InTheOnePercent
new member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2022
- Messages
- 8
- Age
- 52
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
Hoping for some advice / guidance after my surgery and a few complications.
I had THR on February 2nd, 2022 on my left hip. I was born with double dislocation due to under-developed sockets and at age 11 I was hit by a car that resulted in my left leg tibia and fibula bone loss of 1”. I made sure my OS knew this but every time I mentioned it he said the shorter leg was irrelevant with his this surgery. At the end of my 49th year, I scheduled a THR for my left hip which was giving me the worst pain.
In recovery while walking with support, I kept feeling a popping sensation in the hip but it didn’t hurt and it couldn’t be heard. I commented on it, but I was already grateful to walk without pain in that moment and was probably still loopy from the anesthesia.
By that evening, the popping became very painful and continued with any small movement. I felt this at my hip joint, and oddly I would also feel popping lower along my femur. I stayed off the leg and called my OS the next day. He advised to give it the weekend and come in if not better. The pain with the pops and clunks was only for a split second, but off the pain scale.
His PA first evaluated me and felt one of the clunks. She said she was pretty confident that it felt like the liner was slipping in my joint. After my OS checked me out for about 20 minutes of extreme pain trying to make it clunk more, (it popped only but he wanted to feel the clunk for himself) he ordered a CT.
The CT was ran the next day and came back with a femoral fracture at the lesser trochanter and two acetabular fractures. He ordered non-weight bearing 6 weeks, to hold off on PT until after that period, remain on baby aspirin x2 a day and advised to move my foot for circulation.
At about 2 weeks post-op, I discovered my left leg was very cold in comparison to my right. I assumed because I wasn’t using it.
At 4 weeks post-op, my chest developed a pain on my right side which felt like pleurisy. I went to the ER and they confirmed two clots in my lungs (pulmonary embolism) and said I am very lucky with where they had lodged. Later, they found one remaining in my calf (DVT). Prescribed blood thinners for 6 months. I asked my OS if compression could have prevented the clots and if I should start using socks or a cuff going forward, but he dismissed this and said no, and it wouldn’t have made any difference.
Last week I went back to my OS for my 6 week check up and he approved starting to walk on it again, despite not running a CT to check on the healing of the fractures.
I have been researching more about cup alignment during my downtime and am concerned about how my X-rays look in comparison with others. It looks to me the cup is rotated clockwise causing it to not be flush with my pelvis and it appears that my femoral head is partially out of the cup and in contact with my acetabulum. Also, the end of the femoral stem has a shadow which looks like the stem may have moved to me. This is the exact area I felt popping before, and now pain when I try to walk.
Note: Unfortunately this OS has not been apologetic, companionate, or even honest with me along the way. I could note many things he has said which contradict himself or are outright ridiculous. One example is when asked why my socket fractured he said it was caused by my bone spurs when placing the cup. I am a female, 5’6” with small / medium bone structure, yet he used a 52mm cup (most common size for men) and 36mm head, the X-rays show he had to ream my socket quite a bit to make them fit.
When I asked him about the cup position, he said that the bone I am looking at is in the background and that the head is not in contact with my own socket.
Today: I have been trying to walk on my leg, but am developing sharp pain in my groin and in my knee. It doesn’t feel stable. My whole leg is still very cold, and only warms up a couple hours after going to bed. After I get up, it becomes cold again. The ER ran an arterial ultrasound and said I had good blood flow though. (I was laying down when they did this, though)
I saw my primary again today, and despite multiple requests for a second opinion I am told that no surgeon will see me while after surgery by another OS. He said he thinks my cold leg is from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (after looking it up I can’t agree the symptoms match up) and he told me to get with PT to try to work through the popping, clunking, and now the sharp pains in my hip and knee.
I am very concerned of dislocation, especially if my alignment is actually off.
Whew… sorry there is so much to cover here, but what I’m hoping for is anyone who might have gone through any of this which might help me shine some light.
Thank you!
I had THR on February 2nd, 2022 on my left hip. I was born with double dislocation due to under-developed sockets and at age 11 I was hit by a car that resulted in my left leg tibia and fibula bone loss of 1”. I made sure my OS knew this but every time I mentioned it he said the shorter leg was irrelevant with his this surgery. At the end of my 49th year, I scheduled a THR for my left hip which was giving me the worst pain.
In recovery while walking with support, I kept feeling a popping sensation in the hip but it didn’t hurt and it couldn’t be heard. I commented on it, but I was already grateful to walk without pain in that moment and was probably still loopy from the anesthesia.
By that evening, the popping became very painful and continued with any small movement. I felt this at my hip joint, and oddly I would also feel popping lower along my femur. I stayed off the leg and called my OS the next day. He advised to give it the weekend and come in if not better. The pain with the pops and clunks was only for a split second, but off the pain scale.
His PA first evaluated me and felt one of the clunks. She said she was pretty confident that it felt like the liner was slipping in my joint. After my OS checked me out for about 20 minutes of extreme pain trying to make it clunk more, (it popped only but he wanted to feel the clunk for himself) he ordered a CT.
The CT was ran the next day and came back with a femoral fracture at the lesser trochanter and two acetabular fractures. He ordered non-weight bearing 6 weeks, to hold off on PT until after that period, remain on baby aspirin x2 a day and advised to move my foot for circulation.
At about 2 weeks post-op, I discovered my left leg was very cold in comparison to my right. I assumed because I wasn’t using it.
At 4 weeks post-op, my chest developed a pain on my right side which felt like pleurisy. I went to the ER and they confirmed two clots in my lungs (pulmonary embolism) and said I am very lucky with where they had lodged. Later, they found one remaining in my calf (DVT). Prescribed blood thinners for 6 months. I asked my OS if compression could have prevented the clots and if I should start using socks or a cuff going forward, but he dismissed this and said no, and it wouldn’t have made any difference.
Last week I went back to my OS for my 6 week check up and he approved starting to walk on it again, despite not running a CT to check on the healing of the fractures.
I have been researching more about cup alignment during my downtime and am concerned about how my X-rays look in comparison with others. It looks to me the cup is rotated clockwise causing it to not be flush with my pelvis and it appears that my femoral head is partially out of the cup and in contact with my acetabulum. Also, the end of the femoral stem has a shadow which looks like the stem may have moved to me. This is the exact area I felt popping before, and now pain when I try to walk.
Note: Unfortunately this OS has not been apologetic, companionate, or even honest with me along the way. I could note many things he has said which contradict himself or are outright ridiculous. One example is when asked why my socket fractured he said it was caused by my bone spurs when placing the cup. I am a female, 5’6” with small / medium bone structure, yet he used a 52mm cup (most common size for men) and 36mm head, the X-rays show he had to ream my socket quite a bit to make them fit.
When I asked him about the cup position, he said that the bone I am looking at is in the background and that the head is not in contact with my own socket.
Today: I have been trying to walk on my leg, but am developing sharp pain in my groin and in my knee. It doesn’t feel stable. My whole leg is still very cold, and only warms up a couple hours after going to bed. After I get up, it becomes cold again. The ER ran an arterial ultrasound and said I had good blood flow though. (I was laying down when they did this, though)
I saw my primary again today, and despite multiple requests for a second opinion I am told that no surgeon will see me while after surgery by another OS. He said he thinks my cold leg is from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (after looking it up I can’t agree the symptoms match up) and he told me to get with PT to try to work through the popping, clunking, and now the sharp pains in my hip and knee.
I am very concerned of dislocation, especially if my alignment is actually off.
Whew… sorry there is so much to cover here, but what I’m hoping for is anyone who might have gone through any of this which might help me shine some light.
Thank you!
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