Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Back to the doctor.

It was time to go back to the doctor to review what expensive drugs and no running has done to my body. While my hip is slowly improving (there are times now where I am in no or minimal pain), I am nowhere near cured. The next step is a MRI with contrast and while they are shooting in the contrast, they are going to mix in some sort of steroid cocktail to wage war on the inflammation. Me likey steroid cocktails and a long time ago (20 years goes by quickly these days), in seemingly a galaxy far far away, I had multiple of these types of shot in my back that got me on the road to recovery from post operative recurring disc issues but that is a story for a slow news day....

Scheduling, as always, will be an issue but they are trying to expedite. I'm expecting the earliest to be next week sometime. The expectation is that the MRI will show some things wrong but since almost everyone has something wrong with their hip it may be a challenge to see if what is wrong is causing the pain. The thing he is most afraid of is a labrum tear which is a possibility with this type of injury. That won't be good news but more of an indication will be if the steroid cocktail makes the pain go away or not.

The doctor then said to continue not running but I can begin gentle cycling (forgetting that he told me I could do that last time and I've been doing probably a little more than gentle cycling). Today's workout plan calls for some high cadence intervals to combat my recent decreasing cadence issues (a byproduct of too gentle perhaps?). I can do some stuff in the pool and walking is still good for me.

I was expecting all of this. I believe we these are the steps necessary to get back in the game if that is in the cards. We'll reassess a week after the MRI so we can give the steroids a chance to do their magic. I'll keep doing what I'm doing with the hope that my fitness doesn't take too much of a hit. Then, back to the doctor again.

6 comments:

Diane said...

Best wishes that you'll be feelin' no pain and hearing good news Joe. I'm sure this must be frustrating. I hate it when they say, "We think it might be this but we don't really know and we'll just have to wait and see and then maybe we'll try that after some of xy&z". At least that's what they say to me half the time. The other half of the time they say - "Just go home and rest". Keep us posted Joe!

Julie said...

Hi RockStarTri,
Gosh, I really hope that it is not a tear in your labrum. A friend of mine tore her's right after she ran Grandma's marathon. She was not allowed to run for an entire six months. I am crossing my fingers for you and am hoping it is not that. Good luck with the steroids:)

Jess said...

I'm hoping you get some good news from the doctor and it's something the steroids will help with!

Big Clyde said...

Rock, I'm curious...what is gentle cycling for a guy like you? I bet it is actually pretty aggressive! Just curious about your regimen.

Unknown said...

best wishes for them to find something they can easily fix.

Carolina John said...

hang in there brother. they'll get you fixed up soon enough.