I’m 37 years old, an athlete who plays football and runs at competitive level. On the 30th of May 2022 I had a running incident on the treadmill which resulted in (what I now know was a stress fracture on my femoral hip bone), but back then, the A&E never picked up on it and I was left on crutches for 7 weeks knowing something was completely wrong. I have never been seriously injured in my 20+ years of playing sports, but this time I instantly knew something wasn’t right.
After 7 weeks of pain and no progress, I decided to reach out to an awesome physio, Annabel Hawker from Complete Physio in Chelsea, who instantly after examining me, suspected a femoral neck stress fracture. She then put me in touch with Cath-Spencer who is a brilliant sports-therapist. Within days I had a consultation with Cath, who referred me for an MRI scan and the results confirmed a huge stress fracture on my femoral neck bone. Cath assured me not to worry or get upset, because she knew exactly the right person to send me to. And that’s how I found myself sitting in Miss Homa Arshad’s office on the 9th of June 2022.
If I say I wasn’t terrified of the unknown and the fact that I clearly needed an operation, I would lie. I was extremely scared and upset. However, this all changed within seconds of walking into Miss Arshad’s office, because she was honestly such a lovely warm person. She sat me down and took her time to slowly talk me through my injury in details and what my options were and from that moment, I had no doubt about going ahead with this surgery. I completely trusted her 200% and I knew I was in safe hands and that she was the best and right person possible to do this job for me. I left her office feeling relaxed and at ease about things and for the first time in 8 weeks I felt genuinely happy, because I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
On Tuesday the 14th of June 2022, six days after seeing Miss Arshad, I was booked in for my surgery. I should have been scared and nervous, because I have never in my life had any surgery done whatsoever or never even been hospitalised before. So this was something major, however, after seeing Miss Arshad on Thursday I felt really good and so relaxed about what was about to take place.
Before the surgery, Miss Arshad came to see me in my room and again she was just so lovely and she told me what was going to happen down to every little detail. Then I met my anaesthetic consultant Mira, who made me feel totally at ease and I remember thinking: ‘I’m about to go into this big operation here and all I feel is happiness and calmness and the fact I know, I’m in the best hands and everything is going to be totally fine!’
Which was exactly the case. A few hours later I was out and everything had gone to plan. The following day Miss Arshad came to see me in my room, which meant a lot to me. I told her that I was amazed how small my scar was (under the small piece of dressing), especially when she showed me with her fingers how big the 3 screws she inserted actually were. I was so shocked! To fit 3 big screws like that into my hip and only leave a tiny little scar like that. Such skills and just shows how amazing she is at her job :-)
I was discharged after 4 days and now home. I’m writing this on Saturday the 18th of June 2022, 4 days after my surgery, and I can honestly say that this is the happiest I’ve been in a very long time. Yes there’s some inflammation and pain to deal with, but I’m up and walking (slowly) and I feel GOOD and STRONG and it’s only a matter of time before I’m back in the game again :-)
I want to thank Homa with all my heart because, what she did is just incredible and I know I’ll be back to full strength within a couple of months. Touch wood I will never need a procedure like this done ever again, but if I did, I know the right woman for the job! Thank you again Homa from the bottom of my heart, you have made me the happiest girl on earth.
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