|
On Thursday, July 12, 2007 I had my right
hip resurfaced by Dr. Edwin Su at the Hospital for Special
Surgery in NYC.
First, a few things that weren’t clear to me before the
surgery.
I was not supposed to take any ibuprofen for 2 weeks before
surgery. I was supposed to stop taking glucosamine
chondroitin a few days before surgery and no iron for a few
days before surgery. So check on any medication restrictions
for weeks before the surgery.
I had hoped to bring my sandals to the hospital, but they
said only close toed shoes (although this still doesn’t make
any sense to me and I would have liked my sandals.)
I got a short haircut before the surgery which I found
helpful- less to make me hot and feel dirty.
I brought all sorts of books and things to do, but didn’t
end up using any of it. Between visitors, medication, meals
and exercises, there wasn’t much time left over.
An easy shift for women and easy to put on clothes are
helpful for your walks around the hospital.
The pre-op orientation was helpful, but oriented mainly for
total hip replacement patients. (Dr. Su said they are
working on a special pre-op for resurfacing patients.) I had
my pre-op a few days before the surgery (because that was
the only time that worked for my schedule) but it would
probably have been better to have had it further ahead of
the surgery so that I could prepare a few things in between.
Dr. Mayo, who is the physician Dr. Su recommends as your HSS
medical doctor, does not take insurance. I had to pay her
$400. Her office will file the insurance claim and you have
to hope you get reimbursed. But you should be prepared to
front the $400.
Laura and Christine at Dr. Su’s office are wonderful-
friendly, helpful and knowledgeable.
Dr. Su was very pleasant and has an excellent reputation as
a very competent surgeon. He indulged about 15 minutes of
questions very pleasantly and then began to show his
impatience and eventually started making his way toward the
door. I ask a lot of questions and want to understand a lot
about a procedure I am going to undertake, so I found this
annoying. But his manner is gentle and caring. Another
patient I talked to who doesn’t ask many questions, was
impressed with how much time Dr. Su spent with him!
A little history: I am a 51 year old female who weighs
between 145-150 pounds. I am fairly active, but not a jock.
I swim, bicycle, hike and cross country ski. I began having
groin pain around 4 years ago and it took quite a while to
diagnose it as caused by a bad hip. I tried physical
therapy, yoga acupuncture and LOTS of ibuprofen. When I had
a bad reflux reaction to the ibuprofen I started
investigating hip surgery. I scheduled a total hip
replacement with a local doctor without doing much research
or getting a second opinion. At the last moment I cancelled
the surgery and began doing research. I connected with the
surface hippy web page which I found enormously helpful. I
decided on trying Dr. Su because I have family in NYC and he
was the most convenient doctor who had done a lot of
resurfacing operations and because the Hospital for Special
Surgery had such a good reputation. I sent him my x-rays. He
called me to talk to me about them. He thought I was a
candidate, but he would need to see me to be sure. I asked
his office to investigate whether I would have any problem
using my insurance for the surgery. Although they were
extremely friendly and helpful, it took quite a while to get
the information. When it finally appeared that my
Massachusetts Blue Choice would pay for it as an out of
network operation I made an appointment to see Doctor Su. I
had to wait several months for that appointment. I brought
my brother with me to the appointment so that I could have
another set of ears hearing the information. I brought a
list of questions. The most helpful thing about the visit
was talking to satisfied customers in the waiting room.
Finally, the operation was scheduled for July 12th.
On the day of the surgery, I arrived at 6:30 for a 9 am
operation. I thought I’d have lots of time to kill in the
nice hospital family waiting room overlooking the East
River. But I had no time to kill. I was busy from the moment
I arrived until my surgery. I spoke with about 6 different
people (doctor, anesthesiologist, nutritionist, hospital MD,
anesthesiologist helper, …) I was reassured when Dr. Su put
his initials on my right hip so as to insure that the
correct hip was operated on. They decided to give me an
epidural with additional sedation. At one point I thought it
might be interesting to watch the surgery and only ask for
an epidural. But after watching the EdHead cartoon
representation of hip resurfacing on the internet I decided
against it! I talked with the anesthesiologist about a
previous bad experience I had had coming out of the epidural
and he assured me he would give me additional sedation as
the epidural wore off if I needed it. He felt the epidural
was a far better choice than general anesthesia.
I was surprised to hear that Dr. Su did 7 surgeries that day
(not all resurfacing!), so I was glad that I was scheduled
early.
My sister-in-law who brought me to the hospital was
impressed with the waiting room and the information she
received when I came out of surgery.
I don’t remember much about being in the recovery room or
being taken up to my hospital room, but I was in the room on
the 7th floor about 1 o’clock. (I believe I asked for
additional sedation in the recovery room because of how
weird it felt not to be able to feel my legs.) Many rooms on
the floor have a beautiful view of the river. I was
disappointed to be in a room facing another building.
My leg was wrapped in a huge ace bandage. When the bandage
was removed (I think the next day) I was surprised to see
that the incision was about 8 inches long, starting on the
side of my upper right leg and ending in the middle of my
butt. The internal stitches are dissolvable and there are no
stitches or staples on the outside. The incision is held
together with steri-strips. (Because of this we are able to
shower as soon as we get home. That was very nice.)
I was on an IV for pain killers and antibiotics. I was given
some simple exercises I could do in bed and asked to use an
inhaler to make sure I took deep enough breathes on a
regular basis. My roommate and I helped remind each other to
do our exercises.
When I switched to oral pain killers I tried to wean myself
off of them. Pain regulation has been difficult for me. I
keep wanting to not be taking the meds, but then needing to
take them because of the pain- it often started with a
headache and then moved into my hip. I got tired and cranky.
