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Reassurance please!

Hi @Cassidy and @AJinNH ....I 've just read both your posts and feel like a nodding dog, everything you both say is so familiar (tho 3 miles AJ....wow, couldn't even do 3 kms!). Cassidy, what is it you think you would wait for? It's bad enough now, it can only get worse. I feel like a fraud when I read about people's really bad pain that means they have to take strong painkillers.....I rarely even take paracetamol or ibuprofen, partly cos the pain isn't usually bad enough and partly cos they don't seem to work anyway. My worst pain is at night.....up and down my leg, and I can't lie on either side for long without it aching abominably, but it's not what I would call pain (in my mind pain is sharp, and you're unable to ignore it even for a short while.....but I know, from this forum, that stiffness, aches etc also count as pain). In the day, I get discomfort/a little pain from my right side but the worst bit is the stiffness which makes me lurch from side to side like a penguin. When I read this thro I think 'why am I even questioning this op?', but I think we all have this hardwired picture of a very elderly person in a wheelchair having a THR.....and that's not us.

I'm really repeating what AJ has said.....if you don't have major 'symptoms' you think it can't be that bad, but when you look at how your life has closed down.....well :umm:. Waiting just means you continue like this....getting something done about it means a better life before the rest of the body starts falling apart! :heehee:
 
@Cassidy I would love it if my body was sending me consistent signals. Last summer my husband and I spent 10 days in Ireland and I walked everywhere, no pain. My Fitbit was so happy. I drove for hours too, no pain. In August my hip hurt when I spent some time at the beach. September no pain. In early October I got bursitis in my hip that brought me up short, and hasn’t really gone back to ‘normal’. Yet at the end of October I spent a long weekend in upstate NY visiting with our daughter and danced up a storm and walked everywhere. November my right knee blew up (the week after NY). It’s difficult to be convinced of something when you keep receiving mixed messages. But two very experienced OS’s told me that I was a serious candidate for hip replacement. No hesitation. They showed me the differences between my hips and the bone on bone areas and bone spurs in my right. My range of motion of my right legs is not even close to my left. You’re not a fraud, but your body won’t continue to be so forgiving. You don’t want to wait for that to happen.
 
I'm sure I can still strip wallpaper. Hanging it is more fun, I think. @Cassidy. I felt like a fraud as well. I would think about what I have tried: PT; ultrasound; oral prescriptions. I did not try Injections because I was told, depending on the problem, it could be made worse. I didn't try acupuncture because I moved away from 'mine'. I think of the doctors I have seen and my insurance had paid towards x-rays and PT and medication. I am 100% sure that the insurance company looks carefully at expensive surgical requests. I'm sure they would not approve surgery if they didn't think it was necessary. Now that I am 'on the other side' I know that it Was needed. The surgeon told my husband after surgery that it went well, I was well, but the head of my femur was not. This was good timing. Waiting would not have been good. Perhaps if I had an MRI with contrast, the head of the femur's condition could have been determined prior to surgery. I don't know if that makes any difference. Perhaps there was no way it could be determined was seeing the bone with human eyes. I feel so much better now. Everyone here on BoneSmart has been a huge help. I would not be doing so well if not for what I have learned here. People here care about others. Caring is not a given at Health Care websites. We each have our own journey and those here are able to understand that fact and encourage us from their hearts.
 
Cassidy said:
I'd done pretty well - no immediate pain, just a bit of stiffness - but hobbled around for the next few days.
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Cassidy said:
one year ago I had to decline walking around any of the ports we stopped off at on our cruise, and last Christmas I had to plan where to park the car so that I barely had to walk at all - but if I take care, I can get b
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Cassidy said:
I sometimes have to go upstairs on all fours (sounds fun!), because that can give me gip, but I've got used to the underlying discomfort that's there all the time.
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Sounds like you could get by for years like that if you needed to. :shrug:
I did. Boy, I soldiered on.:cry: And got more limited and more tolerant of a life with pain and restrictions. Why?
The post op pain wasn't fun but managed very well and within a month, all more soreness with immediate relief of Hip pain.
No crunching that I could here, but bone on bone nonetheless.:chinstroke:
Won't fix itself! and I didn't want to waste anymore of my years waiting on my solution to change when I had one right there in front of me. I Never have regretted this surgery.:) :-) (:
Hope you get some peace about it.:praying:
 
Thank you, everybody, for your comforting words, whether you're a pre- or post-op pro. Wishing you all a happy weekend - the snow over here has been a challenge (nothing by some people's standards, I know!), and I keep hoping I won't fall and damage my hip before I've had a chance to have it fixed - now, that would be ironic! Mind you, my bones are good - it's just the connecting bits that aren't as satisfactory. If you've had the op, I hope you continue to recover painlessly and if, like me, it's ahead of you, then I will share your journeys with interest.
 
