My Belgian Experience

April 5, 2004

Hi All!

I kept thinking I would catch up on all the back postings before I posted,

but this is such a prolific group (a good thing!) that I'm still about 800 in

the hole! Since I'm leaving town again on Tuesday to check out colleges with my

son on Spring Break, I thought I'd better just post now...I'll be even deeper in

backlogged postings when I return this weekend.

I flew into Brussels with my sister, Marilyn, on Monday, March 2nd, checked

into the hospital in Ghent on Tuesday afternoon, and Dr. Koen De Smet resurfaced

my right hip on Wednesday. On Friday I transferred to the Holiday Inn. The

whole experience was great! Thank you, thank you Dr. De Smet for giving me my

life back! Marilyn is a nurse, and Koen allowed her to observe the entire

surgery. She was really impressed with the whole surgical team. They didn't

hurry, but they worked together like a well-oiled machine, without any wasted

motion. My surgery took only 1hr & 20 minutes. I had no joint pain at all

after surgery, but the 24-hours of IV Acetaminophen (Tylenol) was not sufficient

to control my incision and muscle pain for the first few days post-op, so I

supplemented it (with the nurses' knowledge and approval) with my own

prescription Tylenol with Codeine #3 from home. I had no nausea or weakness

post-op, but my hemoglobin level was 27 (should have been about 30), and Koen

recommended a blood transfusion. Since I was feeling so good, I declined,

agreeing that if I started feeling nauseous or weak I'd do later. In addtion to

the (small) risk of AIDS or hepatitis, blood transfusions from donor blood can

cause nausea, and fever as the body's reaction to blood that is compatible, but

still contains non-self proteins. I continued to feel well, and resumed the

iron tablets I'd been taking for a couple weeks pre-op. I also used my own

prescription and non-prescription medications for non-related condtiions (

hormone replacement therapy, vitamins, etc.) It seemed to be common practice

for patients to bring and self-administer their normal maintenace medications

while in the hospital, unlike in the States.

At the Holiday Inn the fabulous (included in the rate) breakfast buffet was

a gathering place every morning for all the new surface hippies and their

spouses and families. We'd share stories about the good doctor and his staff,

information about vouchers for the free weekend and evening taxis into Ghent,

train schedules to the nearby medieval city of Brugge, and as we began to get

out and explore more, tips on sights and restaurants that were " must-do's. " One

by one, we'd leave the table to keep our daily appointments with Marc, our

physical therapist. We had Canadians, Americans, Russian immigrants now living

in Seattle, and a Dutch anaestheologist among our group, and we had a great time

together.

Sunday and Monday (days 4 & 5 post-op) after my daily physical therapy with

Marc, Marilyn and I took a taxi into the old part of Ghent and visited several

cathedrals, windowshopped the lace and chocolate shops, and stopped for tea or a

late lunch before returning to the HI. I kind of over-did it those days, so we

stayed in on Tuesday and Wednesday, exercised in the pool, and watched old

movies and CNN on TV. By Wednesday evening when Jan came for my daily dressing

change, it was becoming apparent that I was not tolerating the waterproof

dressing. Skin over an inch away from the incision but under the dressing was

weeping and breaking down. Switching to a plain gauze dressing (no more

swimming & no showering for 24 hours) resulted in an immediate improvement.

By Thursday (post-op day 8) we were on the train to Brugge for a full day of

sight-seeing, including a horse-drawn carriage tour. Brugge was so beautiful we

had to return on Friday as well! Saturday (post-op day 10) was our last

touristy day, so we finished touring the art in the crypt of the Cathedral of

St. Baaf in Ghent, then took the train to Brugge again to watch a 81-year old

lady make lace by hand in front of one of the lace shops, take the canal tour,

and shop for chocolate, lace and watercolors. It was a long day, and I was

tired, but not exhausted, so we ate in our room, and packed our treasures and

dirty laundry in preparation for an early departure the next morning

Sunday morning (day 11 post-op) we hit the buffet at 6:30 and were loading

ourselves and luggage into the taxi for the airport in Brussels by 7:00. My

swelling was down considerably by day 11, and the flight was much more

comfortable than I had expected. We traded seats with another passenger so that

I could have an aisle seat. Every hour of so I walked the length of the economy

aisle and back. I flew economy both ways and actually was more uncomfortable on

the flight to Belgium than I was on the return flight after surgery! I'm not

tall--5'4 " , so taller patients might need the first class seating to be

comfortable, but I was fine in economy.

