The final verdict is surgery. I met with Dr. Domb, my new orthopedic surgeon today, and he has prescribed surgery on both hips conditioned on me getting yet another MRI. Yes, my fourth MRI since September. This, of course, was an opinion rendered by the sixth doctor I have consulted (if you include the one at McKinley - which is definitely a subject of debate) upon taking my fifth or sixth set of x-rays.
At this point, it's getting really old, not to mention expensive. I'm just so tired of being 96 before I've even reached 26. For the most part, I think I've been a good sport. I've held it together when my hip gave out, including most recently on the cruise and at the Kentucky Derby. I've been through endless amounts of poking and prodding, physical therapy, and anti-inflammatories, among other things. This whole process has finally worn me down to a point where I'm just not really sure how much more I can take. Surgery seems like the best course, but a number of things stand in the way--studying for the bar, my PILI fellowship, and Birthright. On the one hand, my health is the priority, but, on the other, Birthright represents the ability to do something I have always wanted to do--something I may need to do in order to feel more like myself than I have since this pain began on August 5. I have had this condition for 276 days, and I can probably count on one hand the number of days when I didn't think about it. A majority of those "carefree days" have been because of special friends who have made this last year of law school so special, despite the negative cloud created by my condition. I look forward to the day when this condition no longer plagues me, but I'm just not sure when that day will be.
Sorry for the depressing post. Hopefully the next one will be filled with better news.
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