rerodriguez
senior
You don't have grits in your part of Texas? I don't like plain grits, but I love cheese grits!
In pain, confusion and uncertainty after 4 months
- Thread starter jimbo
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jimbo
graduate
Rebecca,
Well, yeah. We have them here, but...well maybe I could eat them with cheese or with catsup...or with milk, or maybe in a smoothie. Do you hae a grits cookbook? What I had originally were frontier grits-plain, simple and bland as the dickens.
Best wishes for recovery and good food.
Jim
Well, yeah. We have them here, but...well maybe I could eat them with cheese or with catsup...or with milk, or maybe in a smoothie. Do you hae a grits cookbook? What I had originally were frontier grits-plain, simple and bland as the dickens.
Best wishes for recovery and good food.
Jim
nanamac
big-cheese
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1jt@atime
supremo
Don't let Doug hear you talking about grits in a negative way! He'll give you some good recipes.
nanamac
big-cheese
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Never had 'em!
OP
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jimbo
graduate
Boy, you Brits take things, like "gumption", to Nth degree. It's had to imagine John Wayne (I think he had some bath scenes) scouring out his tub with Gumption.
And what a site this is! We can even have a political debate about grits! (Progressive, like Rebecca:wahey:, Moderate like Jamie:thmb: or Reactionary like me:skp
.
But I do appreciate your attention to detail, Josephine.
I'm going to visit the new PT's this afternoon. I'm going with a mix of optomism and pesimism...well, more like undulating uncertainty than pesimism. In about 2 hours I'll smear the crutches with Gumption and head out (Does Gumption smell?).
Thank you, and all, for that matter, for your support. Jim
And what a site this is! We can even have a political debate about grits! (Progressive, like Rebecca:wahey:, Moderate like Jamie:thmb: or Reactionary like me:skp
. But I do appreciate your attention to detail, Josephine.
I'm going to visit the new PT's this afternoon. I'm going with a mix of optomism and pesimism...well, more like undulating uncertainty than pesimism. In about 2 hours I'll smear the crutches with Gumption and head out (Does Gumption smell?).
Thank you, and all, for that matter, for your support. Jim
nanamac
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How's the new PT visit go Jim? I've been silently following as I haven't started outpatient PT yet myself. I really have been nervous and wanted to be sure my fracture was good and healed as I don't like feeling these aches in my thigh and wanted to have my NP give me good goin' over first!
I am going to call for an appointment for PT tomorrow though as my muscles are becoming atrophied which will be harder to recover from if I let it go any longer.
My Nurse Practioner was much more understanding than the little OS and did refill my Rx for Percocet. Thank gooness she has more compassion as she previously worked on a hip replacement floor before becoming an NP. And her husband, 40 years old, just fractured BOTH hips in a fall.
I'm kind of jumping around here but wanted to see how the appointment went. Please keep us posted.
I am going to call for an appointment for PT tomorrow though as my muscles are becoming atrophied which will be harder to recover from if I let it go any longer.
My Nurse Practioner was much more understanding than the little OS and did refill my Rx for Percocet. Thank gooness she has more compassion as she previously worked on a hip replacement floor before becoming an NP. And her husband, 40 years old, just fractured BOTH hips in a fall.
I'm kind of jumping around here but wanted to see how the appointment went. Please keep us posted.
Songlady
graduate
yes, Jim - we are following your news and cheering you on!
My mother - 83 when her hip was replaced! - had some rough times in the hospital and in the rehab place, but absolutely loved her outpatient PT, found the exercises helpful and the therapist both compassionate and physically helpful. I hope that's the case for you too!!
I learned so much about how the whole joint/muscle things works from my physical therapist..... it was a good experience for me, also.
My mother - 83 when her hip was replaced! - had some rough times in the hospital and in the rehab place, but absolutely loved her outpatient PT, found the exercises helpful and the therapist both compassionate and physically helpful. I hope that's the case for you too!!