I was so tired of sitting after the taxi ride and after the long flight back

to the East Coast that I didn't use a wheel chair in the airports. Walking felt

really good. I probably would have been better off using one in Newark,

however, since after the incident in Spain, they were x-raying every piece of

luggage and the conveyer belt broke down. In a wheelchair I could have gone to

the head of a 2-hour line to get through Customs and Luggage Re-Check, but who

knew! Fortunately, we had a 4-hour lay-over before the flight to Minneapolis,

so there was still plenty of time to make it to our gate. We caught one of

those little motorized carts that nearly run people down on the concourses to

get to the gate, and that was much faster than a wheelchair! We were met by

family in Minneapolis about 6 PM Sunday, and went to the Mall of America (close

to the airport) for dinner together.

Monday, post-op day 12, I was driving, running errands, and trying to

catch up at home after being gone for 13 days. I stopped using 2 crutches about

3 weeks post-op. I still use one crutch most of the time, but sometimes walk

short distances without it in the house. April 19th I'm scheduled to return to

my full-time job as the night pharmicist in a local hospital.

In my experience, if you are in considerable pain before your surgery in

Belgium, it works well to schedule your surgery for the day after your arrival

and plan to stay a few days longer than the minimum recommendation. This gives

you extra time for the swelling to go down before your long flight home. If you

need the extra time to recover, you'll have it, and if you feel better and are

walking better than you did before the surgery (as I did), you have a few days

to do some sight-seeing with your new painless hip! Also, bring along any

medications you routinely take at home (except NSAIDs such as Ibuprofen),

especially Vicodin or Tylenol #3 for those first few days post-op. For the

ladies, I bought several pairs of over-size boxer shorts to wear as underwear

over my swollen hip. They worked very well for me. I just washed them with my

TED stockings and let them dry in the room. Bring a couple of pairs of baggy

pants, several fast-drying tops, and a small bottle of Woolite. One couple in

our group sent all their clothes to the hotel laundry and ended up with a 150

Euro (about $200) laundry bill!

Good luck to all the late April Belgium surfacehippies. Say hi to Koen,

Hugo, Marc & Jan for me!

April 5, 2004

,

Thanks for your wonderful account of your experience in Belgium. I

only very recently stumbled on this website and am still educating

myself about hip resurfacing. Can you tell me what is different

about the surgical procedure,technology, etc. that is being performed

by Dr. De Smet compared with what's available in the US. It seems

for one that the recuperation is much, much quicker.

Thanks,

Harriet

> Hi All!

> I kept thinking I would catch up on all the back postings

before I posted, but this is such a prolific group (a good thing!)

that I'm still about 800 in the hole! Since I'm leaving town again

on Tuesday to check out colleges with my son on Spring Break, I

thought I'd better just post now...I'll be even deeper in backlogged

postings when I return this weekend.

> I flew into Brussels with my sister, Marilyn, on Monday, March

2nd, checked into the hospital in Ghent on Tuesday afternoon, and

Dr. Koen De Smet resurfaced my right hip on Wednesday. On Friday I

transferred to the Holiday Inn. The whole experience was great!

Thank you, thank you Dr. De Smet for giving me my life back! Marilyn

is a nurse, and Koen allowed her to observe the entire surgery. She

was really impressed with the whole surgical team. They didn't

hurry, but they worked together like a well-oiled machine, without

any wasted motion. My surgery took only 1hr & 20 minutes. I had no

joint pain at all after surgery, but the 24-hours of IV Acetaminophen

(Tylenol) was not sufficient to control my incision and muscle pain

for the first few days post-op, so I supplemented it (with the

nurses' knowledge and approval) with my own prescription Tylenol

with Codeine #3 from home. I had no nausea or weakness post-op, but

my hemoglobin level was 27 (should have been about 30), and Koen

recommended a blood transfusion. Since I was feeling so good, I

declined, agreeing that if I started feeling nauseous or weak I'd do

later. In addtion to the (small) risk of AIDS or hepatitis, blood

transfusions from donor blood can cause nausea, and fever as the

body's reaction to blood that is compatible, but still contains non-

self proteins. I continued to feel well, and resumed the iron

tablets I'd been taking for a couple weeks pre-op. I also used my

own prescription and non-prescription medications for non-related

condtiions ( hormone replacement therapy, vitamins, etc.) It seemed

to be common practice for patients to bring and self-administer their

normal maintenace medications while in the hospital, unlike in the

States.

