Number 2

There is an old proverb about unfortunate events happening in threes. I never really paid much attention in the past, but if that proverb is true, then I guess we're waiting to see what number 3 will be.

Last Saturday was a hard day for me. My left hip yelped in pain every time I moved in a way it didn't like... and who knew what kind of movement it wouldn't like? That hip also tried, a number of times throughout the day, to buckle out from under me. I had first noticed a yelp of pain from it about 2 weeks ago, when I semi-woke up in the middle of the night and tried to use my legs to lift my hips off the mattress to shift my body into a new position. One hip said, "I don't want to!"

Fully awake, I thought, "That's new. I wonder what it means? Guess I'll keep an eye on it, see how long it takes before it bothers me enough to call the doctor." Well, I can't call the doctor's office on a Saturday, but I definitely resolved to call on Monday. I managed to get an appointment for Tuesday.

The tentative theory is that I've got arthritis in my left hip. I'm not surprised, because the arthritis in my knees got so bad, I've had both knees replaced. (Not at the same time, thank goodness.) And I also have arthritis in my shoulders, which, frankly, I thought would be the next piece of me to be replaced, but so far they are holding in there.

So, Wednesday, I went to the radiology clinic to get x-rays taken of my left hip, to determine how bad the arthritis is. Is it already bone on bone? Then I need a hip replacement. If it's not that bad, and we can control the pain with medicines, then we can hold off for a while. They currently have me on anti-inflammatories.

In the meantime, my days have been a roller coaster between occasional burps of pain, to more often yelps of pain that make me walk very carefully and sit down or get up slowly, to bouts of "I can't concentrate right now, I'm going to lay down flat on my back for an hour or so and see if that helps." Laying down does usually help, although the first 10 minutes of it, while my back is trying to relax, can be a little rough.

The pills seem to be helping. Maybe we can get through our next cruise (April) and a wedding (May) before we need to start seriously thinking about replacing a hip.

Now, let's hope the 3rd thing to happen is comparatively mild, like a cold.