25y Female, South Australia
Link to picture at bottom of post.
Greetings readers.
I have recorded my entire AN experience on this forum.
My last post 2 weeks ago was my 1-year post op update:
https://www.anausa.org/smf/index.php?topic=25555.msg979784686#msg979784686
For all my other posts and photos, please see below links if interested:
Diagnosis Information
https://www.anausa.org/smf/index.php?topic=25305.msg979783463#msg979783463
Surgery Booked - Pre Surgery Information
https://www.anausa.org/smf/index.php?topic=25334.msg979783616#msg979783616
10 Days Post Op - includes photos
https://www.anausa.org/smf/index.php?topic=25348.msg979783728#msg979783728
AN Surgery Update 7 Weeks & Thoughts on SSD
https://www.anausa.org/smf/index.php?topic=25390.msg979783921#msg979783921This post is not so much about the AN surgery. I was injured from the surgery and am struggling to understand how to deal with the unexpected fallout of this.
Very brief TLDR:- Surgery on right side AN 12 hours
- Upon waking, pain everywhere - left rib cage hematoma size of baseball and extreme left side hip pain
- Couldn’t walk for a week due to pain, used wheelchair
- After wheelchair hobbled around for a few more weeks
- Gradually recovered to about 80%
- Can walk and experience pain after extended exercise
- Physio nil effect
- 12 months later hip still doesn’t function as it did pre-surgery
- Hip external rotation significantly reduced by 50%
- Diagnosed gluteal tendonopathy December 23
___________________________
I am dealing with a sense of let down I cannot describe. Since the surgery in Jan last year my hip has never been the same. I thought it would get better over time but it’s only gotten better to a certain point. Like 80%. Hip injury has developed into a chronic condition which has snowballed and affected every area of my life….
I did physio for a while for this and saw no improvements in hip function or pain (photo included at bottom of post) so I got hopeless and stopped going. A couple months ago I had a renewed energy to get this hip problem looked into further. I had a couple scans, xray and ultrasound on the hip and the results were maybe bursitis. GP (family doctor) confirmed bursitis and recommended cortisone shot. I didn’t like this and felt that it wasn’t the right issue, and I didn’t want a shot at that time, something in me just said “no”.
So it took me a while to see someone else but I got an appointment with an orthopaedic specialist at a private hospital who sent me for a more in depth scan using MRI. This scan showed it was not bursitis, but a tendonopathy. Basically my tendons have been pinched and are showing aggravation. Due to my X-rays which showed no issue with my hip bones, and my young age, the conclusion is this was not a pre-existing issue exacerbated by surgery, rather it is in all likelihood caused from the extended pressure during surgery. The prognosis for this is months to years to heal if ever. Given that I have had this for a year already, I assume it’s going to take a very long time, if it even does get back to normal. My “daily life” is fairly normal, I am glad that I can walk without assistance but after some time walking I feel pain. I have to modify my stretches and exercises that I had no problem doing pre surgery. I can’t sit the same, I can’t stand the same, I can’t sleep the same, even my intimate life has been affected by the pain, in ways I don’t wish to share publicly. In every aspect, it is a constant reminder that I have a chronic issue preventing my body from working normally.
I’ve wanted very much to get back into running as that was a big part of my life pre surgery and I wanted to do more trail running races like I had prior to AN diagnosis. I had completed my first 28km trail race in 2022 and was training for more, I had my eyes set on the 50k before all this happened. I love trail running. As it stands, I can’t envision any time in the near future where I will be able to get back there again. The sense of loss from this is beyond words.
I’ve been having a stressful time trying to sort out what I need to do to get my body back into shape to be able to even jog around my block again without excessive pain. There is good news from the orthopaedic specialist that my exercise won’t re-injure my hip, but I will need to be mindful of feeling when my hip is stressed. So I am allowed to exercise which is good. But I don’t know how to work with this new problem, and I have newly little faith in medical “professionals” for their guidance. Additionally I have already spent so much of my resources on treatments which have had nil effect. I am lost and I don’t know what to do anymore.
Since it’s been causing me so much stress my partner helped me get an appointment with a lawyer. Just so that I could look at any options of compensation since I have spent thousands of dollars on treatments, scans, specialists, and the psychological impact this has had on me since losing running has been huge. I think that played a big part of why I got so badly depressed in June last year… I lost a will to live. I am better now, thanks to the support around me, and plain old perseverance. At the time I just had nothing left. I didn’t share my depression on any previous posts as I prefer to keep that private.
