Buckle up

More than four hours of my Thursday was spent visiting The Stadium Clinic to see one of the Sydney Swans’ orthopedic guys about my hip issues.

It’s a bit random that I ended up seeing him. He’s part of The Warrior – DD’s personal trainer, who also trains footy teams – network. DD’s physiotherapist Bryan is part of the Warrior network too.

Tho ortho guy is apparently a legend in medical circles and normally works with ACL injuries, but he agreed to see me because Bryan texted him.

And bless DD, he drove me there and sat patiently beside me for it all.

I got a heap of x-rays done at the clinic before my appointment and it’s a good thing I cancelled the cortisone injection in my spine because he said it was looking great, in the top 10% of spines for my age.

He was surprised it was looking so good considering I have mild scoliosis. But woo-hoo!

My hip, on the other hand, is a shocker. He said half the tendons feeding into it are in very poor shape. My tendonitis is in the top 10% worst he’s seen.

The cause is probably the dreaded menopause messing with my hormones, combined with old injuries.

So what do I do about it? Well, here’s the surprise … he said I needed to book a holiday to the Sunshine Coast because that’s where the best women’s hip physio in Australia is located.

He wants me to go there and have two or three long sessions over a few days and sip cocktails at Noosa in between. Don’t mind the sound of that!

(He didn’t mention cocktails, that’s my embellishment.)

I also have to stop doing Pump classes and go back to very, very basic stuff until all the tendons heal.

He wants me to do a physio-exercise class that’s near me instead.

And he sent me for a cortisone injection in my hip afterwards, which was a shocker, very, very hurty. But the relief should kick in soon.

I have to take it easy for the next week, so no weekend walks.

The fly in the ointment is that the ortho guy took one look at Freddie the Fibroid on the x-rays and said he needed to come out because he’s putting too much pressure on all the parts of my body that surround him.

Here’s my latest Freddie selfie …

But he said he’d rather they didn’t give me the equivalent of a caesarean to get him out, so I need advice on whether he’s too big … as my friend Megz would say … for the surgical equivalent of removing my muffler through my tailpipe.

I also need advice on whether I get Freddie removed first, then go on holidays to the Sunshine Coast for hip rehab.

Decisions, decision …

OK, time to get out of bed and test my hip. Have a great weekend.

Song of the day: Huey Lewis “Hip to be square”