Perthes..don't dispare just yet!!!!!

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I also had Perthes disease when i was a kid. During my late teens, i

never had any peoblem with it, infact, i spent some time in the

military....

During my early 20's, it became a huge problem, and i guess running

around with a heavy pack for a few years didn't help.

By the time i was 28, (Although i kept myself pretty mobile) i was in

constant pain, sitting, sleeping, walking 1/2 mile i would shake with

pain!!! etc etc and my girlfriend at the time pushed me to get

something done about it.

When i got my xrays done (the first in many years)... when i took

them out of the envelope, my heart sank... as even i could see that a

resurf was unlikely. My femoral head had almost completely been worn

away, and also the lip of my hip socket, from 8 years of

playing " Tuff guy " walking around bone-on-bone.

My hip was in such bad condition that when i sent my xrays to the

surgeons in the UK that developed the BHR device, one of them called

me up and told me something along the lines of " I see 40 peoples

xrays every week..... most of them in their 60's and 70's........

yours is one of the worst that i have seen so far this year!!!! "

(And that was in the summer...hehe)

The surgeon was shocked to hear that i was still gritting my teeth

and walking around on the bloody thing! As technically, the pain

level should have prevented me doing so....

(i took 2 or 3 painkillers per year, and did not take any NSAIDS or

other medication. Just a neat little trick from the book... " Zen and

the art of motorcycle maintainance " about psychological pain

management)

After finding out about Resurfacing through s website, i did a

lot of researching, and contacted a lot of surgeons.... and they all

said that my hip was in such bad condition, that a resurf would be

very dificult, and i had a very slim chance of succesfull surgery...

they were not prepared to risk it (maybe also something to do with

effecting the statistics)

The thought of a THR at 27 was a nightmare, and i would rather had

not had the surgery.

(The SurfHippy Veterans wil remember the turmoil that i went through

trying to find a doc who would try it on my. I almost lost my mind

after spending such a long time researching and psyching myself up

for it, only to be constantly told it was not possible)

Some months later, A Dutch guy came to the site (), saying that

he had a resurfacing in belgium, with Dr Koen de Smet. And that de

Smet liked the challenge of dificult cases.

So, i sent my xrays off, and he contacted me saying that although it

was a very tuff case, he was confident that he could pull it off, and

if not, he had some hybrid THR that he would put in, that was based

upon the Large BHR ball theory....

Off i went to Belgium. De Smet was succesfull. He gave me a BHR, with

a special pelvic cup called a DYSPLACIA CUP. This was developed for

patients with shallow sockets..... (so your local surgeon obviously

doesn't have his 'poop' together when he tells you that Resurfacing

is not viable for you!!!!! )

Not only was the surgery a success, de Smet lengthened my leg by

around 1 inch...and both legs are perfect. The guy is a blooming

miriacle worker!!!!

You can see my story and pre & post surgery xrays on my personal

website

http://www.thunderballhip.50megs.com

(Please sign the guestbook....hehe)

sO, FOR PERTHES SUFFERERS, WITH SHALLOW SOCKETS, THERE IS HOPE!!!

Don't dispair just yet, keep on trying!!

i rarely visit this chat group, so please feel free to email me

directly at richswat@...

in the subject, please be sure to write " HIP RESURFACING " .... so i

know its not just spam or junk mail.

Good luck,

Richie