Sorry for not updating the post last night, but believe me – I wasn’t in any kind of mood to be blogging. (Not like I had time anyways, but that’s a different matter..) SO. Here’s the deal:
The MRI, CT scan, and the bone specialist I saw yesterday all confirmed that I have Fibrous Dysplasia. That link from the Mayo Clinic (MN represent! 
) has a lot of really good information on everything from causes and symptoms to treatment and coping, but their definition is pretty spot on. Fibrous Dysplasia is
Fibrous dysplasia is a bone disorder in which scar-like (fibrous) tissue develops in place of normal bone. As the bone grows, the softer, fibrous tissue expands, weakening the bone. Fibrous dysplasia can cause the affected bone to deform and become brittle.
It can also cause the bone to fracture, which is what happened in my femur. This would explain why the stress fracture in my fibula is almost 100% healed after this time off, but my hip hasn’t seen much of a difference.
What do I do from here? Well, as I’ve learned is the custom in all of Boston health care, they send me to someone else. So now I have to go BACK again to see another doctor who also specializes in bones, but more especially in hips. The way this doctor laid it out for me was that I have three options:
- Let the tissue/bone heal as much as possible, but give up running and all other impact activities.
- Have pins put in to help strengthen the femoral neck
- Have pins + reconstruction done to correct the angle of the bone that has become deformed over the years
I’m gonna tell you right now that none of those options sound like a barrel of fun. But without surgery, Ifeel like I would be in this continuous cycle of like run for 4 months, fracture again, heal for 4 months, run, fracture, heal, run, fracture, heal.. ahh! No good. I’m still learning a lot about what to do from here, and trying to keep my chin up in the process. There was definitely a good solid hour (or two) of tear shedding yesterday (maybe that’s why I feel so dehydrated right now?!) but part of the elevated emotions aren’t even about the hip. School is definitely high stress right now.. I might be changing my major and I’m having to go to all these meetings and appointments for that, work, homework, architecture, cross training in an attempt to stay sane.. it’s definitely true that running is my therapy, and it’s not easy without it.
Well, I’m out for now. I got work to do, models to make, and papers to write.
And because a post isn’t worth anything without the obligatory photos:
me at work
the stellar six
