The Start of a Journey

After reading several other blogs from women who have experienced what I am about to experience, I've decided to start a blog to share my journey for those who need to feel camaraderie. I am 25 years old, will be 26 in less than a month, and I teach special education. I began working when I was 13 and have been on my feet constantly since I was 16. I danced in show choir in high school and became much less active in college. February of 2004 is the first time I remember feeling throbbing pain in my knees. I had worked my first 8 hour shift in a hospital basement serving food and also danced in a sorority competition that night. Since then, I have experienced the pain more often and more intensely. I always thought the knee pain stemmed from my hips. I also noticed my hips clicking, clunking, and popping in college, and they've started aching recently. At the beginning of October I decided that enough was enough and I scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to diagnose what was wrong and find out options. They took X-rays and quickly diagnosed me with hip dysplasia. However, the doctor I saw did not normally work with young adults with hip problems. He knew there were more options for me than just a hip replacement, so he offered to find another doctor for me to see. I asked him about my knee pain, and he stated that fixing my hip would straighten out my knee and stop the pain.
A week and a half later, I went to see Dr. Kevin Scheid with OrthoIndy. He confirmed my hip dysplasia and told me about a procedure called a periacetabular osteotomy. Hip dysplasia is when the hips do not form correctly and it creates a shallow socket for the femoral head (top of the femur). PAO (periacetabular osteotomy) surgery corrects the shallow socket by cutting the pelvis and realigning it using screws. The hip bones then heal and more of a surface is provided for the femoral head. This has to be done before arthritis forms in order to be successful and could give me much more time with my original hip(s) and I may never need a hip replacement. I had already read about this surgery online, but it was good to hear from the doctor that the procedure was an option for me. Then I asked about my knee pain, if the hip surgery would help it stop. Dr. Scheid started looking more in depth at my legs, having me walk up and down the hall, and I laid on the exam table while he moved my legs. He told me that when my legs formed, my femur twisted in and my tibia twisted out, causing my knees to be a hot mess (not a technical term). My tendon in my knee is not in the right location, and is causing abnormal rubbing and A LOT of pain. He told me there was an outpatient procedure that could be done with a short recovery to relocate my tendon. He didn't want to rush into the surgery yet. He prescribed me physical therapy 2-3 times per week for four weeks to see if building my thigh muscles takes away some of the knee pain and then I go back to see Dr. Scheid on December 9th (5 days after my 26th Bday).
I start physical therapy for my knee tomorrow evening at Advanced Physical Therapy. I'll post on how that goes and how my pain progresses. I know this post was long, but a lot has happened so far. I'm frustrated by the situation I am in, and I don't even know if it was avoidable. I just hope that Dr. Scheid and my physical therapists will be able to work some miracles and give me a better quality of life.

Here are my knees, bent with feet straight.
Here are my hips: