03/04/2026
“Remember, I’m a gentle flower…” I told my surgeon with a smirk. He knows I’m nervous about surgeries, because I typically have either a complication or a random side effect. Last Monday was hip replacement #1 and I was ready for it. No anesthesia to irritate my throat or make me super sick. No major physical therapy needed.
Got home, felt great. Knew the block would wear off, so got ahead of it with meds. And then the nerve block wore off on day 3. And there were tears and screams. I had a nerve injury. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkk.
The thing about Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is you never know what you’re going to get. Will everything work out well? Or will there be a complication? It’s always a mystery.
My surgeon lengthened my hip by a few millimeters…which you wouldn’t think is that big of a deal, but you can visibly see the difference in my hip height, and I have to stand on my tippy toes on the other leg to straighten my newly lengthened leg fully. Crazy, right? (NOTE: They will even me out during hip replacement #2!)
So this last week since the surgery has been nothing short of a sh*tshow. 🫠 One leg longer than the other, nerve pain that seriously feels like I am being stung by a wasp, surrounded by a bunch of fire ants, biting at me all in one very small spot on my outer thigh. Sometimes it comes on so strong the tears just start flowing out of my eyes… it’s super unreal. A nerve injury? Really?
And because my other hip is also in need of repair and is getting replaced in April, it is not that easy to get around as it is, much less trying to walk with pain that literally stops me in my tracks. Oh, and then I had a bone chip burrow itself into a little space on my left knee that rendered me basically useless yesterday.
The good news? The bone chip moved along, the gabapentin is starting to kick in to slowly lessen the pain of the nerve injury, and I have taught myself to walk like a rocking horse with my left leg on tippy toes staying behind me and my new hip staying in front of me - this was the only way I could walk without screaming in pain!
The moral of the story? I really am a “delicate flower” and will have injuries like this occur more than the average bear. This particular nerve injury is a “known” potential outcome from an anterior hip replacement, but is not very typical. Probably happened from the hardware they used to keep my leg in place while they were doing the surgery.
This is why it’s “always something” when it comes to My Medical Anomalies ™️ 😵💫
Great news: My new hip feels amazing - very little pain. That’s what we’re ultimately aiming for! Once the nerve pain lessens, I’m going in to do some PT to get this thing moving!
