I suppose I might as well talk about this hip thing.  It seems like everything in my life is sort of revolving around it at the moment.  Plans for summer, any trips, sports, finances...

There has been pain in my hip for years.  We're talking like 10+.  It wasn't all the time and it wasn't always horrible.  But I remember it being sore walking around the mall in middle school.  Holy crap.  That's a long ass time ago.  Anyway, it hurts to walk.

So five years ago or something, I mentioned it to my doctor.  I had insurance at this point and thought that something could be done.  Xrays were ordered & nothing was found.  "Sorry, we see no reason you're in pain, so you must not be in pain."

This last year, I decided to try again.  I made an appointment with my new doctor who didn't know what to do, so she referred me to a local orthopedic surgeon.  He took more xrays, had me do an MRA (which in case you weren't aware involved a needle IN my hip joint to inject dye - IN MY HIP JOINT and yes I almost fainted) and declared a cartilage tear.  He didn't do the repairing surgery, so he referred me to ANOTHER orthopdeic surgeon. 

Doctor number 3 took more xrays (my lady parts are going to be destroyed by all the radiation) and said that the problem wasn't the cartilage tear, but that I have hip dysplasia.  And he recommends that I do a surgery that involves gouging bone out from behind the femur head.  Fun times here.  While he is calmly discussing this surgery, I'm getting more and more warm and decided to lay down on the examining table to still my beating heart. 

I'm getting really good at fainting.

Another referral.  Not for fainting, but for the hip-gouging.  No one in Wisco does this surgery.  So it's Illy or whatever silly nickname Minnesota has.  I chose Minnesota because I'm more familiar with Mayo Clinic than the other hospital.  Meaning I've heard of Mayo.  And Clinic sounds so friendly.

And that's the progress I've made.  A consultation appointment is set for early May.  Nothing to do but wait and think up some really good questions.  Thankfully most of my questions were answered by "Why do men have nipples?".