Here’s my 1st hipp-a-versary update. All I can say is 2016 has certainly been an interesting year. I really consider my self to be a healthy person, so when I had hip surgery in January, (5th to be exact), it was my first surgery. Ever. I recovered from that pretty quickly, and have been feeling good all year.
We went camping at the end of April with our camping club, and I met a woman from Kentucky who had had a THR, and was experiencing pain --- and suspected an infection.
Fast forward several months: my 87 year old mom fell at the end of July and broke her left hip – I thought we’d trade places and I’d get to cheer and coach her through hip recovery, but she succumbed to other surgical complications and ended up passing away on August 22nd. It was a shock, as I didn’t expect such a quick downward spiral with her health – certainly not from hip surgery.
In November, we met up again with my hip – infection friend (from camping) who gave me an update on her hip issues: After we saw her in April, she went back home, and contacted a Vanderbilt (Nashville) doc she had been referred to. He had her come for an appointment immediately, and sure enough, It was a hip infection. She went through the spacer / antibiotics, etc, then was re-scheduled for a revision. When we met her this time, all was well with her hip, and recovery had been good (although I noticed she still walked as if she had hip joint pain. (– DH watched her walk, then looked at me and said, “Don’t you remember walking like that? I had to explain to him that you don’t ‘walk like that’ when your hip hurts, you walk like that to avoid the pain, and in my case, didn’t realize I was ‘walking like that’.)
The first of December, I was diagnosed with a softball sized ovarian cyst (and had out-patient laparoscopic surgery to remove it two weeks ago.) It was non cancerous, and was certainly unexpected… I had no symptoms. All in all, I’m doing well now!!
But I’m certainly ready to get started on 2017.
Yes, now it seems like my new hip has been a distant memory…. Hip, what hip??? Oh, yes, now I remember. But in spite of all of the above, my hip recovery has been awesome. I read several comments on bonesmart.org early on (when I was trying to learn everything possible about my upcoming THR surgery) that hipsters would say, “Boy, it sure is nice to get out of bed in the morning and not think about my hip!”
I sort of wondered if I’d get around to saying that too? For all you catching up with me… it’s true, you do say it. I’m saying it now, and have been for a while. I’ve gotten to the point where I sleep all night and don’t wake up after two hours with hip pain; for that matter, a lot of the back pain I previously experienced has gone away. I get in and out of cars like a normal hipped person would; I go walking and don’t think about my groin pain (if I’m thinking about my pain, it’s about how awesome it is to walk and NOT have pain); I ride a bicycle and enjoy the exercise again (I might remember my hip if because my right leg doesn’t quite lift as high as my left leg, and I have to switch sides to step over the bike bar); I play music shows like I’ve always done, but now when I’ve stood up for 3 hours playing, I don’t pay for it the next day with burning hip pain. So, yes, you do forget that hip surgery happened, and you just get back to living life.
I had my 1st annual hip exam today – which entailed xrays and consultation with the OS (it was about 2 weeks early from the actual date.) Dr. Kim declared my hip to be in great shape. We also talked about the causes of infections (he said always bacterial and never viral); we also talked about future follow up visits (3-4 years) and what he’d be looking for in the xrays, and how my other hip was doing (no signs of any of the same issues).
To sum it up…. Hip surgery is the best thing I’ve done all year! It’s great to finally just be living again.