US readers, keep in mind I live in Australia and am dealing with the Australian legal system.
I saw the lawyer today and it did not go at all how I wanted to. It is not an open and shut case like I thought it would be. With regards to medical neglect compensation claims, they mainly look at claims for economic loss from not being able to work due to the injury, but I haven’t had that problem (fortunately, but I have a solid work ethic and can work through anything) and other costs incurred such as if I needed a carer to help with daily tasks. The lesser claim is psychological, but it’s speculative and uncertain. There would be a lot going against me to prove the point of this injury was medical neglect, and further to show the damage it has caused.
I can’t even get into how much the whole legal process would have cost, more thousands of dollars. Lawyer broke all the parts down but it would easily have cost minimum $6k AUD to get it off the ground and would increase by the thousands to proceed, and increase by more thousands if the case became more complicated. If I won the claim I’d get some of that back but I’d still have to pay the lawyer 40-50% of my compensation!
I’d also have to pay for the expert opinions myself which are thousands of dollars for their work, thousands of dollars more for written reports by them.
It’s just such a slog. I can’t imagine how I would have even dealt with this if my income had have been affected by the injury??? Because then I’d have had no money to pay for this in the first place. How is any of this supposed to work?
I don’t come from a financially well off family and am trying to break the cycle, so I don’t have the option to consider asking for help from anyone. There are legal assistance programs to supplement costs, but get this - if your claim doesn’t go through you don’t pay them back “no win no fee”, but if your claim goes through to success you have to pay them back double!!!! Shocking.
I was hoping I could have my fees of all the specialists and treatments covered since they’re expensive and have taken so much of my time/resources. It would have felt like I then had something “back” from this all. Even though it doesn’t change my injury.
I broke down after the meeting. I have been so let down. I thought there were people there to help me but they all want their piece and turns out it’s really uncertain if I’d have a successful claim anyway. The way I see it is it’s just betting on it, spending thousands of dollars (the only money I have left after all the treatments) to maybe get some money back, and what I’d get back wouldn’t be very much after I pay the lawyer for their service.
I feel like a bit of me has been taken away that I can’t get back, and nobody cares. I went into surgery with a perfectly more than able body and came out with a chronic condition that needs continual management. I am feeling so heartbroken. During surgery someone was not as careful as they should have been and now my life is different because of that, and there’s no follow up or closure. I feel like a hit and run victim.
When going into surgery and even immediately after I was feeling good and I was optimistic. I figured this is all fine and should settle down and things would get back to normal. I said I would do the surgery all over again even with the same outcome because I was so grateful not to have facial palsy. My stance on that has changed. I was unphased at the beginning but now I am so disappointed, angry, hurt, and let down. At the time, I thought this was a manageable issue that would get better. But it hasn’t, and the medical news is it probably won’t, or it could take years to. Chronic conditions take a toll on your mental health, especially when it’s something I feel should have been prevented and I didn’t have to live like this. If I had have known this was a possible outcome to surgery, I would have had seriously different thoughts about it going into the process and would have made different decisions.
For above reasons, I’m not going ahead with the claim. It sounds like garbage, and I can’t spend the only money I have left in the slim hopes of getting it/some back.
I know I need to move on and see what I can do from here and just build on what I have. There really is no other option. Remember Lot’s wife. No point dwelling in the past as it causes pain. Right now though, I am really struggling to cope with the stress it has caused. I am feeling totally crushed and defeated. I am miserable at my body which is different now. I wanted it to go back to normal and I’m grieving the loss of that happening. I feel my trust has been betrayed by people I gave responsibility to take care of me. I am let down, I can’t believe how little support is there with regards to things happening like this. I hope I never have to have any major surgery again.
With all this… why did I share this, I don’t know. I need to share this to help move on. I’ve been keeping these thoughts to myself because I thought it was getting resolved but it’s not. The onus is entirely mine to deal with the aftermath of someone else’s mistake. A raw deal, a bitter end.
If I were more oblivious or careless about exercise and feeling freedom in my body this wouldn’t have hit so hard. Unfortunately that’s not me. I really enjoyed the fact of being on my own two feet which seemed like they could take me anywhere if I willed them to.
Jordy.
L/R hip external rotation side by side:
https://files.catbox.moe/jvaunz.jpeg[/list]
