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Revision THR One year later and still pain in groin

I have never posted to a thread or anything like this before, but this website is the first place I have been able to find any help. I had an anterior THR in 2/2015. It never went right. That implant failed due to a loose rod. After two years of trying to get to a revisionist specialist, I finally did. He only does revisions and has probably done 1,000 of them. I had a posterior THR revision on August 6th of this year. It was at exactly 7 weeks this past Monday, 9/23 when I had a full anterior dislocation. Under sedation, they reduced it that same day. I have never known pain like that, and as you would expect am terrified now that it will happen again. Prior to this, I was doing fantastic. I was walking 30 minutes every other day with some light terrain height changes, PT exercises, no pain, no limp, just 100% success. It didn't dislocate easily. I have been good about my precautions, but I can only think I got a little sloppy. I was on my back, on my bed, doing an adductor stretch or moving into or out of the position. I did have my upper body elevated a little with pillows to monitor what I was doing. I remember leaning forward a little, but I had done this before, so I didn't think twice about it when I heard the pop out of the blue. Initially there was no pain and I was able to straighten my leg out. About five minutes later, I couldn't move my leg, and the pain continually mounted. I realized I was in trouble and fortunately had a phone next to me. Ambo trip to ER and heavy meds, sedation, they did a closed reduction. My surgeon feels that the soft tissue from the original failed anterior hip replacement was the problem. He now wants me to follow anterior hip replacement precautions, and I will see him in one week to discuss what is next. I just feel like I need a place to come and voice my intense fear of it happening again and not knowing if I have to just give up on my lifestyle of gardening permanently. I became skilled at gardening working around a failed THR for the past 5 years, but this is different now. I just want to know what I am up against going forward. I seem to have emerged from the doomsday mentality and want to be proactive about this going forward. For now, I am being excessively cautious, and just holding on. Thank you so much for being here and a place to find support. I am 62 and the original surgery was due to severe osteoarthritis that was resulting in the hip starting to fuse. I had the first surgery when I was 57.
 
@melquist you came to the best place ever for support. Your story sounds so similar to mine. I completely relate to your concerns and anxiety. My hip has become stronger with some PT and time. I do not think it will dislocate again, but I am very concerned and careful. It is very scary to experience pain like that, it was unbelievable. I also feel this was a HUGE setback for me. I do not have a sense yet as to how long the recovery will now take.
Come vent anytime, we are all here to support one another. I wish I could meet everyone in person one day!
 
Onestepatatime: I admit, I started crying when I got your response. I have an incredibly supportive husband who has been there for me through every minute of this past 5 years, but to be able to "hear a voice in the wilderness" from someone who has lived and is living through this gives me hope. Wow, when I look at your surgery dates, we have been through similar paths. It gives me hope too that as you progress, you have not dislocated again. I live in the countryside in a place of my dreams, retired, and an avid gardener. I landscaped all around our home, extensively by myself, and my husband did much of the hardscape. This hip stuff sadly has made our beautiful gardens a burden. I'm thinking my gardening days may be over, and I can't wrap my head around that. We want to age here on our land that we have been on for 20 years. I know I should just take this a day at a time, so I will do that. Again, thank you for reaching out and to all of those who have posted on this website. It is a gift!
Right anterior THR 2/2015
Right posterior Hip Revision (rod and cup liner) August 6, 2019
Anterior Dislocation 9/23/19
 
I do not see an article link below and doing a search for starting a thread doesn't come up with anything.
 
@melquist ... I've copied your excellent description of your situation into a separate recovery thread for you. You can find it here:

Dislocation following revision

I'm glad you and Onestepatatime have connected and hope you both continue to support each other as you recover from the dislocations. It is a scary thing to have happen and probably not completely understood by any of us who haven't experienced that level of pain firsthand.
 
Hi All,
I just wanted to continue to say how grateful I am for this support group.
Next week is a busy week. Monday I am seeing my spine surgeon to hopefully rule out any issues, Tuesday is the epidural, and Thursday I am seeing a clinical therapist who focuses on integrative care for chronic pain due to inflammation disease. Not quite what I have, but we will see what she has to say. At this point, I also want to pursue holistic approaches. There is a workshop coming up on how to retrain pain in the brain (well that is what I call it, I am sure there is a more technical medical term, lol).
Today was a bad day. I did two errands, and my back pain climbed from 2 to 9 in 15 minutes and had me laid up for hours. I had a complete meltdown, and now I feel a little better:good-bad:
 
Onestepatatime-I am sorry to hear about what sounds like a very painful day. My heart goes out to you. I will look forward to anything you post on pain management. Sending healing thoughts to you!
 
