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Revision 4/23/13

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I have a Stryker revision stem. The surgeon made the decision as to what to use. They are much longer than the first stem by about 4" it looked like on the x-ray. I was also told I had a narrow or small femur.

I am just about to go into week 7 post-op and becoming increasingly more mobile, which is nice. I'm tired of being homebound though!

Hope everything goes well for you!
 
Thanks for the info and well wishes.
I am glad you are healing and on the road to a painfree hip and active life. It finally stopped raining today so go out and get some sun :SUNsmile:
 
Just thought you would like to know I will be heading up to Mass General soon to get an opinion from Dr Kwon and will get an MRI there.
 
I'm happy to hear you got an appointment! I hope it all works out well there. I'd be interested in hearing how things turn out.
 
I will let you know. I am going July 24th so pretty good got in within about 30 days. I also have a lawyer, need to make sure of things even though right now things seem well. I don't know what will happen in the near future so being pro-active. From what I understand this recall is much larger and becoming a bigger problem and effecting a lot of people as time goes on. I am glad you are doing better.
 
Ruby Red, I just re-read your thread and wondering how you are doing now? I am getting more nervous by the minute, especially after reading the revision threads. I want these things out of me ASAP but don't want to go through the surgery again twice and worry about the complications that could come up. My surgery will be July 29th on the left hip. If all goes well I will have the second one 4 months later.
 
I am walking with a cane now. I didn't have an osteotomy fortunately. My surgeon said he was going to wait until he got in there to determine whether it needed to be done or not. He had developed a procedure by that time by which he could sometimes remove the stem without cutting the femur. I'm sure it all depends ...

I understand your nervousness. I was kind of a mess prior to this surgery. It's nerve wracking. Hopefully, your outcome will all be good. I was worried about all the worst case scenarios happening and none of them occurred.

I'm glad you found someone who has done several of these surgeries before. I was concerned when you said another one you had seen wouldn't answer your question about how many he had done. The more they do it seems, the better they get at it.

I still have pain though where he took out a big chunk of black, necrotic tissue, on the outside of my hip. I have referred pain in my knee on that side and not having that muscle/tissue there makes exercising that area difficult (because the muscle is gone I guess and it's still healing - I don't know though what's really going on in there).

It gets inflamed easily if I overdo it (and it doesn't take much to get it going). This is exactly what happened prior to the revision so I am naturally concerned about whether this is actually ever going get better, or did it just substitute one problem for another, and what will the long term ramifications be. It's still early though (3 months), which doesn't seem early to me, but as full recovery can take a year, I am hoping I see improvement at that time and can return to all normal activity without the problems that have plagued me the past few years.

pt98n - How are you doing? I hope things go well on the 24th.
 
My attorney gave me the names of 2 surgeons in the area who he believed had the most experience with revisions of this type and I was able to get in with one of them who I think is very competent. I have a fluid collection on the left trochanter that he says is usually filled with little tumors and debris from the metal corrosion that damages muscle and soft tissue. He said that the muscle and soft tissue does not regenerate and cannot be replaced like bone can with grafts, which is why having the revisions sooner than later is so important. I am assuming that there will be black necrotic tissue there as well, as in your case. I am hoping for the best so that I can get the other one out and get on with my life. I am glad that you are doing well and hope that you get back to ship shape very soon.
 
Hey Ruby Red,
Thanks for asking about me. I actually got in to see Dr Kwon earlier, June 28th, had MRI the the next week that shows a med/large effusion with a distended joint capsule. I see Dr Kwon wed, July 17th to over the results. I am thinking a revision as I should not have an effusion in there. It's there and I don't have any pain or problems with activity so glad I went. Thanks for the heads up to have the MRI at Mass General. I will let you know how it goes. Did Dr Kwon explain everything and has your follow up care been good? How was your stay at Mass General? I have tons of questions prepared to ask him
 
Dr. Kwon did explain everything to me. He gave me as much time as I needed in my visits and answered all my questions. My stay at Mass. General went well also. I thought Newton Wellesley was a good hospital but Mass. General is even better. It's been voted the #2 hospital in the country, second to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. I was #1 last year. I would never go anywhere else now. I'm not sure why I didn't go there in the first place.

I like and trust Dr. Kwon and would have him do my other one if I ever need it. I'm sorry to hear about the issues you are having. I think you are in good hands there.

I'm doing pretty well. I'm close to three months out now. I'm on and off the cane and still on some pain meds. I go to outpatient PT now and it wipes me out for a day or so, but I am making progress. It seems the road back from this operation is slower and more difficult than the original replacement. But I'm older and totally out of shape now (and ten pounds heavier from all the inactivity!).

I hope all goes well for you there and you are happy with him as well. Keep me posted!
 
