Bilateral THR Aug.18 - a success!

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Just wanted to post an update. I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. I've had my hips for five years now. They still feel amazing. As Dr. Matta told me, I don't even know they are there. It's incredible.

I have been able to travel the past couple years, which I could never have done before the surgery. I took an amazing cruise to Greece, Monte Carlo, Italy, and Mallorca. I was able to do a bicycle tour that was fabulous. I am so excited to finally be able to travel again.

I bought a cabin up in the mountains of Wrightwood, CA. My surgeon moved to CO, and that made me realize that I had always dreamed of a place in the mountains. I even shoveled snow for seven hours up to my driveway. I broke it up over a few days.

The hiking is amazing. I am careful on the ice, and still spend a lot of time at the cottage. Life is incredible, and I couldn't be happier with the outcome of my bilateral surgery. It completely changed my views on medicine.

I hope you are all happy and healthy and enjoying your hips. xo

 

[FCBayern]

Thanks for the update, success like yours is what we are all striving for.

 

[Mojo333]

You were one of my inspirations and early cheerleaders.
Glad to hear you are living life large, and your hips are happy....
I, too, am doing great and grateful for BTHR.
Thanks for inspiring and encouraging myself and others.

 

[Rosalita]

Hip hip Hooray! Great to hear such a wonderful success story. I will be having bilateral anterior hip replacements march 18, 2020. It really is encouraging to hear of your success. Thanks

 

[CricketHip]

HI Stephenie! Long time no see on here! You sound wonderful with those bi lat hips.. life is truly grand after we get back on our feet.
I have to tell you, we took a day trip into NYC and I got my Christmas wish! To see The Rockettes! I thought of you the entire time.. you must have some amazing stories about what goes on behind the scenes. We had very good seats, front and center. I felt like I was a kid again.
So glad to find your update.

 

[Constanze]

@Hip Hip Hooray! I enjoyed reading a post from you again, and am happy you are pleased with your hips. Happy New Decade!

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Another update. I'm sorry I didn't see your posts until now. @FCBayern, Thanks. This is what I was striving for, too. Such a relief to be charging forward in life again, and out of pain. @Mojo333, I am so glad that you are doing well. I remember following your bilateral journey. @CricketHip, How fun that you got to see the Rockettes! We were sad that they had to skip Christmas with Covid, but that's life. Hope your second surgery and recovery went well. I will have to catch up with your thread. Hi @Constanze, I hope that you healed from your fall. That was the last post I saw. I will recheck.

Today I went for my x-ray and follow up in Santa Monica. Dr. Matta told me to come back in three to five years almost five years ago. In August I will have had these hips for six years! The time has flown. Dr. Matta recommended I see Dr. Gerhardt since he moved to Vail, CO.

I drove down there early and rode my bicycle along the beach. It was stunning! The doctor said that my hips look perfect. That's how they feel. He doesn't see any wear or tear, which is a huge relief. The x-ray looked fantastic; I was so pleased. I remember the first time they showed it to me in the hospital, I felt like I was going to throw up. Now I am just thankful and happy.

I bought an Our kayak, and have been kayaking regularly. It only weighs 24 lbs., so I can carry it from the car to the water. This has been a great way to exercise while social distancing. I also have been swimming at the lake in Wrightwood, CA. Tomorrow I am taking the ferry to Anacapa, and plan to hike on the island.

Am absolutely loving the hips, and have not had any problems. The only time they have hurt is if I have lifted heavy furniture. (which I no longer do.) Dr. Gerhardt told me to keep doing what I'm doing. (yoga, pilates, walking, kayaking, hiking, and yard work.)

Hope you are all happy and healthy. Such a great tribe here. Thank you again for everything! xo

 

[Mojo333]

So glad to see you on the forum and see that you are hip happy and healthy!
Thanks for the Kudos for the forum and I hope all Kups going well ♡

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Thanks, @Mojo333. I have been trying to find your thread and see how things are going, but have been unsuccessful. I love that kayaker! So cute...

You have been busy around here! Such a great support you are...

 

[Mojo333]

There is a link to my thread in my signature.
I'm doing great hipwise.

