I've been gone a long time, though I have communicated with a few "bony peeps" on the side. For everyone I used to communicate with, I am sorry for whatever i missed of yours. When I left the forum back in January, it was because it was too depressing for me to see people moving on and myself being stuck. I feel a bit guilty coming back and "needing" right off the bat.
It has been a crummy year for me. I am now
1½ yrs out my surgery and I still am having problems. Actually I felt like after a point I started going backwards. I still have to use the cane except in the house and actually walking even with the cane is harder than it used to be. Getting up from sitting is painful, especially in the evening. I feel my entire body is in worse shape (knees, back etc) as I struggle through not being able to weight bear properly. Even to kneel on all fours (which I used to do for certain exercises) is painful.
Where is the pain? A lot in my back, some in my hip, in my butt (not down leg like sciatica)I swear it moves around some but the bottom line is my lack of function with walking and any weight bearing stuff is killing me. I cannot even carry the groceries in the house without hurting.
What have I done?
I have been in and out of water and land PT, have tried a few yoga classes which usually took a day or so to recover from as getting up and down off the floor is a killer. I can ride my bike but with no stress, like in going up hills etc. Cannot stand in saddle. I go to chiropractor regularly, an osteopath, did a spine consult for back pain and because surgeon keeps saying it is my back. He wanted to do an ablation which I chose not to do and actually that particular back pain is a bit less than it was since shoe build up. Glute med won't strengthen so Chiro ordered NCV/EMG which showed weak, but still working)
Tried a few dry needling sessions with another PT to try and wake up muscles but nothing happened. FINALLY convinced surgeon, who is consistently surprised I am not doing better, to start some tests, scanogram showed an inch LLD and so I have worked my way up to ¾inch on shoe (thanks
bottomshollow - I love American heelers). Had a CT scan to make sure stem was not loose. That looked good. Though I did get my surgeon to order these tests, the whole time he was telling me he thinks it is my back and that he had another patient that took a long time and he ordered all these expensive tests and nothing was wrong. He says he is in it with me but words have not matched actions on many occasions.
OK, I have been more than patient so I went to Dartmouth-Hitchcock at end of July, in NH (I am in VT) for a
2nd opinion - Dr. Ivan Tomek. He wanted me to come home and do 3 things. 1) have an aspiration to once again rule out infection, did that, negative. 2) go back to spine guy and get a numbing shot in back to see if that does something, went there and spine doc said do #3 first and he added a CT of the lumbar spine, cuz he thinks it is my hip. 3) Nuclear Medicine bone scan, which NH doc was sure we would be negative - results showed loose acetabular cup. Nurse called and said I need a revision.
Hip? Back? Ok now I think I have an answer, and it makes sense in the scheme of my symptoms and my recovery moving forward, stalling, and going backwards. Today I had an appt with a surgeon in town. (Dr David Halsey at Fletcher Allen)! someone I interviewed for my surgery but did not choose because he was a bit arrogant. (My guy was friendlier but I see where that got me). He says he does about 50 revisions per year. He said I may or may not have a loose component and that abnormal uptake on the scan, though consistent with loosening, may not be. He wants me to have some special CT of hip (forgot name, think it has an O in it, Cheryl wrote it down but she is at work now).
Josephine alexthecat
I am sorry for the length of my note, but any thoughts on my situation OR on the following questions?
In your experience is the bone scan not always conclusive?
If the cup is loose, is it usually not placed correctly in 1st place?
Any known good revisionists in the Northeast part of U.S.?
Do I need a revision "specialist"?
Or is someone who does 50 a year sufficient?
I would really rather not travel out of state if I need a revision but I want to have a good surgeon too, so I might have to.
I can't tell you how many times I hear in my head "hips just have a way of working themselves out" haha, except when they don't. I think the large percentage of people that do well make it harder for those that do not to be taken seriously by their practitioners, at least that has been my experience.
Thanks so so much for any input you might have.
United States
Although I'll never have the range of motion I had in my 20s I can do most everything I need to do without pain. And the ROM gradually gets better and better. I've been officially discharged from PT though I still use their stretchy bands to work on strengthening the arm. In July I took a trip to South Carolina to see my son and granddaughter and had a fabulous time playing, swimming, touring, sightseeing etc. Of course all the hardware set off alarms at airports but that's a minor inconvenience. The hips continue to do very well and for Christmas I'm getting myself a bike 
. 
