I've decided that I *WILL* get better about blogging. It helps my mind, and I love looking back at all the memories. I will try to fill in some gaps of the past several years, but mostly I will be starting with now and working my way forward. But to keep you in the loop of what is going on with G2 I have to start with the beginning of the story from the end of September 2021...
The last week in September 2021 was homecoming week for our school. There is always powder-puff football for the girls to compete in and volleyball for the boys to compete in. While hanging out with friends during the volleyball games G2 was playing around and jumped up. Upon landing she had pain in her leg. Her Cross Country coaches were able to get her to see the trainer that goes to the school to work with the athletes. The trainer told her no running for a little bit, meaning G2 had to miss out on her first year able to do the awesome Cross Country tradition.
What is that awesome tradition, you ask? Each year the high school Cross Country team runs the football from the opposing teams football field to our football field. She was bummed, but the coaches still let her ride with them to be a part of the group. After rest and stretching she was still hurting but refused to see the trainer because she didn't want to be told she couldn't run. She also wasn't willing to miss school to go to the doctor. So, she just was hurting while continuing to power through to continue on with Cross Country.
photo taken 1021/2022, right after G3 qualified for state
G2 finished Cross Country season and went straight into basketball season. Her pain was continuing to get worse but still not willing to miss school for me to get her into the doctor. Finally, when winter break came around at the end of December, she let me get her in to a doctor. They did an x-ray and a physical exam. They didn't see anything wrong on the x-ray. They told us to try physical therapy and then the next month come back and see the sports medicine doctor.
Off to physical therapy we went. We were going 2-3 times a week. The pain was mainly in her left upper thigh with some tenderness in her left hip. She was the perfect patient, doing everything that was asked of her in and out of the office. She was getting to the point that playing basketball was becoming too much. She had to decide if she wanted to sit out basketball, track, or softball. She chose to sit out of basketball because the others are more important to her. She stayed on the team and supported her teammates completely.
When we saw the sports medicine he did a physical exam, asked some questions, and then said an MRI of the hip with contrast was the next step. So, we continued with PT and waited for the MRI. The MRI didn't take too much time and they told G2 that she handled the contrast injection much better than most adults. This girl is a trouper y'all!!
When the results of the MRI were back we saw the sports doctor again. He said the radiologist saw what could possibly be a tear but after looking it over with a hip guy they didn't think that was the issue and suggested a steroid injection. That needle was HUGE and G2 hated every second of it, but we were willing to try anything at this point. He also told her that she could try going back to her regular activities (sports and such) since there didn't seem to be any mechanical issues. We continued on with PT and waited another month to go back to the sports doctor.
The next visit with the doctor was upsetting for all us. Because the X-Ray nor MRI showed anything* and the steroid injection didn't help we were told there was nothing else they could do for us. We were also told to discontinue PT because it also didn't seem to be helping. We left feeling defeated and with no direction on how to get our girl feeling better.
Track season began and we quickly learned the things G2 could and could not do. None of it was without pain though. Her coaches were great and worked with her and put her in the races she was most comfortable doing. She had times that matched teammates and she had a great time despite how miserable she was.
Softball season seemed to be a struggle. Pitching used too much of her hip and caused pain. Batting and running bases also caused pain. She continued to show up every day and do whatever she could. She was the most supportive member of the team even when she didn't get to play as much as she would have liked or was used to.
During the summer she tried to attend Cross Country summer workouts and ended up having to bike instead of running. After many discussions we decided we needed to start back to physical therapy, because even though she didn't get better while going it at least kept her from getting worse. G2 also decided to try dry needling, something that her physical therapist had brought up numerous times previously. She wasn't happy doing it but wanted to get back to running and get rid of the pain!
She would get dry needling done twice a week and continue to do her workouts and attend summer workouts turned Cross Country practices as school began. The PT suggested we get a running analysist done and sent us to a guy she knew. We went to him, while continuing the regular PT sessions. He had G2 run on a treadmill while he videoed from different angles to get the footage he needed for the analysist. During this time the inner thigh pain lessened but the tenderness in the hip turned to bad pain.
When we got the report back, he gave her some things to work on and worked with the regular PT to build a return to run plan. We felt like there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel! G2 started the return to run plan and was so happy. She moved from the first level to the second. Then the pain got to be too bad. She had to stop running again. We felt devastation all over again. We didn't know what to do. She cried. I cried.
She tried going to the pool to exercise, because water therapy is supposed to be great. She didn't tolerate that very well either. We were at a complete loss.
The physical therapist mentioned an orthopedic doctor that happens to be a hip specialist as well as a sports medicine doctor. She suggested maybe going to this other doctor for a second opinion. So, during the first week of October I contacted the first place to get the records sent over and start the process to get another opinion. I was told it would be 7-10 business days for the records to get there. After 2.5 weeks I called to find out if they had received the records and they hadn't. Ugh! I let another week and a half go by before calling again. The new place still hadn't received the records! I asked them to just schedule us and I would figure it out.
We had to schedule out 2 weeks, but we were finally going to see someone else. I called the original doctor's office's medical records department. The Clinton office NEVER sent the medical records department the request to send records. 👿 The lady I talked to did not sound happy but was getting it taken care of.
We saw the new doctor, Dr Darmafall, the week before Thanksgiving. She didn't do any new testing. After looking at the MRI from February she thinks there is an anterior labum tear in G2's hip. She showed us what the radiologist had seen and doesn't think that is an issue based on the symptoms. She also explained to us how/why the previous doctor didn't see or think there was the tear that she was seeing. They were looking at 5 mm slices, but with how little G2 is you have to look at smaller sections. She wants us to go to a colleague of hers to get an injection in the hip joint, under ultrasound. The injection will be a numbing agent, depending on how that goes it will tell us about the tear. From there she may be scheduled for surgery, for them to go in with a scope to repair it. That appointment is this Thursday, December 1st.
During Cross Country season, even though she was devastated to not be running herself, she was the BIGGEST cheerleader for G3. She cheered her on and encouraged her at each and every meet. When G3 qualified for state (that will get its own post) she was more excited than even G3 I think. She has a great attitude and keeps talking about when she qualifies next year. This girl is amazing and resilient. But this is all taking its toll on her and becoming more than either of us can bear for much longer.
Please keep our girl in your thoughts and prayers as we still have a long road of figuring out what is wrong and healing ahead!
