ForumUser
senior
Was reading through some threads to see what might have changed over the years. The concerns sound the same as mine. Fairydell's thread, in particular, sounded a bit like my recent experiences.
Quick story - left hip started being painful about three years ago. As it deteriorated over the next year, I looked at options, but had significant scheduling issues - had previously planned on changing job, selling the big house, selling the vacation house, etc - scheduling issues!
So, to buy time, I started corticosteroid injections - first one was wonderfully helpful and relieved all pain and stiffness, 5 months and second one worked really well, 5 months and the third worked well ... you can see the pattern ... finally clicking started and now the last two have not worked nearly as well. This simply means it's time to replace the hip. Scheduled for this spring.
Backstory - had always been active as a child, some sports, but lots of construction, farm work, etc. Horse rolled over on me when I was 16. Flew airplanes in the Navy, fell down some stairs on a ship, off a wing or two - just normal young man stuff. Stiffness started in the right hip around age 32 - had to stop playing racketball . Got worse, left Navy after 20 years - but not because of the hip. Continued to worsen and after another 5-6 years, it was affecting my ability to be a good father with two sons ... doc said you'll know when you are ready. Started falling down - duh. Replaced hip.
Extraordinary return to normalcy! Back at work in three weeks. On a Jetski at five weeks. In a tree chainsawing branches at eight weeks. Zero side effects! 18 years ago.
Lessons:
1. Have your hip replaced earlier, rather than later - you will heal and recover faster.
2. Find a hip surgeon that is considered to be a "production" surgeon - i.e. one who does this all the time.
3. If you have a bad attitude about the procedure - get over it and get positive.
4. When you return home - walk. Do the stretching. Get up and get going!
Quick story - left hip started being painful about three years ago. As it deteriorated over the next year, I looked at options, but had significant scheduling issues - had previously planned on changing job, selling the big house, selling the vacation house, etc - scheduling issues!
So, to buy time, I started corticosteroid injections - first one was wonderfully helpful and relieved all pain and stiffness, 5 months and second one worked really well, 5 months and the third worked well ... you can see the pattern ... finally clicking started and now the last two have not worked nearly as well. This simply means it's time to replace the hip. Scheduled for this spring.
Backstory - had always been active as a child, some sports, but lots of construction, farm work, etc. Horse rolled over on me when I was 16. Flew airplanes in the Navy, fell down some stairs on a ship, off a wing or two - just normal young man stuff. Stiffness started in the right hip around age 32 - had to stop playing racketball . Got worse, left Navy after 20 years - but not because of the hip. Continued to worsen and after another 5-6 years, it was affecting my ability to be a good father with two sons ... doc said you'll know when you are ready. Started falling down - duh. Replaced hip.
Extraordinary return to normalcy! Back at work in three weeks. On a Jetski at five weeks. In a tree chainsawing branches at eight weeks. Zero side effects! 18 years ago.
Lessons:
1. Have your hip replaced earlier, rather than later - you will heal and recover faster.
2. Find a hip surgeon that is considered to be a "production" surgeon - i.e. one who does this all the time.
3. If you have a bad attitude about the procedure - get over it and get positive.
4. When you return home - walk. Do the stretching. Get up and get going!