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In pain, confusion and uncertainty after 4 months

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Hi Jim,
I sure hope you get some good information in Lubbock that will point you in a better direction. Nothing worse then being told everything looks good and it isn't!:sct:
That is why these forums help so much when you least expect it!:D
I wish you a quick appointment with th new guys and that you get some information that will help you out. Keep posting!!!:D:D
 
Wow! No wonder you are the moderater with input and information like that. I dabble in photography so maybe I can shoot a good presentaton.
My wife is going to the edge with her frustration about my situation. She's thinking we sto ask my electro-cardiologist if he can take my pacemaker out temporarily and change the battery (It's likely due to be changed next year) so we can get a more definitive MRI at the same time!-a test I haven't had as yet. Frankly, I am inclined to think he will say,"That'll Be The Day!". But such is the bizare nature of the consternation we are experiencing. Maybe I should distract myself further by going on to Graceland for you. :hissy:
Jim
 
Boy, you bet. The feedback andjust being able to connect with folks with experence has already helped me to feel much less isolated. By big, black Labador Retreiver is all smiles and kisses (compassion, I think), but he doesn't have much to say. Thank you so much for your well wishes.
Jim
 
Second (or third, or fourth, or whatever it is) getting a second opinion from a revision specialist.

It sounds like you are just going to be spinning your wheels w/ the local guy.
 
Well, it seems that way to me. I realize I am frustrated, and I want to try to be reasonable-not overreact. But it seems the surgein here keeps accounting for progress while I struggle along. I did exercises in my last session in the rehab pool today (they discharged me after the session), and I am confounded that the joint and areas around the joint are so sensitive that, even now, at 4+ months I struggle to put weight on it at 70% less body weight in the water. On top of this there was another older fellow in the pool who is suffering from muscle deterioration/damage from taking LIPITOR for years (the surgeion had me stop iit suddenly about 3 weeks ago thinking just then that it might have a bearing on my discomfort-but who knows?). I began taking it as directed by my cardiologist as a preventive medicine for cholesterol (my cholesteral is not high) about two years ago.
I do appreciate all the encouragement to post here and to be pro-active for my self. I would like to get to a place where I can give some good support.
Thanks for your take on all this. Jim:pzld:
 
Hi Jim,

I just want to reassure you that you are not overreacting, in my opinion. I'm sure in the thick of it like you are, you may wondering if you've got a good perspective on the whole problem....but every time I read what you are describing, it just seems outside of what someone would normally expect. I sure hope you can get some answers soon.
 
I don't think you're over-reacting AT ALL! If PT isn't helping, and you can't put weight on the leg after 4 months - there is something going on that isn't right.

Something similar happened to me after my 'scope....my PT and I kept coming up w/ plausible reasons why I wasn't making progress (and they were plausible)....but the underlying issue was that the surgery had accelerated the cartilage degredation and the joint was just going downhill FAST.

That kept the muscles from doing ANYTHING except trying to protect the joint.

Get thyself to another opinion!

PS - there was an article on Orthosupersite from a conference that is going on this week. One study of about 1500 hips found a HIGH incidence of prosthetic malpositioning....
 
Thanks! At the risk of getting off topic, I am currently aware that I have been in this positon before, only in entirely differfent circumstances. When I was a young man I was in a horrific auto accident in which my first wife died. I suffered with acute stress syndrome (no name for it then) and whereas I was going to pieces with emtional distress and despair, there was no place, in my time and situatuon, to relate about what was going on with me (even mental health professionals were "uncertain" about how to treat me-or others then). I lived in internal isolation for a good while thinking, "I was crazy." There was no way to post (exept on bathroom walls)-no way reach out and get input and support. So right now I think there are elements of emotional re-enactment about this for me. Knowing this raises my appreciation for your comments and those of others. Whatever happens with the hip, there is some emotional healing going on here for me.
I am going to press for more pain meds today in the event I make the drive to Lubbock.
Thanks again for the support. Jim:thnk:
 
Now yours is some experience I can use in to shore up my own confused and frustrated mind. Some things have changed-I can sit in a chair longer, the pain seems to have become more localized around the joint, but when I step out with a cane...well, I think to go lay and live in my recliner (I'm so tired of dragging the walker around). Thanks again for the specific and pertinent information.l
Jim:wow:
 
Jimbo,

No matter what keep going until you can get someone to listen... I went through something simular trying to get someone to preform a revision. I go frustrated and I can't tell you how many doctors I saw. Finally, my new OS said I was suffering and it wasn't any need for it is when we scheduled a surgery date which was 12/29/09. I am so much better! I purchased two pair of Skecher shape-up and there went my limp.

