Openbah / Journal of a Marine Officer Candidate

Category: Marines

  • Avascular necrosis of the hip

    Had my follow-up appointment with my orthopedic surgeon at BMC today. He reviewed the MRI I had done two weeks ago and didn’t have good news. He is pretty sure I have avascular necrosis. For those that don’t know what this is…

    The hip joint is one of the true ball-and-socket joints of the body. The hip socket is called the acetabulum and forms a deep cup that surrounds the ball of the upper thigh bone. The thigh bone itself is called the femur, and the ball on the end is the femoral head. Thick muscles of the buttock at the back and the thick muscles of the thigh in the front surround the hip.
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  • 18 month followup

    Just had my orthopedic appointment at BMC. Basically, they don’t have any idea what’s wrong either. They ordered an MRI to determine if my pain is being caused by osteonecrosis. I have a follow up in 3 weeks. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the MRI before then.

    I take ibuprofen every day, and that usually keeps me in a good mood. If not, the leg hurts pretty bad, especially when I stand after sitting for an extended period of time. Walking is okay, but I have a hard time going up or down stairs.

  • Hope?

    Had my physical at Newport on Monday; it was as bad as I expected.

    After leaving Boston at 5AM we arrived at Newport Naval Hospital at 6:20AM. I checked in and was given a blood test, urinalysis, a hearing test, eye test, a full physical, dental exam, and this was all before lunch. After lunch I had my meeting with the orthopedic doctor, who didn’t feel comfortable starting a med board without knowing what is wrong with my leg. He orders some x-rays (which didn’t show anything) and told me I’d have to get a CT scan and come back down to Newport.

    Yesterday I spoke to a SSgt at Quantico who tried to explain things to me as best she could. When a candidate it hurt at OCS, he/she is sent home to heal. The healing process is only supposed to last 6 months. Because my injury was so bad, we had to ask for extensions beyond that 6 months to allow time for the leg to heal.

    It has been a year and a half since the injury happened, and I’ve started losing hope that things will ever get better. I was given the option to go to my primary orthopedic doctor at BMC and have him write a letter saying that we shouldn’t do the med board now and that I “should get better soon.” I can’t bring myself to give up not knowing if I’ll be in good enough shape to return in 6 months. I don’t want to end things with the Marines and regret making the decision the rest of my life. So I’ve decided to see my primary ortho doctor and get his opinion and possibly get that letter from him. I see him 11 Sept.

    (By the way, the little good news that came out of my trip to Newport was that my eyes are still perfect, my hearing was the best the examiner has ever seen, and my blood tests were near perfect)

  • Going to Newport tomorrow

    I have to be at Newport Naval Hospital at 0630 for blood work. I’ll sit around, then get a full physical starting at 1020. I’ll sit around some more, and finally have an appointment with an orthopedic doc at 1330.

    Tomorrow the ortho doctor and I will sit down and take a look at my future with the Marine Corps. He is either going to recommend I take more time to heal, or that I should be permanently separated. I’m 99% sure I know what the doctor is going to say.

    I don’t want to be in pain anymore. I don’t want to sleep with pillows under my leg. I don’t want to have to stop in the middle of the sidewalk because my leg needs to rest. I want to not limp. I want to go for a hike, work out, and work in the garden.

    I don’t want to take a bottle worth of Motrin per week. I want to be better.

    Luckily my parents are in town and my mother is nice enough to sacrifice her day to keep my company. I’ll let you know how things go.

  • Army doc no show

    I showed up to Hanscom Air Force Base at 7:50AM last week to meet with that Army doctor, only to find out “he didn’t show up for work.” I rescheduled for the 22nd, but found out today I might not even have to go. Turns out I need to go back to Newport Naval Hospital to determine whether I will return to full duty, continue treatment, or have a PEB (I think PEB has something to do with a medical board reviewing my case, though I am not familiar with this acronym). I called today to make the appointment but never heard back from them about how many weeks I’ll have to wait to be seen.

    Some days I feel like I could walk fine, other days I can’t even bend my hip enough to put on a sock. Apparently things aren’t getting better on their own and I need some therapy advice. Hopefully I’ll go to Newport soon.