Upon starting the Instagram page so people could follow my blog, a girl I recognised, but couldn’t quite place, commented on one of my photos. Her name was Rosanna and as luck would have it, it was the same girl I had met in the waiting room some two months before. We quickly caught up on each others progress and I asked if she would like to share her hip journey, so here it is….
Rosanna's story...
I developed severe arthritis, something no 14 year old expects and had two arthroscopies to remove loose pieces of cartilage from my hip joint. The first one gave me a pain free year, so you can understand my disappointment when the second one had very little effect. From here it became obvious more drastic measures needed to be taken, but my consultant at the time wasn't comfortable giving me a hip replacement at only 16.
So after another year of chronic pain, no school and crutches, my mum and I began the search for another consultant to get a second opinion. Here we met my current consultant, and Lily’s consultant, who said I needed the total hip replacement immediately, as I obviously had no quality of life the way I was living.
One month later I did the bravest thing I've ever done, had a total hip replacement aged 17. One week later I was walking nearly without walking aids, something I hadn't experienced in a very long time. Within the month I was basically pain free, and now two years on I am living a normal teenage life, something that seemed so distant three years ago.
Although my story sounds nearly perfect, a big move to London for university meant a lot more walking, something I wasn't used to, coming for a boarding school in a small village. This caused my hip to flare up again, but this was easily fixed after another appointment with my consultant.
After the six weeks of weekly physio he recommended and only a small improvement, we decided to go forward with a cortisone injection, a type of steroid injection into my tendon that was causing the pain. This was a small day operation, that took only 10 minutes and since then I have been completely pain free again.
I couldn't have made this journey without all the support I've had, especially from my mum and the rest of my family. So I want to say thanks to everyone who's supported me in anyway and show the world that nothing can stop me walking and living the amazing life that I'm now leading!
I am now backpacking round Europe walking miles each single day for a month!
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