I learned so much about how the whole joint/muscle things works from my physical therapist..... it was a good experience for me, also.
OP
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jimbo
graduate
Janet and All,
-sorry for the delay here. I got to the new PT on Thrusday, and he have me four exercises to do, three of which are assisted (moving bended knee up to chest, moving leg latteraly, moving leg down and off the bed to stretch groin muscles). I get to stand and kick the affected out to the side on my own. It didn't seem like very much then, but OOOOOO! is it work for me. My leg and hip are grating through the range of motion. Some have suggested its the ripping up of scar tissue.
I did think the PT (he's as old as I am) had a good sense of where I am at-which is a mess (he didn't say that). He indicated it was probably bursitis. He's starting me out pretty easy for a former triathlete. But I really do I appreciate his senistivity.
So I have been rehabing at home through the week (he also has me on heat 20 minutes and ice 10 minutes several times during the day). He also suggested that when I use a cushion to sit that I should put it under my thingh and relieve pressure on the tuberosity. I'm experimenting with that.
So that's the drill, and the jury is out as to whether or not it's going to help.
-one things that has happened is that I have been drawn back into an old past time of mine while I'm sitting on the heat/ice. I'm sketching and drawing protraits again. Again, out of diversity comes new or revamped direction(s).
I do appreciate all of you, your concern for me and your well wishes.
Jim
-sorry for the delay here. I got to the new PT on Thrusday, and he have me four exercises to do, three of which are assisted (moving bended knee up to chest, moving leg latteraly, moving leg down and off the bed to stretch groin muscles). I get to stand and kick the affected out to the side on my own. It didn't seem like very much then, but OOOOOO! is it work for me. My leg and hip are grating through the range of motion. Some have suggested its the ripping up of scar tissue.
I did think the PT (he's as old as I am) had a good sense of where I am at-which is a mess (he didn't say that). He indicated it was probably bursitis. He's starting me out pretty easy for a former triathlete. But I really do I appreciate his senistivity.
So I have been rehabing at home through the week (he also has me on heat 20 minutes and ice 10 minutes several times during the day). He also suggested that when I use a cushion to sit that I should put it under my thingh and relieve pressure on the tuberosity. I'm experimenting with that.
So that's the drill, and the jury is out as to whether or not it's going to help.
-one things that has happened is that I have been drawn back into an old past time of mine while I'm sitting on the heat/ice. I'm sketching and drawing protraits again. Again, out of diversity comes new or revamped direction(s).
I do appreciate all of you, your concern for me and your well wishes.
Jim
Sounds like your exercises are right on the money Jimbo. Hope you start seeing the results real soon. Meanwhile it would seem you are turning into a Picasso :hehe:. What a result! Please keep us updated.
nanamac
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Oh Jimbo, I do hope and pray that this latest attempt at relief is successful! You've had such a disappointing recovery for yourself. It's amazing how some folks just breeze thru and other's, the minority thank goodness, don't. I pray thet one day soon you just wake up and it's gone. You have great patience and a keen sense of humor. Hang in there. Sending good thoughts and wishes your way...
You certainly get an "A" for effort, Jim!!! I know some of those movements must be very challenging for you. But it sounds like you have a good therapist who is able to read your specific situation well. Hang in there.....something is going to work if you keep after it!!!
OP
OP
jimbo
graduate
Hi Jo,
Well I'm trying to go with the new "program"-lots of passive stretching of the muscles, a little leg wagging on my own and heat/ice. I'm sitting on a bag of frozen mixed vegitables as I type this.
I don't have any problem with the stretches-its the moving the leg around that creates a painful "rasping" or "grating" feeling in the joint at points in the range of motion. When it happens, I want to spring off the table-a kind of hot-hip-levitaton. I'm being told that this may change with the losening of the muscles, rotators included.
And Jim?. Well I just don't know. I'm thinking that, in the least, that I may just gather more material to describe what's happening in the joint. I'm thinking to schedule some xrays with the surgeon at the year point (next month) and see if anything has showed up in the joint. I'm still wondering about those screws...