> At the Holiday Inn the fabulous (included in the rate)

breakfast buffet was a gathering place every morning for all the new

surface hippies and their spouses and families. We'd share stories

about the good doctor and his staff, information about vouchers for

the free weekend and evening taxis into Ghent, train schedules to the

nearby medieval city of Brugge, and as we began to get out and

explore more, tips on sights and restaurants that were " must-do's. "

One by one, we'd leave the table to keep our daily appointments with

Marc, our physical therapist. We had Canadians, Americans, Russian

immigrants now living in Seattle, and a Dutch anaestheologist among

our group, and we had a great time together.

> Sunday and Monday (days 4 & 5 post-op) after my daily physical

therapy with Marc, Marilyn and I took a taxi into the old part of

Ghent and visited several cathedrals, windowshopped the lace and

chocolate shops, and stopped for tea or a late lunch before returning

to the HI. I kind of over-did it those days, so we stayed in on

Tuesday and Wednesday, exercised in the pool, and watched old movies

and CNN on TV. By Wednesday evening when Jan came for my daily

dressing change, it was becoming apparent that I was not tolerating

the waterproof dressing. Skin over an inch away from the incision

but under the dressing was weeping and breaking down. Switching to a

plain gauze dressing (no more swimming & no showering for 24 hours)

resulted in an immediate improvement.

> By Thursday (post-op day 8) we were on the train to Brugge for

a full day of sight-seeing, including a horse-drawn carriage tour.

Brugge was so beautiful we had to return on Friday as well! Saturday

(post-op day 10) was our last touristy day, so we finished touring

the art in the crypt of the Cathedral of St. Baaf in Ghent, then took

the train to Brugge again to watch a 81-year old lady make lace by

hand in front of one of the lace shops, take the canal tour, and shop

for chocolate, lace and watercolors. It was a long day, and I was

tired, but not exhausted, so we ate in our room, and packed our

treasures and dirty laundry in preparation for an early departure the

next morning

> Sunday morning (day 11 post-op) we hit the buffet at 6:30 and

were loading ourselves and luggage into the taxi for the airport in

Brussels by 7:00. My swelling was down considerably by day 11, and

the flight was much more comfortable than I had expected. We traded

seats with another passenger so that I could have an aisle seat.

Every hour of so I walked the length of the economy aisle and back.

I flew economy both ways and actually was more uncomfortable on the

flight to Belgium than I was on the return flight after surgery! I'm

not tall--5'4 " , so taller patients might need the first class seating

to be comfortable, but I was fine in economy.

> I was so tired of sitting after the taxi ride and after the

long flight back to the East Coast that I didn't use a wheel chair in

the airports. Walking felt really good. I probably would have been

better off using one in Newark, however, since after the incident in

Spain, they were x-raying every piece of luggage and the conveyer

belt broke down. In a wheelchair I could have gone to the head of a

2-hour line to get through Customs and Luggage Re-Check, but who

knew! Fortunately, we had a 4-hour lay-over before the flight to

Minneapolis, so there was still plenty of time to make it to our

gate. We caught one of those little motorized carts that nearly run

people down on the concourses to get to the gate, and that was much

faster than a wheelchair! We were met by family in Minneapolis about

6 PM Sunday, and went to the Mall of America (close to the airport)

for dinner together.

> Monday, post-op day 12, I was driving, running errands, and

trying to catch up at home after being gone for 13 days. I stopped

using 2 crutches about 3 weeks post-op. I still use one crutch most

of the time, but sometimes walk short distances without it in the

house. April 19th I'm scheduled to return to my full-time job as the

night pharmicist in a local hospital.

> In my experience, if you are in considerable pain before your

surgery in Belgium, it works well to schedule your surgery for the

day after your arrival and plan to stay a few days longer than the

minimum recommendation. This gives you extra time for the swelling

to go down before your long flight home. If you need the extra time

to recover, you'll have it, and if you feel better and are walking

better than you did before the surgery (as I did), you have a few

days to do some sight-seeing with your new painless hip! Also, bring

along any medications you routinely take at home (except NSAIDs such

as Ibuprofen), especially Vicodin or Tylenol #3 for those first few

days post-op. For the ladies, I bought several pairs of over-size

boxer shorts to wear as underwear over my swollen hip. They worked

very well for me. I just washed them with my TED stockings and let

them dry in the room. Bring a couple of pairs of baggy pants,

several fast-drying tops, and a small bottle of Woolite. One couple

in our group sent all their clothes to the hotel laundry and ended up

with a 150 Euro (about $200) laundry bill!

> Good luck to all the late April Belgium surfacehippies. Say hi

to Koen, Hugo, Marc & Jan for me!

>

April 5, 2004