I am 48 years old and had my right hip resurfaced on 4/21/08. Prior to surgery, my right leg was about 1.5 inches shorter than my left and quite a bit smaller from lack of use. My back and most everything else hurt from the way I walked and my limited ROM. After surgery and after the post surgical issues have settled down - I have regained total height to be almost 6'1". My right leg is getting more muscular, walking is better, and pain is MUCH better. I still have a slight limp, but feel it is in my head somewhat and a bad habit I am trying to break.

Dr John Evans also did my surgery on April 21, 2008. I am VERY pleased with my results and also with his nurse Chris Madrid who has been wonderful. I would not change a thing!!! I was 48 years old at the time of my surgery.

I had been in constant pain for about 1.5 years prior to surgery. I have rheumatoid arthritis and was misdiagnosed with sciatic nerve pain for a while and went through PT prior to having x-rays performed which showed the severe damage to my right hip (most likely from a skateboarding injury from years ago). I was basically bone on bone - something about hearing your bones scrape together is VERY disheartening! I was told by many people to wait and have the surgery when I was older as I would have to repeat the surgery. I just couldn't see myself sitting around waiting to get older, while I felt so old already and could not do many of the things that I enjoyed. My hip would hardly hold me up and I was limping very severely, which really puts a lot of stress on your back. I was having to take pain meds and did not want to live this way. My right leg was shorter and smaller than the other (which is all better now).

My rheumatologist referred me to Dr. Evans. He told me about the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing. If my bones were in good shape, I would be an excellent candidate, especially with my young age Now, that made me feel really good!

Everything went very well and I was in the hospital for 4 nights and received excellent care at the CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Northwest Hospital in San Antonio! I had much less pain after surgery than before (with the exception of surgical pain, which was very minimal). I was the first patient at my Physical Therapy clinic to have this surgery, so I had to do some educating with them to make sure I received the proper care and rehab. I have been very proud to share my story with anyone that is experiencing pain and want to make sure they are aware of all of their options.

I am so happy and feel great at 3 months post-op (today in fact)!!!! I look forward to a whole new lease on life with my new hip. I love this website and I would be honored to call myself a "surface hippy". Thanks Pat for the wonderful website!!! You did a great job! I just found you today and look forward to reviewing the postings and information on this site!

 

Sorry this is a little late, but thought I'd offer some encouragement to anyone reading. I'm 3 mos. post op. My doc probably had a conservative approach, which may be due to other medical conditions.

I was in the hospital for 4 nights with an ice pack on my hip and the cool massing booties on my feet with the TEDS hose and wonderful nursing care. Then on to home where My Wonderful Husband (know referred to as MWH to avoid typing) you really find out how wonderful they are during all of this - took care of me. The first night home from the hospital was the worse night ever. Although MWH took great care of me, you can't out perform those booties and special ice packs they use. I had a bunch of swelling, my leg felt hot and I felt like I had a fever. I think I probably overdid it a little. Ice packs, elevating the leg, and wearing the hose really seemed to help the swelling. After that night - things to really get better and they get better every day!!!

I used 2 crutches with touch weight bearing only and began physical therapy right away - PT 3x a week for 4 weeks. I wore the hose - which MWH put on for me - which was really difficult - bless his heart. I told him he could be secure in his manhood as it was obvious he had never put on hose before! I used 2 crutches for 6 weeks, then 1 crutch for 2 weeks and a cane for 4 weeks. I ditched the cane after about 2 weeks. I was starting to trip over it rather than use it!

I really did not mind the hose, as I could not shave my legs. I am 6'1" and have a lot of legs to shave . Anyway, so as not to scare anyone, I kept BOTH hose on. I figured with all the other things MWH was doing for me, that might be pushing my luck to ask him to shave my legs too! A dear friend bought me a pair of light blue Crocs to wear during my recovery. I joked with the Physical Therapists that I looked like Swiss Miss with my blue Crocs and white hose and whatever shorts and shirt that was clean - with MWH doing laundry... sometime's I looked like Barney or other cartoon characters, but I was clean

For tennis shoes or other tie shoes. Those curly shoelaces are wonderful. You don't have to get someone to tie your shoes. My MWH could rest after yanking on those hose and not have to worry about shoe laces. Plus the curly shoe laces went better with my Barney outfits anyway.

Needless to say, I am without hose and cane and walking with a little bit of a limp. I really think it is a bad habit I have picked up and I need to work on getting my old walk back - which I guess will come with time. I am excited and happy with the quality of life and getting back to being normal - whatever that is!

Marilyn Cave