My mood is influenced by the fact that it's a tax day here for us sole proprieters (paying an estimated tax for the next year's payment) . It's another circumstance where we put out but we don't know what the outcome is going to be.
But I am able to work, to enjoy the people I meet and take the well wishes and encouragement from you all. Pete :dogkiss:, of course, has a place in his heart for me...for the family, for the mail man, for the people having a garage sale next door and the ice cream vendor driving down the street.
Thanks for your support, Jim
Well I'm trying to go with the new "program"-lots of passive stretching of the muscles, a little leg wagging on my own and heat/ice. I'm sitting on a bag of frozen mixed vegitables as I type this.
I don't have any problem with the stretches-its the moving the leg around that creates a painful "rasping" or "grating" feeling in the joint at points in the range of motion. When it happens, I want to spring off the table-a kind of hot-hip-levitaton. I'm being told that this may change with the losening of the muscles, rotators included.
And Jim?. Well I just don't know. I'm thinking that, in the least, that I may just gather more material to describe what's happening in the joint. I'm thinking to schedule some xrays with the surgeon at the year point (next month) and see if anything has showed up in the joint. I'm still wondering about those screws...
My mood is influenced by the fact that it's a tax day here for us sole proprieters (paying an estimated tax for the next year's payment) . It's another circumstance where we put out but we don't know what the outcome is going to be.
But I am able to work, to enjoy the people I meet and take the well wishes and encouragement from you all. Pete :dogkiss:, of course, has a place in his heart for me...for the family, for the mail man, for the people having a garage sale next door and the ice cream vendor driving down the street.
Thanks for your support, Jim
pkamp
new member
I hope you got a chance to look into that chair Jimbo. It really doesn't have extra "lumbar support". Remember when you were in the hospital on your back with a wedge under your knees? This posture causes the small of your back (which is normally unsupported--needing lumbar support) to press flat against the bed. The same happens in this chair. There was a tremendous amount of science that went into designing the astronaut's chair (which the chair uses). You don't sit in the chair...you recline so that all the weight is removed from your butt... just as if you were in bed.
I made the mistake of thinking that a regular recliner was going to be the perfect position to work in for 16 hours a day. I might have actually been better off sitting straight up in a chair with the better posture. The recliner removes "some" weight from your butt, but most is still on it...even while fully reclined...that slope transfers the weight downward...and with quite a bit of stress on the lower back which is not fully supported. I was constantly throwing my back out....but not anymore! I haven't tried using a wedge under my knees in a normal recliner...but that might cause the lumbar to flatten out against the recliner and provide additional support... and thus remove a little more weight from the buttocks. Removing weight from my butt (getting off my aXX) was the solution to my debilitating periformis issues. Any back store should have this or something just like it for you to demo. I'm going to look for my wedge and try it with a recliner... it may be the next best thing (and free if you saved your wedge).
I made the mistake of thinking that a regular recliner was going to be the perfect position to work in for 16 hours a day. I might have actually been better off sitting straight up in a chair with the better posture. The recliner removes "some" weight from your butt, but most is still on it...even while fully reclined...that slope transfers the weight downward...and with quite a bit of stress on the lower back which is not fully supported. I was constantly throwing my back out....but not anymore! I haven't tried using a wedge under my knees in a normal recliner...but that might cause the lumbar to flatten out against the recliner and provide additional support... and thus remove a little more weight from the buttocks. Removing weight from my butt (getting off my aXX) was the solution to my debilitating periformis issues. Any back store should have this or something just like it for you to demo. I'm going to look for my wedge and try it with a recliner... it may be the next best thing (and free if you saved your wedge).