When I couldn’t sleep I finally took the pain meds. I ended
up taking them on and off for about two weeks. I think it
would have been better to just stay on them regularly during
that time.
Dr. Su visited me everyday in the hospital and called me on
his day off.
I stayed at the hospital until Sunday morning- three nights
in all. I saw a physical therapist each morning after the
surgery. Mostly they just walked with me, gave me
instructions about using the crutches and showed me how to
climb the stairs. One therapist showed me a neat way to use
the crutches like a cane. I put the opposite crutch down
right before each foot came down. Therefore I moved one
crutch at a time. I found that comfortable.
I decided to buy the toilet seat, shoe horn, picker-upper
and elastic shoelaces, but really didn’t need any of them. I
used the toilet seat for a while on one toilet and it was
somewhat helpful, but other people in my house kept taking
it off and I found it wasn’t that difficult to get down to
the seat. I had a cushioned toilet in one bathroom that I
found very comfortable.
I was very impressed with the cleanliness and all the care
at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Nurses responded
quickly to a call for help and were pleasant and
knowledgeable. All the staff, from the people who cleaned
the room to the person who brought the meals was pleasant
and helpful. Sharing a room turned out to be a nice
experience as we chatted and helped each other with little
things.
All the hospital personnel who came around kept wanting me
to put a pillow between my legs and do other precautions
typical for a total hip replacement (and actually I heard
that some other hip resurfacing doctors also recommend the
typical restrictions.) As soon as I reminded them that I was
Dr. Su’s patient and had had a hip resurfacing they
immediately understood.
I was surprised that the patients who had a total hip
replacement went home with a cane whereas hip resurfacing
patients went home with two crutches which are to be used
for AT LEAST a solid 3 weeks. But after watching a video of
the procedure I realize how much of your body is affected by
the surgery!
I was able to start walking very quickly and spent a lot of
time going in circles around the hospital floor. I met
another patient of Dr. Su’s who had been resurfaced right
after me. I began to feel competitive with him. He said he
was off the pain meds and seemed to be walking more
comfortably.
I was taken home in a cab. The nurse insisted that I have a
pillow for the ride home and since my family hadn’t brought
one, she gave me one from the hospital. I went to my
brother’s home in NYC. I thought I would recuperate there
for a week, but ended up wanting to be home. I went home
(near Albany NY) on Monday afternoon and recuperated there.
On Monday morning while I was still in NYC, a visiting nurse
came to evaluate me. I was surprised, since Dr. Su does not
recommend physical therapy until after the follow-up visit
with him. When I told her I was leaving for my home upstate,
she said there was no point in opening up the case if I was
leaving. She answered some of my questions and was very
friendly and helpful, but I was a bit unclear how she fit
into the whole.
From the beginning going up and down stairs has not been a
problem. The biggest difficulty is not being able to carry
anything, because of using crutches. And of course not being
able to drive made me a little stir crazy and not being able
to swim was a supreme sacrifice for me.
I was told not to swim until my steri-strips came off and
the incision was completely closed, but after 2 ½ weeks the
steri-strips seem to still be solidly on! As I talked with
other people who had steri-strips for different operations
they all said the steri-strips stayed on much longer than
the doctors expected. Finally when the scar seemed totally
closed I took a swim. That was at about 3 weeks.
I seemed to have one good day and then a tired day. It was
hard to tell if I was doing too much or not doing enough. I
took several walks each day. I borrowed a bicycle trainer
and used that a few times daily for only about 5 minutes
with little tension. I did some weeding in my garden which I
think was not a good idea. It put me in a very awkward
position. It has been helpful to have friends come bring me
food and visit, although I can easily do some simple cooking
and micro-wave heating on my own. I thought I would get more
work done around the house, but I find that I’m tired and
unmotivated. I’m sure it’s exasperated by the heat and
humidity.
Although I was told to wait until I saw Dr. Su for my
follow-up visit before driving (since I had my right hip
resurfaced) I began driving after 3 weeks. I felt a little
nervous at first. Driving was easy. I just worried if my
reaction time would be fast enough in an emergency
situation. Luckily I was not tested.
A little before three weeks I graduated to using one crutch-
using it like a cane. At around 4 weeks I started using a
cane. At almost five weeks I went to see Dr. Su for my
follow-up visit. He was impressed with my progress and my
flexibility, although I was frustrated by my limp. He said I
should use the cane only as I felt I needed it and would
probably limp for another 4 weeks, before regaining a
regular gait. He gave me five additional exercises to do and
gave me a script for physical therapy, although he didn’t
think I’d need much. I’m now having low back pain and neck
pain, which may have nothing to do with the hip surgery, but
I’m hoping the physical therapist can help me with that. Dr.
Su’s office ordered me a card to use at the airport. For $50
I was able to buy a CD with all the x-rays that were taken
at the Hospital for Special Surgery. I made another
appointment in three months for the next check-up.
I would recommend checking over your hospital bills and your
insurance payments. I spent about 5 hours talking with Blue
Cross Blue Shield. They overcharged me according to the out
of network cap on my policy. I got billed for the crutches
and I had to fill out a reimbursement form from BC/BS since
that should be included. Dr. Mayo said the reimbursement
check would be sent to me, but the insurance company said it
was going to her. So I have to be sure to make sure I get
the money from her. Luckily I am a school teacher and have
had time to check over the bills carefully and spend long
times on the phone!
All in all, at five and a half weeks post surgery I am
definitely glad I did it. I have no pain in the hip. I need
to strengthen those muscles cut by the surgery and those
underutilized by years of inactivity because of the hip
pain. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and am
looking forward to walking without a limp and without pain
(and maybe even running again!)
Good luck to anyone who is thinking about all this!
Take care!
Becky
|
