I am Healthier Today than 10 Years Ago

Today is my 50th birthday. I am half a century old. It does not seem possible, yet it most definitely is. I can feel the years when I get out of bed or sit too long, but I don’t really feel this old. I still feel young inside, it is hard to believe that I have been out of high school for 32 years and at the end of this month I will be married for 30 years.

I actually feel better most days than I did 10 years ago. I had a bad leg for about 10 years. I am not sure exactly when it started, but I do know that Shane was young and Devin wasn’t born when I had my first specialist visit. I went to doctor after doctor, but no one knew what was wrong. This went on forever, progressively getting worse. I was miserable, finally turning to a chiropractor. I saw him a couple of times a week for months, but we finally realized it wasn’t really doing much to help. He referred me to an orthopedic who immediately knew what was wrong.

I needed a hip replacement. He didn’t know why, but my hip joint was bone on bone. That is why I was in so much pain. I had went through two pregnancies with almost every step being pure misery. I had a horrible limp by the time I had the surgery and my orthopedic told me that if I stopped using the cane too early or rushed my recovery, I would always have a limp. I knew I didn’t want a limp afterwards, so I quit my job and took 6 months to recover completely. It worked great, I do not limp at all and very rarely have any discomfort in my leg.

I have a few residual problems leftover from all those years of pain, but I feel so much better overall than I did before my surgery. It has been over 7 years since I had my hip replacement. I was way too young to have a hip replacement, but really didn’t have a choice and would do it again. They usually do not do replacement surgeries before the age of 50 and really prefer to wait as long as possible to avoid a repeat surgery. There may be another surgery in my future, but until then I am enjoying life and being able to walk without pain.

I wish I could go back and push harder to find out what was wrong with my leg, but I can’t, so I just want to make a difference in someone else’s life. No one even considered that I needed a hip replacement because of my age. I have seen this lack of diagnose or misdiagnose happen several times over the last few years in different types of situations. In a couple of instances, it was too late by the time they were diagnosed for the treatment to be successful. In others, it just delayed the treatment needed.

If you are dealing with some kind of medical situation and having trouble getting a diagnosis, don’t give up. Someone out there knows how to help you. Keep searching until you find that person. Not every doctor understands all the symptoms or knows about all the types of diseases out there. That is why there are specialists. They spend extra time studying that particular area so that they can diagnose lesser known problems.

To read more about me and my life, check out Welcome and A Better Life.

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