PJMully
junior member
Jim
I don't think I have posted in this thread before but I have been reading on and off about what you are going through. I am amazed that any medical professional will let you suffer for so long ... and keep trying maybe this and maybe that. Surely you shouldn't have so much pain after a year? You must be so frustrated and really I feel for you ... I had a revision three months ago .. I'm starting to feel good now but it was hard to get the diagnosis (reaction to metal) and I had some quite scary months where I got quite paranoid. Perhaps I missed somewhere in the posts, but what kind of prosthesis do you have?
Paula
I don't think I have posted in this thread before but I have been reading on and off about what you are going through. I am amazed that any medical professional will let you suffer for so long ... and keep trying maybe this and maybe that. Surely you shouldn't have so much pain after a year? You must be so frustrated and really I feel for you ... I had a revision three months ago .. I'm starting to feel good now but it was hard to get the diagnosis (reaction to metal) and I had some quite scary months where I got quite paranoid. Perhaps I missed somewhere in the posts, but what kind of prosthesis do you have?
Paula
OP
OP
jimbo
graduate
Paula,
Yes, it's been an ordeal. The latest treatment is an attempt to work with the muscles in the hopes that I will be able to move on, but when that happens (working with a PT), there is pain in what feels like the joint again. I was wondering yesterday about the screws, the fitting, etc. with the prothesis.
I have limited information for a diagnosis. MRI's are ruled out because I have a pace maker. How did they determine you you were havng a reaction to the metal?
My thread has become as long as my ordeal. I posted back somewhere, along with the surgery notes that I received a Zimmer prothesis //metal//with a Trilogy acdtabular shell (size 60). They put about 4 big screws in it, one of which had a "fair purchase with the bone". I have said that I'm going to line up some more x-rays at the year point to see if anything shows up. And I have the name of a superstar revision surgeon in Houston, TX. I may have to make my way to Houston, Mexico and South Amreica and find a good medicine man.
I so glad you're doing well. The emotional part of this is harrowing as you know.
Thank you for your interest and concern. Jim
Yes, it's been an ordeal. The latest treatment is an attempt to work with the muscles in the hopes that I will be able to move on, but when that happens (working with a PT), there is pain in what feels like the joint again. I was wondering yesterday about the screws, the fitting, etc. with the prothesis.
I have limited information for a diagnosis. MRI's are ruled out because I have a pace maker. How did they determine you you were havng a reaction to the metal?
My thread has become as long as my ordeal. I posted back somewhere, along with the surgery notes that I received a Zimmer prothesis //metal//with a Trilogy acdtabular shell (size 60). They put about 4 big screws in it, one of which had a "fair purchase with the bone". I have said that I'm going to line up some more x-rays at the year point to see if anything shows up. And I have the name of a superstar revision surgeon in Houston, TX. I may have to make my way to Houston, Mexico and South Amreica and find a good medicine man.
I so glad you're doing well. The emotional part of this is harrowing as you know.
Thank you for your interest and concern. Jim
PJMully
junior member
Jim
What led me back to the OS after four years was reduction in strength and flexion in my hip. (To the point where I couldn't complete a one-legged revolution on my bike - as an ex-triathlete ?? I think you will know what I mean
) I was diagnosed with extra bone growth and recommended extraction here in Dubai, but took a second opinion whilst on holiday in Australia, where I was made aware of the whole metal-on-metal scenario. I returned to Dubai and my OS here agreed that we should do more tests (bone scan, ultrasound, blood, etc). The only abnormality was a little fluid apparent on the ultrasound (which was an "afterthought' test).
Because there was no diagnostic sign of infection or reaction to metal, we decided to remove some trochanteric screws in case they were causing the inflammation/fluid build up. I had better range of motion immediately, but an unusually swollen leg. Finally the swelling reduced to a half-golf-ball sized lump on my thigh over the incision. After three months of patiently waiting for it to subside I went back to my OS who excised it then and there and found dead tissue. I was pretty excited to have a flat and semi-normal looking thigh again, but the lump was back within a day! (Later we established that the removal of screws left channels for the dead tissue to swish down and appear externally instead of being jammed in my hip joint.)