@Josephine How far off do you think stem cell therapy for the hip is? Is it just sci-fi at the moment? Your thoughts, please.
 
Thanks @Josephine! No need for me to pursue that one then! Actually, it helps that you're so definite about it, because several people have asked me if I've looked into it, so I have, and I'm none the wiser as to whether it's lots of private clinics in the UK offering the treatment - at I don't know what cost - to line their coffers, or a truly viable option that will rear its ugly head in a year or two and I'll wish I'd looked at it more seriously. It would be a pipedream to keep my own femur and regain the cartilage that was robbed of me (by the infection), rather than have it chopped off! But if it's not remotely feasible, then replacement it is. Maybe one day, when I no longer care .....!
 
Hi @Cassidy during my initial visit with my OS I asked him if there was anything coming in the pipeline that would be worth waiting for, and his answer was no, no 'deal breakers' worth putting off surgery. I'd be a good candidate to wait if there was something, but I felt he gave me an honest answer. I can totally relate to why you asked.
 
You really don't need that worn out hip, any more than you need a rotten tooth.
All its good for is pain.
I want to keep all my original parts also, but if it's done, it's done.
I like pain free life better than my corroded Hip socket.
 
Now that I've started my PT, I decided I have another reason that I am happy that I didn't wait any longer thsn necessary.

My bad old leg lost muscle. Now my new good leg is far behind.
Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy!
 
Thanks @AJinNH - I'm glad I'm not the only one to have asked! Maybe too much googling, but I'd hate to think that there's something just around the corner and I hadn't waited for it! They make regrowing your own cartilage sound so simple, but I've always said to my husband that it's a shame they can't just inject some silicone filler between the bones. @Mojo333 and @AgilityDog, it's good to know that you're speaking from experience, as it's encouraging to know that things can get better, rather than worse. What I can't understand is how I can be walking virtually pain free at one minute and, literally the next second, I get such a pain in my groin that I have to stop - it then turns into a nagging ache - and then I'm pain free again. Does the nerve move out of the way for a while?! I was walking up the road to the office this morning, thinking nothing of my hip, when all of a sudden I got such a wallop from it I almost "ouched" out loud. I then had to limp for a hundred yards or so, and then it was all right again. It's easy, when all is running smoothly, to wonder why I'm even contemplating such barbarity being wreaked on my poor body!
 
@Cassidy
Honey, you're just grinding the gears smooth...I had all of what you are describing starting LAST March.
By May I knew surgery was happening but needed to finish up some work projects, or so I thought.
Never happened. Too much pain and physical limitations with mobility.

You don't get away from OA. You just try to work around it and in doing so compromise your other body parts as your back and other hip, knees etc compensate

My surgery was scheduled then cancelled twice. Through no fault of my own. I am now having surgery March 23.
Hopefully you never get to the point where I am at for the past 5 months.
I wish I would have had the surgery last March.
Not trying to talk you into anything because I did EVERYTHING to avoid surgery. I get it. But it does'nt go away.
 
I'm not sure why it didn't seem barbaric. :scare: Perhaps because it seemed surreal?:shrug: My hip doesn't feel like an artificial object has been implanted in my body. I'm just watching the incision heal :whistle:and the 'super glue' flake off. Basically, I am getting better every day.:yahoo: More so when I get out of my own way/ don't overdo it! :swoon:
 
@Cassidy Hi there never even gave it a thought about being barbaric?!! I know some can't stand the thought of having a "bit" missing but the relief you get is so worth it. Even asked what else I could get replaced LOL!!! Have a lot I would have done if possible just to be pain free. One day in the future maybe they can grow things from our own cells as replaceable parts. Now wouldn't that be great!!! Any way I would go for whats available now and have the new hip but of course it's up to you. Hope you are feeling ok at the moment. Cheers carol
 
Crumbling hip pain is sometimes like having a rock in your shoe. You don't notice it with some steps but with others it moves to a "pain point". The bad news is that it will only get worse - and this can happen literally overnight. Your hip is crumbling. If it collapses - well you just don't want to go there. And the recovery if the hip has collapsed is more complicated.
 
I sympathise @Cassidy ......think I've got a little bit of grit in there that stays tucked away most of the time, but every so often suddenly pops out and nearly makes me fall over. For me the worst bit is its unpredictability.....it always choose the most embarrassing/inconvenient moments to manifest itself :bawl:
 
Feels absolutely like good hips.
No artificial feeling at all.
Glad you're not hurting all the time but doubt it will get better.
In your own time - in your own mind
 
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