dcdowden
junior member
I wish I had found this forum sooner. The other forum I found had lots of info from knee replacement patients, but very little from hip replacements. I am a 56 year old male that had my left hip replaced on March 7, 2008 with a Zimmer large diameter metal on metal implant - Epoch II stem, Metasul/Duram LDH
https://www.zimmerindia.com/z/ctl/op/global/action/1/id/9033/template/MP
I had my right hip replaced on June 20, 2008 with the same type of implant. I'm happy to report that my left hip is now pain free and it's great to be going through the second rehab with one leg that feels good. Last time, my right hip really limited how much I could do in the rehab. I started out patient PT last week (treadmill, balance board, standing leg abduction/adduction/forward/backward with therabands, wall squats, etc.). I had at home PT and nurse visits the first three weeks before I had my staples removed. I am still taking coumadin and iron and calcium supplements for another week. I still take a darvocet before bed and one before PT. After I am off coumadin, I will probably just take some Motrin instead for any remaining pain. The second hip is progressing a little faster than the first, but I feel very good about both of my surgeries - I feel very lucky and blessed. I was in the hospital for 4 days each time and was able to come home afterwards and even use the stairs each day to go up to bed. I couldn't have done that without the great support provided by my wife. I am really looking forward to getting my life back to normal after becoming progessively more limited due to pain over the last 4 years. We are planning a trip to Maui in December as a reward to both of us for all the hard work. For those that are wondering whether they should have the surgery, all I can say is that my surgeon seems to be right - hip replacement does seem to be one of the medical miracles of the 20th century. He also said that there is 98% patient satisfaction with the procedure - which is amazingly high.
Unfortunately, I also have some experience with the 2% that had significant problems. My 83 year old father fell and broke his hip two years ago and had a partial replacement (ball/stem not socket). He recovered for awhile, but developed tremendous pain last year. They said he needed the socket part of the hip replaced as well, but when they went in to do that they found the stem portion infected. They had to remove the implant and put in a spacer with antibiotics. He was in a nursing home with IV antibiotics for six weeks. After they were sure that the infection was gone, they did a revision to put in a full replacement. Because of bone loss from prior surgeries and osteoporosis, they had to put in a plate and wires to support his femur and my Dad was on limited weight bearing for six weeks. This meant six more weeks in a nursing home. He is home now and doing OK, but he is still very weak from not having used his legs very much over the past two years. My surgeon said that chance of infection is higher for someone with diabetes like my Dad. He had his initial surgery at the VA hospital in Milwaukee. The revision was done by a surgeon with the Illinois Bone and Joint Institue.
One last experience with hip replacements - my mother had both her hips replaced almost 20 years ago (in her early 60's). Things have changed a fair amount since then. She did throw a blood clot that went to her lungs after the second replacement. Apparently, they did not put you on a blood thinner as a preventive back then - but they sure put you on it after the clot developed. My primary Dr also said he saw lots of clots when he was an intern, but they are rare today. Also, my mother had uncemented implants, but was not allowed to put weight on them for six weeks. She did go home after the surgeries, but it made for a more difficult recovery. I was up walking the afternoon of surgery and did stairs on the third day before I went home. I'm glad I had my hip surgeries now rather than 20 years ago. The procedures and the materials used in the implants have improved quite a bit. Thanks to all the pioneer doctors and patients.
Doug
Naperville, Illinois
https://www.zimmerindia.com/z/ctl/op/global/action/1/id/9033/template/MP
I had my right hip replaced on June 20, 2008 with the same type of implant. I'm happy to report that my left hip is now pain free and it's great to be going through the second rehab with one leg that feels good. Last time, my right hip really limited how much I could do in the rehab. I started out patient PT last week (treadmill, balance board, standing leg abduction/adduction/forward/backward with therabands, wall squats, etc.). I had at home PT and nurse visits the first three weeks before I had my staples removed. I am still taking coumadin and iron and calcium supplements for another week. I still take a darvocet before bed and one before PT. After I am off coumadin, I will probably just take some Motrin instead for any remaining pain. The second hip is progressing a little faster than the first, but I feel very good about both of my surgeries - I feel very lucky and blessed. I was in the hospital for 4 days each time and was able to come home afterwards and even use the stairs each day to go up to bed. I couldn't have done that without the great support provided by my wife. I am really looking forward to getting my life back to normal after becoming progessively more limited due to pain over the last 4 years. We are planning a trip to Maui in December as a reward to both of us for all the hard work. For those that are wondering whether they should have the surgery, all I can say is that my surgeon seems to be right - hip replacement does seem to be one of the medical miracles of the 20th century. He also said that there is 98% patient satisfaction with the procedure - which is amazingly high.
Unfortunately, I also have some experience with the 2% that had significant problems. My 83 year old father fell and broke his hip two years ago and had a partial replacement (ball/stem not socket). He recovered for awhile, but developed tremendous pain last year. They said he needed the socket part of the hip replaced as well, but when they went in to do that they found the stem portion infected. They had to remove the implant and put in a spacer with antibiotics. He was in a nursing home with IV antibiotics for six weeks. After they were sure that the infection was gone, they did a revision to put in a full replacement. Because of bone loss from prior surgeries and osteoporosis, they had to put in a plate and wires to support his femur and my Dad was on limited weight bearing for six weeks. This meant six more weeks in a nursing home. He is home now and doing OK, but he is still very weak from not having used his legs very much over the past two years. My surgeon said that chance of infection is higher for someone with diabetes like my Dad. He had his initial surgery at the VA hospital in Milwaukee. The revision was done by a surgeon with the Illinois Bone and Joint Institue.
One last experience with hip replacements - my mother had both her hips replaced almost 20 years ago (in her early 60's). Things have changed a fair amount since then. She did throw a blood clot that went to her lungs after the second replacement. Apparently, they did not put you on a blood thinner as a preventive back then - but they sure put you on it after the clot developed. My primary Dr also said he saw lots of clots when he was an intern, but they are rare today. Also, my mother had uncemented implants, but was not allowed to put weight on them for six weeks. She did go home after the surgeries, but it made for a more difficult recovery. I was up walking the afternoon of surgery and did stairs on the third day before I went home. I'm glad I had my hip surgeries now rather than 20 years ago. The procedures and the materials used in the implants have improved quite a bit. Thanks to all the pioneer doctors and patients.
Doug
Naperville, Illinois
United Kingdom
