The long road to a diagnosis ...

I feel like I need to preface this post by saying I always ran, but was never really a runner. I never thought I would be nor did I care to be. I was fine running 1-2 miles, 3x per week. However, I got bit by a running bug, and was asked to join some friends in running a 10k. I caved and did it, and during my training was when I decided to run a Half Marathon, bc "I was already halfway there", and maybe also bc I was up to running a 10k 4 months before the actual race, so I just decided to push myself more.

I didn't end up falling in love with it until about 4 months of really pushing myself. Of course, I still had horrible runs and hated every second, but for the most part, I loved it and feel like I found my nitch. Enter Half Marathon #1. It was just "meh". So I signed up for another just 7 weeks after the first, and it was amazing. So amazing that I was contemplating doing a full marathon a year away (for fall of 2014).  Except, I started getting this nagging hip pain on my right side ...

I went back to my orthopedic surgeon again. Oh wait I forgot to mention the first visit. Basically it was in between half marathon 1 & 2, bc my knee was killing me. He gave me a steroid pack hat I took for one week, and that did the trick completely. (But now that I have a diagnosis of FAI, I know the knee pain was related. More on that later.)

Back to my 2nd ortho visit, where I addressed my hip pain. He diagnosed me with trochanteric bursitis, and told me it should go away on its own, but if it doesn't, to come back in a month.

So, a month passed, and it was back at the ortho bc the pain did not go away. In fact, I distinctly remember during this "month wait", going out for a 9 mile run, and it was brutal. I got to 5 miles and called my husband crying to come pick me up. Eventually I made him take me back bc I wasn't a quitter. I would start running and it was extremely painful, but when I got into the groove it was decent. One time I stopped and started and a horrible flash of pain ran down my groin into my leg and hip, but I pushed through. That was my last longer distance run to date, in mid December 2013.

But back to the ortho for a follow up bc the pain was still present, and he decides to give me a cortisone shot. This was December 23, 2013, and by the beginning of the new year the pain had not decreased at all. I put a call back in to the ortho, and he said to take some time off of running. Onward to a 2nd opinion ...

On January 6, 2014, I went to a different ortho. This experience was awful- but mainly bc of the 2 hour wait and 5 minute actual visit with the doctor, who pretty much concurred with the first ortho in that it was bursitis. Bah humbug!

Another month passed, and I remember my first ortho had mentioned trying the same steroid pack that I had taken for me knee. I decided to give it a go bc I wanted to try everything to get my hip back to normal. I hadn't been running as much yet I was still eating like a long distance runner. Not great for my weight! My ortho also said he wanted me to go to Physical Therapy for one month in addition to the steroid pack. So for the entire month of February, I was dedicated to PT twice a week, plus 4-5 days per week at home. I'd also taken up strength training to build some muscle in my upper body in the meantime.

Disclaimer: since turning into a runner, I have declared myself a fitness fanatic, and have to be doing something to keep my heart rate up and body looking slim!

During one of my PT sessions, my therapist mentioned a labrum tear bc of the pain in my groin. She said there weren't many doctors in my area that dealt with this, that I'd have to go to Ohio State or Cleveland- the two areas closest to me, but first I should give PT a chance.

In the meantime, I was catching up with a high school friend on Facebook, who mentions her previous hip surgery, and I begin to bombard her message box with all kinds of questions. She had FAI surgery in Cleveland, but said if she had to do it all over again, she'd go to OSU. 

Enter my mind going a million miles per second, and my fingers all over google on the iPad. 

Maybe I had FAI...

I finished up with my PT sessions and went back to my ortho for a follow up. I mention FAI and labrum tears, and he agrees that they don't do those in our area, and he'd refer me out. It was then that I decided on my own, to make an appointment with a doctor at OSU, which is 2 hours away from us. 

I feel like I had exhausted all options on treatment- rest, PT, cortisone shot, steroid pack. It was time to move forward and not waste anymore time.

I made my appointment with Dr. Ryan at OSU for the beginning of May...