kept saying it was going to be totally fine and an easy recovery within 3 months but that is what they said to me with my accident years ago and my body did not do anything they said it would! It was a horrible experience and I was so nervous it was possibly going to be a horrible recovery again! Here I was having to make a decision to break my leg again! It was totally crazy to me while thinking back to the last time my leg was broken! But after a couple days to think and cry and talk about it I decided to atleast call and ask what days were available for surgery. There was only one in May until the fall and so in a panic I just went ahead and booked it. My family was all happy I did it but once again I broke down and cried! I am still not completely calm about it but I have come to the conclusion that if my husband and my mom are confident I should do this than I should trust them because they all love me and I know they would never tell me to do something like this if they thought it was a bad idea! I have decided it is either something now or later and I would rather do it now while I am young and don't have children to worry about.
So the day is May 10th! The doctor said I will have to stay in the hospital for atleast 3 days and than I will propably be able to come home! As for the rest I don't know yet. I just have to organize my life to get ready for it and wait!
So that is my lastest BIGGEST news :) haha!