And the hits just keep on coming....

It's called Avascular Necrosis (AVN)- According to the Internet "AVN is death of bone tissue due to a lack of blood supply. This can lead to tiny breaks in the bone and the bone's eventual collapse. AVN most often affects the head of the thighbone (femur), causing hip pain. But it may affect other bones as well." Guess what? I have it.

The story goes like this: 3 months or so ago I was pushing a cart at work when it felt like I pulled a muscle in my butt and groin. After a week of limping I finally went to see a Doctor at the VA (its free and I figured he would just give me some pain meds). He told me he thought I had pulled my piriformis muscle, which is a muscle deep in my hip. He put me on light duty at work for a week and gave me pain meds. After a week my butt started feeling a little better.


Around that same time The Misses was leaving for her first training. You can imagine as a new married couple there was a little (okay a lot) more loving going on than usual. Pretty soon I was back limping around the house and work. The pain started going down my leg into my knee and shin. I was sure I had a sex injury, or at least that was what I was telling people. I thought since The Misses was going to be gone for a long... long.... long.... time my sex injury would heel. Well it didn't.

Last week I went back to the VA Doctor and told him I was still in pain.
" My wife, the nurse thought I should mention some medicine I use to take."
"What medicine Is that?" he mumbled while typing on the computer.
"Prednisone." I said matter of factly.
"SHIT!"
I don't know if he was saying shit because he should have thought to ask that, or he was pissed I hadn't mentioned it in the first place. Prednisone is a horrible steroid I was taking to combat the effects of my Ulcerative Colitis flare ups. The crappy thing about this drug is how much you have to take. It isn't one of those that once you use up the bottle your done. You have to be weaned off it. With as big of doses as I was taking it would take me forever to get off it.

The Doctor order me an xray for that day. The xray department is well known for their cute xray techs. They all look like little girls to me, but the guys in my section seem to take a lot longer when they have to take something to this area. One of the cute techs came and called my name. I followed her into one of the room where waiting was another tech. She was there doing some training. Unfortunately I wasn't wearing scrubs so she handed me a lovely gown and told me to get down to my underwear. As I took of my shoes it hit me. You see I work hard everyday at work. I am constantly running from section to section issuing items and fixing problems. Doing this I work up a sweat. I wouldn't say I have stinky feet, but after a long day there is an odor. As I stood there in the gown I tried waving my feet around trying to dry them off. My hip was killing, but I was more nervous to have these cute girls smelling my stinky feet. Soon they both came in and asked me to lay down on the table. They both were leaning over my feet trying to move the xray into place. I was trying to decide if I should say something. If I did, what would I say? So I just laid there embarrassed as hell.

The xrays came back "suspicious" and an MRI was scheduled for the next week. The MRI was uneventful. It consisted of laying in a small tube staring at nothing for 35 minutes. When I was finished the tech told me "I can see why you are limping." When I asked for more information he told me he wasn't the doctor so he couldn't go into more details. I had an appointment the next day with the doctor so all I could do was wait.

The next day my appointment was first thing in the morning. At the time of my appointment the MRI hadn't been read by the radiologist. The Doctor took my number and told me he would call as soon as he knew anything. Meanwhile The Misses is going a bit crazy. She like lots of information and I just didn't have any to give. She knew when my appointment was so she called right after. I told her I didn't know anything. Wouldn't you know right after I got off the phone with her the Doctor called.

"I have some bad news. You have avascular necrosis...." He told me that the steroids had restricted the blood flow to my femur and it was dying. The reason bones are so strong is because they constantly heal and fix themselves with blood. In both femurs blood wasn't getting to the heads and they were slowly dying. The reason my right one hurt so bad is I have a compound fracture.

He told me he wasn't an orthopedic specialist, but from what he researched the fix to this problem is hip replacements. As I heard this my eyes began to well up with tears. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. More surgeries. He suggested that I make an appointment with several orthopedic surgeons. He didn't believe the ones at the VA were the right ones for me. I thanked him for the information and went back to work.

On my way home from work I called my mom in tears. "Oh crap" is what she said. I feel so bad telling her this stuff. There isn't a mom out there that worries more about her family. I know she hasn't slept well since I told her. That night I laid in bed trying to decide if I should tell The Misses. I didn't want her too upset over there. I was concerned she wouldn't be able to keep her head in the game. In the end I decided to tell her.

"Hey, what did you find out?"
"I have a fracture in my tibia (I meant femur but wasn't thinking straight)."
"Tibia? I thought it was something in the femur?'
"Oh yeah, that's the one." I replied
"Well that's good at least we know what it is."
"There is more to it" I forced myself to say through the lump in my throat.
Click the phone went dead. Over in Kuwait you can imagine they don't get the best reception. So we get cut off a lot.
My phone finally rang again.
"What do you mean there is more to it?" She immediately asks.
"I have Avascular Necrosis." As the tears start rolling down my face.
"No no no. What does it all mean?"
"I am probably going to have to have hip replacements."
I didn't hear anything in return. She finally starts talking again all chocked up. I reassured that I will be okay. Then I tried to explain as much as I know about it.


So that is where I am. I have another disease caused by Ulcerative Colitis. My Mom, Sister, and I are in the process of finding the right orthopedic surgeon. From what I hear there are good ones and bad ones. I'm only 31 years old. I need to find one that is confident he can make the replacements last 15 to 20 years.

I am telling everyone I am doing okay. I don't know how much truth there is to it, but I have to be okay. I wont let my bad health win.