Dameron Hospital | Health Outlook | Fall 2019

8 HEALTH OUTLOOK FOR many people, leading an active life means being able to take walks, ride a bike, swim or play golf. For others, simply being able to get out of the house to go to a movie, meet with friends or go grocery shopping is all they need to feel content. But this patient success story is about an individual who is anything but “typical.” University program administrator and professor Maria Garcia-Sheets could be described as someone who doesn’t just embrace life, she attacks it at full- throttle. Currently an active competitive skydiver, Garcia-Sheets has had hip problems for many years, but “like the analogy of a frog in water, I pushed aside the pain warnings and continued doing the things that interested me— dancing, competitive Class 1 powerlifting, racquetball, climbing, bouldering, sailing, motorcycling and formation skydiving— until I couldn’t take one more step.” In denial Garcia-Sheets tried to take the pain in stride. “Even though the pain was excruciating, I was doing everything PATIENT STORY These hips don’t lie, I believe I can fly I could to keep moving,” she says. “I thought I was doing well at it, but doing well required that I compensate by changing my stride and gait. In reality, I was limping, lumbering and shuffling through my activities.” The pain eventually forced Garcia- Sheets to stop wearing heels. She could only wear flats with memory foam inserts. But even this didn’t alleviate the knifelike pain she felt with each step. “So through the years, I slowed my regular strength and exercise routine, stopped landing on my feet when coming in to land from a skydive, and, toward the end, spent the days between weekends trying to recover from the pain induced by skydiving,” she says. “I was physically compromised in movement and mentally compromised by pain.” She continually took “the maximum does of Tylenol. It didn’t do anything to mitigate the pain I was in, but it allowed me to keep moving,” she says. Garcia-Sheets couldn’t bend over to tie her shoes, sit down or stand up, sleep, or lift her toes from the floor without feeling incredible pain. “If someone bumped into me, or I bumped myself, the pain in my hips cut through my body and brought tears to my eyes,” she says, adding that skydiving was terribly difficult and painful. ‘I needed help’ Garcia-Sheets recalls a specific event that led to her decision to seek medical intervention. It happened in Los Angeles in November 2017, when she was traveling home after days of jumping at a skydiving training event. “Rushing to catch my flight at LAX, carrying 45 pounds of gear, I reached a point where the hip pain became intense,” she says. “My hips just locked, and any attempt to move forward or put down my gear took my breath away. I knew the situation was bad, but I still had to make it home. Summoning courage and taking deep breaths, I lumbered to my gate and caught the flight. That fateful day at the airport made it very clear that I needed help.” After arriving home, Garcia-Sheets searched for an orthopedic surgeon Maria Garcia-Sheets