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One month ago, I lay in Sinai Hospital in
Baltimore recovering from bilateral hip resurfacing a la Dr. Michael
Mont. I'm a 49 year old active married professional woman 2 kids
from Philadelphia with severe osteoarthritis. Your website helped
lead me to Dr Mont after failing to find a surgeon I trusted in the
Philly area, notwithstanding all our fine orthopedic
hospitals/doctors. The three prior surgeons I interviewed were all
anxious to replace my young 49 year old hips and recommended against
resurfacing, citing amorphous risks of metal ion contamination and
osteoporosis fracture risks. I sensed they just didn't want to do
the surgery and wondered aloud what I would do if I needed a
revision in 20 years? The women in my family live well into their
nineties, so this is a legitimate concern for me. I had suffered
from the arthritis for about three years and acted only when it
became unbearable because I don't like to be out of the game. But
when I couldn't ride my horse or my bike, coach soccer, walk my
dogs, garden or go skiing with my family, it was time to get
radical.
My initial appointment with Dr Mont was in July 2009, and he didn't
rush me at all, spent all the time I needed with me and seemed to
actually care about me. I questioned if he was actually a surgeon
since he also had a personality. He laughed. I scheduled surgery for
January 2010, the soonest I could do it, and was essentially
handicapped on a cane with 6 vicoden a day for pain before I headed
in for surgery. I had each hip done, one week apart, and spent three
days in the hospital each time. Immediately after the hospital, I
went to Genesis at Brightwood, a skilled nursing center in the
Baltimore county area, for rehab for a week before heading home.
Four weeks out now, I am on a cane, twice a week outpatient PT (pain
and torture) having graduated from a walker. My arthritic pain is
totally gone, no medication needed and my incisions are healing
well. The only issue I am having now is that the muscles down the
front of my thighs are so tight from stooping over during the
arthritis period, it seems to be taking forever to stretch back out
so I can stand up straight. So I continue to work on my gait, and I
go back to work in two weeks. I have a 5 week follow up appointment
with Dr Mont in ten days so I'm hoping for a green light to my prior
active life. No regrets about anything and I am so blessed by your
website resource. I will continue updates as I progress.
Maggie
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