hip replacements

[Guest guest]

Hello Alyce-I am going to a ortho. surgeon Dec. 1st. regarding a hip

replacement--I have never had one but am in tremendous pain and my left leg

is 3in. shorter than the right-did you have any problems with your hip

replacement? I am a little concerned as my entire left leg is smaller than

the right so am wondering how my muscles will react to the surgery...Have

any suggestions or experiences to tell???Thanks alot all of

you....Carol.....pugise47

[Guest guest]

Hi Sharon!

I had my right hip replaced June 28, 2006. Before the surgery, I was in

SO MUCH PAIN. I couldn't move my leg inwards without pain, I was

limping so badly that I had severe sciatica from the imbalance and

stress and strain on my lower spine, I couldn't flex my leg up enough

to even put on my own shoes and socks. Even lying down resting in bed

at night didn't relieve the pain. I should have had the replacement

done way before I let things get that bad, but I was afraid that I'd be

in a lot of pain afterwards and be off work too long.

Well, having the hip replaced has been a minor miracle for me! Even in

the recovery room, when the nurse came to ask if I was in pain and

needed medication, I looked at her and said, " Heck, no, I'm FINE. This

is SO MUCH BETTER than preop. Yeah, it's a bit uncomfortable surgical-

wise, but it doesn't even compare to the agony I was in before. " They

weren't able to do the minimally invasive hip surgery on me, since I

have bad asthma and they didn't want to keep me under anesthesia that

long. I had the old procedure type surgery with a long incision under

an epidural anesthetic with lots of sedative medication and didn't feel

or hear a thing during the procedure. They kept the epidural in for

pain relief for 24 hours postop. I sat up dangling my feet at the side

of the bed the night of surgery. The next day they had me up sitting in

the chair and walking with physical therapy and removed the epidural.

Even when the Epidural was out, the pain was NOT that bad. They gave me

Oxycontin twice a day while in the hospital (morning and night) and

kept asking me if I needed pain medication (Norco) in between....I

think I took the Norco maybe once or twice a day in between the

Oxycontin. The second postop day, physical therapy started me with the

walker, and I did so well that the third postop day they changed me to

crutches. I did well on those too. They released me home on the fourth

postop day. I had home physical therapy for awhile, and did so well

with that that they released me even before I was allowed to drive

again, LOL.(I had the Home PT for about two weeks postop or so.) My

son then drove me to the Health South physical therapy center three

times a week until I had my postop check on June 26 when I was allowed

to drive again. I was back at work full-time on June 28. The orthopedic

surgeon was impressed and commented that he'd never seen such a quick

recovery with the " old-style " type operation. It's almost a year later

and I feel great. (Except my other hip is starting to show symptoms of

arthritis now; I recognize them from having experienced them with the

first hip. It started out with intermittent sharp pains occurring with

prolonged walking/standing.....felt like the hip was sliding out of the

socket and would snap in two.....resting briefly helps for now but if

it follows the pattern of the other hip, I will probably be needing

that one replaced about 4-5 years down the road....that is, unless the

Humira kicks in soon. I've had three injections, which don't seem to be

doing much yet.)

Depending on your age, weight, and health conditions you may be a

candidate for the new micro-surgery that I WASN'T able to have, which

I've heard has an even quicker recovery period and has less discomfort

associated with it.

Good luck!

Wanda

>

[Guest guest]

Hey Lenette,

 

Did she do yours or le's?  I think I'm going to make an appointment with

her.

 

-

From: Lenette <lenette@...>

Subject: hip replacements

" dwarfism " <dwarfism >

Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 6:12 PM

 

Don't forget if your doc has any questions he could call Dr. Mateczyk at

the Cleveland Clinic. She has replaced hips on 6 pseudos that I know of

and several Diatrophic and SED types.