HIP HIP Hooray! (Or maybe not...)

About a year ago Brad started to have pain in his hips. Although both hips were giving him some problems, the left one was significantly worse. Becoming a manager for Wal-Mart and being on his feet for 12 hours a day (on concrete floors) only made things worse. A few months ago he decided enough was enough and finally agreed to go to the doctor. We started at the family doctor who quickly sent us to an orthopedic. The orthopedic then sent him to a hip and knee specialist. One x-ray by this doctor was all it took for him to have an idea of exactly what was going on. Brad has what's called impingement. Basically his hip "ball and socket" are causing a pinching. Both areas had bone growth making them grind together instead of rotating smoothly. The options were pretty simple: either surgery to try and correct this or put it off and need a hip replacement in 2-5 years. We opted for surgery!

Brad went in Friday, November 6 for this surgery. It was our 5 year anniversary....and we spent it in the hospital. (Hippy Anniversary!!...ok, that's the last hip joke I have). We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am. We waited until we were ready to walk out the door to get Haylee up and put her straight in her carseat. She went right back to sleep until we got to the hospital. When we arrived, however, she woke up and was her bright and cheery self. Here she is at 5:30 am wishing Daddy good luck.

Anyway, surgery went well and Brad did great! The doctor said he also had the beginning of arthritis in that hip, caused by the impingement. He is home now recovering and will be on crutches for at least a week or 2. He's on leave from work for 6 weeks and will hopefully be more mobile soon so he can enjoy the vacation! Haylee did absolutely wonderful the ENTIRE time we were at the hospital...and we were there ALLLLLLL day. I was so proud of her! Everyone at the hospital had fun with her. She smiles at everyone and she's started to wave too which makes everyone smile. We love our little girl! :) I'm so proud of Brad also and wishing him a speedy recovery!!