Post op news

So there's good news and bad news with this post. I had my two week follow up yesterday with Dr. Z and it both surprised me yet confirmed what I really already knew.

Good news:
The FAI portion of the surgery went really well. He showed me the areas he shaved down and showed me how much ROM I have now which is about 105 degrees, which we were both ecstatic about. It might even improve more beyond that! My incisions are healing nicely, no issues there. My lateral thigh/bursa area are extremely tender to touch but it should resolve in the next few months.

Bad news:
He showed me my scope images and what he saw in the hip did not make him happy. My acetabulum (socket) is ok cartilage wise, no further softening since a year and a half ago, just some labral degeneration which he debrided. But my femoral head is looking awful. The cartilage was shredded to pieces. It looked like floating crab meat or parmasean cheese flakes. My femur also had bone spurs on it that reminded me of looking at the knobby part of a dog's chew bone that has the nubs all over it. He ground all the spurs down and smoothed all the cartilage down but overall he was really dissatisfied. He said that I have an arthritic hip and I have to be careful now. Total hip replacement came up a few times. As in, this is the next logical step. It doesn't sound like there's anything left to do to help save it. I asked about the intertrochanteric osteotomy to shift the bad part off the weight bearing zone and he said it'd be a last ditch "hail mary" effort. That didn't sound promising. It's not off the table, but it doesn't sound likely it would be beneficial. My guess is he's thinking it wouldn't delay the THR at this point and it'd be awful to put me through that to only go right into the THR, but we'll see.
It's definately more real now. Last year when the PAO healing was so touch and go, it seemed scary when he said it could be 2 months it could be 20 years before THR, but now after this scope, it's inevitable it's going to happen soon. He's telling me to avoid running and find another avenue of exercise, like swimming. He asked if I was ok with that and I told him no. He conceded to say gentle and very short jogging for 1 or 2 days a week would be "ok" but would really prefer me not to do it at all. So this means 5k's are out. I still plan to ask him if I can run one or two 5k's a year when I see him again in January, so I'll update on that.
Basically right now it's too hard for us to conclude how things are going to turn out because I'm only 2 weeks and a couple days post op. It's to irritated and fresh to know what's happening. He'll have a better handle on it when I come back again and I should know more about the condition of my hip.

At this time, 2 more weeks of crutches then wean. Start PT at 4 weeks post op. I'm cleared to start driving again (yay!) and go back to work at around 6 week mark unless I feel I can go back sooner. Right now I'm not ready for going to work yet. I'm still pretty tired and my leg still hurts alot when I use it more than 5 min.
I can shower without my bench though and I'm able to get dressed standing for the most part. I need a chair if I'm tired and the muscles are fatigued. I'm also capable of light house work (loading/unloading dishwasher and washer and dryer). No vacuuming yet, no bending over to clean bathroom yet.

PT instructions say no squatting or lunges so I won't be doing any type of exercise that requires those motions. I'm still just extremely upset about the no running thing. I really need to reflect on this and decide what is best for me and if I'm willing to give it up for the sake of saving my hip.