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I have been hovering around your surface hippy website for
quite a while now, and since I have now gone through the 1st of my 2 BHR
procedures, I thought I would write and maybe help in contributing my $.02
worth. By the way, thanks very much for the work you do in maintaining the
website - this is a great service to people like me!
I'm a 56 year old (former) marathon runner, and have suffered from progressively
worse OA in my right hip for probably 5 years. I knew I eventually needed to do
something, but like a lot of people, I just ignored it as best I could and kept
on running with the help of Glucosamine, Naproxen and Ibuprofen. After a
marathon in Fall of 2005, I realized that was probably my last since I could
hardly walk for days afterward. I still thought it wasn't bad enough for
surgery, and kept running 5 and 10ks for a couple more years. My last race was
August of 2007, and by then, my left hip was quickly catching up with the severe
OA in my right. Finally, I came to terms with the idea that I need to get this
fixed, and started looking for a procedure and a doctor in earnest. I had been
reading about the BHR implants for quite some time, and had decided that it made
sense for me since I was still fairly young, and wanted to remain active. The
problem was, when I inititally started searching for a surgeon that uses the
Birmingham device, there were none in Utah that I could find. A few months ago,
I was searching again, and found two Utah doctors trained in using the BHR
procedure. There are many other doctors in Utah that do resurfacing, but I
wanted the Birmingham device, and only two were listed on http://www.birminghamhipresurfacing.com/locatesurgeon/.
One of them did his surgery at a hospital that does not take the insurance I
have, but the other, although 40 miles away from my home, seemed to be a good
choice. His name is Dr. Joshua Hickman, and he does his surgery at Lakeview
hospital in Bountiful, Utah. Here's his info:
Dr. Joshua Hickman
Mountain Orthopaedics, LLC
1551 Renaissance Towne Dr.
Bountiful, Ut 84010
http://www.mountainortho.com/
(801) 295-7200
I knew I had found the right doctor during the initial visit! This guy was
young, smart, and VERY much sold on resurfacing. I don't know where he trained,
but he told me he has done over 130 resurfacings to date. He does all surgeries
on Monday, so I arrived at 6am on Monday, Feb 4 2008, did all the preliminaries
and was out of surgery by around 9 or 9:30 (I think - I was a little out of it).
I was up walking a little with the physical therapist by that afternoon, stayed
there overnight, had physical therapy at 10 the next morning then again at 3pm,
after which I was released to come home. I don't think my pain level ever got
above a 3 or 4 the whole time. In fact, the entire process was much more
painless than I could have ever hoped for. I was on two crutches for about a
week, one crutch for another week and a half, and I have been walking with no
crutches all this week (since Feb 25th). It is so great to have no arthritis
pain in that right hip! Of course, the muscles are still weak and damaged, and
it will take a while to get back my normal gait, but I can see progress each
week. My big problem now is I still have to baby the left hip because it's
pretty bad. I go back to Lakeview on March 10th for that surgery, and I am
really looking forward to it. I went back to Dr. Hickman yesterday for my first
post-op visit, and he cleared me to drive, and said I should be able to take
over my own physical therapy (a PT has been coming to my home 3 times a week).
I can't say enough good about Dr. Hickman and his staff at Mountain Orthopedics!
They followed through with every detail with the hospital, pre-op, insurance and
post-op. Dr. Hickman has also called me a couple of times since the surgery to
check on me. It has been my experience that usually a nurse or assistant does
the follow up, or just doesn't bother to call at all, so the fact he called me
personally shows his commitment to his trade. Again, this guy is really a
cheerleader for resurfacing. I showed him the selection of T-shirts that you
have on-line (hips of cobalt chrome for buns of steel, etc), and he thought they
were the neatest thing ever. He called half the office over to have them take a
look. I'm going to make a gift of a few of those shirts to the staff after the
next surgery.
Thanks for allowing me to ramble on. It's probably evident that I had a good
experience, and have been quite lucky with my recovery. My main reason for
writing is to see if you could list Dr. Hickman on your list of surgeons. The
x-rays he took yesterday verified that he had placed the device perfectly in my
hip, and that is evident by how quickly I have been able to put full weight on
that leg, and walk unassisted.
Thanks again. If I can contribute in any other way to your website efforts,
please let me know!
Best regards,
Alan Rhodes
Highland, Utah
March 10th has come and gone, and I now have a shiny new left
BHR to go with the right. I am now 5 days post-op, and the weirdest thing is
that I got used to walking somewhat normally and driving and all that after the
first surgery 5 weeks before, and now I am starting it all over again. Anyway,
it went very well - I was at the hospital at 7am Monday, and released at 3pm
Tuesday, so it was even a shorter hospital stay. The anethstesia worked a bit
different for me this time. I had a block plus a sedative to put me to sleep,
but I woke up while he was still pounding the hardware in! This should have
bothered me a lot, since I am a total wimp when it comes to this stuff (I have
to look away when my blood is drawn, I get light-headed when someone talks about
surgery or blood, etc) but since I could feel absolutely nothing other than the
slight movement from the hammering or whatever he was doing, it turned out to be
just interesting and not uncomfortable at all. I heard the OR staff talking, but
I was drifting in and out of sleep, and before long was in the recovery room. I
wonder what it would have been like to be awake for the whole surgery? Since you
have absolutely no feeling in your body from the waist down, I suppose it's
possible. For some reason, the incision is shorter than the right side, although
I don't know by how much. I can't believe that 6 weeks ago I was on the other
side of this wondering how I was going to survive two hip operations, and now
it's over and I'm sitting at my computer desk with two new hips!
