four weeks post-op (almost)
I was able to start at physical therapy this week. I’m not allowed to do much because I’m limited in both weight bearing and range of motion. I’m working with a new PT. I’m not sure how I feel about her yet. She seems eager to help me but doesn’t quite understand my limitations. She claims to have worked with EDS patients before. However she said to me that “they got tired of having surgeries so they decided to do acupuncture instead” which is fine but that doesn’t treat instability and that’s the reason I’ve had so many surgeries. I’ve only seen her twice but she seems to really want to push me when I need the exact opposite. My Ortho’s protocol is literally three sentences long because he rarely does this surgery so he doesn’t have a real protocol. It says something about me being 50% weight bearing this week and off crutches by week eight. I’ve been on crutches for over 18 months...I’m not sure why she thinks I’ll magically be off them just because a piece of paper says I should be. Anyway, Tuesday (10/8) was my evaluation so I didn’t have any real exercises but Thursday I did. She also added some for my ankles, knee, and core because she’s freaked out about my hypermobility. She said my left kneecap is “floating and sitting too high.” Since Thursday (10/10), I’ve had increased pain in my hip. I didn’t fall asleep until 5am because the pain was radiating down my leg and my hip was spasming on & off. I haven’t been able to weight bear much on my leg since then so I’m not sure what happened. I’m hoping the pain settles down soon.
On Wednesday (10/9), I had a hearing for disability. I got approved while I was there. Usually people have to wait 6-12 weeks for a decision. Apparently, my case my strong enough to warrant a decision on the bench. All I did was tell the judge about my past surgeries and my ongoing struggle with hip instability. She let my lawyer ask me one question but didn’t even let the vocational expert talk before saying she had enough information to make her decision. I hate that it had to come down to this but I am very grateful that I got approved without much hassle. I’m not sure what I would have done if I was denied because my hip is a mess and I’m going to need knee surgery again and it’s just nice to have this while my body is getting sorted out.