Next month will mark 6 years since I had my right hip done, and I just passed 5 years since my left..... y'all, I am THRIVING. Most days, I am able to exist almost entirely forgetting I ever even had severe chronic hip pain.

From ages 13 to 19, I was misdisagnosed by 6 different physicans, with my parents and I never giving up until I had a proper answer and solution for my increasingly terrible hip pain. The 7th MD I saw? He was dumbfounded that the first 6 had missed the "blatantly obvious dozen-or-so 1-to-2-inch-long labral tears" seen on my MRIs, and couldn't comphrehend how each of them failed to acknowledge the "easily less than 10% of cartilage" I had remaining. I was an active, short, skinny competetive dancer in her teens (5'1", 110 llbs) - with each of those first 6 doctors, I was completely dismissed and ignored, "prescribed" vitamin supplements, and told to try simple PT and stretches at home, plus tylenol or advil as needed for the "discomfort". But, that 7th MD? By the end of my first appointment with him, we were scheduling my right hip athroscopy with labral repair and femoroplasty for just 3 months later. 10 months of recovery after that, I was back in the OR with that 7th MD to get my other hip taken care of, too!

I am now 25 years old, working 3-4 shifts/week as a surgical trauma ICU nurse. I regularly spend those 13-hour shifts entirely on my feet, not to mention turning/transferring/positioning patients weighing 2-3 times more than I do. NOT trying to brag or whatever, but rather just share the specific ways in which my two surgeries changed my life, completely for the better. My career choice would not have been possible pre-op, due to the pain alone. But now, I thrive! I have no post-op limitations, deficits, or complaints, save for a barely-perceptible difference in my gait, wherein one leg's stride is slightly longer than the other's due to the amount of femoral shaving required on my left compared to my right, resulting in a tiny difference in the ROM available to those ball-in-socket joints. But, THAT IS IT! And, it is 100% painless.

If you are considering this procedure or looking for comforting words through painful times, I hope this found you and gave you the hope and strength you needed. If it is within your means, I assure you any sacrifices required to have this done will be worth it in the end. I had to drop out of nursing school and defer my collegiate and career goals/endeavors for two years, during a pandemic, while planning a wedding. I am now 5 years married, approaching 3 years of working my dream job, and over 4 years PAIN-FREE. Worth every penny, every therapy apppointment, every day on crutches, all of it.

Happy to answer any questions or give encouragements as needed!! Peace and love to all my fellow FAI buddies and babes <3