Hope: May 2008

"Oh No..."

One of the phrases you don't really like hearing while you are at the dentist, or the barber, or especially in the hospital is "Oh No" This usually means something bad, or something hasn't gone "quite right" well, I heard that phrase at the hospital yesterday while I was getting some more injections done.

We arrived in the hospital and were taken to the waiting room. After about 15 min. The doctor's assistant came in and told us to come back to the work room. He explained to us the procedure, it was a pretty normal one. I was there to get my hip injected with dye to trace where the pain was coming from. Apparently this dye is attracted to pain (that is one trait I am glad I don't have). This way you can see exactly where the pain is coming from. Well, they got me on the table and started getting everything set up and the doctor looked at my x-rays and MRI's and said "Oh No..." (que depressing music)

I was a little worried of what he just said, so I asked what was going on. The doctor said he has never seen anything like this before and doesn't really know what to do. He called a few hip specialists all over and talked with them a bit. After the phone calls, he came back to me and said "You might have a famous hip!" I'm thinking more infamous, but yeah. He went ahead and injected the numbing medicine into my hip. For those of you who haven't had that done, it's the worst part. Kind of painful, I won't lie. Then injected about 6 or 8 different things, dyes, steroids, and something with big names that I can't remember. But thats what happened.

After the injections were done, I couldn't really walk because the pain was so bad and I was really dizzy (my parents said I was really loopy too, but I don't know if I believe them =)) We waited for the doctor to come and report to my parents. He told us that he was really concerned about my condition. He thinks that it is a lot worse than anyone has really said.

With that, he told us to hang out for a little bit to see how I would react to all the injections. So we got some lunch at the cafeteria. Oh, p.s. we arrived at the Hospital at 8:30am, just so you have a time frame about him looking at my images making phone calls. The actual procedure took about 30 min.

I am doing okay now. The pain is still quite intense, so I have been walking with a cane. Yeah... I know. I am 20 years old and using a cane, you can laugh, it's cool. I'll laugh with you. The doctor at the hospital wants to wait 1 full month before I see him again, although I do have an appointment with a hip specialist this monday. Sometimes it's just a bummer to have to wait so long between appointments.

Well, thats my story for you. I hope it wasn't boring, and I hope it made sense. I took some pictures while I was there. So enjoy!

After just arriving to the hospital.

Getting my awesome Hospital Bracelet

Getting the "Low-down"

The Death Table

Just In Case...

The Dad Person

Not me...

Hooray for wheel chairs!

Why Not?

Okay, So I totally love the show "Scrubs" and when we were in the cafeteria, I saw these interns on lunch. They reminded me of the show. I knew right as I saw them that I need a picture with them. So that's what I did. I got a picture with the people who look something similar to the people who play doctor on the awesome show "Scrubs"

oh p.s. I got an awesome hair cut from Jenna Osborn.

Update

Well, I think it's time to update you all on what has happened this week concerning my hip.

We got the test results back from my blood work and there is no Arthritis in my blood. This means I will not be having a full on hip replacement. It was such good news to hear, although there was a part of me that was excited about me slowly turning into the Six Million Dollar Man, or Ironman.

Other news, This coming friday, I will be traveling to the Tri-Cities again for another injection. For this procedure, the doctor will inject some sort of dye into my hip bone, so they can trace the movements of my hip and see where the pain is coming from. Hopefully this injection will give them the information they need to move forward and come to a final conclusion. It has been kind of hard getting different diagnosis, doctors disagreeing with each other, waiting weeks at a time between appointments, and being in pain all the time. It's stressful, but, I don't think it is bringing me down.

Well, thats pretty much it for now. I just thought I would throw you guys an update.

Kiitos Kaikista. Jos sinä voit ymmärtää tämä, sinun pitäisi kirjoittaa takaisin. Se olisi mahatava! Haluan tietä teistä! Onko tämä oikein?

Thanks for everything! You guys are awesome.

I got my

blood tested today. Not much to say, but a few thousand words worth. They will be in the form of pictures.

Totally sporting the blue trucks on the bandage.

I don't know why, but I really like taking pictures of flowers. But here is another picture of a flower when I was with my Mom getting some flowers.

It's Business Time

So Mom and I drove to the doctors today so I could get my blood work done. I need some blood tested to see if I have arthritis in my hip. Apparently this will answer some questions for us. For example, if there is arthritis in my hip, I will have surgery done and get a brand new hip! If there is no arthritis, well, then we will do more testing on my hip to see what the real problem is.
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Turns out they wanted us to come in tomorrow instead of today. So no blood work done yet, but I did get some pictures!

Here is us driving

This is me waiting for Mom...

This is Mom singing along to Flight of the Conchord's "Business Time"

Here is how the song goes. It's pretty funny. Even more funny because my Mom thinks it is funny.

After going to the doctors, we went to the flower store. Mom bought flowers, I took pictures of them. Here is one-

So I hung out with my Mom today, and you know what? I had fun.

Boring Blog...

So I decided the other day that my blog is really boring. I dont have a great template, or great posts, and I think that is a bad combonation. I was just wondering if any of you had suggestions on how I can make my blog better, whether it is a better template, better colors, better stories, suggestions, pictures, etc. Any advice would be great!

Random Picture From Finland

Doctor Appointment #1

The day was May 1st, 2008. A bright, warm day in Spokane, WA. It was my first doctors appointment in the States since being home from my mission. My Mom and Dad accompanied me to this appointment in hope that we would receive a few answers to some long awaited questions. We sat in the lobby patiently, I took a couple pictures, and then we were called in to meet with the Physician's Assistant. She examined me closely, and stared deep into my hip. I'm talking about the MRI's of course. The P.A. checked my range of motion in my legs and put me to the pain test. That is, she tested how much pain my hip could bear. After some thought, she couldnt come to a conclusion on what was causing my pain. She then called for the Surgeon...

The Surgeon looked at the X-ray's and MRI's and then told me that one of the diagnoses that I received in Finland, The Labrum Tear, was non-existent. I was confused for a bit, I didnt know MRI's could lie. Anyway, after that statement, he then said that he only knows 2 surgeons who perform the surgery that I supposedly need. One is in Tacoma, WA. The other is in Switzerland. Before I could think of how cool it would be to go to Switzerland, he said that there was nothing he could do for me and it was time to go.

All and all, we didnt really get any of the questions answered that we wanted. The surgeon disagreed with the diagnoses that I received in Finland. Back at square one.

Our Goal for this week, Find a doctor who agrees with the other.

Here are some pictures from the adventure.