Over the winter, I did what many less serious triathletes and runners do, I cross-trained. I am definitely a fair-weather runner/cyclist. I also find it difficult to find those daylight hours for exercising outdoors during the school semester. Say hello to Zumba. I had fun. I sweated. I laughed. I groaned. I made new friends. Fast forward a few weeks of only going once a week and I discovered a new pain in my right hip. Now hip pain isn’t new to me. I have had ongoing issues with my hips since about 2005. But it was always “bursitis”. Two primary care docs and two orthopedic/sports docs said so. So I went with the flow. Cortisone injections did seem to help for a few days. Voltarin pills got me through my first marathon. But I digress. This Zumba-induced pain was new and it was different enough from over-use injuries that plague most distance athletes, that I sought medical attention once again. I was referred to a family practice doctor who specializes in sports medicine. He promptly referred me to an athletic trainer for exercises. I thought this was a bit odd but went with the flow once again. It didn’t take me long to figure out that this wasn’t helping. I sent out a call to my friends on Facebook and was hooked up with a PT who specializes in this type of thing. She saw me FOR FREE! Wow. When the heck does that ever happen? So I offered to teach a class for her if she needed me to. And I have always said that I have nothing to trade!
Long story short, my insurance company finally authorized me to visit an out-of-network orthopedic surgeon. This is just such good news that you are probably wondering what is up with the title of this post. Well, put your hand up if you have ever had an MRA of the hip, or anywhere really. They take a big long needle and insert it into your hip joint and inject dye. Then they stick you in the MRI machine for about half an hour. I am not so concerned about being in the MRI. It is the long pointy thing they want to jab into my joint. I am feeling a bit sick just thinking about it. I cannot sleep just thinking about it (and this explains why I am up blogging instead of sleeping at 12:30 PM when I need to be up at 6 AM in the morning). So there it is. My little bit of anxiety.
springcleanedmom 