Friday, December 30, 2011

What's in a name?

So a couple people have asked why my blog is titled Ehl Dysplastic Man... So the 'Ehl' refers to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, ‘Dysplastic’ refers to hip dysplasia, and ‘Man’ refers to me being a man and obviously a super hero…   I used to say that I’m Superman because I’ve never broken a bone and I rarely get sick, basically I thought I was indestructible haha I guess I couldn’t have been more wrong.

As surgery is getting closer I’m starting to get a little more nervous.  I’ve been having nightmares that the anesthesiologist only administers a paralytic and no anesthetic, basically I’d hear and feel everything that happens but not be able to do anything about it.  It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.  I’m just paranoid and will get over it eventually. 

At my last appointment with Dr. Peters I didn’t really ask what kind of stuff I should do to get the house ready or accommodations I should prepare for now for when I come home after surgery… anyone have any experience with this or any ideas for me???

Monday, December 26, 2011

Intro



My name is Andrew Good, I’m 24 years old and blogging is out of my comfort zone.  I have bilateral hip dysplasia with chronic labral tears, and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (type 3).  I’m having a PAO (periacetabular osteotomy) on my right hip next week and am starting to get a little nervous.   While surfing the web looking for more information and first hand experiences of people who are going through what I am, I was somewhat surprised that there aren’t many accounts from men going through hip problems and surgeries but there are a lot of accounts from women.  Although this shouldn’t surprise me because how many guys want to talk about their feelings right?  Reading some of the women authored blogs was really informative and stuff but I kind of want to relate to a guy… does that make sense?  Maybe not but oh well… 

So my joint problems are relatively new, about a year ago I started to have a little pain and discomfort in my hips and shoulders.  One day last January I was helping my wife fold some sheets and my shoulder decided to pop out of place.  I screamed out in pain and my joints have been on a steep downward slope since then.  After a few weeks of just trying to tough it out and not admit there was something wrong, I caught myself seriously contemplating rolling down the stairs at my apartment rather than suffer through the agonizing pain of walking down the stairs.  It’s kind of funny looking back on catching myself think about rolling down the stairs haha.

I’ve since seen several doctors and specialists, had MRIs, cortisone injections, tried several medications, and now I’m going to have my first of many surgeries.  My orthopedic doctors are Karl Weenig at Central Utah Clinic and Christopher Peters at the University of Utah Orthopedics.  I’m interested in finding a new rheumatologist and maybe finding a geneticist or somebody that can help me more with the Ehlers-Danlos…  

Well, I think that’s it for now, I’m planning on blogging daily once I have the surgery, but maybe I’ll have something to say before then.