If you're on the fence and nervous about getting that hip fixed - don't be. Just
do your homework, find a good doctor that is experienced (I can make a great
recommendation :-) ), and go for a visit. My biggest problem with the severe
arthritis in my hips for years (besides limping around, not being able to run,
and trashing my stomach with anti-inflammatories) has been getting from a
sitting position to a standing position. It was a process that sometimes took a
few minutes, and was VERY painful, not to mention a little embarrasing. After
sitting in a booth at a restaurant, for example, I would go through such a long
procedure to get my legs working (including grimacing and groaning) that people
would stare. Here it is now 5 days since my second surgery, and already I am
standing up faster than I have for probably 5 years (although I am not putting
full weight on the new hip yet). It's a wonderful feeling, and I wish I hadn't
waited so long.
I actually don't know for sure if he is the most experienced
in Utah, but I can't imagine anybody doing it any better. For the second
surgery, I had a different doctor doing the anesthesia, and I was told by the
nurse later that they all have different methods, so waking up during the
surgery was actually a result of what the anesthesiologist did, rather than Dr.
Hickman. Again, it was not the least bit uncomfortable, scary or anything like
that, and I really am a wimp, so if it didn't bother me, it probably won't
bother anybody. Even though I was conscious, I was still very sedated and
relaxed. Thinking back on it now, they must have noticed my eyes opened, and put
me out again, because I don't recall much other than those few minutes after the
initial wake-up until I woke up again in recovery. One important thing to
mention here is they asked me which type of anesthesia I would prefer, and I
could have opted for a deep general anesthesia that pretty much guarantees you
are out for the duration. I have to say that if I had to have this done 10
times, I would chose the block and sedation all 10 times vs. the general (it's a
good thing I only have 2 hips!!).
Dr. Hickman has probably done over 150 resurfacings by now, but he doesn't do
just those. He also does THR's and other orthopedic surgery, like the knees. He
does his surgery every Monday all day. I remarked to the pre-op nurse this last
time that Monday must be a really long day for him, and she says he absolutely
loves it. She said he's like a kid in a candy store, and can't wait for Mondays.
You will be able to get your own opinion of him during your visit, but I think
you will find him very enthusiastic and like I said before, totally sold on the
merits of resurfacing. When I go back for my 3 week post-op visit, I'm going to
ask him where he trained for the BHR procedure, but if you happen to think to
ask him during your visit, can you send an email to Pat so she can update the
Dr. listing?
I have only spoken with one of his other BHR patients during all this, and he
was an older man who was back for his 3-week post-op visit, and he was off
crutches, doing very well, and was just as happy with Dr. Hickman as I have
become. This last surgery, there was another Hickman BHR patient in the room
next to mine, and I planned on going in during one of my walks with the physical
therapist, but by the time we got over there, he had been released. One thing
you might want to do is see if they can give you names of a few patients of his
you can talk to. Two people you will get to know there if you decide to have him
do your surgery is Kristen, who is his secretary, and Brooke, who is his medical
assistant (I think she is an RN). I have called them both many times, and they
usually don't answer because they are busy, but they are both excellent to
return calls.
One of the many things I was impresssed with was the care he took in placing the
cobalt chrome cap over the femur bone. Apparently the angle at which this is
inserted is very important, and has ramifications down the road as to how
resistant your hip is to future fracturing. Fracturing is quite rare, but it can
happen, and is aggravated by positioning the resurfacing hardware incorrectly
where there is more stress on the femur neck than is necessary. In my case he
looked at the xrays after the first surgery, and carefully showed me how mine
was at the perfect angle to withstand the maximum stress (my femur neck is
apparently at a bit wider angle than most men). I'm sure all the good
resurfacing doctors do this, but I was just very reassured at how detail
oriented he is.
The other doctor I looked into locally was Dr. Kim Bertin, and he came highly
recommended to me by a friend of mine who is a hospital administrator, and knows
him well. My problem there is he only does his surgery at LDS hospital, and my
insurance is not accepted there.
The hard part about all this is here you have an extremely skilled and dedicated
person who basically gives you your life back, which is priceless, but all you
have to give in return is your money . I know it's a LOT of money, but it
somehow doesn't seem like quite enough compensation because it's so great to be
able to do all those things you used to do, and can do them pain-free again.
Whoever you chose to do your surgery, I wish you the best of luck! I don't think
this surgery is recovered from as easily as some of the minimally-invasive total
hip procedures from what I understand, but it's a great solution for younger
more active people, and recovery is not that bad. It's been one week today since
my second surgery, and I am still on two crutches, but I am very mobile, getting
in and out of bed myself, and I will probably toss one crutch this coming week.
As far as pain, the first couple of days I was glad to have a pain-pill, but now
an occasional Tylanol is all I need. It's also been 6 weeks today since the
first surgery, and that side is very strong now, which is good, since it has
done most of the weight bearing.
If you haven't already started, make sure you do some exercising to tone those
leg muscles. That makes recovery a little easier. Also, you may not have been
told this yet, but within 48 hours after surgery, they send you to a clinic to
get a radiation treatment on the operated hip. They do this because the body is
so aggressive in trying to heal that hip that there is a possibility of getting
bone spurs or calcium growth in the tissue surrounding the joint. The radiation
slows this process way down so the danger is minimized. It's not painful, and
the actual radiation takes only a couple of minutes, but you're there for quite
a while as they do x-rays, and map out exactly how and where to treat the joint.
The hard part is you are getting up and down on tables, so you'll need meds.
Good luck, and keep us posted.
Alan
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