I am glad you are doing well. I saw Dr Kwon today, he does take his time and explain things, I am impressed with him and MGH so far. Even though I don't really have symptoms I do have a large effusion in my hip and capsular thickening so guess what, a revision. I am so glad I decided to check this out and going to Mass General was definitely the right choice. He doesn't think too much damage but of course won't know until he gets in there. No date yet but probably end of aug beginning of sept. Glad to hear your stay at Mass General was good, I also had a good experience at Newton Wellesley and I trust your word Mass General is even better :) Now I don't even have symptoms, I can walk, weight train and even jog without pain, imagine if I would have waited until symptoms. There would have been big time damage. Thanks again for your heads up to get the MRI there. I actually did talk to a surgeon at New England Baptist too, no comparison to Dr Kwon, not even close. I did call and ask my primary surgeon about my MRI results, the PA returned my call and said they feel comfortable waiting and repeating the tests in 6 months. Seriously? Is this suppose to go away? I totally don't get that response and disappointed as my first surgery went really well. I will keep you posted when surgery will be. Keep healing slow and steady and yes unfortunately this is a bigger surgery but again slow and steady wins the race and the metal stuff is gone.
 
The more I hear about NW the less impressed I get.

Dr. Kwon is getting you in for surgery fairly quickly. I wonder how all that developed in your hip. Is it the joint itself that's causing the problems? Is this another side effect of these particular implants?
 
I am following this thread with much interest. I do hope you can get satisfaction. It does seem as though there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel :)
 
Hi Poppet,

I hope she does as well!

I see that you have developed CKD from NSAID's. I have been on them for the past four years and seeing that it has made you so ill has really made me think twice about popping that next dose. So far I have had no problems and hope I can get off them completely soon. I am using ice as much as I possibly can for inflammation and it works really well, but there are times when it's not enough. I'm still on them more than off though so it's cause for concern.
 
Ruby Red, just make sure your Dr is monitoring your kidney function because CKD is a silent disease, obvious symptoms and you don't know until you lose functionality. The two main blood tests my renal Specialist does on me every three months is eGFR and Creatinine and every six months I do a 24 hour urine collection. I lost 60% of functionality in both kidneys in 4 months.. My surgeon was doing the tests but not monitoring the results... I now have CKD for life and have to be extremely careful. My medical team are very watchful for UTI's that usually end up as kidney infections.

But if your kidney function tests are normal you don't have to worry :)

p.s. Just a tip, if you want to "tag" someone in response to their messages to you just type in the @ sign immediately followed by their user name and you'll see a small box below and to the left of the posting area where the members user name will display. Sometimes there might be a very slight pause, but the member user name will appear.

it will show their correct name which you can click on -- then when you submit your post the member's user name/link will turn blue and send a message to them person, like this

Poppet
 
Poppet - hopefully I will get this right!

Thank you for that information! I am going to check my last blood test results today and then make sure these tests are always included in my blood work ups. NO ONE ever mentioned that to me - medical professionals that is - who should know better - when I have mentioned that I've been on these things for so long! Jeesh.
 
Ruby Red, the biggest problem with NSAIDs and the prescribing of them is that most Doctors only mention the risk of gastric bleeding. Whether they are aware of the silent and sometimes rapid onset of loss of kidney function I don't know.. It is a mystery to me as CKD is far more serious. My renal specialist gets so frustrated about the OTC availability of all sorts of NSAIDs as he says, he sees the end result in the renal unit...

Don't be too alarmed, just have the test and make sure your kidneys are being monitored that is the best thing you can do for yourself as your own health advocate.

And yes, :) you tagged me perfectly, well done honey :)
 
It is a reaction due to the recalled modular stem. The interface between the titanium stem and co-cr neck can corrode and what they call fretting due to micromotion and, from what I research, a bad design and no clinical testing. This causes the release of the ions which cause an inflammatory response, which is the effusion in my hip, and then soft tissue and bone damage. It can also cause a systemic effect due to too much cobalt ions in the blood. it only progresses and only treatment is revision and cut out the necrotic tissue. I think my surgical experience at NW was fine but the follow up with this recall is definitely not what it should be. Everyone needs to be notified and tested whether symptoms or not just to make sure. I don't get why that is not being done. Even my lawyer is perplexed about that. He has dealt with them before for other issues and told me usually not a problem but with this recall, totally dropped the ball.

Dr Kwon told me he tries to get people in with these reactions in 4-6 wks as they are a priority to prevent further damage. I am more impressed with him and everyone at Mass General each day. The more I learn and talk to people the more I realize how big this recall is and is effecting a very large percentage of people, way more than Strker lets you believe.
 
I don't get what the problem is at NW. So if you had gone six more months you would have had that much more damage that would have had to be removed. Their MRI testing is a total waste of time and money. AND they charged $7,000 for my MRI!! That didn't even deliver accurate results! They are setting themselves up for an onslaught of lawsuits.
 
What if the co-cr neck? What brand is your implant? Have they recalled it? My surgeon is going to use a titanium implant with a metal head that goes into a plastic cup, which is inside a metal cup. I saw it, but I don't know what brand it is.
 
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