In my last post, the pain, weakness and lack of mobility in my hip wasn’t getting better. In fact, it was continuing to slowly get worse, as much as I didn’t want to admit it to myself. 

In October 2023, I went to Sardinia to play in a 4-day beach ultimate tournament. It was a dream come true, but it was difficult to play b/c of my hip. I could mask the pain for only so long with NSAIDs, and even then, I still was effectively running on one leg. 

When I got back was when I decided to take Dr. Marie’s advice and consult an orthopedist.

I went to Kaiser orthopedics in November 2023 to meet with a surgeon. It didn’t take him long to recommend surgery. Maybe that’s not a surprise – he’s a surgeon, after all. But my x-ray did show significant degeneration in the joint. The official diagnosis: “severe osteoarthritis of the left hip”. And the recommendation was for a total hip replacement. Due to the severity of the degeneration, there were no half measures. My choices were to continue to do what I was doing or get the surgery.

I decided NOT to go ahead with surgery. I wasn’t ready emotionally or psychologically. I wanted to make one last ditch effort to solve these issues with strengthening, stretching, and nervous system support. At the same time, to prepare myself, I started doing research into hip replacements, and talking with people who had the procedure done.

In my next post I’ll talk about the measures I took to try to stave off surgery, and my journey towards acceptance.