Meeting with Dr. Snibbe 10-22-09

Today I had my follow up with Dr. Snibbe out in Beverly Hills to recap my procedure and determine what my next step would be towards recovery. He showed me pictures of the procedure and explained every picture to me and what he did. Although it looked like a foreign language to me, he was able to make it clear to me what he had performed. My Mom must have been confused because I did have Labral Tear, she thought that he said I didn't the day of the surgery. He showed me the way he repaired the Labrum and then showed me all the bone that he shaved off. It was amazing to see the spur on my femoral head and how big it was, he said that was causing most of my pain. He said that my biggest concern would actually be my right hip because my left is going to feel so good that I might notice the slightest impingement on my right if I had one. But he only operates if it really is necessary of course...

So I got my stitches out and proceeded to learn that I could now start Physical Therapy, spin on a stationary bike with no resistance, work on range of motion in the pool, and work out my Core and Upper Body. I am stoked! I can't believe that after 1 week of hip surgery I am able to do this, really makes me completely confident that I had the right doctor do this surgery. I'll be taking a pill to stop the bone from growing back because its initial reaction is obviously to grow again after it was shaved. I will be on crutches for another week followed by 1 crutch a week after. Then I am free to walk!

I can aqua jog in 2 more weeks, swim freestyle in 3 more weeks, and will be progressively working on my range of motion. The bad news is that I can't run outside on hard surface for 3 months, yes months! But that puts me at the start of the year, 100% healthy. I will have fitness from aqua jogging and I will also be able to be riding and swimming along with core work up until then. I am not worried about it, if anything it gives me motivation during the winter where it is usually a hard time to find it!

I start Physical Therapy on Monday with Kevin Rausch and I will be seeing Mike over at SPI for some upper body/core work. Between those two guys and going to the pool working on my range of motion, I will for sure stay busy!

Surgery Report

Surgery is complete! Surgery was a success last Wednesday and I have come out of it way better than I thought. The surgery was 3 hours long but the damage was not as bad as it could have been. The good news is that there was no labral damage at all which will make my recovery faster than I had previously thought. I meet with Dr. Snibbe Thursday to find our more how it all went, but I honestly feel like I am going to bounce back from this quicker than I had originally thought.

It is amazing what these guys can do these days with surgery. Besides being a bit cold I woke up without any grogginess or nausea. The reason for this is because the anesthesiologist gave me a never block instead of the gas mask. He goes in my back with a needle and finds the nerve that controls my leg and blocks it, literally paralyzing it. I was asleep with the drugs but I didn't have to go completely out of it like a general anesthesia. It helps with recovery and also reduces the risk of complications during the surgery.

A funny story that came out of it was the night I came home from the operation. Obviously I had a lot of drugs in the system still but the docs were really adamant about taking pain pills when I got home and then again when I went to sleep. So my mom followed all the directions to the T. She gave me a percocet when I got home (passed out), then with dinner I had another one. The doc said to give me an Ambien an hour later right before I went to sleep so that I could get a good nights rest. Well, we followed all the directions and in the middle of the night I had to go to the bathroom. So I got up and about half way there I started sweating and got super light headed! Got to the bathroom and FAINTED!!! Long story short, way too many meds and I have not taken an Ambien since! Scary at the time, but funny now!

Until rehab I am wearing compression, icing, sleeping, and trying to eat healthy! I am already eager to go out and run, but I know I have a lot of work to do before I can even think of that. I can't wait to get this thing better and start training again.

A big thank you to not only my family but also to my best buddies Mac and Chino. Both of them came up to hang out with me while I was immobile. Thank you guys, I would have been so bored if I didn't have visitors!

Hopefully next update I will be in rehab continuing my road to being healthy! Thank you all for the support, now the work begins!

Thanks for reading...