Yeah, I'm scared...

I was gonna wait to post a blog about the news. Wait until I had more details.

But I want to go ahead and write about it and maybe post it. And then I'm sure I'll edit it over the coming days. Seems I always edit as I reread and figure out a seemingly better way to say what I was thinking.

The news?

Barring unforeseen circumstances, I'm going to have revision hip replacement surgery either in latter August/beginning of September or in November. I should know the date by the end of July after my MRI on July 20 and my next appointment with the surgeon on July 22. I have to schedule the surgery 3 to 4 weeks after an epidural because those are my strongest weeks in regard to the nerve damage.

I had hip replacement surgery in August, 2008. Around October, 2010, I received a phone call from the surgeon informing me that my hip had been recalled. I recall that I responded to the surgeon stunned, "What?" And he repeated the information.

We kept an eye on my hip through 2012. Since I hadn't noticed hip-specific symptoms (up until earlier this year), and since my cobalt and chromium levels as of 2012 were "normal" (on the low side of "moderate" actually), I thought I was in the clear. But, it looks like that's not the case.

I had my cobalt and chromium levels checked on June 10, 2016. One has gone up over 65%, the other over 90%, which indicates my hip may be leeching metals. (Where else would the rise come from?) The levels I have are typically not high enough to cause the widespread nerve damage I've had since 2011. Usually folks with widespread nerve damage have levels about 10x higher than mine. But still, it's not good that they are on the rise. And they may be a bigger factor than we realize with the nerve damage...or at least me being able to heal.

Regardless, the hip is coming out. By me, the sooner the better, unless some sort of unforeseen circumstance is discovered.

Needless to say, I'm scared.

The first hip surgery was no walk in the park. (Though I could walk a great deal better after I recovered! Well, up until the nerve damage which started Spring, 2011.)

Recovery was rough first time around without nerve damage. Now I'll have to manage the nerve damage.

I'm scared. Oh yeah, I already said that. :/

I know I'll have to manage one day at a time, but I've been thinking that I'll have to put my focus on 3 weeks out after the surgery. Once I successfully hit three weeks, then I should be able to make it on through the following months.

Good thing is, my legs and arms and hands and feet are much improved since I added the Charlotte's Web Hemp Extract on June 10, 2015. And I no longer have the severe, earth-sucking heaviness. I don't know if I could have managed a surgery without that improvement.

Also, I'm smaller than the first time around. I used to have thunder thighs. Due to the nerve damage, I've lost over 30 pounds and my thighs are less meaty and less muscly. but maybe muscly enough since I'm biking. I hit over 1000 miles yesterday, for 2016. :)

As the news regarding my hip has sunk in, I've thought of my visit to Grandfather Fir on June 1. Maybe this news is another piece of the puzzle. Perhaps I'll go see him again this upcoming week while I'm taking some days away from work.

~*~

June 10 has become a significant date for me.

• June 10, 2010: I received the Knapp email which was the linchpin for the cascade that followed, an experience I never imagined would happen. It had a severe and traumatizing blow on my psyche.
• June 10, 2015: I added Charlotte's Web Hemp Extract to my regimen in my continued search for answers regarding my ongoing and spreading nerve damage that began in Spring, 2011. I've had significant improvement since then.
• June 10, 2016: I had the appointment with the hip surgeon, which led to the discovery of the increased metals in my system, which may be a factor in my nerve damage.

Maybe on June 10, 2017, I'll be able to hike to Thomas Knob Shelter at Grayson Highlands. I've not hiked it since May, 2014, because I haven't been able to walk that far since.

Thomas Knob is where I had a chance encounter with Rising Tide on that last hike in May, 2014. Rising Tide is the trail name of an AT thru-hiker who recovered from quadriplegia and was thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, 2180ish miles, in 2014. Amazing story. And one I have recalled countless times, which has kept me going time and again in my ongoing search for answers regarding my current disability.

~*~

If I make it through this and actually get well, I think I'll resort to "witch doctors" for any future ailments.

Mercury toxicity, which probably came from the since-removed amalgam fillings in my teeth, was a key factor in my decades-long battle with asthma and immune dysfunction. Once I got the mercury out and my level down, asthma (and later allergies) have been nonexistent for the most part.

Pseudomonas-contaminated alubuterol which I was inhaling through my nebulizer for months in the mid '90s as I struggled to breathe and overcome multiple bouts of pneumonia. Pseudomonas can cause pneumonia. Hundreds of people died. I was lucky.

Hip replacement surgery due to hip degeneration probably caused by the abundance of steroids consumed for  almost two decades to keep me breathing. That hip ended up a recall and may slowly be poisoning me.

The drug terbinafine (generic oral Lamisil) precipitated the current widespread nerve damage I live with.

Not to mention a corrupt licensed mental health therapist.

How could witch-doctory be much worse?

~*~