Nothing super new with me. Still on crutches/ “toe touching only” and still not getting far.
I am mostly at home, trying to find a balance between resting the hip and moving, to get the circulation going. A great help in this is my fitbit which tells me how many steps I am taking. I can monitor it and adjust it for the next day. At the moment I can say, if I stay below 1,300 steps, I am probably good.
The hip still gets irritated very easily. Just a tiny bit of crutching around too much and the hip, soft tissue and where the incisions are get angry.
Ice usually helps and is still my best friend.
Over the last few weeks I did A LOT of research about hip fractures, fracture patterns, complications, hip pinning etc. and it feels like I read every single article on the Internet.
And STILL, there are hardly any personal blogs about this out there. I see a lot of mentioning of hip “stress fractures” but a hairline fracture is completely different than a complete fracture.
My husband had a good point. He said “young people don’t have this kind of fracture and old people don’t write blogs”. That would summarize it.
Here are some interesting facts I found out:
- Of all hip fractures, only 2% are in young people < 50 years of age
- Hip fractures are the most expensive to fix on a per person basis
- A medical article called my injury the “neglected femoral neck fracture in the young adult”.
- The femur is the strongest bone in the body. It takes approximately 4,000 newtons (~ 407 kilogramm/ 897 lbs.) to break it with a sharp, quick blow.
- The subcapital femoral neck fracture is the most common hip fracture (in old people). (Purple)
- The closer the fracture to the femoral head, the higher the chance of developing AVN
- Femoral neck fractures are divided in different categories
- An impacted fracture is the opposite of an avulsion fracture
- There is an art of doing hip pinning the right way. The screws need to go through the fracture, they have to be inserted parallel to each other; they need to be in the femoral head but not in too far, otherwise they go through the cartilage and cause arthritis. The whole procedure takes place inside the joint and does not go through the capsule.
- Adding too much bodyweight too quickly or walking for too long, too soon can lead to stress fractures and needs to be avoided
I am trying to learn as much as I can about this.
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On youtube are several videos of the actual “hip pinning surgery”. I can not watch the whole thing in one take otherwise I am hugging the toilet. It looks quite rough but at least it explains the very high pain level I had for the first two weeks.
I don’t recommend the video to anybody with a weak stomach.
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When I was in the ER, my husband overheard people saying “there must be an underlying issue going on”. A young, healthy person simply does not fall from a standing height and end up with a hip fracture like this. Osteoporosis was mentioned BUT my OS said after the surgery, my bones were nice and strong. No sign of osteoporosis.
Just to be sure I will get a bone density scan once I can drive again and walk better.
Next week I will have my six week follow up appointment which will be absolutely crucial! My OS will check how I am healing and look for complications.
There is the possibility of:
- The blood circulation to the femoral head was interrupted and I am developing AVN
- Malunion (the hip did not grow together as desired)
- Nonunion (the hip did not grow together at all and there is a gap in the bone)
- The screws have shifted
- I am developing “too much” bone, which would end up as FAI (femoral acetabular impingement) again and then it’s just a matter of time when it shreds up the labrum and I need another arthroscopic surgery.
I don’t need any of those. All I want to hear is “your bone has started healing”. I will gladly do more time on crutches but please no AVN!
How my recovery proceeds and the future of my hip depends on the verdict of next week. Either all is good or the shit has hit the fan and I am heading towards a hip replacement which would suck on several levels.
Things I really miss these days are – doing my Elliptical, going for walks, cooking new Gordon Ramsay recipes and making plans for the future. At the moment dreams are on hold because I don’t know what the recovery will be like.
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I also can not believe I forgot to ask my OS two very important questions, when I saw him last…
A) will I make a full recovery and b) what kind of timeframe for the recovery am I looking at? I am expecting to be a slow poke healer again but at least I’d like to have a rough idea.
