Scoping out November

The appt turned into two separate appts. The first one we took the one year xrays (looks the same, really no changes) and did an extra-articular injection of the right hip, or an injection to the surrounding tissue to see if the outer edge of the socket was causing pain when being flexed. I was to call Dr. Z in a few hours to let him know if it helped.

No dice. So he wanted me to set up an appt to get an xray guided intra-articular hip injection at the hospital. I was going on vacation first, then would get the injection done.

The second appt I met Dr. Z at the hospital and was injected in the radiology suite, much like getting an arthrogram. Only the numbing spray he used didn't numb my skin at all, so I felt the whole injection. Ouch! However, the injection really hit the spot and I noticed a difference almost immediately. Same instructions this time too, only call him on Monday since he'd be in surgery the rest of the day.
I was able to sit without pain, lengthen my stride without pain, bring my knee fully against my chest with NO pain at all, and internally rotate my leg while brought up close to me without pain. I'd say the injection lasted about 5 hours. Then the pain came back. I think I will sound really cliche here, but I didn't realize how much pain I've been in!

I talked to Dr. Z about the hip injection working really well for me and he said the only option at this point is MRI (which I can't do) or hip scope. I chose to do the scope. I'm at a point where I feel like I want to try to do something about it. He made sure I understood that he may not be able to actually do anything once in the joint. I reassured him that I know, but I need to try, just to know we've done all we can with the hip. I want so bad to have the right feeling like the left.

The hip scope is set for November 2nd. I don't really expect much, but hopefully he'll be able to clean up adhesions or spurs/HO. I hope it's not just my cartilage deteriorating. Basically that would mean waiting for it to degenerate to the point of needing a replacement. That could take a long time. Or it could be fast. Either way, I'm not ready for it to be my cartilage.