Just said goodbye to Little Mojo, my 18 year old ShihTsu so been a tad melancholy as of late-but obviously was not unexpected...
This pandemic has tried us all in so many ways but so many blessings to count, my friend.

Hope all keeps getting better and better ♡

 

[CricketHip]

I love your picture on the water!! You look so happy and content,, I love your lifestyle.
It’s so great to hear about your update and the follow up Dr. visit. My Dr. doesn’t want to see me for ten years! I fear he will have retired by then. But like you, would go to someone else in the practice for some pictures and follow up news. We sure do love our hips! Many of us..

 

[Constanze]

@Hip Hip Hooray! Hi Stephenie, How lovely to read an update from you. I'm so happy you are doing fine hip-wise, and that you are kayaking. I used to kayak with my dad in the lakes in Bavaria, southern Germany. Enjoy it!.

But now about me: I'm also doing great hip-wise. I did a half-Ironman in 2018 and then my dream was to do a marathon under 5 hours and a full Ironman at Frankfurt. But I had my bicycle accident just 14 days before Frankfurt Marathon (you know the rest of the story).

I recovered from it just in time before our lovely holiday in Australia where we saw our second daughter who lives in Brisbane, and from there, we also took a flight to Uluru (Ayer's Rock), where we went on a culture trip, learned a lot about the aborigines and went on a 12 km walk around the Rock.

I managed to do the walk. Then I thought: Great, now I can train for my races, but then came the pandemic. No more traveling, no races. They've been postponed twice.

But now many of us have been vaccinated and Frankfurt Ironman is due to take place in just a month. I'm doing fine training for it.

The other good news is 2 of my daughters - they live in the Frankfurt area like myself - are pregnant. One grand-child is due to arrive in just 9 days and the other one in October.

And - I've retired from work, and now my husband and I are planning on moving to the UK. He is English and has finally managed to buy a house in Lincoln, where we would like to live now that we've retired. But Brexit and the pandemic has made that plan more complicated, too.

I'll keep you up-to-date. Keep up your hobbies and stay fit. You've always been so cheerful and you have always been my champion.

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

Thank you, @Constanze. It was wonderful to read your post. How exciting about the move to England and your two new grandchildren. Incredible! Glad to hear you are doing so well. These new hips really are amazing...

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

@Mojo333, How sad. They are such incredible companions. I hope you get another one. So glad that your hips are doing so well. We were lucky to get the bilateral surgery. Thank goodness we had them done bofore Covid hit, too. Your latest photo is fabulous!

 

[Hip Hip Hooray!]

I love your picture on the water!! You look so happy and content,, I love your lifestyle.
It’s so great to hear about your update and the follow up Dr. visit. My Dr. doesn’t want to see me for ten years! I fear he will have retired by then. But like you, would go to someone else in the practice for some pictures and follow up news. We sure do love our hips! Many of us..

Thanks, @CricketHip. The water and kayaking has been a Godsend. It's so nice to be able to be outside and yet still socially distance. Yes, we do love our hips. They have been a lifesaver.

 

[Zoebichon]

@Hip Hip Hooray!
I know you haven't been on here for nearly a year but you do pop in periodically!

Last November, I found out I finally could have BTHR after my OA slowly progressing since my late 40's. My surgery is May 19th!

Last November I began reading many, many recovery stories and yours was one of the them . It really stuck in my mind and a few days ago, as I am in the finishing stretch of waiting, I really wanted to re-read your entire story.

It took me days to find you again but oh my, have I enjoyed it so much. I feel more peaceful going into my surgery now.

Thanks and may you continue with your wonderful lifestyle!

 

[Constanze]

How are you @Hip Hip Hooray!? Have you done any kayaking recently? My hip is also fine and my unoperated hip doesn't need operating. I've retired from my full-time job now. I still swim, cycle and run, and would like to participate in Frankfurt Marathon, which was cancelled twice in a row during the pandemic. While our health minister tells us to be cautious, at long last restrictions are easing up in Germany. We went to Lincoln in England twice this year to renovate the house my husband bought there. And I saw my grandchildren (they live in Germany though), who have grown a lot, will both be 1 this year and smile a lot. I look forward to an update from you? Do you still have any pandemic restrictions?