Terrace Diary: Episode Five

Hola Terrace Crew,

Pull up a lounger, grab something cold, and settle in. Here is a catch up of what’s been happening in the last few weeks.

Two weeks ago I had my last PRP plasma injection. Same hip. Same hope that I might get my walks, my sleep, and a bit of myself back without jumping straight to a new hip.

The weeks before that last jab were grim. The pain came roaring back. Sleeping was a awful. Walking was a negotiation. Daily chores felt like a full-time job. I honestly thought the earlier injections hadn’t worked and I was heading for the operating theatre and a new hip.

On the Monday morning of the last appointment I told the doctor, quite tearfully, that things felt worse. He didn’t flinch. He said this is normal. It isn’t an instant fix. You have to give it time.

We did an ultrasound anyway. He could see exactly where the pain was coming from: a tendon sitting next to a nerve, the nerve resting on bone, all that pressure doing exactly what it sounds like. Then he said the bit I needed to hear, it actually looked better than before, and he was happy to go ahead with the last injection.

I wasn’t convinced. I went ahead anyway.

I didn’t write it up at the time because I wanted to see which way the story went. Would the leg start speaking to me again, or was I still on the road to a hip replacement because the plasma “didn’t work”?

Two weeks on, I have an answer that isn’t tidy, but it is honest.

I’ve started my daily walks again. I’m doing things I haven’t managed for the last year. It is not completely better. I still cannot bend down and touch my left foot. But the pain has eased. I can walk for an hour. I can sleep on my left side without that overwhelming, can’t-breathe-through-it pain. That last one still makes me go quiet when I say it out loud.

I’m told  “feeling myself again” is more like six months, not two weeks. Until then I’ll keep dreaming of painting my toenails without turning the whole foot into a crime scene.

Physio appointments are still pending. Those will matter, the injections take the fire down; the muscles still have to remember how to do their job. I haven’t been swimming since the last session either. The pool can wait. Walking Missy in the morning without swearing at my own hip feels like enough of a win for now.

Life feels better than it did the day I was told I needed a new hip. That is the sentence I keep coming back to.

Would I recommend it?

Yes. Very much so, with the caveats I wish someone had written on a napkin for me.

It is not magic. The weeks around the injections can feel worse before they feel better. It is slow. It costs money. Mine came in around €900, and that is not a small “treat yourself” number. I would still do it again, because feeling like yourself for an hour on a path is worth more than the receipt.

If you are looking this up because a doctor has mentioned plasma PRP for a hip or a tendon, here is the terrace version, not the brochure:

•  It uses a concentrated bit of your own blood, injected where the damage and inflammation are.

•  It is meant to calm things and help the tissue settle, not grow you a brand-new joint overnight.

•  Imaging (ultrasound in my case) matters. Guesswork in a painful hip is not a plan.

•  Flare-ups after a jab can happen. Mine did. That does not automatically mean it failed.

•  Recovery is months, not days. Physio is not optional if you actually want the muscles back.

•  It may delay surgery. It may not replace it. Nobody honest will promise you which.

This is my hip, my money, my two weeks of “oh, I can sleep on that side.” It is not medical advice. Talk to your own doctor, ask what they can see on the scan, and ask what “better” is supposed to look like at two weeks, six weeks, and six months.

I’ll keep walking. I’ll keep you posted. And if I ever get those toenails done without turning the bathroom into a kids painting, you’ll hear about it from this terrace first.

Joanne xxx

Sun Sea Sangria

Northern Costa Blanca

🌴🍷

P.S. If you’re in the middle of the “is this working?” I was there two weeks ago. Give it time, then decide. Don’t decide on days you feel down.

I used HCB Calpe under Traumatología doctor Carlos Andres Morales Marin. He sent me to Laboratorios MABAD.