My Journey through Hip Labrum Recovery: Entry 1 - Pre-Op

I am posting this entry coming off of an 8th place finish in my last race of the 2013 season, the Galveston 5150, in which my effort qualified me to race in the 2014 Hy-Vee WTC National Championships in Milwaukee, WI. We accomplished so many things this year, conquering Ironman, finishing in the top 10% of each race thereafter and qualifying for Hy-Vee. The journey was everything I had hoped for spiritually, physically and emotionally.

On July 31, 2013 I was well into a 6 mile planned run when I began to notice what felt like a side stitch on my right side. Since I was only a couple of miles from home, I decided to keep on trucking, told myself to suck it up and drank some water. The pain turned deeper over the next few days and was covering my lower abdominal wall, groin and quad. I started the self-diagnosis a week later and concluded that I had developed a sports hernia (WebMD is super scientific). I called the Ironman Sports Medicine Institute and they referred me to Dr. Mark Adickes, a very well respected hip and pelvic surgeon who has worked on many of the professional athletes here in Houston. After three weeks of dealing with the pain, I was finally able to see Dr. Adickes who immediately diagnosed hip dysplasia with possible sports hernia and ordered an arthrogram with four MRI's of the pelvis and hip.

The arthrogram was fairly uncomfortable as they basically take a 9 inch needle and gradually push it into your hip joint while injecting a dye which can be seen on the MRI's. The radiologist who did my arthrogram told me that he was confident there was "trauma" but would not elaborate as that was my doc's job. After four hours in the MRI machine, I was finally able to head home. I didn't hear back from the ortho's office for almost a week, so I finally called them and got the update (Adickes was out of town and was going to call the next day, sure....). It was not what I wanted to hear...torn labrum in the hip, negative sports hernia. Surgery recommended. Here is a simple diagram of the location of a labrum tear:

The next part of my journey is bittersweet. It's the blood, sweat, tears and dedication to the sport that transformed my life for the better; it's also the cause of the injury. My surgery is on October 10, less than two weeks, and I will know when I wake up the extent of the damage and potential recovery time. Two scars, best case scenario, five, tough hill to climb. Most athletes take 5-6 months to fully heal (think Ed Reed of the Houston Texans) which is an eternity for endurance athletes who work out everyday. The physical therapy will be the key to recovering quickly and I hope to be in treatment the day after the surgery.

I plan on keeping this blog going through the entire recovery so that others out there like me can see what it takes to get through the repair. Stay tuned.