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I am a 53 year old male. In September, 2007 I thought
I pulled my groin playing tennis, Nine months later with a deteriorating
condition, increasing pain and decreasing mobility, an MRI showed my
right hip was shot. My local orthopedist recommended a total hip
replacement. I was devastated. However, a friend put me in touch with a
friend who it turns out had two hip resurfacings courtesy of Dr. Gross
in SC. My local orthopedist was not familiar with hip resurfacing but a
search on the web, which included surfacehippy, led me to think it was a
viable option.
After some searching, I found Dr. Riyaz Jinnah at Wake Baptist Hospital
in Winston Salem, NC. I initially visited him in July 2008 and he
confirmed I was a good candidate for a BHR. I finally scheduled the
procedure for February 9, 2009. He has done over 300 BHR's and one thing
that is very clear from the data is this procedure requires a surgeon
who is experienced. Dr. Jinnah was very good about answering all my
questions, and I had quite a few.
I had not been in a hospital as a patient since I was 3 years old and
was apprehensive over the whole process. I cannot say enough good things
about the pain control at Wake Baptist. I was given a spinal and the
next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room. My post op blood
pressure was low so I did not do the usual moving around on day 1. On
day 2 I was up using a walker and going to the bathroom quite a bit due
to the extra IV fluids I received as a result of the blood pressure
issue. Normally patients are sent home on the afternoon of day 2 but I
got an extra day due to the blood pressure issue which was fine by me.
On day 3 I got a quick crutch qualification lesson, was shown how to use
the other hip kit materials and sent home that afternoon. I was never in
any pain except for the removal of my surgical pad which caused some
involuntary hair removal (Dr. Jinnah does not believe in shaving). I
took two oxycodone before my crutch lesson and for the trip home. I was
given a scrip for more oxycodone but only took one the first night.
After that, I only occasionally took Tylenol for discomfort. While in
the hospital I was constantly asked to rate my pain on a scale of 1 to
10 and never got above a 1. The nursing care at Wake Baptist, which was
provided in a separate ward dedicated to joint replacement, was
excellent.
If one has a choice, I strongly recommend using crutches vs. a walker.
Crutches are more flexible for moving around and require one to use
their arms which, to me, was a bit of needed exercise. They are also
easier in getting in and out of cars plus my vanity would not allow me
to use a walker. I did quite a bit of exercising before the operation
which greatly assisted my recovery. However, I was still very surprised
by how much the operation took out of me which I particularly noticed
near the end of the day.
My biggest post op complaint was the inability to get in a comfortable
sleeping position such that for the first week, I only slept in 2 hour
stretches.
One insider tip is to use baby powder on your feet before you put on
TEDs which reduces the chance of a sore (naturally I got the sore and
then Dr. Jinnah's nurse told me about the powder when I was getting my
staples out at 2 weeks post op).
Once I was home, I used my crutches around the house and did circles in
the carport. I was discharged with instructions to walk as much as I
could but not too much. There was no structured PT but it was not
necessary (Dr. Jinnah says BHR patients are very motivated and the
problem is they do too much, not too little). On day 13 I went to the
gym to do upper body weights. I started back to work on a part time
basis on the third week after the operation and full time starting in
week 5. In week 3 I started walking with one crutch and by week 5 I was
walking with no crutches. Shortly thereafter I was walking 1.75 miles in
our neighborhood and started back on the elliptical trainer and
stationary bike. I started hitting golf balls in week 7 and by week 9
was walking 9 holes carrying my bag. I resumed doing lower body weights
in week 10. During the course of my unstructured recovery I used common
sense to push myself within reason but not to any level of pain or
discomfort. Right now my only issue is I still cannot easily cross my
right leg to tie my shoe but it is improving over time.
I just had my 3 month post op visit and my only restrictions are no
running and no jumping. I am told I get a full release in 6 months which
means I can then play singles tennis and run once more. People ask if I
am glad I did the BHR procedure and I can unequivocally say Yes. My pain
is gone, I walk normally, I can exercise as much as I want and play
golf. Moreover, if at some point my BHR wears out, which I hope it does
not, I still have a femur to have a total hip replacement.
Some final reflections. Before the operation I read quite a few blogs on
the surfacehippy website. Many bloggers claimed they had no pain issues
after their procedure and I can verify those stories with my own
experience. Some accounts say that after some very short period of 7 to
10 days they are walking and driving. Based on my experience these
results are not very realistic. Having a BHR is a major operation.
However, I believe my gym work before the operation and my constant
walking and gym work after the procedure greatly helped the pace of my
recovery.
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