@Onestepatatime I like how you are going about your recovery! Very good choices to add to what your OS is suggesting. I am so sorry about your back pain. I'm curious, can you tell whether your hip is showing any improvement? Or is the back overshadowing everything?
I hope you have nice weekend. :) :-) (::fingersx:
 
@CricketHip thanks for the reply. I think my hip is improving just by a simple thing of being able to walk down stairs normally. I’m bummed about the back but I’ll try and get that sorted out. When the pain climbs I just want to cry. I have some tramadol which helps a lot. But the doctors don’t want to keep me on that. I only take 1-2 a day and not sure how I’ll manage.
 
Oh dear, how can they expect you to go without something for pain? Tuesday can't come quickly enough!
((hugs)) to you!
Good for you for looking for someone who can understand and help treat your issues.
But hey! Your hip is feeling a bit better, that is such wonderful news.. :flwrysmile:
 
Good Morning :wave:
Stopping by to wish you a Happy Three Month Anniversary!
I wish you were feeling better overall. :console2:

I'm sorry you had such a rough day on Friday dealing with pain.
I hope you had a good visit with the spine surgeon yesterday. Wishing you luck with your epidural today and also with the chronic pain therapist on Thursday. With any luck you'll find answers leading to speedy relief. Please update us when you have the time. We're here for you!
@Onestepatatime
 
Hi, @Layla thanks so much! I appreciate it. Yesterday I saw my spine surgeon. He told me to cancel the epidural. Based on my Xray and back pain, he saw my bone may not be fully fused from my spine fusion. This was not good news. ordered a CT and said come back in two weeks. I asked what it means if the test results show that. He said he did not want to discuss more surgery and let's see what the results say. I was with my best friend and she asked what is the worst-case scenario. She knows me well and knew I wanted to know. It would mean more surgery but if that was the case, knowing I just had major surgery we would any alternate treatments. So now my head is spinning. I have to get a job by Thanksgiving. Regardless of how I feel. I do not know how to speed up my recovery or get rid of the pain, to move forward. I am really working at trying to take one day at a time, and have faith.
 
I'm so sorry. Let's just hope it's not worst case scenario, but something that can be easily remedied
in some way soon. You've been through so much, I hope you're able to find some peace soon from the pain and worry you've been experiencing. Add to all else the stress of a job search and it must feel overwhelming. Your mindset of taking it one day at a time and having faith is healthy and wise. A lot of this is out of your control and who knows what tomorrow may bring. Everything could change for the better within days or weeks. So keep the faith and I'll keep you in my prayers.
Sending love, a hug and wishes for brighter days soon!
@Onestepatatime
 
Awe thanks! It is the Jewish New Year, and a time for introspection and prayer for a healthy year ahead. I guess we get the bodies we get, and onward and upward. I probably sound mentally healthier than I feel, lol. But a nervous breakdown of sorts will accomplish nothing, so I am not going there. I was disappointed about getting the epidural canceled. Kinda sad, but I was looking forward to it, for some relief. But my spine surgeon said in the case I need a surgical treatment I cannot have had cortisone injections. Ugh.
On a fun note, I am dog sitting for two adorable chihuahua mix dogs. They have not left my lap since they arrived two days ago. They are an awesome company!
 
My two dogs were the greatest source of company and distraction during my last hip replacement and the subsequent crazy fracture healing over the last two months! They really helped save my mental health.

Enjoy them while you’re dog sitting...maybe you can keep them even longer. lol
 
@Onestepatatime So sorry to hear that your fusion may not have completely fused. I remember from my lumbar fusion, it took 6 months for there to be enough biomorphic protein (fake bone that grows) to begin to fill up the disc space to finally allow me to stand for a full day. I was limited to sitting for not more than 20 minutes at a time back then, and I was not allowed on a staircase at work for one year or a plane for two years. Would more time help you fuse better?
 
@VSlowLife it has been 16 months since my spine fusion, so I think at this point it is what it is. The only thing I am thinking is it was not this bad right before the hip surgery. So either the surgery and dislocation aggravated it, or there is a bigger issue....
 
@Onestepatatime was writing to ask how long ago your fusion was and you popped up with the answer. That does seem like plenty of time for it to have taken. Did they put any hardware in when they did the fusion? I have some in mine because they needed to stop the disc from going back and forth every time I bent any way and pinching the nerves but I know the Neurosurgeon talked about adding some bone material, sorry having brain cramps on what it's called, to help fill in some bad areas of that disc.

Since you say it was this bad before the surgery/dislocation, maybe it's just really, really irritated and needs to rest/ heal. Sending gentle hugs and will keep you in my prayers.
 
@Elf1 I do have a cage that was inserted, in addition to two rods and screws. I got concerned when he said he saw the bone did not look solid, but the hardware did look in tact. Not sure exactly what he is looking for in the CT. He spoke in metaphors about if it was a broken leg and the cast broke and that is why the leg did not heal then they would replace the cast. Not sure how that translates to my back, but like I said he did not want to talk surgery details prior to test results.
 
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