I was seen my by chiorpractor on yesterday who said I was not out of line. If I am the same way next week I don't have to come back. I am still in PT which started out twice a week now we are down to once a week. No matter what keep on keeping on you are so worth it....

Happy Thursday
 
-very interesting. Yesterday I received a free session on a birthday greeting from a chiropracter (along with a jury summons). I'd like to get out of jury duty just now, but maybe I ought to go to the chiro and get my legs measured.
My first choice for a second opinion, based on a recomendation and some research is booked up through July of this year.
Also I'm trying to acertain the protocol for getting a second opinion Should I go to my doctor and test him, so to speak, and request a referral (a psychologist friend said he would be nervous about doing this, fearing that I might be referred to a confirming friend of the doctor)? Should I inform the doctor that I am going to seek out my own second opinion. -or should I just go rogue, research and find another revision surgeon and request records from sugeion #1 when the time has come to jump ship?
How did you make your way through the labrynth of surgeons?
I really appreciate your input. Jim
p.s. -would have responded yesterday but couldn't seem to operate on the site.
 
Just go do the research and get a second opinion on your own....DON"T get a referral from the doc you are currently working with.

If there's any way you can make it to Houston, there's some really good revision guys here....you wouldn't necessarily have to use them for surgery, but they've seen people from all over the place.

Couple guys down at Texas Orthopedic Hospital are Stocks and Matthews.
 
Hi Jimbo,

My PT saw how I was suffering and referred me to my current OS. Every Doctor I went to I talked to someone not my PCP. As a matter of fact I dumped him when he told me this was 60% mental and 40% physical after 18 years. He received the report from my current OS and did nothing. Talk to your PT or friends who have good experience with doctors. My PCP only knew what I was doing after the fact. He even had the nerve to ask me "You can deal with this can't you." I felt like it was a good ole boy network. Where are you in the U. S.? I am in Northern California.

Stay positive, focus because there is someone out there that will help you. What doctor fail to realize they work for us not the other way around.

Happy Friday!
 
Well, it becomes somewhat mental when you have enough distress over such as you have been through. It at least rises to an adjustment disorder (I'm a counselor) when you have that much distress, despair and anguish over getting good, attentive treatment. I have had clients that have shared these kinds of experiences with me, and now it's my own.
I live in Amarillo, TX (on "The Great American Desert")these days, but I was born in Berkley and raised in Sacramento before it exploded in populaton. I'm afraid there might even be a stronger good-old-boy club here -I don't know for sure.
My PCP hasn't had much to do with any of this other than giving me the intial referal to the OS who did both the 1st and 2nd hips.
The PTs that dismissed...I mean, discharged me this week were mum about who else I might see. I have a younger friend of our family who is a PT, and I plan to talk to him about possibilities on doctors here. But I am also looking at Lubbock, Dallas-even Houston, TX.
I just started seeing doctors (seriously) about 2 years ago. I can't imagine what it must have been like for you in your ordeal. Thanks so much for your input and encouragement.
Jim
 
Jimbo, just go see a revision surgeon on your own. Your current surgeon doesn't need to know. But you need to know what's going on. It's just not right that you have so much pain after all this time. Please don't put it off any longer.

You can find surgeons in the (broken link removed: https://bonesmart.org/clinic_lookup.php on the main BoneSmart website. When you've found a place that's convenient to you, just ring and ask if the hip surgeon specialises in hip revisions.
 
Insurance companies barely want to pay for the initial problem. I wonder how you'd get them to pay to see second and third opinion doctors and have more of the same tests. I had to fight for a year to get my company (BCBS of SC) to pay $200 for my initial OS visit. They kept saying pre-existing condition, but our policy didn't have any exclusions like that.
 
Wow!, the nearest listed is over 340 miles from here, but I am on the hunt! I really do appreciate the feedback, advice and support I am getting. Jim :thmb:
 
I have reached "full retirement age" (uhg, that's a joke-I'm still working), and I have Medicare and a Medicare supplement. I've been wondering too as to whether or not Medicare will pay at this point for a 2nd or more opinion(s). Jim :sct:
 
Most insurance companies should not give you a problem with getting additional opinions. I'm with Jo, though....you need to get there and do it! If you have to drive to see an excellent surgeon, that's just what you need to do. It's important.
 
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