Sports doc follow up

I saw my doctor for what should have been my last post-op visit this week.
I might as well say it up front - things didn't look very good. I mentioned that I've had some pain off and on, but I assumed that was normal. To a certain extent it is, but my pain has been accompanied by clicking and movement of the hip. Dr. Van Sice is concerned that the small strip of labrum I'm left with isn't enough to firmly hold the femur, and I may continue to have pain.
Right now, I feel pain that reminds me of the labral tear pain, only without the pinching quality. Some things I could not do before surgery (go down stairs, pistol squat) I can now do without pain. But there is groin pain all the same, and it's associated with the clicking - so it could very well be pain from the labrum.
So, bad news.
But I'm not losing all heart yet.
I will see Dr. Van Sice in 4 more weeks. In the meantime, my range of motion and strength look good, and I can now add regular biking, and next week I can add resistance on the exercise bike and elliptical. And I'll watch and wait with the hip. The pain could improve: my bones aren't done healing yet, and the labrum might still be raw, plus the hip capsule could be taking extra time to heal, too. I will need to avoid impact to protect the bone and hip capsule, but movement restrictions are totally lifted.

I got this email today. GO AHEAD AND RUB IT IN, SPORTSPHOTO!

Now, way back at week one post-op, Dr. Van Sice told me I could get back to running at week eight. That's this week. At the time, I didn't post the date, because I doubted it would be true! That seemed way too early to me! And sure enough, that is not happening. I am in too much pain! But all the other protocols I looked at had a return to running at 12 weeks at the earliest, so I really didn't expect to be running at 8 weeks. Dr. Van Sice is pushing it back to 12 weeks, and that's only if I get the pain down. Meanwhile, I just need to be aware that pain is a sign to pull back a little. I am supposed to push "to" pain but not "through" pain while I stretch and strengthen.

And in a little over a month, I go back to discuss options. Will I need some anti-inflammatories? More PT? A joint injection? We'll have to have those conversations later. For now I'm still hoping for a miraculous improvement!