I don’t really talk much publicly about my health or anything like that at all, but I wanted to take some time and talk about what was going on and where I’m at now.
Back in mid-2020, I started having trouble walking. My right hip started aching on regular walks, and I had no idea why. Maybe it was my mattress, or maybe my sleeping pattern? Did I just not get enough exercise? At that point I just decided to live with it.
The pain steadily got worse and worse and I developed a visible limp. This was going on while I had other health stuff going on like gout and depression. The depression led to apathy, and I thought that my hip was acting up because of the gout.
Well boy I was wrong. Fast forward 5 years and I’m limping around, in pain every day, and getting upstairs to my apartment was a challenge. I needed to get myself a cane to support my gait and the only pain management I had was ibuprofen and Tylenol.
Obviously, I should have gotten this looked at much sooner. But being a dude and dealing with mental health stuff prevented me from getting the care I needed.
When I finally went to a doctor and got x-rays, they quickly told me my diagnosis: Avascular Necrosis.
AVN, or Avascular Necrosis, is a disease where the affected bone dies due to its blood supply being cut off. This can be caused by a number of things such as trauma (I played hockey my whole life), steroids (I was given many during a bout of pneumonia when I had COVID), alcohol consumption, and more.
It’s basically like fast-forwarding the wear and tear that can lead to severe arthritis. As the bone dies and collapses, the joint loses its smooth shape and begins breaking down.
The ball of the hip should be perfectly rounded — above you can see that the ball is very irregular and missing pieces here and there. No bueno.
Ultimately it’s a rare disease — only 10,000 – 20,000 cases are diagnosed each year. There are certainly lifestyle factors that play into whether you can get it or not, but it’s still the luck of the draw at the end of the day.
Any small movement you make, whether stepping or turning, sends a rush of pain through your hip that feels like it’s coming directly from the socket itself (well, it technically is).
I had trouble doing ANYTHING… sitting down and standing up, walking. It was all painful. There was a constant level of pain that I lived with (that I would consider a 4/10 but others might consider higher), with pain flashes bringing me up to a 9/10 or worse.
There’s so many ways of describing the pain so here’s some samples from Gemini:
Now that I’ve been getting my shit together, I finally got an orthopedic referral and found a lovely surgeon who was willing to perform the procedure. Obviously there are concerns about someone as young as me getting a total hip replacement (I’m 33), but the quality of life improvements would be tremendous.
As of this post, I am on day 3 of recovery and I know that it’s ALREADY worth it!! Yes, there is some pain from the surgery. But it’s so much less than what I was experiencing. Even at this point I can USE my hip! I can bend, I can walk, I can move.
I’m a bit swollen and I’ll need my quads and supporting muscles to heal, but this is a game-changing experience. I can’t wait to take advantage of my newfound freedom.
People don’t fully understand how restricting chronic diseases are and how they impact you mentally and physically. I’m fortunate that I can get a procedure to fix it unlike so many with other conditions.
The best thing I ever did was actually get off my ass and go to the doctor. Hopefully this can serve as a reminder to get whatever it is you’re dealing with checked out. In my case, this could have been taken care of years ago if I hadn’t been so stubborn.
Recovery is going to take some time, but for the first time in a long time, I’m looking forward to what’s next.
