Hip MRI Results and Surgery Date

I saw the hip specialist here in Cincinnati about a week ago in order to get the results of my MRI. It shows that I have a complete acetabular labral tear with detachment in my left hip. The acetabular labrum is the ring of cartilage that is between the head of the femur (thigh bone) and the pelvis. This is what we thought was the issue with my left hip and the MRI confirmed this.

I will have to have surgery to fix the labral tear and detachment. He will go into the hip arthroscopically, meaning through multiple small incisions, and fix the tear. The surgeon will remove any of the tissue that is dead or beyond repair and repair any of the tears that are able to be stitched back together. This is a relatively minor surgery and is the same type of procedure I have had done on my wrist and knee. I have done very well with both of those procedures, so I am not too concerned about this one!

The one other concern that he did note on my MRI is that I have a moderate degree of anteversion. Anteversion is another way to say that my hip is turning inward toward my other leg. This is perfectly normal in young children, but disappears in 99% of children by adolescence. While I am not that old (22) I am past adolescence, so it is not considered normal for me at my age! This is a condition that is not uncommon in people with EDS and I only seem to have it on the left leg. Since the degree of anteversion is moderate and the surgery to correct the anteversion is very involved (it involves shaving down bone in the femur and pelvis) we have decided to not treat the anteversion at this point. If after the labral tear repair I am still having hip pain then we will discuss if we need to address the anteversion at that point, but the surgeon is fairly confident that once we fix the labral tear I will have relief!

I have already been to see my primary care doctor and have been declared “medically optimized” for surgery. This just means that he does not see any reason why my health should cause complications during or following the surgery. I have had a number of surgeries in the past (six under general anesthesia and multiple under twilight sedation) and have always done really well. I need medication to prevent vomiting after surgery because that is one negative reaction I have to anesthesia, but we know this ahead of time so we can medicate for it before the vomiting starts (about 4 hours after surgery)! There are a few other minor things that we need to watch out for like making sure I stay well hydrated, ensuring the anesthesiologist des not dislocate my jaw when they put the breathing tube in, and making sure that my neck does not get bent too far backwards because of my cranial cervical fusion, but in general I do really well with surgeries!

This surgery will be in about 3 weeks on Tuesday May 17 at 11:45 a.m. Of course this date and time may change, but as of right now that is the big day. I will let you guys know if anything changes, but prayers that everything goes smoothly would be greatly appreciated!