I had my 6 month follow-up appointment last week down in NYC. My doctor took a look at my MRI and said things looked great and the hip was healing nicely. My level of pain is normal, but should subside with physical therapy. And the best news of all… I’m officially weight-bearing as tolerated! I can walk!

It is now time to move onto the next step and make my leg strong and usable again. I am going to physical therapy twice a week and doing exercises at home the other five days a week. I also rejoined my gym yesterday, I can’t wait to get back into shape.

I have some pretty big news to those of you that have been reading my journal for the past couple years. It seems the higher-ups in the Navy have decided that I am unfit for duty, and should be discharged. They have recommended my case be submitted to the Physical Evaluation Board (PEB). The PEB basically reviews the medical evidence and makes determinations of fitness or unfitness to continue service. If the service member is found unfit, the PEB then determines the percentage of the service member’s disability compensation using the Veterans Administration Schedule for Rating Disability (VASRD). Depending on the severity of the injury, the service member either receives medical retirement or severance pay. Read the rest of this entry »

Had my 5 month post-FVFG followup at Boston Medical Center a few weeks ago. They took another set of X-rays and compared them to the previous set taken the month before. The doctor said that there were no changes, which isn’t a good or bad thing, it just means that there were no changes significant enough to be seen on an X-ray. I am getting another MRI tomorrow morning, which I will bring down to my 6 month post-FVFG followup in NYC this weekend. My doctor in NYC hopes to see enough progress made in the head and neck of the hip to let me walk unassisted. I’m not getting my hopes up, but this could be the light at the end of a long tunnel.

Had my 4 month follow-up at Boston Medical Center the other day. They took a set of x-rays, which looked good, and my doctor increased my weight-bearing up to 50%. I have to stay on 2 crutches still, but it feels good to stand with equal weight on both legs. I have one more appointment in Boston in a few weeks, then back to NYC for my final appointment at New York Presbyterian in September.

I’ve always wanted to be a bone marrow donor, but could never remember to research it. I was reading someone’s blog tonight and they had a link to the National Marrow Donor Program website. I got excited about signing up, until I read:

If you have any of the following conditions, you will not be allowed to register:

• Chronic back pain requiring ongoing medical treatment (including chiropractic care) and/or daily or frequent prescribed pain medication
• Herniated, bulging or slipped disc anywhere along your spine diagnosed in the past 2 years
• Single back surgery in the past 2 years
• History of a spine fracture, if caused by bone disease
• History of a spine fracture in the past 2 years, if caused by injury
• Placement of rods or pins for scoliosis
• History of a hip or pelvic fracture and/or repair

– www.marrow.org

Figures. I can’t donate blood until March of 2009, due to the 4 units of someone else’s blood I received during and after my surgery. At least one day I’ll be allowed to do that again, and I’m not banned for life.

It’s been 3 long months since I was operated on at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. A lot has changed in the past few weeks. The hip doesn’t hurt like it used to. When I’m relaxing, it doesn’t hurt at all. I take Motrin sparingly, almost exclusively at night.

Until this point, I was on a non-weight bearing status, and was desperately looking forward to a change. Well that change finally came this past week at my 3 month follow-up in NYC. The surgeon looked at the film from an MRI I got last week and said things looked great. He was able to show me where the new bone graft was integrating with the old hip. He said I can start putting weight on my leg, starting with 30 lbs. I’ll slowly increase the weight on my own over the next 3 months. Hopefully in September I’ll be able to walk unassisted and never have to use crutches again!

I saw my surgeon in NYC on Thursday, he said things are going well and that in 4-6 weeks we might be able to see some changes in an MRI.

He had a couple things to say which were tough to hear. The first was that my leg most likely will never have the same range of motion that it had before, because the structural damage to the head of the hip is already done and won’t heal. The second was that the healing process could take up to 2 years to complete. I never thought that this whole process would take so long.