That’s what a surgeon decided three weeks ago, when I was taken into A&E sobbing with pain. Not my surgeon, of course, but a surgeon who had been told to operate on me as an emergency. I was given the requested MRI and diagnosed with avascular necrosis – no blood supply to the remains of my femur, which is now missing its neck and has a crushed ball joint. Trust me, it’s absolute carnage in there:
You’ve just looked at the x-ray that was taken on 30th November when I went to see my own consultant just a few days after being told that my weight and my chronic illnesses made me inoperable and that there was no point in my being in hospital. Nobody had told me that my consultant had been contacted, or that he’d ordered the MRI and an emergency hip replacement! Nope, sorry Mrs W, but you get to spend your life on painkillers and living between your bed and a wheelchair.
Except that I don’t. I hadn’t been in with my consultant for ten minutes before he asked “Can you come in for surgery on 16th December?”
IS THE TARDIS BLUE?? Sign me up!
Don’t get me wrong: I do not like hospitals. And I wasn’t planning on going back so soon after leaving (I mean, you’ve had hospital food right?) but if I’d been asked to be on the ward within the hour I would have done it. Because some idiot was telling me I’d never walk again, or know a pain-free day again (what are those like? I can’t remember) – and now I’m going to have both of those things!
I’m going to have my life back. Tribble Towers shall once again echo with the sound of bread dough being pounded (eventually) and my footfalls on the stairs. By next summer I’ll be jumping into the bath as though I never had to struggle, or end up in tears of pain trying to get out, or use a shower stool. I can start wearing pretty clothes again, instead of whatever’s comfy to pull over my hip. I can do Pokemon hunting on foot, and wear my favourite boots, and and and…
You can tell I’m excited? Yes, I rather thought you could 🙂
Since I’m going in on Wednesday morning to have the operation and I’m already a week behind with study because of all my appointments leading up to admission and surgery, I have no idea when I’ll be able to post again – but please do let me know if you’d like to see photos of the bruises as I heal!