Larry's Original Blog Part 1   and    Part 2

I was referred to this site by a fellow hippy, Max Garner of Troy,NC. We talked today on the phone for about an hour. I'd heard that he had the resurfacing done and decided to call him.

He said it was interesting that I called today because it was his first anniversary of the surgery. We both had the same surgeon, Riyaz Jinnah at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. My surgery was on Sept. 29. I'm 62 years old and have been running for 29 years. I'll reach my 30th anniversary of running in March, so I'm hoping to start back by the end of March.

I had my right hip resurfaced. It's coming along well, I'm just itching to get back on the roads.

My pain started in my groin while running the week of Labor Day, 2008. When it got worse, I went to see an orthopedic surgeon. He never figured out that the pain was coming from arthritis, thinking instead that it was tendonosis. I struggled for a while before seeing a chiropractor. He said it was in my hip joint and lined me up with another ortho in Greensboro, just north of my hometown of Asheboro.

The second surgeon told me I couldn't run again. It floored me, not just what he said but the way he showed no sympathy. Later, I asked him about resurfacing. He said that was up to me. When I mentioned running after resurfacing, he almost blew a gasket, saying people who think you can run afterward must be living in another universe (his words).

That's when I decided to call Wake Forest and get an appointment. Am I glad I did! Dr. Jinnah has been everything the other two weren't, competent and personable.

My talk with Max just gave me more hope of running again. He was so helpful and even said to call him anytime. And, of course, he told me about this website.

By the way, I'm a writer for The Randolph Guide, a weekly community newspaper. After my surgery, I started a blog on our website, www.randolphguide.com. It's under Larry's Blog. It's like a journal telling about my post-surgery experiences.

Ultimately, I want to write a book about my life of running with this hip thing being the focus. The tentative title is "A Personal Record: The Roller-Coaster Ride of a Runner," something like that.

Well, that's my intro. I hope to be using this site often, and you can use my information for your charts and stuff.

Larry Penkava