Labral Tear 101: Weeks 5-6-7

I have put off the blog long enough! Not much has changed over the past 3 weeks. I'm completely crutch free and almost limp free too, but not ice pack free. I've had some up's and down's, which is to be expected, but I didn't think I would have this many. Here is my re-cap of the last 3 weeks...

week 5
Same as week 4 really, I went crutch free! I also went back to work full time and that went well. I was ready to go home each day and just lay on couch...funny how your body gets used to that! My INR numbers were steady and I finally got to schedule out finger pokes 1 week apart!!

Week 6
At week 6, my hip started getting pretty sore and more and more swollen by the day. By the time I went in to see the surgeon mid-week for my "6-week" check-up I was really swollen and tight. He wanted to do some tests, but couldn't do anything because I'm on the Coumadin, so he put me on anti-biotics to rule out an infection. After about 3 days on the anti-biotics, I started feeling better. This is the same week that my INR level dropped to 1.6, which was not theraputic anymore. Because of the way I was feeling, I requested an ultrasound of my legs to rule out any new or moved blood clots. The ultrasound showed no new blood clots and also showed that the ones I currently have are alomst dissolved (just a little residual left), and I have good blood flow! Hopefully this means that I can get off the Coumadin after 3 months rather than 6 months. The rest of my check up went well. He took x-rays and showed that my hips are looking good and both look anatomically the same. He is happy with my progress thus far, and told me that unfortunitally because I developed the blood clots, my progress will be slow and with more complications. I will go see him in the beginning of March again for my 3 month check-up on my left and 9 months on my right.

Week 7
I finished taking all my anti-biotics and started feeling a bit better. Now, 4 days later I'm pretty uncomfortable again. I wonder what is going on, but will just have to continue to wonder because they can't do anything with me. On Monday of last week my INR level was back up to 2.4. My sister, who is a nurse, got permission to check my INR level so that I don't have to pay a co-pay everytime I go in. So, she and I will meet up wherever and whenever is convienent for her 1x/week so that she can check my blood and then get my dosage for the next week! Nighttime continues to be the worst. Since surgery I think I have only had about 2 nights of good sleep, all other have been restless. I am often checking the clock in the middle of the night to see a) when Eric will be get up so that he can bring me an ice pack and b)how much more of this night time torture I have to endure before my alarm goes off. I really don't look forward to night time!!!

Week 8 is just around the corner and I remember last time around week 8 was my favorite because I was in sunny Cancun! I would love to be there now, that's for sure! Hopefully week 8 will again be my favorite, even if I am in cold-white-cloudy Minnesota!

I'll leave you with some pictures of Cancun-Hey, a girl can dream right!?!?!