My much anticipated visit to Dr. Stephen Aoki (hip specialist) was today. My expectation was that he would review the MRI, see the acetabular labral tear and possible peri-labral ganglion cyst and schedule arthroscopic surgery to repair it. I would then spend the next 3-6 months resting while I heal from both the surgery and the stress fracture in my sacrum. Instead, after checking my range of motion and twisting my leg around to put my hip in various positions, Dr. Aoki said he doesn't think the pain is from the tear, and that surgery probably wouldn't help. He said if he ran MRI tests on everybody in the building the results would show labral tears in many people who are not experiencing any pain from it at all. He believes the pain is from the stress fracture. Just to make sure, he has ordered a cortisone injection in my hip. I'll get it on Friday. He then wants me to monitor if it improves things during my normal daily movements, and also do a little easy running. If the injection doesn't help, that will confirm that it is not the hip joint that is the source of the pain. If it does help, he will reconsider doing the surgery. I guess not needing surgery is a good thing, but that means this stress fracture has been hurting me for about 3 years, so its probably not going to heal until I stop running and let it heal. I haven't run for about a month already, and I don't feel any improvement yet. I'm a little discouraged, but there are so many people with challenges that are so much greater than mine that I'm not going to complain. On a more timely medical note, I took Karen to the ER on Monday morning about 4am with severe chest pains. By Tuesday at 4pm she had been diagnosed (EKG, blood tests, chest x-ray, ultrasound) with gallstones and had had her gall bladder removed. The surgery went well (surgeon has done about 1000 such procedures) and she is recovering well. What a blessing it is to have access to good medical care. What they are able to do is nearly miraculous. And the medical professionals were so helpful and friendly, even those working the night shifts, and especially the ultrasound technician who was called in early in the morning. She almost seemed happy to be there. I could learn from their examples. | 