This post is WAY overdue. I've been back working for the past 3 weeks, from home and in the office. Since I write full-time for work, I guess I wasn't so quick to write my blog when the work day was done.
But honestly, I felt like I didn't have much to report.
If you are just tuning in, I was diagnosed with Avascular Necrosis or AVN in my hips and shoulders. This means that my blood stopped circulating to those bones and they were deteriorating.
The reason I have nothing to report is because I still don't know why this happened. This is a condition mostly diagnosed in people in their 60s or older. But I'm 32.
Every doctor I have seen have said they've never seen someone with AVN in their shoulder, though they knew it was possible.
I had surgery on my right shoulder and left hip at the start of February. I've been in a wheelchair since. Getting around could easily be the most frustrating part of the recovery process. The best way I can describe it is that I feel 15-years-old again, but not in good way. I can't drive, I have to have my parents take me everywhere (since my husband works full-time and starts work very early). I feel like I'm always asking permission to do things and having to rely on others. It's hard since I've lived independently for more than a decade.
I miss my independence more than anything. I miss taking my children to and from school and going to the baseball field or the park. I dislike asking co-workers to roll me somewhere, then put my wheelchair in the car, drop me off and roll in me. Then, of course I have to get back to where I came from. I have to ask people to do so much for me.
It feels like so much trouble to get from one place to the next. And I feel like I'm constantly imposing on people, even though I don't think they mind helping me. I guess I'm just being stubborn.
I'll be having surgery on my right hip on March 15. And then I will have to start the recovery process all over for another six weeks.
I don't mean to complain. I certainly know it could be so much worse and I know I have PLENTY to be thankful for. God has helped me through it all and I have supportive family and friends and a beautiful family with the most amazing children. And best of all, I was able to wake up again today to experience all of that.
I desperately still want to know why. And still, after several doctors visit, x-rays, MRIs and blood tests no one seems to know.
For me, it seems like a no-brainer. I had Mirena (IUD) inserted in May of 2011 and by August I was limping due to pain in my left hip. By October, the pain spread to my right hip. In December, my right arm felt broken - unable to do much of anything.
It was then that I thought, "Maybe this could be because of my birth control." And I had it removed.
Though AVN, was detected in my left shoulder, it isn't bad enough to operate on. And I haven't had any pain in that shoulder - Thank God! That could change, but for now, it's doing well and is really the only limb that feels like is working. I can't help but wonder if I saved my left shoulder when I had the Mirena removed.
It just makes sense to me. And no one has given me a better explanation.
I wish I could find someone else in my age range who used Mirena and then developed AVN.
I know that God has a greater plan. I simply cannot question that ... ever. And answers may come with time or they might not. Either way, I might be frustrated, but I know I am blessed just being able to experience this place and the next with the people I love so dearly.
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