Man I've started and stopped writing so many blog posts in the last couple of weeks. It's really hard to write a blog about running and working out when I can't really do any of those things.

But I had another appointment with my orthopedic surgeon so I thought I'd at least update on the latest.



That arthritis/super strong anti-inflammatory medicine I was on for the last 30 days did nothing. Well it made me unable to drink, but other than that it didn't do anything.

So we've moved on to the next phase of the plan: Run one last test before surgery.

The plan has been to avoid surgery if at all possible. But here we are after nearly five months of no running and barely any workouts. We've tried rest. We've tried physical therapy. We've tried medicine.

The original MRI showed a potential labral tear. Literally every medical professional I've been to has wanted to find an alternative other than surgery because the MRI wasn't conclusive in showing a tear, and I think everyone wanted to believe that wasn't the problem.

But I think we're all at the point now where we are fairly certain that's what we're looking at.

In order to confirm that, my orthopedic surgeon has ordered one last test, an arthrogram of my hip. This is basically like an MRI where they inject some dye directly into the hip joint to help illuminate issues with the labrum.

At the same time, the doctor is also going to inject some cortisone to see if that helps things at all. So yay, two big needles at once. I'll be passed out so cold, I won't budge when it's time for the MRI portion.

Then it will be back to the orthopedic surgeon to review the results and most likely make plans for surgery.

It's been a rough day. I have such mixed feelings about all of this. Part of me is kind of relieved because I feel like maybe now I'm finally going to have a more definitive answer and plan. But I think a bigger part of me is stressed and scared and not happy.

I guess there's no reason to worry yet. I still have to see what this last test shows, but man this has been a long and frustrating road.