Re: The CTH4 hunt will be held September 3,4 & 5th in Caldwell.
I am posting this here because of all the friends I have met on the past CTHs are here on this topic. I finally got a difinitive diagnosis on all the medical problems I have had over the past year. After 4 specialists not doing anything and not being able to figure out what is wrong with me I finally found one that figured it out. I saw a second orthopedic surgeon who did some simple xrays and told me it was all stemming from my hips. Both hips need to be replaced due to a fairly rare bone disease where for some reason the blood flow to that area was cut off for an extensive period over time and the bone itself actually began to die and deteriorate. I won't go into medical terminology as it is too confusing, but that's what I have, deterioration of both my hip sockets. The causes are not fully known, but it may have been due to an excessive amount of legally prescribed steroids that I have been taking twice a year over time for allergies to prevent pneumonia. I take oral steroids at least twice and usually more each year because of annual allergies that may result in pneumonia due to the damage to my lungs from the huge infection I had with my back surgery several years ago. A second cause may have been due to my occupation as a police officer for over 21 years. During that time I almost daily wore a heavy gun belt to carry all my necessary police gear while I spent most of my time driving a police car. I clearly recall having to get out and loosen my gunbelt because my butt and legs had gone to sleep just from having it so tightly around my waist. And it may have been due to some other reasons entirely unknown.
So, thank you one and all for your concern and prayers. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I will have my first hip replacement on July 18th and the second replacement approximately six weeks later, depending on how well I heal from the first replacement. The statistics as far as success are extremely good and the mortality rate is nearly nonexistant, much less than 1 %. The doctor said that if anyone cancelled between now and then I would be at the top of the list and could go earlier. So, I don't know if I will make CTH4 or not , but I will be doing my best to heal enough to make it. Monty