At this point I got my people at work (I work for Johnson & Johnson) involved and between them reviewing the symptoms (with some behind the scenes knowledge it seems) and my OS presenting my case and pathology at a hip conference fortunately being held in Europe around that time, we established that the only way forward was revision.
I guess the key point I would make is that my x-ray looked perfect in both position and fixation and I had no signs of infection or reaction despite very extensive tests. I really thought my muscles were dying ... I didn't have extreme pain, just discomfort and inability to do the stuff I loved.
The pathologist here still has not said there was anything unusual in the tissue that was taken from the first excision ... however the pathologist who was presenting at the conference in Europe has been studying this for a few years now and he was able to easily and conclusively recognize the reaction from my slides (seriously ... as I arrived at the hospital for the operation, my OS showed me a text that he literally just received from this guy saying yes definitely revision was the right course!). And for the record when they took the old hip out, it was surrounded in dead tissue.
It was hard for me to keep telling my OS that I thought we were missing something but I am so glad that we kept at it. One day he booked me in for an afternoon slot - 2 pm, with no-one after me so that we could just talk until we resolved it!!
I think what I went through is probably just a fraction of what you are going through; it sounds like you have a lot of pain.
Interesting that you also have a metal prosthesis. Has anyone tested for a metal reaction? (Have there been any cases with Zimmer implants of reaction?) I am sure at this point you just want a diagnosis ... would be great to rule this one out at least!
I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!
What led me back to the OS after four years was reduction in strength and flexion in my hip. (To the point where I couldn't complete a one-legged revolution on my bike - as an ex-triathlete ?? I think you will know what I mean
) I was diagnosed with extra bone growth and recommended extraction here in Dubai, but took a second opinion whilst on holiday in Australia, where I was made aware of the whole metal-on-metal scenario. I returned to Dubai and my OS here agreed that we should do more tests (bone scan, ultrasound, blood, etc). The only abnormality was a little fluid apparent on the ultrasound (which was an "afterthought' test).Because there was no diagnostic sign of infection or reaction to metal, we decided to remove some trochanteric screws in case they were causing the inflammation/fluid build up. I had better range of motion immediately, but an unusually swollen leg. Finally the swelling reduced to a half-golf-ball sized lump on my thigh over the incision. After three months of patiently waiting for it to subside I went back to my OS who excised it then and there and found dead tissue. I was pretty excited to have a flat and semi-normal looking thigh again, but the lump was back within a day! (Later we established that the removal of screws left channels for the dead tissue to swish down and appear externally instead of being jammed in my hip joint.)
At this point I got my people at work (I work for Johnson & Johnson) involved and between them reviewing the symptoms (with some behind the scenes knowledge it seems) and my OS presenting my case and pathology at a hip conference fortunately being held in Europe around that time, we established that the only way forward was revision.
I guess the key point I would make is that my x-ray looked perfect in both position and fixation and I had no signs of infection or reaction despite very extensive tests. I really thought my muscles were dying ... I didn't have extreme pain, just discomfort and inability to do the stuff I loved.
The pathologist here still has not said there was anything unusual in the tissue that was taken from the first excision ... however the pathologist who was presenting at the conference in Europe has been studying this for a few years now and he was able to easily and conclusively recognize the reaction from my slides (seriously ... as I arrived at the hospital for the operation, my OS showed me a text that he literally just received from this guy saying yes definitely revision was the right course!). And for the record when they took the old hip out, it was surrounded in dead tissue.
It was hard for me to keep telling my OS that I thought we were missing something but I am so glad that we kept at it. One day he booked me in for an afternoon slot - 2 pm, with no-one after me so that we could just talk until we resolved it!!
I think what I went through is probably just a fraction of what you are going through; it sounds like you have a lot of pain.
Interesting that you also have a metal prosthesis. Has anyone tested for a metal reaction? (Have there been any cases with Zimmer implants of reaction?) I am sure at this point you just want a diagnosis ... would be great to rule this one out at least!
I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!
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